Ebay
- Thread starter barkel
- Start date
Sand Rat
New member
Well, it depends on how the artist values his time. A buddy of mine and Iwere actually talking about this the other day - we were discussing startup costs for a new game - after costs for initial purchase $1000-2000 dollars to get armies and books etc, then we started figuring time to paint - where he works they bill his time at $200 an hour, so based upon that and a minimum of 4 hrs to paint each mini and a minimum of 50 minis an army you get $800 a mini x 50 x 2 = $80,000 plus the initial $2000 in outlay - I can see a minimum bid of $500 on a mini.
Selling on eBay................
I can\'t say that I\'ve sold anything on eBay but I have bought truckloads of stuff.
As I understand it, a seller can either set a reserve price, or a starting price. The only major difference being all sellers know what the starting price is, but might be unaware of the reserve price.
The danger is, if no one beats the starting price, or reaches the reserve, you owe eBay commision on your reserve or starting price, just as if the figure had been sold. Does that make sense?:flip:
I can\'t say that I\'ve sold anything on eBay but I have bought truckloads of stuff.
As I understand it, a seller can either set a reserve price, or a starting price. The only major difference being all sellers know what the starting price is, but might be unaware of the reserve price.
The danger is, if no one beats the starting price, or reaches the reserve, you owe eBay commision on your reserve or starting price, just as if the figure had been sold. Does that make sense?:flip:
thanks
That\'s what I figured. The mini I was referring to is very nice. I personally would not pay 500 bucks for it, but I\'m anxious to see if someone does.
By the way, how much is the commission that Ebay collects? 10%? And, is that commission just on items with a reserve or a starting price?
I\'ve never sold on Ebay either, though I too have bought my share of junk. However, I was looking to unload some half used Fruit By The Foot and I was just wondering...
barkel
That\'s what I figured. The mini I was referring to is very nice. I personally would not pay 500 bucks for it, but I\'m anxious to see if someone does.
By the way, how much is the commission that Ebay collects? 10%? And, is that commission just on items with a reserve or a starting price?
I\'ve never sold on Ebay either, though I too have bought my share of junk. However, I was looking to unload some half used Fruit By The Foot and I was just wondering...
barkel
Ebay charges the seller a lot of little charges that can add up quick. Starting price, reserve price(which is refunded if it sells for that or above), closing value, upgrades like home page featured, featured plus!, highlight, bold, listing designer, gallery, gallery featured, listing in two catagories, buy it now, gift services scheduled listing, and 10 day-longer listings. :flip: They charges for a starting price, in this case of $499 it would fit in the $200 and up of $3.30. Even if it only gets on bid for $499 the final closing value will bill him/her 5.25% of the initial $25 ($1.31) plus 2.75% of the remaining closing value balance. In this case it would total $14.35. Hope this helps.:innocent:
I belive that the auction your talking about is http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3143891796 well worth it I think.
johnboyjjb
Active member
If it is the same sivousplay that moderates here ( good chance), yes it is worth it.
Sivousplay is a genius....
It\'s no secret that I really rate sivousplay\'s style. I put him in the \'unsung heroes\' thread which was a bit like classing Arnold Schwarzenegger as an \'unsung actor\', but I am sure there are some new arrivals who may not be familiar with his work. If you have ever read a description of how he paints his models it is easy to see why they are so good and why they command such a high price.
In fact, just check this old post out where he refers to his Red Lionesse:
Thanks again to Temperance for the questions about my Red Lioness or as may be more appropriate for the 2nd of his questions, my Pink Lioness.
Q: How\'d you get the great pink armor?
A: Well, I don\'t know how great it is, but everyone who comments on the figure seems to mention it. So, it\'s at least noticed.
I\'ll run through a quick set of painting steps that I used for the armor:
1). I prime all my figures white, and use very thin washes to slowly build up color. I think it gives the figures a soft, watercolor-like look. I use Krylon white primer.
2). The base paint (and if you\'ve seen this color, most of you will not believe it) is Calvary Brown from Vallejo. It\'s a reddish-brown for those of you not familiar w/ all of the Vallejo paints. I used several very thin washes and by very thin, I mean thin to the point that the red & brown pigments in the paint kept separating and I kept having to re-stir the wash to keep it consistent.
3). After that was very dry, I used a technique that I believe I\'ve developed (I\'ve never heard anyone else talk of something like it, but I could easily be wrong and would be happy to give credit to whomever did it first) that I call \"polishing.\" It was something I experimented with with two ends in mind: 1). How to make cloth look like Jennifer Haleys & 2). How to make NMM armor glisten. I don\'t know if it answers #1, but it seems to make non-metallic paint have a shine to it, thus the name, polishing.
Polishing is pretty simple. I mix a very,very,very thin wash of white, and I use a drybrushing technique to very slightly whiten the highest points of the figure. To do this, I use very rapid brushstrokes and almost no paint. It probably took 2-3 hours to polish the armor on all 3 figs in the set. You\'ll note that the cavalry brown was faded by this technique to make it look much pinker and the highlights (of which there are tons on this figure) on the armor were whitened, and the entire surface of the armor was brightened such that it has almost a luminous quality about it.
The technique is not very friendly to your brush. So, if you\'ve got a brush that\'s getting a little long it the tooth, it\'d be best to use it instead of ruining a good brush.
Finally, I matte finish all my miniatures w/ Krylon Matte Finish, and will use varnishes after that to hit things like gems etc.
That\'s it ... the only trade secret I had. I hope it helps someone out there. Again, if you have questions, feel free to msg/email me.
Talented and willing to share. That makes him a hero in my book. Just wish I could afford his work. Maybe for my birthday....if I accumulate a lot of brownie points with Mrs finn
It\'s no secret that I really rate sivousplay\'s style. I put him in the \'unsung heroes\' thread which was a bit like classing Arnold Schwarzenegger as an \'unsung actor\', but I am sure there are some new arrivals who may not be familiar with his work. If you have ever read a description of how he paints his models it is easy to see why they are so good and why they command such a high price.
In fact, just check this old post out where he refers to his Red Lionesse:
Thanks again to Temperance for the questions about my Red Lioness or as may be more appropriate for the 2nd of his questions, my Pink Lioness.
Q: How\'d you get the great pink armor?
A: Well, I don\'t know how great it is, but everyone who comments on the figure seems to mention it. So, it\'s at least noticed.
I\'ll run through a quick set of painting steps that I used for the armor:
1). I prime all my figures white, and use very thin washes to slowly build up color. I think it gives the figures a soft, watercolor-like look. I use Krylon white primer.
2). The base paint (and if you\'ve seen this color, most of you will not believe it) is Calvary Brown from Vallejo. It\'s a reddish-brown for those of you not familiar w/ all of the Vallejo paints. I used several very thin washes and by very thin, I mean thin to the point that the red & brown pigments in the paint kept separating and I kept having to re-stir the wash to keep it consistent.
3). After that was very dry, I used a technique that I believe I\'ve developed (I\'ve never heard anyone else talk of something like it, but I could easily be wrong and would be happy to give credit to whomever did it first) that I call \"polishing.\" It was something I experimented with with two ends in mind: 1). How to make cloth look like Jennifer Haleys & 2). How to make NMM armor glisten. I don\'t know if it answers #1, but it seems to make non-metallic paint have a shine to it, thus the name, polishing.
Polishing is pretty simple. I mix a very,very,very thin wash of white, and I use a drybrushing technique to very slightly whiten the highest points of the figure. To do this, I use very rapid brushstrokes and almost no paint. It probably took 2-3 hours to polish the armor on all 3 figs in the set. You\'ll note that the cavalry brown was faded by this technique to make it look much pinker and the highlights (of which there are tons on this figure) on the armor were whitened, and the entire surface of the armor was brightened such that it has almost a luminous quality about it.
The technique is not very friendly to your brush. So, if you\'ve got a brush that\'s getting a little long it the tooth, it\'d be best to use it instead of ruining a good brush.
Finally, I matte finish all my miniatures w/ Krylon Matte Finish, and will use varnishes after that to hit things like gems etc.
That\'s it ... the only trade secret I had. I hope it helps someone out there. Again, if you have questions, feel free to msg/email me.
Talented and willing to share. That makes him a hero in my book. Just wish I could afford his work. Maybe for my birthday....if I accumulate a lot of brownie points with Mrs finn
Flashman14
Member
Thanks for reposting that Finn . . I love insight into good technique . . .
sivousplay
New member
Ebay Theory
Hey folks,
Ebay is a tricky beast ... you can look at auctions a couple of ways either to minimize risk as a seller or ebay costs.
If you start w/ a low price (you\'ll get the lowest ebay fees because the original listing fee is based on the starting price); however, you risk that the auction will not get to what you thinks it\'s worth. You could try a reserve price to cover yourself here, but that adds some additional fee cost AND, I think it scares away bidders because they don\'t know how many times they may have to bid to finally get the piece and in the end may invest themselves emotionally in the auction and never be able to get it.
Or, you can start w/ a high price which removes the risk and increases the fees (but only a couple dollars), but also probably reduces the number of folks willing to jump in the mix and bid ... so, you probably don\'t get the highest price you could because you don\'t get any \"bidding momentum.\"
In the end, I just hope to get a price that I feel fairly compensates me for the time and skill I put into a model and would rather go the \"safe\" route.
If I were as good as Matt or Jen, I could start them at 1 penny and get it to $400+ ... Did you see Matt\'s recent Emperor\'s Champion? Staring price 1 cent ... final price, $600!!!! I\'m not that confident in my abilities.
As to the piece in question, it\'s 14 figs w/ a pretty darn nice display ... @ 499 that\'s $30 per fig and $79 for the display. The figs alone cost ~$45 ... So, I think it\'s a pretty good deal, especially if you play LOTR.
talk w/ you all later,
jim
Hey folks,
Ebay is a tricky beast ... you can look at auctions a couple of ways either to minimize risk as a seller or ebay costs.
If you start w/ a low price (you\'ll get the lowest ebay fees because the original listing fee is based on the starting price); however, you risk that the auction will not get to what you thinks it\'s worth. You could try a reserve price to cover yourself here, but that adds some additional fee cost AND, I think it scares away bidders because they don\'t know how many times they may have to bid to finally get the piece and in the end may invest themselves emotionally in the auction and never be able to get it.
Or, you can start w/ a high price which removes the risk and increases the fees (but only a couple dollars), but also probably reduces the number of folks willing to jump in the mix and bid ... so, you probably don\'t get the highest price you could because you don\'t get any \"bidding momentum.\"
In the end, I just hope to get a price that I feel fairly compensates me for the time and skill I put into a model and would rather go the \"safe\" route.
If I were as good as Matt or Jen, I could start them at 1 penny and get it to $400+ ... Did you see Matt\'s recent Emperor\'s Champion? Staring price 1 cent ... final price, $600!!!! I\'m not that confident in my abilities.
As to the piece in question, it\'s 14 figs w/ a pretty darn nice display ... @ 499 that\'s $30 per fig and $79 for the display. The figs alone cost ~$45 ... So, I think it\'s a pretty good deal, especially if you play LOTR.
talk w/ you all later,
jim
