Bartertown.com

The Meat Part of the Post: What do people charge for well painted miniatures, and for well painted miniatures in games that aren't being made anymore?



The Description part of the Post:
I am running into a interesting issue, I am trying to trade some Growlers to someone on these forums, but they are painted. If they weren't painted I would just trade for a near equal price/value, or sell it for like 20 to 60% depending on how nice of a miniature, and how popular the game or miniature is. in some rare cases it might be worth more, but those are more for the collectible type miniatures, for the most part have classic metal/lead or plastic miniatures.

So my issue that I can't find a dollar value to put on these growler miniatures, they have good points and bad points for both.

--Bad
The game is out of issue, and isn't being played by as many people as other games would be played (demand is low)
These aren't painted as well as I paint now, but I am not sure that is a negative to some people, its probably good enough for most people

--Good
The bases have some pretty unique terrain on them, that fits the world
They were painted with thought behind them, so they look like they belong together as a unit
They are also very nice looking miniatures, that can be used in many SiFi games, and could be used to fit a made up mythology nicely for those who play PnP games.


The Fluff Part of the Post:
They person wanting to do the trade with me wants to know what I am looking at price wise. what is a common increase for well painted miniatures... When I used to paint other peoples miniatures, I would charge $3 for 3 colors on a man size trooper, $1 for eyes, $1 for basing it, Heroic models started at $7.50, and if it was in a rush I charged 1.5 of the cost... and example a guy found out about a GT that was in the area, started to paint his miniatures and what not, then a friend came to him with an idea for his army... it was a grand idea, and he freaked out and wanted to run it, so he bought the miniatures where I worked (at the time) and paid me 660 dollars to paint 38 troop miniatures, 6 veterans in 3 days, so he could have them as he was leaving for the GT. I made rent on that 3 day 21 hours a day painting event lol, but I would never want to do that again hehe.

My point is how do I come to a price, that wasn't agreed to before hand. When I was painting for people (they knew my prices and what to expect for their investment), they would only come to me if they thought it was worth it, but this is different, and I do not want to offend someone (well without reason that is hehe).

I'm going to "toe the party line" here by giving you some "unofficial" official BTown info.

There is no policy on what is charged for anything here, except advertising. That is why it's unofficial.

What it is, though, is status quo.

Generally, for painted minis, you will receive LESS than retail, and not more.
Keep in mind, this is based STRICTLY on BTown and not FEEbay or other auction sites.

typically, people here are looking for models that they can do something with. if it doesn't fit the scheme of their army, they may have to rebase and/or repaint them. If they're going to repaint them, then they'll likely strip them first.
Generally, the more effort (perceived or actual) that a person will have to go through to make the models playable, the less they want to give you for them.

Sometimes, even very nicely painted models get stripped to bare metal.

It's not abnormal to see painted models go for 50% to 75% of retail value as sales.

What I suggest you do is decide on a price that you are willing to let them go for. Your "BEST PRICE," as it were. Then increase it by an amount (10% to 25%). This leaves you room to barter.
If you get more than your "BEST PRICE," then you come out ahead.

The alternative is to come to a best price and give it to the guy with a notation that it is, indeed, your best price and is firm (non-negotiable, etc... whatever wording you like).


Good luck.

Eric

thanks for the advice

though I would have to say that the thought someone would strip a model, took me a minute to process lol. Normally when I get done painting a large group of them it takes a few days to process if I like it, and what I can change about it... sometimes though there is no hope hehe.

I guess for the same reason I have only bought one miniature in my life that was painted, not counting the plastic ones, which was done by one of the reaper artist at a Gen Con. hehe

I can totally understand not wanting to buy/trade another miniature that is painted though.

Ps. not sure I used a good example, with the 44 miniatures I painted for that guy... that was a very special and rare deal, sort of a extreme example per say.

If they're well-painted, meaning that the paint scheme is what I want, then I'll pay full retail for them.

If they're metal models, I'll trade retail for retail against unpainted models. Stripping is easy and cheap.

If they're plastics and painted, I'll pay scrap prices - I'd generally prefer new plastics over stripping plastic.

Otherwise, assume 50% to 75% of retail for painted minis.

And yes, painted is lower than assmebled, which is worse than new.

If you want to flog painted minis for big cash, go to feeBay.

Is it me? or do we get a post like this at least once a month? Maybe twice.

once a month that isn't too bad heh, IMO anyways, most forums regular questions normally happen daily.

I am sorry if it was a common question, I did figure it was one, I did look for an answer before I asked it though

A positive way to look at that this though is that this site must be growing, if people have to ask questions that anyone with a few trades knows the answer to. More people = more trades or at least faster responses to your posts... or we can hope

Ironhide wrote:Is it me? or do we get a post like this at least once a month? Maybe twice.

Perhaps it should go into the FAQ then?

I don't believe he meant this *specific* post. I think he meant something more general, like;

"Can anyone tell me what X is worth?"

More like 1 per 1.5 months, though, I'd guess.

Eric