Buying miniatures on eBay

On my quest for cheaper miniatures, I've turned to the grandfather of used item trading: eBay.

The biggest incentive here is price. You can find miniatures at 10% of their original price, if you're lucky. You can also save effort by buying assembled or even painted miniatures, but this usually means a higher price. Pro-painted miniatures may get very expensive very quickly.

There are some downsides too, which I'll show you using these case studies:

1. daemon scrap lot (this is eBay slang for lots of pieces which do not necessarily match)

This was an actual treasure trove! For around 5 pounds, I got:

- Karanak + 2 flesh hounds. Though there aren't enough legs to go around for everybody, but I can salvage Karanak + 1 flesh hound, which would cost around 20 pounds

- some very badly assembled Daemonettes. I broke them apart along the glue lines and they mostly came free without damage. They just need to be reassembled. 10 Daemonettes = 18 pounds.

- 3 Flamers, but only 1 arm for all 3 of them. I'm thinking of running them without arms. These 3 models would cost 10 pounds.

2. assorted Daemonettes

- some primed, some assembled, some painted (badly)
- there was some effort in repainting them, but the 30% savings were worth it

3. Bloodthirster

- very badly painted (no, seriously, look at it!)
- This is an old metal model. The current model is much, much bigger, and also needs a bigger base, as per the rule book.
- A lot of effort needed for unpainting, assembling (some pieces came apart during transport) and repainting, but
- At 30% of the current model's price (including shipping), I'm not complaining.

4. Bloodletters, unassembled in original and unopened box.

40% savings. Is there anything to say?

5. Chariot of Tzeentch, unassembled in box.

This came out to be a bad purchase. The box has actually been opened, the herald model assembled on foot, and everything else put back in. The Flaming Chariot can still be completely assembled, I was just disappointed that the herald was missing. My plans were to build a magnetized kit that could be put together to form either chariot. Oh well, I haven't given up on this yet!
... And I still saved around 20%.

6. Daemon Prince

- In good condition. The model wasn't very well cleaned though and I had to do some after-scraping. Look carefully at the photos to discover the mold lines and sprue remains. This is much harder to do after assembly.

- This also made me realize what NOT to buy from eBay. The original model is fully customizable, with lots of body/head/arms/armor options. When buying an assembled model, you get what there is. Not sure how a power armored daemon will fit in a fantasy setting, I'll think of some back-story for it.
- Oh well, at half the price...

7. Masque of Slaanesh

- One of my best purchases, this was a metal model still on sprues, at half the price (including shipping!)

8. Chaos Furies

- These aren't actual Chaos Furies! I know now, but I didn't know then, and I assumed that they're older models (look at the bloodthirster...).
- These are actually models made by Grenadier Miniatures.
- All in all, it wasn't a bad purchase. These winged demons run well as Chaos Furies, they are well painted and involved a minimal effort in applying magnetized bases. Not to mention they came at half the price of the same number of furies.

9. Headless bloodletters

Nothing special, eh? Take a closer look.

The back of their heads and the spines on their backs are missing. This was the reason I saved around 60% on them.


Looking back at my eBay shopping spree, I would have done some things differently, but experience comes through trial and error (or by reading blogs, so be smarter than me if you start eBaying!).
Some practical advice:
- eBay is best if you play as Space Marines. There is a huge supply of used miniatures, in all imaginable states (unassembled, unpainted, badly painted, pro-painted, bits collection etc).
- assembled but unpainted miniatures offer the best price-effort ratio
- buying scrap lots is very cheap, and you can great deals, but a lot of effort needs to go into market research
- buying squads of basic troops / models that don't have many customization options is a good choice
- don't buy greatly customizable models if you want a personalized army
- establish a threshold (e.g. "I will only buy at max. 60% of the original price") and stick to it! Otherwise, it's easy to go wild.

Overall, I am satisfied with the things I bought - I saved a lot of money, at the cost of additional effort.
I am also happy with the way everything went down. I got to know my way around eBay, and the gathered experience will help me when I decide to sell stuff of my own. (So if I ever get tired of wargaming, my future collection of well-painted, magnetized daemon army is sure to bring a buck!)
Lastly, the defective/incomplete models which I've bought (bloodletters, flamers) made me research green stuff. One day, I hope to be able to sculpt the missing pieces!