Snouts down, ready..... go

[three little pigs]

I think I'm up for a challenge like this, well actually my wife and I had already decided that my ebay spending would have to come out of ebay earnings so this is my goal so to speak but I will put a dollar amount on it.

Actually I have only had an ebay account for 4 or 5 weeks so the spending hasn't been huge and it is just about all LOTR's stuff, a while back I had a look at the GW sight and actually liked some of the figs but not the price (surprise), the only way I could justify getting any is if I bought second hand and tried to finance it through painting. The goal was two fold get some LOTR fig's and coerce myself into painting and trying out new things and getting better, and well, this challenge fits in perfectly.

My first figure for the challenge is my first effort at producing a saleable piece bought specifically for this task, nice timing, check my WSS French Marshals WIP for details.

OK my rules will be pretty simple start with a tenner aim for a 1/2 ton.
Deductables will be selling fees and postage etc.
Earnings will be profit on investment
Costs will be the miniatures and any basing material or painting materials I buy over what I already have in the house.

costs after postage $8.56 for a Front Rank Tallard and Villars and two horses.

I'm nearly bust so better get painting and selling.

[Noddwyr]

Theres getting to be quite a lot of these now. Goodluck.

[Jester 666]

I recently bought a High Elf Mage from GW's Island of Blood for £1.99 + 99p postage on Ebay and sold him for £52 once he had been painted. So pretty close to the half a tonne mark. So I would say it's more that do-able.

Good luck three little pigs.

[Cubster]

Top tips -

1) Use good, clear photos with a neutral background.
2) List the auction to finish on Sunday evenning - it's the best time to catch people browsing eBay and it'll be on the first page.
3) Take time to give quotes for plenty of postage options - people are inherently lazy and more will prefer to bid on something with clear costs rather than bothering to ask.
4) Start the bidding low. It's a risk, but statistically speaking, more people are likely to get caught up in the bidding and will eventually spend more than they would if the starting bid was higher. It also encourages more watchers, which means more potential late bidders.
5) Answer questions quickly and bend over backwards to please your customer. It really is a buyer's market and exceptional customer service pays dividends.

Good luck! If these help then raise a beer to me when you're rolling in gold.

[NeatPete]

I'd reccomend a CMON credit for advertising as well. Good luck!

[Jester 666]

I agree with NeatPete

I did an expiriment with 2 fairly identical painted minis a while back. Both for sale on Ebay at different times. One had only the listing itself in the way of promotion and got 103 views and 8 watchers. The other was linked to CMON which cost 1 credit and got a grand total of 2351 views and 19 watchers.

The CMON promoted won sold for over twice as much.

Pretty good all round really

[three little pigs]

Plenty of food for thought guys thanks for your input.

As far as cmon credits (I dont know what these are yet but I'm taking an educated guess) are concerned I'm not sure if their applicable/worth-while with historical miniatures, lets face it they tend to get some what ignored on these painting forums, it's not a complaint or whine, just a fact. I'm sort of kicking myself that I chose
wss figures, Napoleonics are much more saleable in the Historical section fetching quite reasonable prices I noticed for well painted figures.

I have a nice Lotr piece that cost me 99 shiny new pence which I will add to the list next and I'm sure that will be worth using the cmon credit with.