When it comes to auctioning, who do you aim for?

[Infidel Castro]

I was just this second reading about what the most popular miniatures on the gallery happened to be, when I thought to myself:

WHAT DO PEOPLE GO FOR ON THE E-BAY AUCTIONS PAGES?

Do people go all out on painting popular miniatures, or do they paint whatever they feel like and sell it anyway?

Come on, be cynical!

 

[bjorkgnu]

I don\'t get much chance to post on here, but I\'ve got a second, so I thought I\'d answer. Personally, I paint what I like and then sell it anyway. I\'d probably make more money if I sucked up to the ebay crowd, but I\'ve found that if I\'m not painting something I like, then I don\'t do as good a job.

 

[Infidel Castro]

It\'s not about sucking up though, as some people realise they can make a bit of money (who can blame them?) by painting for a particular group of purchasers.

You could paint the most gorgeous miniature in the world, but it won\'t make quite as much if no-one can utilise it. Though there are collectors who just collect, I imagine.

What would you paint tomorrow IF you wanted to earn a bit of cash?

 

[Chrispy]

Rackham...

.. cause they\'s good people. Almost everyone outside the mini painting cicut thinks their rare as hell. ($9.99 starting for one Fianna I saw one time!) Also, anything new with GW. Regiments also do okay, but make sure it\'s at a style you can do in under a week. Save your best for the GD\'s and paint above rank and file. Somewhere between there is good for squads and such. Also, conversions are a good idea. In fact, if you\'re truly a good sculptor, you don\'t even have to paint it!

 

[bjorkgnu]

Sucking up...

Perhaps sucking up was a poor choice of words. What I meant is that there are certain types of miniatures that are almost guaranteed to do better than others, because they\'re the types of things buyers are looking for. Naked chicks, for example. Nudity sells, whether we like it or not. My point was that, while I do occasionally paint a figure that tends toward what ebayers want, I don\'t paint expressly for them.

Take my two \"Monsters\" from Ghost Miniatures, for example. I knew very well that they weren\'t going to get a whole lot of attention on ebay. But I painted them anyway, because I wanted to.

That was my point. Just that I paint what I want to, and not necessarily what ebayers are looking for. If I was just in this for money, all I\'d paint would be topless fianna conversions.

 

[Chrispy]

Bjorkgnu has learned the first rule of all advertising! Sex sells everything but itself.. Don\'t believe me? I was in Advertising design and her\'es one thing my education:

Look at the top of the coke on the machine. Ice, right? Wrong. It\'s actually in the shape of a woman with long hair laying on her side. Take yer time. It\'s there. And Not just on this one. Look at any machine like this that was around since the late 80\'s. It\'s always there!!! I know I\'m waaaay of topic, but it\'s just tto good not to share with everyone!

 

[Infidel Castro]

On the brain

It seems to me you\'ve got Coca-Cola on the brain, if you know what I mean...

I\'m off out to make a conversion of a Fianna leaning on a coke machine!

Dangerous...

 

[bjorkgnu]

I will never look at a vending machine the same way again.

Thanks, Chrispy.

 

[chris2269]

I paint for my enjoyment, but since I dont play warhammer 40k selling on ebay justifies it. I do paint with selling in mind but combine this with what I want to paint. If I want to paint white armor Ill think about what I can do that will also sell. Knowing whats hot helps, black templars and DA always do well. ravengaurd will be the next thing until the new Greynights come out. If you can do something you enjoy and make a little money back thats perfect.

 

[No Such Agency]

Chrispy: that\'s pretty subtle. I\'d have never noticed it unless you explicitly pointed it out. I\'d recommend that prospective mini sellers be a little more blunt if that\'s how they intend to sell their work... Therefore, I recommend Celtos females and of course Fiannas because hey, some guys like skinny contortionists

Or of course you could just paint what you like and hope it sells. You aren\'t going to get rich doing this, people...

 

[Chern Ann]

Well from the data the eBay links is getting, the market is pretty tired of Fiannas. I think the view that newer GW minis are a good bet.

That said, if you check the ebay linking report, there\'s no substitute for straight out great paint jobs for maximizing return on your time.

 

[Infidel Castro]

Sense

Good point. And it\'s even better then if everyone else happens to be after what you are painting for your enjoyment!
:innocent:

I\'ve got myself registered on e-bay, but I haven\'t had time to paint for myself in that respect, so as yet I haven\'t auctioned. It looks like fun though.

SOLD, to the man with the big chin! $2.

 

[Xarthos]

In other categories on eBay, a good rating helps ALOT in selling as well. I have never sold minis on eBay, but I would imagine its the same. You can make alot more money with a good rating. Try not to sell too many things that should go for a high price till you get a rating built. Otherwise you could lose alot of money. Which brings me to a question of my own. Anyone have tips for building a good rating quick and easy? (I know, probably not, except to sell, sell, sell)

 

[Chrispy]

I haven\'t tried yet, but I\'m currently working on a sort of diorama with multiple figs. I made it so all can come off the base for playing I think this is the best of both worlds, as the client can use it for play or display... I made I rhyme! Hee Hee!

 

[Zilo]

Har har

I have to laugh when I think about what I post on ebay. When I sit down to paint however I dont think \"Will this sell on ebay?\" . I just paint whatever colors on whatever figure I feel like painting at the time. Sometimes I wanna paint something big and mean and muscle-bound.. sometimes I just wanna lavish in clean texture and paint some space marines or eldar.

Call me simple, but isnt that what art is about?

I have pushed on ebay to sell regular rank n file peices and have succeeded in that. I usualy get $30-$50 USD per figure. I look at the profit as a very nice turn around for what I started with. I do this because I rely on my painting techniques to catch the eye so someone will go \'Hey! Thats nice, I want one!\". I could just as easily though put a half-assed paint job on a popular figure or character and probably make 3 times as much.

I shouldnt be so quick however to condescend posting to make money. I more then likely will be doing it in the future. Hey, money is money but in respect to what I like I will always paint to a style to which suits me and make me happy first hand!

 

[kannan_fodder]

Since the question was to the effect of painting what one likes as opposed to what one knows will sell.... I paint what I like, or more to the point, what I\'m in the mood to paint. I know that I\'m virtually unknown, and thus have little hope of getting more than $20 for a mini. So in order to make it worthwhile to me, I paint what I like, do my best, and hope someone else is interested in buying it. While I\'m not a professional painter, I do enjoy the hobby of painting gaming miniatures. Selling on Ebay was something I wanted to do, mostly because I wanted to be able to say \"Hey, at least I tried!\"

And for the question of a \"good rating\", which I\'m guessing means \"good feedback\".... The only way I know to get a really good feedback is either to sell, sell, sell, or buy and sell on the same account - and hope nothing goes wrong. (Some people have a bidder account separate from their seller account.) It does, of course, take some time to build up feedback.

 

[Corwin the Confused]

What to paint?

Originally posted by Chern Ann
Well from the data the eBay links is getting, the market is pretty tired of Fiannas. I think the view that newer GW minis are a good bet.

That said, if you check the ebay linking report, there\'s no substitute for straight out great paint jobs for maximizing return on your time.

So Games Worshop gives the highest return? Are there any specific figures from GW that sell well?

And any sexy babe mini probably sells well since many gammers are guys and we like skin. Right?

Also, I would think that Reaper stuff would sell well since they are excellent mini\'s. Do you agree?

Corwin the Confused

 

[Shadow]

CONVERSIONS!!!

What the market really wants is conversions. Models that are nicely painted do ok but it is conversions that do well painted or UNpainted (have a look at Prophet\'s SUPERB inquisitor model and you will see what I mean)
Personally I paint stuff to practice for GD and will then occasionally keep something, otherwise I\'ll sell it.

PS. You\'ll see a whole lot of my stuff going up for auction later this week.

 

[Shadow]

OVERPRICED Necron

Has anyone seen the Necron Talos thingy that sold for $620! Can someone please explain to me how a model scoring 6.6 earned that???

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by Shadow
What the market really wants is conversions. Models that are nicely painted do ok but it is conversions that do well painted or UNpainted (have a look at Prophet\'s SUPERB inquisitor model and you will see what I mean)

I think this is only true for the 40k stuff. If you look at the fantasy stuff, particularly the Reaper stuff, you will find almost no conversions on ebay.