I can\'t believe its come to this!

[capt mannering]

I can\'t believe its come to this but I am having to sell some of my collection to raise some holiday funds for this year. The first lot of models I will be selling on ebay is my painted Tau army, but I was wondering which would be the most effective way to sell. Do I put it on as a full army or split it up into units and sell each unit separately. Any input on this matter will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Shadzar]

even eBay succumbs to the concept of buying in bulk. therein the more you buy at once the cheaper it is.

selling single minis can get combersome and cause more hassle than you may have time for, and may not sell all models.

selling units is a good idea. it allows for a compelte addition to an army with little work. and better painted thingsare still in a form of bulk so cheaper than buying singles.

there is up and downsides to all these forms.

as a buyer when i needed some armies i bought full armies or large bits collections. a $1700 space wolves/dark angel army for $400. how could i pass that up! since it came with the Skullz promotion standard bearer, and 12\' statue Brother Osric. heck for the vehicles alone (3 land raiders, 2 predator, forgeworld vindicator kit, forge world vehicle doors, whirlwind, venerable dereadnought, and 3 land speeders) that was retail nearly $400!

also with the Tau its a crazy market. Crisis suits may be able to be sold as singles as they are a must. Fire Warrios/krot units should be sold as units.

you may want to sell any devilfish with a unit of fire warriors that includes a transport or may choose to sell them individually. hammerheads will probably sell good as singles, as well will broadsides.

special characters should probably sell for singles.

other types may require finessing. steal units, drones, pathfinders; will probably needs to be sold as units, or maybe all together.

the new skimmer i don\'t really know about, but i think units would be good for it as well.

bits should be sold as a single lot, unless you have a hammerhead that can be converted between railgun, ion cannon, skyray modes. then you could include those bits with it for modification. but of course that should garner a high cost since its now a kit with upgrades.

did i leave anything out? i don\'t have the newest codex so i may have, but i will give my opinion on any leftover pieces if i know what they are.

this of course i how i would look for them if not in an entire army lot.

 

[capt mannering]

Thanks Shadzar. Its not a massive army, it is in fact the original boxed set that they sold upon first release of the tau which includes the special edietion ethereal + the new stealth team some vespids a piranha and a few more pathfinders. The army is painted to a good standard but it is my own colour scheme. The vespids are unpainted. Im hoping to make enough of these and not have to sell any of my other models. I have a list of priority order to sell, I just pray i dont have to sell my Eldar army but I have to put my families happiness above my own.

 

[MPJ]

Some more tips:

As a general rule you will do better $ wise selling painted minis as units/individuals rather than an army. If you do it up as an army start the bidding at an acceptable level and be prepared for it not to sell.

If your a gamer more than a collector than go nuts. If your a collector first (like me) then sell GW minis before any others and sell painted plastic minis before metal ones (painted plastic minis have little to no less value than painted metal ones but of course the mini itself has much less value). I say to sell the GW first because from a collector point of view they are very much mass produced and you will have little trouble replacing them in the future should situations change, they are also less collectable due in large part to the mass production.

Some of my biggest regrets in life came from selling off vast quantities of minis when I was in my teens and early twenties. I miss them horribly now and have gone to great lengths to try to repurchase many of my old Partha, Citadel, and Grenadier figs (mostly from the \'80s and early \'90s).

Not trying to discourage you from selling but if you are a collector first the sting from selling minis will come and possibly not until months or years after the fact. Today (mind you I\'m getting close to 40 now and am in an entirely different income stage of life) I would sell things like my Rolex (given to me by my now deceased father) before my collectable minis (though newer GW minis are sacrificable as I mentioned) and my family would have to be starving before I\'d sell my watch (to put things into perspective for you).

Don\'t mean to scare you off, you have to do what you have to do, just trying to steer you in the right direction. Shadzar gave some great tips in how to parcel the army up so I\'ll leave that part alone.

To summarize:

Sell Plastics first, metal minis second. Newer GW figs before any other company. If you consider yourself a gamer first and foremost with collecting only an afterthought then go nuts as most of what I\'ve said likely wont\' apply.

Oh yeah... If your selling minis to buy gifts (I noticed you said \'Holiday Funds\' then I might recommend rethinking that plan. Your family will likely understand receiving gifts of lesser value (or none at all) if your having hard times. GIFTS DO NOT CREATE HAPPINESS, love does and families understand. Painted minis make great gifts for youngins and parents, aunts, uncles, etc...

Anyway, I hope something I\'ve said is of value, but I do tend to ramble so... Best of luck to you and I hope your situation changes and/or you make the best of things.

 

[mud duck]

My thinking is this: Start at a low price. I have to laugh at so of the sellers that I see that start at some high price for minis that are not even painted or painted at a sub/table top level. Plus I find that the number of bids that show on the \'main\' search page makes me want to look at the item more then one with none. just M2C.

 

[Shadzar]

Originally posted by capt mannering
Thanks Shadzar. Its not a massive army, it is in fact the original boxed set that they sold upon first release of the tau which includes the special edietion ethereal + the new stealth team some vespids a piranha and a few more pathfinders. The army is painted to a good standard but it is my own colour scheme. The vespids are unpainted. Im hoping to make enough of these and not have to sell any of my other models. I have a list of priority order to sell, I just pray i dont have to sell my Eldar army but I have to put my families happiness above my own.

so its the newer tau army box, not a battleforce? (original had no pirahna)

the LE ethereal should sell seperate most definately.

sadly duck is correct. many people will look at lower bids first. but you could get the shaft if its too low.

also allow as many payment options as possible. paypal only is good in a way but for those without paypal you cut out many potential bidders.

at least don\'t have the auciton where a paypal account is required to bid.

 

[Grimmjack]

Shadzar, i love your sig..

\"I am a pigment of your imagination.
\"

 

[spazzy]

Isn\'t there something else you can sell that hasn\'t captured pieces of your soul between it\'s many thin layers of paint?!?:~(

 

[capt mannering]

MPJ- Yeah im a collector but only of GW and Rackham minis. I built a Tau and Eldar army with an eye to getting into the gaming side of things but never really had the time to play. At the moment they are just in my display case doing nothing.
My wife has tried to warn me against selling them from the point of view that you mentioned regarding regretting some time down the line. I had always said that I wanted to pass some of my minis down to my son when he is old enough to appreciate them, however, I do have lots more minis that will be passed down to him so he wont be missing out. As a family we\'ve had a fairly crappy last 12 months (wont go into details here though) and i am in a kind of \'live for the now\' kind of mood. So I am thinking of selling some of my stuff to take us on holiday for a few days. Thanks for your advice though.
Spazzy-I wish I had other stuff to sell but I sold most of it already to buy minis with.
Shadzar-No its the box set from the original launch of the Tau way back in 2001-02. I just added some of the newer models to it from the 2nd edition release.

 

[Shadzar]

i think i still may need/want that ethereal.... i will be watching eBay for it in case you decide to part with it then.

good luck on how you decide to do it, and as other have said, don\'t sell things you really want to keep. even though you are selling for the holidays funds you don\'t want to feel upset towards your family that they have new things and you lost things for it. they might feel bad if that know you got rid of something also which might make what you get them less enjoyable. so make sure you can do without what you are getting rid of.

and don\'t let it turn into a Gift of the Magi. selling your watch for a comb, and them selling their hair for a watch chain kind of thing.

 

[capt mannering]

Thanks Shadzar, i will let you know if and when i put it on ebay. I think i\'ve more or less decided to go ahead with it and may even list them this weekend as there is a free gallery picture promotion up until the 31st of march and I need to book the holiday soon before all the good deals run out.
Thanks to everybody for their input, capt Mannering.