Miniature collecting is a large hobby with millions of enthusiasts. Despite this, selling your minis can often be a frustrating and fruitless endeavor. Partially this is because the value of most miniatures change rapidly and often without notice. But, primarily, this is because the hobby is highly fractured and few enthusiasts have interest in more than one or two types of miniatures. When selling miniatures on eBay, you must take all of this into account to successfully profit off your endeavor. The following tips will help improve your eBay sales of collectible minis.
Details, Details, Details – Since each subsection of the miniature market is rather unique, it is critical that you know your product well and understand the needs of your particular market. For example, for 40K miniatures, whether or not the miniature is pre-painted is a very important detail, but for D&D miniatures, the buyer knows it is pre-painted and will be much more interested in whether the associated card is included in the auction. Specify key details in the title of the auction if there is room and enumerate every detail of the miniature in the full text of the auction. Too much information is never a bad thing in this situation.
Pictures – When selling miniatures as singles, taking a picture is simple. Take a single picture from close up, showing the best side of the miniature. A second picture gains you almost nothing and is not worth the cost. Bulk sales are different, though. For bulk sales, take a picture that shows all of the miniatures at once, preferably in a good looking order or formation. Then take additional pictures of any rare or particularly good looking miniatures. You will need to pay for the picture pack, but any bulk auction should earn enough that this will pay for itself.
Bulk Auctions – As noted above, knowledge of the hobby is critical when selling on eBay. This is especially true when creating bulk auctions. When you are selling multiple miniatures, you will maximize your profit by selling them in sets that interest the buyers. This is different for each type of miniature and often will depend on whether you are trying to sell to a pure collector or someone who intends to use the miniature for playing a game. For example, if you are trying to sell to a Hordes game player, you will want to sell unpainted miniatures of the same faction, but if you are trying to sell to a collector, painted miniatures that are thematically similar in creature type is better. Always choose your target audience when creating bulk auctions, rather than just randomly throwing miniatures together.
Packaging and Shipping – When shipping miniatures, it is critical to have good packing supplies. Bubble wrap is the best choice, but Styrofoam peanuts are good as well. You can buy these things at an office supply store, but if you want to save money, simply recycle them from packages you have received. Once you have gotten proper packaging, you will need to ship the miniatures. Unless the miniatures are made of metal, you can probably ship your miniatures for less than the cost of any of the flat rate priority options from USPS. Single miniatures should ship for about $4-$5, while small bulk orders will cost around $8-$10. Large bulk orders should probably be shipped using flat rate boxes, but this probably won’t be necessary for orders smaller than 40 or so miniatures.
