"Selling excess miniatures - mostly SF and Fantasy" Topic

Im cleaning out the lead pile. Have never sold on eBay and have heard that the little guy gets poor return for his merchandise due to the fee structure. Please give me your experiences and recommendations for alternative sales venues.

Thanks, Al

I still think that you get the best price on eBay. First, the fees are not that high. Second, you get cash for stuff you are not using. Third, any return is better than no return.

Don't expect it to go for retail. USe realistic shipping charges. Take and use PHOTOS. Use accurate descriptions.

You might get better return at a COn Flea market/Bring and Buy, but you then have transportation and other Con costs/fees.

My $0.02 USD

…The little guy gets poor return for his merchandise due to the fee structure…

And other reasons too.

Buyers, quite naturally, are looking for bargains. Unless you have rare or OOP items.

Sellers make lots of mistakes. Incorrect spellings in title and description. Poor photo or no photo. Long and rambling item descriptions, etc.

Selling fees are outrageously high now. Here is a handy little tool that will calculate what you make after fees.

link

As an Ebay veteran, here is my stock advice for a newbie.

Open an account and buy something – anything – for a month or so and build up some feedback. During this time search for the stuff that you are selling and watch the items. This will give some indication on current prices, and provide real-life tips on good and bad auction techniques.

Despite the higher-than-ever costs on selling and all the silly rules Ebay keep dreaming up, it's still quick and easy to shift stuff you don't want.

Hope this helps and good luck.

you could always post on the sellers sectoin here or other mini websites, saying what you want for a particular mini or set of minis and see if you get any bites…

just a thought…

Hi

I use eBay a lot and am amazed at prices some things go for

Fees, it works out (including paypal) about 12% as a rough estimate, which is OK, If you took to a Bring and Buy (experience from UK shows) you will have to pay 10%, so not much difference

Also I have found selling on bring and buys not so good nowadays, as people want cheap bargins, so they ca resale (on eBay) so you do not get so much return, plus bigger audience on eBay

Follow Sabre6 recomendations and you wont go wrong

Search for similar items on eBay and see how much they start at and go for in the end to give you a rough idea first

Al

Totally a case of watching the market. Also knowing what is coming out, or is currently hot is good too.

If a codex is getting ready to be re-released or featured in a campaign you can bet the vultures will be out for picking to buy for it cheaply.

I bought most of my Tau army after it was no longer the "new" army and the hype was gone and everyone was moving on to the new best army. I got it for over 1/2 off and that was for unassembled plastics.

I'd be interested in knowing what you have for sale Allen. Even if you just list the stuff going on ebay,so I know what to look out for :-)

I am very happy with my ebay experiences. I have made a bunch and broke even on others. THe key is getting the product in the right areas. If it's 15mm put it in the title so searches can find it that way. Good pictures are a must. If there are questions answer them, and the biggest plus is advertise on TMP. It might cost a few bucks but the count of those viewing your auctions is double with it.

I agree with a couple of the above posters that you might want to try your luck selling (or trading) here first.

As I posted on the other thread, I'm always looking for old lead. Let me know what you have.
-Steve

If you sell on ebay or on the Marketplace please try to give as much information as possible. Try to avoid asking buyers to e-mail you for more information.

Get a supporting membership and advertise here, it helps a lot.

If you like a crapshoot, you might try signing up at Wargames Market. It didn't work for me during their recent "Four Days of Madness" promotion. I don't mean the selling didn't work, I mean technically, the site mechanics didn't work at all. I created a listing and uploaded it, but it never showed up. Steer clear of Wargames Market, I'd say. EBay is probably your best bet…

@CBPIII The problem with WM was you used there bulk listing tool. If you had imput them through the listing form (which is faster) they would have shown up just fine.

Some stuff sells on WM and some doesn't. I see one seller from Australia who lists rare minis on there and he has probably the best sales record of anyone, so its all about what you sell on there and what you don't.

Ebay for a newbie is ok, if you like having your money held hostage by Paypal and maybe never getting it at all. To many more changes on there and none of us will be selling on there any longer.

@napthyme The problem is I DIDN'T use the bulk listing tool. I used the site's form and nothing happened.

Plus when I did several searches (when lists actually came up) nothing ever seemed to have a bid.

Thanks for the advice. I will let you TMPers know what Im selling. Im not out to get rich just move my excess. It will be a while before Ive inventories stuff. Most of the SF is 6mm but there is some 25. The fantasy stuff is all 25mm.

Al

There is no such thing as having an excessive number of minis…. ;)