"What colour is most likely to sell my Space Marines?" Topic

I have a small collection of the 'classic' Rogue Trader Space Marines and Rhinos, and I've recently ended up with a bunch of new-style troops and vehicles. I'm not a 40k player so I'd like to offload the lot on eBay to fund my 15mm habit, but it would nice to paint them first, both for fun and hopefully to increase their value. Question is: what colour? The Ultramarines seem popular with starter gamers but also seem to hated in equal measure by more experienced gamers. Should I go for Smurf blue or something else? Any suggestions?

Pink??? No, maybe blue???

The two latest Space Marine codexes were for the Space Wolves and the Blood Angels. Both are pretty popular with the group I play with.

Dave

Black.

primer

Wow…whatever color is on the current cover would be my first thought.

That or something neutral to experienced players yet interesting to new players…a classic color combo perhaps?

A quick search of space marine pulls up mostly blue…so perhaps a nice gray blue? picture and picture with white highlights?

Clean colors and not particular to one or another chapter.

As I am a seriously non-loyal GW guy…I like some of the stuff (nids, tau, etc.) but have never maintained a need to keep to the oppressive rules surrounding appearance…my opinion may not hold any water.

But logic says use a known color scheme or use one that looks good…tough call, but as you say there are strong opinions among the players…I would think a nicely painted unit that is undefined might be more accepted.

Don't paint them! They are worth more as bare metal.

28mm Man – when we're talking Space Marines, you can't just "paint them as an undefined unit"… any colour that you paint the armour is going to identify them with a particular chapter. That's why I suggest leaving them unpainted.

Cheers

w.

Painted GW stuff is tricky to sell at all, and older stuff generally does better as bare metal for collectors. There are good reasons that my own ebay work rarely includes GW product – it just doesn't move well, especially compared to 15mm scifi stuff from more reasonably priced companies like GZG, Khurasan, and Rebel.

What wehrmacht said. I still play 40k at least twice a month and his advice is (IMHO) the best. If you must paint them go Space Wolves, Salamanders (probably the most powerful vanilla marine army) or Blood Angels.

Wehrmacht…I know, but he wants to paint them…that is the thing right…you MUST paint them a certain color to match a provided chapter.

The days of making your own chapter are gone I am thinking?

The constant rule/system changes drove me away years ago…if I could not at least choose my paint colors that would be the final and permanent straw.

That creative process is the strongest interest I have for miniatures gaming, take away my choices and I will not buy.

**********

But, that said, ninjasaraus should listen to the 40k players here…not the rabble, like me :)

Bare metal would be a good choice.

But this chapter is fun picture

Unpainted is best. Gives the buyer the option to paint the way they want and so maximises interest.

Or you could put them up unpainted and then offer to paint them any colours the buyer wanted? (if you are a very good painter).

IMHO, I agree with wermacht, don't paint them. I get turned off by something I'm just going to have to strip and repaint. I'll buy bare metal or primed first.

unpainted, if you want to sell them.

unpainted

@28mm man: No offense intended, it is just the way things are when you play GW games. Unless the purchaser wants to use "counts-as" figures, Ninjasaurus will likely have more success selling figures painted in the colors of one of the more powerful chapters. I have the fortune to be able to play at a large house with a great group of friends who don't care about "counts-as" figures, some people don't have that luxury. And for the record, I agree with your philosophy…if I wasn't gaming with my current group my GW stuff would have met E-Bay some time ago.

No worries, I was not offended…except by GW :)

It sounds like bare metal is the way to go.

PS
With a good group I would play just about anything.

Unless they are very well painted, I'd leave them unpainted if they are Rogue Trader era marines.

I would not paint the classic, Rogue Trader stuff. It will sell better unpainted.

If you really want to paint the newer stuff, I would say Blood Angels (most recent codex), Space Wolves (second most recent codex), or Ultramarines (the smurfs are classics). If you can paint yellow very well, Imperial Fists might not be a bad choice either.

If you've got bikes, doing them up as White Scars or Dark Angels' Ravenwing might help them sell.

Are they plastic? If so I may be interested in them. I agree with the users who suggest leaving them unpainted; I usually avoid painted minis on ebay because either:
1)They cost more and I'm going to strip them anyway (though I have occasionally found them cheaper than unpainted)
2)I have to strip them

Another vote for bare metal. Painted anything is not worth as much unless you are a masterclass painter and then it is valuable only to serious collectors.

I've wondered that myself… for Warmachine stuff. My idea was to purchase small armies, paint them and sell them as lots on eBay.

Then, I've asked myself what I look for in eBay purchases and I agree with many here- Primed at the very most. Reason being is that purchasing painted minis tends to either force the customer into a corner by way of color scheme or forces them to strip the paint entirely.

Best of luck to you!

Another vote for bare metal. Painted anything is not worth as much unless you are a masterclass painter and then it is valuable only to serious collectors.

That's a bit of an oversatement. I'm no masterclass and I know it, but my painted stuff sells on ebay for much more than bare metal retail. A good but not amazing paint job is a selling point for many people – but you do have to pick your subject matter carefully and know your audience to make it profitable. Vintage GW is good example of a bad subject for painting, simply because the collectors who make up a lot of the market prefer bare metal to painted – perhaps because it eases concerns about buying a recast.

Skill has a great deal to do with it, though. If you approach it as "selling off a few old Marines", leave them unpainted. If you are a good painter, it can become "Selling a table ready squad of Imperial Fists", at which point you are selling the paint more than the mini.

They are certainly worth more not painted. Dont waste your time and just sell them without any paint.

Unpainted would be my preference… painted just means extra work 'cause I'm gonna have to strip them.

Ninja saurus, please PM me and I can get you in contact with somone who will gladly take them unpainted if the price is right :)

Unpainted is preferable. But, if you must paint (or repaint) them, Ultramarines are the way to go. Experienced players are less likely to buy painted troops, so going for the starter player with a starter army is probably the best route.

It's funny that if painted the color might dissuade some prospective buyers, while half the armies I see in games are unpainted/primed.

Still, if they are old figures, I agree that unpainted is probably more desirable.

Red ones go faster. Probably sell faster, too.

Seriously, though, another vote for au natural.

Unpainted would also be my preference, but painted I would say Ultramarine blue, Salamander green, red or yellow

I've been reading this thread with some interest. A few years ago I sold a whole load of figures through EBay, but they were all historical and painted. They sold really well as there apears to be plenty of people out there willing to part with money to get an army on the table asap. Look at the amount of pre-paints that are also coming out as an example of that…

I guess the historical stuff sells better because the Space Marines come in every colour of the rainbow, but a German soldier of 1943 is wearing the same uniform as another German soldier of 1943 (in a very general and broad sense, before I get a backlash…) if you follow what I mean.

With this in mind would it be good business to buy up all the cheap second hand Space marines I can find, strip them, then sell them on?

Apparently yellow cars don't sell. Maybe it applies to power armout too?

"Apparently yellow cars don't sell. Maybe it applies to power armout too?"

I have friends who can confirm this,. they had a new mini in yellow which they had to take a massive hit to shift.

I saw a nice bunch of yellow and black marines, tanks, bikes, etc, recently on eBay. They were really well done and I seriously considered lifting the colour scheme. Not a one was sold.

Thanks for all the replies. I never said any of the minis were metal so, to clarify, even the old stuff is plastic. Unfortunately, most of them have already been painted, either badly or at least competently. In any case, leaving them unpainted is not an option – the old stuff was purchased to game with years ago but I got the new stuff solely to fulfil a sudden and whimsical ambition to paint the Space Marine army I couldn't afford to buy when I was a kiddie.

I think I've now narrowed it down to Ultramarines or Blood Angels. I've been watching items on eBay and I'm inclined to agree with Farstar. The minis I have are mainly your ranks and file types but the new paint job will be a high standard, so I've been thinking of pitching it as a fully painted starter army for a newbie when I'm ready to let them go.

so I've been thinking of pitching it as a fully painted starter army

That might get it to move, especially if you include some good gaming-distance photos and character close-ups.

You might have passable luck with the RTB beakies and the old Rhinos as one lot, and the new stuff as another lot. Unfortunately, the old beakies are just pitifully undersize compared to the current items, so some people (especially newcomers) wouldn't be interested in a mixed lot.

The old stuff could go Dark Angels or Blood Angels (both were popular poster kids back in the day), but I'd suggest Blood Angels for the new stuff in particular.

Ninjasaurus Rex, I agree that stylisticly thr marines are hard to mix, old with new, but it is the combat squat pose of the old plastics that make them look smaller. I have cut and repositioned both old and new plastic marines to stand straight up. You may be suprized to learn that they are the same height. :)

lead

Don't paint them at all unless you are a very good painter. Unless miniatures are painted to near showcase quality nowadays they're a hard sale. There are just too many competition on Ebay with bulk painting services in China, Hong Kong and Argentina.

As OOP figures you probably would get more if they're unpainted from collectors who would rather have all the options as to what chapter they want their investent to be painted as.

Having said that, if you're a good painter I would go with the original RT cover and paint them as Crimson Fists.

Metallic biege!

I've finally settled on the Crimson Fists. They always seem to be painted in a darker shade of blue that doesn't offend my eyes like Ultramarine paintjobs do. Having said that, if I wasn't going to get rid of them I would probably paint them Hello Kitty pink because it's a nice, jolly colour. Thanks again, folks.

What happened to not painting them because they would be worth more?

Wow, I'm surprised. It seemed to me that the overwhelming advice was to not paint them. If them already having paint jobs is a problem, even plastics can be stripped. There are plenty of things out there that can strip plastics without damaging them. I hope you get a good price out of them.

I never said I wouldn't paint them! Quite the opposite, in fact. I did say that the one and only reason for buying them was for the fun of painting them. They're no use to me once I've done so and, as a non-40k gamer, I had no hankering to paint a particular Chapter, which is why I asked for opinions. If I make a small profit on the future sale of them I'll be happy, natch, but I'm not too worried about it.

As you can see that's a debatable topic. I'd side with the guy who said blood angels and wolves colors, because the flavor of the month is what usually sells the best.