Letting go (is hard to do)

[Gothnomicon]

OK, so I was just reading in the Hobby Goals for this Year thread that several posters had finally started to let go of old armies that they weren't playing anymore. This reduced their workload and pressure to paint models that they weren't planning on playing. Additionally, GH17 nailed some additional nails into a variety of coffins with the removal of keywords.  

So my follow up question to the group is - how does everyone get rid of old armies and minis that you no longer need or want?

I know the obvious stuff - bartertown, ebay, sell it locally at your FLGS - but wanted to know what does and doesn't work for everyone. I've bought tons of stuff on ebay for example, but never sold anything that way.

Curious...

[BunkhouseBuster]

Two ways for me:

My local area FB group allows for selling models to other folks, at least to arrange meetings to sell them off.  I took inventory of everything I had that I was willing to part with, stuck a price on them, and posted to the group (with permission, of course!).

Another option I have is that my FLGS actually buys old miniatures off of customers.  It's not as much money for what you could get selling directly to folks, but it is a quick and easy option, and you get store credit for it.  Just last night I sold off a bunch of stuff, and browsed the used models, and found some old OOP Fantasy models that looked really cool!  Your FLGS may not have this, but it's a cool idea and works for us!

Our other local store (which is not friendly anymore, but that's another story) will have a seasonal "market day" where customers can come in and use their game table space to set up all their old unwanted models, books, etc, to sell at the customer's prices.  The transactions are handled at the registers, and the sellers get store credit for anything that sells.  Neat system, but I refuse to set foot in that store after the last few times I was in there.

I too have bought stuff off of eBay, but never sold anything.  I'm hesitant to try out Bartertown or swap sites/forums, but that's just my paranoia kicking in.  My closest wargaming buddy has used Bartertown to great success before though.

[Ollie Grimwood]

I don’t I put them in my loft and occasionally go on archeological digs to locate stuff to be used as bits on other projects. It’s a bit like the basement at Westworld but with 30 years of Imperial Guard models.

I did once dispose of a bits box of older models and a quantity of old White Dwarfs. 

It still haunts me. 

Actually that’s not entirely true I did sell some Necromunda Enforcers on eBay got a decent price for them, nothing silly but enough for a Mawcrusha and a few hobby supplies. 

[Countmoore]

Element games runs about three warboot events a year. I’ve done very well shifting old projects on and picked up a few bargains along the way. They have a Facebook group and he next one will Be end of Jan I think. 

[Soulsmith]

I trade and sell within my circle of regulars at York.

[Captain Marius]

Im a hoarder, i dont think i could ever get rid of any of my old models. I do enjoy repainting them though so at leasti get some use out of them!

[Thomas Lyons]

For a couple years , I only accumulated projects but then, in seeing GW's design direction, I realized that there was no sense in me keeping alot of the legacy armies that will never be updated.  As such, almost anything older that I haven't painted and that won't likely be updated I cycled out of my collection.

[Bjarni St.]

I don't and it's a problem. Realistically I have a closet full of DE and Empire models I'm not likely to put on a table, along with a bunch of stuff that's left over from bulk trades.  A portion of them I'd like to hold on to but the parts that were collected just to fill up army lists back in the day I don't hold any real attachment to.

[Auretious Taak]

It's obvious some people have missed the memo about the core aspect of miniatures collecting and gaming, it is thus:

'When you run out of miniatures to paint, you die.'

Selling models is thus like deliberately shortening your life span.

Besides, if a zombie apocalypse occurs, if you held onto everything, you'll find a wealth of buckshot and lead to melt down into ammo to go and kick some undead backsides hard just sitting there. Gotta think of the big picture see.

That said, 2nd edition 40k metal hormagaunts and the 5th edition WHFB goblin spearmen make the most amazingly effective caltrops.

[Lysandestolpe]

I used to sell mine on eBay, but I only do that now with things that are complete project and painted well. The rest I trade for storecredit at my FLGS. 

[WoollyMammoth]

I'm finally getting over my hoarding and getting rid of some armies I should have never started in the first place. The best way is to have a local community to post things and see if there is anyone interested in buying or trading, usually on Facebook. Local stores sometimes have events where people are trying to unload models. Ebay is tough because you have to lose 10% of your profits, box everything up nicely and pay for shipping, which is a lot of overhead. If it is not urgent I would recommend trying to offload locally and being patient. Get the word out that you are trying to sell your army and wait to see if there is any interest.

[Auretious Taak]

One really big aspect is age and edition of the models byou are looking at offloading.

If you have really old models circa the 90's and earlier then you need to be exploring the 'oldhammer' forums and facebook groups as these are your best bet not only on getting value for your models (the oldhammer forums have threads dedicated to this and what each model/unit is worth in terms of the market for the models) . The movement exploded in recent years so where once the models were relativelye asy to acquire and not stupidly expensive, a lot of the older models can go for quite the pretty penny (I was lucky when I started collecting my oldhammer 40k tyranids annd spaace marines a bit over half a decade ago that the market for the models was far less then they are now, itw as actually cheaper to buy an army of oldschool metals then it was to buy modern plastics haha!) .

Another aspect you should explore is trading - generally don't tarde an army for an army because every trade on forums is a risk, and it's far safer for you to trade a unit oir two at a time max. Some forums require you to have a set number of posts first before you gain acess to their buy/sell/trade forums and these forums sale sections usually are a little more reliab.le in my experience. If using ebay, to  sella  large chunk of models at once, try labelling them as 'job lot' amongst other descriptors.

[BunkhouseBuster]

58 minutes ago, Auticus said:

I don't.  I keep them.  Because I have sold things in the past that I ended up wanting back.  I have an emotional attachment to the models I've spent time and effort on to just get rid of them.

I have never, nor will I ever, sell a model that I have finished painting.  I have sold off some models with base coats, but once I get that final touch and basing done, it's staying in my collection from then on.  Something for my kids to inherit

I also won't part with anything I've done conversion work on.  Only things that I can easily replace should I regret getting rid of them.

[Greyshadow]

I'm the same, I have never sold a model I've finished.  Although I have been in the hobby for more years than I care to mention, I wouldn't say I have too large a collection: two mid sized armies, a small one plus a bigger than average scenery collection. This still takes a lot of space and I can understand why prolific painters with many large armies might sell off some what they don't use anymore.

[Ulf]

I trade them, either on FB or Bartertown. Typically, i'll try and trade up a little, and use the extras to put together starter armies for friends. 

Being able to give away a few hundred dollars worth of minis, to someone who might be struggling with the initial investment in a minis game, is a great use for my old stuff that would otherwise just sit and gather dust.

[Dave Fraser]

4 hours ago, BunkhouseBuster said:

I have never, nor will I ever, sell a model that I have finished painting.  I have sold off some models with base coats, but once I get that final touch and basing done, it's staying in my collection from then on.  Something for my kids to inherit

I used to be this way, particularly because my aim was to collect all 16 armies that existed in WFB, bur now the clearly delineated armies don't exist I've ditched that and therefore I'm now no longer tied to those old models that sit in boxes and never even see the light of day.

 

The way I have offloaded stuff is:

1. Check with locals - avoids postage concerns so even at a slight discount it's usually still a good deal for ease of transaction.

2. Facebook groups - Particularly for oldhammer stuff there is a very sensible trading group there where I've offloaded older figs without excessive hassle & ridiculous offers you sometimes get from people trying to underpay. 

3. Shout out on Twitter to see if anyone there is interested.  As I've been active on the UK tournament scene (less so these days) I'm followed by a lot of local UK people that makes for simple enough transactions as I generally know them or people that know them to help vouch for their legitimacy as a buyer.

4. I've used ebay once or twice and had an issue every time so have basically given up using it.

5. sale section of this forum.  I've bought off it but not sold (yet).

[RuneBrush]

Nice topic and funnily something I need to start looking at, not just because I've some bits to do this to, but I've just inherited a venerable mountain of GW models from a friend who passed away last week (I seriously think I could open up a GW store with the models).

[Auretious Taak]

6 hours ago, BunkhouseBuster said:

I have never, nor will I ever, sell a model that I have finished painting.  I have sold off some models with base coats, but once I get that final touch and basing done, it's staying in my collection from then on.  Something for my kids to inherit

I also won't part with anything I've done conversion work on.  Only things that I can easily replace should I regret getting rid of them.

I don't repaint my models either.

I still have my original termagants and genestealers from when I was a kid - one of the termagants has white goggles on, because reasons.
 

[Nubgan]

13 hours ago, Countmoore said:

Element games runs about three warboot events a year. I’ve done very well shifting old projects on and picked up a few bargains along the way. They have a Facebook group and he next one will Be end of Jan I think. 

This sounds like a fantastic idea, might have to find out about this!

Recently I took a look at what I had and decided to sell/trade my demons. Like most of you I have a lot and I would keep them all, but I felt like I had no attachment to them, they were a go between project at the time and the couple of games I did try to have with them they didn't click so I thought I might aswell get rid.

I did buy quite a bit from ebay back when I started again, but recently I enjoy the building too much to want to do this unless I am trading models for models, I would rather spend the money on new bits. Space is becoming an issue though, no room under my desk, the dining room table and under 2 beds are full, RUNNING OUT OF NOOKS!

[BluesPixie]

As somebody who lost their entire original collection of 80s/90s models/books etc. through gifting, selling and attrition, Please take my advice... Don't do it!! Unless you need the money to feed children or placate a spouse, you will live to regret it one day ? 

[Twitch of Izalith]

I can't get rid of anything. At the moment I am even struggling to take some of my warhammer fantasy armies off my shelves and put them in storage trays to make way for my AoS armies which are getting bigger and getting used more often.

I still play warhammer fantasy and I still love the models - even though some of them are not great by today's standards -  particularly some of the first plastics they made! I have also kept all my rulebooks and army books, all the hundreds of cards for 4th ed fantasy and 2nd ed 40k - pretty  much everything except old copies of White Dwarf.

My rulebooks for 2nd ed Epic  (or Space Marine) + my warmaster and mordheim books and minis went missing when I moved house one time. I'm still pissed off about it 10 years later 

 

[RuneBrush]

4 minutes ago, Twitch of Izalith said:

I have also kept all my rulebooks and army books, all the hundreds of cards for 4th ed fantasy and 2nd ed 40k - pretty  much everything except old copies of White Dwarf.

I'm guilty of keeping everything like this - at one point I had most of the promotional posters that used to come with White Dwarf and still have every issue I've owned back to 92/93   Think I'm missing maybe one or two.

[VBS]

2 hours ago, BluesPixie said:

As somebody who lost their entire original collection of 80s/90s models/books etc. through gifting, selling and attrition, Please take my advice... Don't do it!! Unless you need the money to feed children or placate a spouse, you will live to regret it one day ? 

Totally agree. I'll never sell minis again unless there is a risk of ending under a bridge or being diagnosed with Miniature-Diogenese-syndrome. The hobby is quite unpredictable and filled with nostalgia, and you never know where you'll be in a couple of years. 

When you no longer have your old bretonnian army:

[Menkeroth]

I pity those who gets rid of those minis they won't play anymore rather than don't like. It's not  a hobby, it's a kind of people for whom they are chess on the table, plastic tokens, but not minis you like and put your soul in. In the modelling hobby there is only one way - to buy what you like. I keep everything I've bought because it's what I adore, and I buy my friends also those minis I like too. In this regard historicals, especially giants like Italery or Dragon, have the huge upperhand - they have no such people who buys only to play and than throw away as the currents change, because for those people it's the only way possible - to buy whatever you fancy, paint and display - like a Tiger squadron or Swiss mercenaries battalion. We could learn much from them.

[Nick in York]

I've sold on ebay and donated some to charity. I run a bookshop for a large international charity and have donated back issues of White Dwarf and some older army books etc. We've also started using my knowledge to sell donated miniatures online.