Selling Painted Miniatures on E-Bay

Co-authored with Warpaint

Selling miniatures in on-line auctions is easy, but maximizing the value of your auction and protecting your seller reputation, requires that you provide as much information as is required for the buyers to make well-informed decisions.

Take The Buyer's Point of View

As a potential buyer, I am more willing to bid higher on an item when I, 1) know exactly what I'm bidding on, and 2) have faith and confidence in the seller ability to deliver what is described. To write an auction submission that conveys these two points, it often helps to look at your model from the buyers' perspective and ask the questions that will be going through their minds including:

• What am I buying?
• What am I willing to pay for it?
• Is the mini worth a premium over a comparable mini in another auction?
• What's special about your mini that makes it unique?
• Will it fit into my army/collection?

If you can make a compelling argument on all five of these points, you've improved the odds of receiving higher bids.

Think Through Your Auction Submission

Subject Line

The subject line determines results of a keyword search and then what auctions people view when scanning down a column of 50 auctions. Your description has to be crisp and to the point since you're only allowed 55 characters in the title and subtitles with which to work. Make it easy for the viewer to figure out what you're selling and more importantly, why they should bid on your lot, in plain text.

• Warhammer Fantasy, Unit of 20 Dark Elf Executioners w/ standard, Painted
• Warhammer Chaos Lord Conversion Painted
• Warhammer/D&D Sexy Valkyrie Painted
• Warhammer/D&D Elven Female w/Mount Painted
• Warhammer OOP Unit of Mummies Painted

Run a couple of keyword searches and figure out which ones provide the most results for the miniature you want to sell. Make sure those keywords make it into your description.

Description

Provide a full description of what is being sold with a listing of components, description of paint job, and whether or not additional works needs to be performed on the miniature(s), etc. Tell the buyer what is special and unique about the figure/unit. Provide a web site link where they can go to see additional pictures or get more information on the miniature or you the painter. All of these points drive to making the bidder more comfortable with what they're buying.

It helps to have a working knowledge of the figure. Be sure to mention what army the figure comes from. Specify if the figure is out of production (OOP), limited edition (LE) and identify the manufacturer if possible. Also mention the scale. If you forget to include it, someone will always ask. It is important to know the different lines and being up-to-date with what is being produced out of this country so that you know when you have something no one else has as well as keeping current with what people want. To get miniatures that were in demand, Warpaint has bought from GW Spain, an investment that has paid off.

Conversions are very popular, especially of you stress the one of a kind model you have made. Naturally, you have to be sure that your creation is made well enough to withstand the gentle treatment of the postal service. As reference, Warpaint also keeps a folder of referral e-mails from satisfied E-Bay buyers stating how pleased they are with their figures. As long as you are willing to paint to a high standard, the buyers will come.

Use basic HTML formatting and basic grammar (e.g., paragraphs) to organize the description and make it easy for the buyer to see what they're bidding on. For individual figures, tell the buyer what else the miniature would be good for, if not Warhammer (e.g., Dungeons & Dragons, Confrontation). Here's an epic Eldar battle force I auctioned:

Be careful of the term "pro painted". It can mean anything and anyone can claim it. Unfortunately, there are tons of "pro painted" figures on sale that are pure crap. So, if you're going to claim this in your title or description, make sure you can back it up.

Eldar Battle Force


Eldar painted blue with yellow helmets, command stands have red helmeted commanders. Vehicles, bikes, and dreadnoughts are dark blue with a purple flame pattern. Most figures are based and flocked. Stands based according to old Space Marine rules. Force consists of the following troops and vehicles:

• 3 Tempest tanks (will also include a fourth unpainted tank) - metal, undercoated black and drybrushed up to yellow-green. White wave camo pattern. Red spider insignia painted on turret.
• 2 Wave Serpents - metal, undercoated black and drybrushed up to yellow-green. White wave pattern on bow. Cosmic serpent insignia painted on mast.
• 39 Guardian stands
• 4 Striking Scorpions stands
• 19 Falcons
• 4 War Walkers (metal)
• 12 Dreadnoughts and variants (metal)
• 15 Jet Bike stands (2 bikes per stand)
• 10 Vyper stands (1 Vyper per stand)
• 4 Exarch stands

Alternatively, I could have used the following description, which contains the exact same information but is much more difficult to read:

Eldar painted blue with yellow helmets, command stands have red helmeted commanders. Vehicles, bikes, and dreadnoughts are dark blue with a purple flame pattern. Most figures are based and flocked. Stands based according to old Space Marine rules. Force consists of the following troops and vehicles: 3 Tempest tanks (will also include a fourth unpainted tank) - metal, undercoated black and drybrushed up to yellow-green, White wave camo pattern. Red spider insignia painted on turret; 2 Wave Serpents - metal, undercoated black and drybrushed up to yellow-green. White wave pattern on bow. Cosmic serpent insignia painted on mast; 39 Guardian stands; 4 Striking Scorpions stands; 19 Falcons; 4 War Walkers (metal); 12 Dreadnoughts and variants (metal); 15 Jet Bike stands (2 bikes to a stand); 10 Vyper stands (1 Vyper per stand); 4 Exarch stands.

Photos

Photos should provide a close-up view so that bidders can see what they're getting. Sometimes, in our desire to show every aspect of the figure, we cram so much a single photo that the bidder can't tell what they're getting. A well thought out photo is worth a lot of money, so take your time.

In the following two examples from Warpaint, six pictures were used for each auction filing. Example 1 uses one picture to show the bidder what the unit looks like as a whole while the remaining pictures give a nice all-around a few individual models. The pictures are close enough to show a high level of detail.

Example 2 shows one model. The first picture is a macro showing the details of the face while the remaining 5 pictures show of the model from four perspectives including a shot from the top. Both of these examples leave no doubt in the bidder's mind what they can expect if they win the bid.

Example 1	Example 2

Digital cameras are great tools for preparing auction bids since you can take as many pictures as you want until you get a good set that will show off your miniature in the best possible light. I highly recommend getting one that will take good macro shots.

Other Details

Don't forget the logistics of how the transaction will be concluded. Did you remember to specify:

• Payment methods
• Whether or not shipping and handling is paid for by the buyer
• How much shipping and handling will cost or how it will be calculated?

Don't Forget Follow up and Support

If you plan to sell a lot of miniatures there are a couple of simple steps you can take to boost a buyer's confidence in you and to drive potential figure sales outside of E-Bay:

Create a web site with a gallery, so that people can see you have a track record of painting high quality miniatures. Within your web site, create a section of miniatures that will go on sale in the near future with an asking price. As people stop by the site to check out your work, they may very well decide to purchase other figures. This saves you the cost of paying E-Bay's commission and the trouble of typing up and posting a new auction entry. However, based on Warpaint's experience, if you're good, be prepared if you want all the extra business you may be hit with. Warpaint started with provided a link to a website painting gallery, and was soon flooded with an unmanageable requests - Warpaint has still gets regular requests for painting services but gets to pick and choose which ones to accept.

Customer service is everything. Warpaint offers the following advice:

"It is also important that you e-mail clients when you ship their item and that it is insured. After every auction, I send buyers a 'Congrats!' e-mail with the amounts and payment options, Paypal notice, and the E-Bay notice they receive. I mention in my description they have 3 days in which to respond to me, and that payment is due within ten days of the auction's end. I always thank them for their bids, no matter how many times they have bought models from me. If a model arrives broken, I offer to repair it free, and will offer free shipping on the next model they buy. It is important to cover as many bases as you can before a customer becomes unhappy enough to leave negative feedback. Remember to keep the buyer pleased. Many of my paint jobs come from E-Bay and that never hurts."

Warpaint further reminds, "If you maintain a track record of high quality service, you will have many repeat customers. I received an email from someone who has purchased from E-Bay over 500 miniatures from me and now wants 1,000. It's possible as long as you produce well-painted figures and are a professional seller."

If you have further question, e-mail me