How do you price?
- Thread starter Wombat85
- Start date
I\'v pretty much only ever sold on eBay (save one), and i\'v never started it at 99p and let it run.
I just think of a price I would be happy with, if it doesn\'t sell it\'s no big deal. But if I get what I wanted i\'m happy.
The last one I sold I got about £5 an hour for, but I hadn\'t worked out the price beforehand judging on hours spent.
I just think of a price I would be happy with, if it doesn\'t sell it\'s no big deal. But if I get what I wanted i\'m happy.
The last one I sold I got about £5 an hour for, but I hadn\'t worked out the price beforehand judging on hours spent.
fieldarchy
New member
you should decide on an hourly rate that you want to get paid but have a base price (that way you are averaging hours and not spending eternity on a mini). So if you want to get paid $10/hr and generally spend 15 hours on a mini, advertise your prices as $150. however, you will need credentials or you\'ll run into the same problem I did which was people getting bent out of shape for how much I charge. Now that I\'m a freelancer for two companies and on my way to doing more competitions I have the credentials but I\'m more choosy on who I will paint for.
JesterzUSMC
Recovering Megalomaniac
When selling on ebay, I either sell what I no longer want to look at, or what I\'ve experimented on. I haven\'t put anything up on ebay for less than $25 unless I didn\'t really care for it anymore and didn\'t spend more than a couple sessions on it.
I generally price by quality. Seriously, I paint mountains of table-top quality, so when I spend the equivelant amount of time as an entire army on a single figure, the price will match.
Some of my biggest sales on ebay, were total surprises!!
Like this one:HERE
The work was all in converting and playing around was fun, so when I went to sell it, I wasn\'t looking for more than $25, I got a request for a Buy-it-Now for $75, I posted and it sold.
But if you\'re planning on making your rent in a single sale, you\'ll have to build a BIG name, and spend REAL time on the mini\'s AND on the photography of them!
Just my honest opinion.
Cheers!
Generally speaking:
Turning your Hobby into a Cash Cow, actually tends to turn your fun past-time into work.
I generally price by quality. Seriously, I paint mountains of table-top quality, so when I spend the equivelant amount of time as an entire army on a single figure, the price will match.
Some of my biggest sales on ebay, were total surprises!!
Like this one:HERE
The work was all in converting and playing around was fun, so when I went to sell it, I wasn\'t looking for more than $25, I got a request for a Buy-it-Now for $75, I posted and it sold.
But if you\'re planning on making your rent in a single sale, you\'ll have to build a BIG name, and spend REAL time on the mini\'s AND on the photography of them!
Just my honest opinion.
Cheers!
Generally speaking:
Turning your Hobby into a Cash Cow, actually tends to turn your fun past-time into work.
QuietiManes
New member
I think the only way you can price art is by quality. Noone is going to pay you $10 an hour for a sloppy miniature when they can hire any number of dozens of mini painters to do the same work for $3 a miniature.
Of course you\'ll need to take into consideration how long it takes you to paint something to decide if it\'s worth your time selling it for what it\'s worth, but if you don\'t have the skills or the speed, it simply wont sell if you over price it.
I\'m not a great painter, big buyer or seller of painted mini\'s or anything but that\'s the way I see it.
Of course you\'ll need to take into consideration how long it takes you to paint something to decide if it\'s worth your time selling it for what it\'s worth, but if you don\'t have the skills or the speed, it simply wont sell if you over price it.
I\'m not a great painter, big buyer or seller of painted mini\'s or anything but that\'s the way I see it.
From a buying perspective there are a few considerations other than the bottom line cost...
If the mini is for a collection, buying from an unknown artist is always a little risky. Some artists are more well known than others and will always have somewhere to put their minis. If you\'re not very well known, my advice would be to get well known... be active in improving, attend competitions and generally get your name out.
For gaming type sales, those that are going to be played, you have to think about what the current trend is doing... what is GW just releasing a new book or army for, what sci-fi race is doing well etc.
Generally if it\'s a troop, more people play GW than anything else so that\'s always going to be a far safer bet for more money so long as you stick to the fluff... square bases for WHFB and round for 40K and LOTR etc.
If it\'s not a troop, try to select interesting minis and base them as well as you can and give yourself the best chance by really pushing yourself on the photography.
I\'m not being funny but there are a lot of people out there who see minis painted by Alexis_Z and Razza and are completely smitten with the work they do but they are out of budget. Don\'t be afraid to paint the same mini in your own way with your own colours and cash in on the wake of people who just fell in love with that mini but can\'t afford the top artists!
As with most small businesses (if that\'s what you\'re intending) you need to be willing to take a hit up front to see what the market wants, expect to haemorrhage money initially while you work out where your minis sell best.
But keep plugging away and good luck!!
p.s. sorry for rambling on
If the mini is for a collection, buying from an unknown artist is always a little risky. Some artists are more well known than others and will always have somewhere to put their minis. If you\'re not very well known, my advice would be to get well known... be active in improving, attend competitions and generally get your name out.
For gaming type sales, those that are going to be played, you have to think about what the current trend is doing... what is GW just releasing a new book or army for, what sci-fi race is doing well etc.
Generally if it\'s a troop, more people play GW than anything else so that\'s always going to be a far safer bet for more money so long as you stick to the fluff... square bases for WHFB and round for 40K and LOTR etc.
If it\'s not a troop, try to select interesting minis and base them as well as you can and give yourself the best chance by really pushing yourself on the photography.
I\'m not being funny but there are a lot of people out there who see minis painted by Alexis_Z and Razza and are completely smitten with the work they do but they are out of budget. Don\'t be afraid to paint the same mini in your own way with your own colours and cash in on the wake of people who just fell in love with that mini but can\'t afford the top artists!
As with most small businesses (if that\'s what you\'re intending) you need to be willing to take a hit up front to see what the market wants, expect to haemorrhage money initially while you work out where your minis sell best.
But keep plugging away and good luck!!
p.s. sorry for rambling on
generulpoleaxe
New member
it\'s damn hard making a name, don\'t plan on making a profit on ebay without one.
just use it as advertisement.
squidders is spot on with following trends.
also, if your going to paint units, either make them unique looking (to apeal to the collectores) or get the buggers on pre release and have them ready for the official release date (any earlier and gw will complain to ebay to get the auction pulled)
i would advise doing it only to fund your hobby, as it\'s getting harder every month to make a living from painting (mainly due to the shite strength of the dollar)
just use it as advertisement.
squidders is spot on with following trends.
also, if your going to paint units, either make them unique looking (to apeal to the collectores) or get the buggers on pre release and have them ready for the official release date (any earlier and gw will complain to ebay to get the auction pulled)
i would advise doing it only to fund your hobby, as it\'s getting harder every month to make a living from painting (mainly due to the shite strength of the dollar)
generulpoleaxe
New member
pre order them and sometimes they arrive early.
i remember some of the polish lads having the large vostroyan box set painted and on ebay for the release date.
others have done this before as well.
i\'m personaly done with units etc unless someone every single one painted to a damn high standard as it bores me stupid.
i\'d rather get creative and enjoy it.
Wow ty sooooooo much for the feedback so far. I was considering starting selling to help fund my hobby and if that works out maybe looking to make a little more. Can anyone give just a general run through of the process that they go for from miniture choice to final sale ie; I pic this mini cos, how they plan to paint, time allocation etc
generulpoleaxe
New member
most people pic a mini because it\'s either new or they are selling well on ebay.
they paint them in codex or the most popular colours to try and get the most money.
i\'m the opposite (when i played 40k i didn\'t use codex colour schemes as i found it boring) which makes it harder to make as much.
also take note that ebay keeps putting the fees up for wargaming stuff (they call it a promotion by increasing the fees!) due to the amount of people selling toy soldiers.
so to sumarize, it\'s either got to be unique and serious high quality or codex colours and out as soon as it\'s released.
they paint them in codex or the most popular colours to try and get the most money.
i\'m the opposite (when i played 40k i didn\'t use codex colour schemes as i found it boring) which makes it harder to make as much.
also take note that ebay keeps putting the fees up for wargaming stuff (they call it a promotion by increasing the fees!) due to the amount of people selling toy soldiers.
so to sumarize, it\'s either got to be unique and serious high quality or codex colours and out as soon as it\'s released.
QuietiManes
New member
It might be easier to work backwards to see what you want to do. Easier I\'d think, to see if something is worth while anyway. Look at Ebay, look at a few mini painter sites, see what is selling and for how much, take note of the quality of the paint job. Now that you have an idea of what the \"market will sustain\" or an average price for various quality jobs, you can think how many hours work it would take you paint a miniature to that level. Once you get your potential time investment you can calculate how much you would get paid per hour of work, per job, per week, whatever. Just make sure to remember the cost of shipping and the models and paint supplies and assembly time too. Since all of those things will severely change the outcome of your profit margin. Also keep in mind, as others have said, that even if you paint a figure exactly like Bobby Wong or Jen Haley, you won\'t get the same money as they would, simply due to the recognition, so don\'t forget to take that into consideration. If you can crank out table-top or better miniatures 3 per hour then you could paint anything you had the slightest interest in and still make a decent dollar for your effort, if you aren\'t a crazy bionic man that can do that you\'d have to be more choosey, most likely.
Think there\'s really only 2 choices as far as what to paint:
Either paint what you like and hope others will want to pay for your good time.
OR
Paint what most people will like and know they\'ll pay for their good time.
Anything really popular or new will usually have the most interest. As others have said (again), it\'s a good idea to get stuff pre-release, you can get pre-order deals from companies, at conventions there is usually lots of pre-release stuff being sold (and you\'ll be there anyway right? showing off your latest masterpiece making an ever growing mass of fanboys). Sometimes you can order from other countries months before the models are released in your country, where ever you may be. Not always possible or reliable, but if not before release, you\'ll want to get the new stuff on release and get it on sale ASAP to maximize on the buzz and excitement the release has generated.
