How Much is a 40k Army Worth? eBay $1 Starting Bid 

I would say them having 0 feedback on their ebay account really hurt the total price.

Jay and Nick: "This was a terrible idea!" Everyone: "Do it again"

My Dad was a commission painter, and once he tried the £1 strategy with a block of 40 black orcs. They sold for £1

I remember a while back when I sold a display model on ebay and I made less than the model was worth unpainted 🙃

Nicks screen presence is really great this vid, nothing against solo Jay (Jay is great) but I’d like to see both of you on screen together more.

This honestly was one of the most fun videos you have posted for a while, great job! I think you could make a series of it and try to learn from earlier attempts to eventually make BANK! :D

Fun video I enjoyed this. Shame on the final price. As a full time eBay re seller specialising in Warhammer my 2 best tips to any eBay sellers would be 1. NEVER do auction. You give yourself a 7 day window to find the right buyer. There's a very good chance the right buyer won't see your listing at all. Put it by now for a price you'd be happy with and wait it out. 2. Feedback makes a big difference to finding a buyer who will trust you enough to spend big, and it also helps your listing more visible with the eBay algorithm

Nick’s profiency with 3D and photography is really impressive

What a bargain! $350 USD for a painted box set, I would of been over the moon if I got that.

Really fun video. You should totally do a series painting Kill teams for profit. You’ll get the same amount of content from a smaller cost and time investment, you’re most passionate about Kill Team anyway, and you can knock out a huge variety of teams for our enjoyment

My thoughts: If you're not selling an ENTIRE 2000pt list (and more) of an army, it probably hurts the models to be a non-traditional color scheme. I mean, if I wanted to purchase a pre-painted army and cared how good it looked, I'd also NOT want to have to paint match to an off-the-wall color scheme. If you do this again in the future, try an already existing (and maybe even popular!) color scheme.

I think instead of working with a starter box if you curated a popular army and made it battle ready (1500-2000 points) then you would have more luck.

Just when you think throwing stuff at least once per vid is Jay’s signature move, he doesn’t do it, completely subverting your expectations! A true artiste!

I think it would have sold higher if it was a more popular army.

I don't want to spoilt the ending of this video but....ouch. Please know that at least you boys thoroughly entertained us. What would also be fascinating is to do this again, but posting as yourselves, and announcing the army for sale on this channel and other social media first, to compare the effect social media has on sales like this.

The real funny part is that now that they know EOB painted it, who ever bought it will probably be able to sell it for $800 lol

Ive been in a lot of rough times and ive sold lots of 40k on ebay. And i learned that “armies” or “sets” always yield less money than individual units. I only list armies or sets when im too lazy to list every individual units separately.

I don't know but suspect people who buy painted units either might want to include them in their already (self?)painted army or will buy several different painted units over time to build their own army - so going with an official scheme might help.

Nick's asides-to-camera game is really on point. Nice Squats, Jay. The hazard stripes on the guns are really neat. And I really like the robot-head option for the Squats. Maybe the next time, with this successful sale and a good review, you'll get more next time. Of course, we'll all be adding "Painters R Us" to our watchlist in the hope of picking up a sweet, sweet deal.

It’s such a shock that that no one sniped at the end…$360 would still be a killer deal for a buyer

I don't even play warhammer but I really enjoyed the building process and tension during the bidding. The amount of work done for this video is also way more than other youtubers who simply vlog their daily meals. Nice job both!

I think it's a credit to you and other youtubers for teaching the community how to paint, there are more good painters out there so it drives prices down :P. The army looked great anyways though, so you can have that pride.

Y'all really leveled up your video production game here, this video was fantastic - great work Nick and Jay!

I think if this became a series, that’d be fun. Plus as mentioned, maybe having more reviews and feedback on your eBay will get you better sales. Thumbs up for the video

Oh I love those hazard stripes on the bolters!

I agree with many others, that it would be more profitable if it was a more popular army. Also a factor that I've noticed really makes a difference in an items final price (that you didnt really factor in/mention) was what day and time of day the final hour of the auction lands on. Try to aim the end of the auction for mid day on a saturday or sunday (Which usually means placing it the previous week at exactly the time you want it to end for 7 day auctions, obviously). Many people only even see items with a few hours left (Impulse buy) and you will have the largest amount of eyes scanning the "warhammer" keyword and auctions ending soon. Just as a buyer I have got some seriously good deals on items that I know for certain if the auction wasn't ending in the middle of the night or an odd time in the morning, that I'd have had at least a few other opportunistic bidders to fight with.

OMG @eonsofbattle I saw this army, I was going to bid on it but shipping turned me off being in Aus- so many Regrets .... :(

I hope you guys do another, loved the video

I loved this video!!!! So good to see Nick, seriously your production value in your videos has skyrocketed! So glad to see both of you bringing your passion and art form into this channel. 🎉

This was insanely fun! So much good editing and jokes!!! awesome video quality guys! Thank you so much! Please do this again!

The GW shop has several guys and girls doing project work on consignment, building is classed as one project and painting the other, but you have to supply the boxed items they don’t purchase them, they have battle ready, options for painting and three different subtypes, installation of magnets are a separate project, also if you have a specific colour scheme you can put that in the project deliverables. I had two students at university I coached who did this as a team together one did the building the other did the painting. They also did tutorials on painting and playing games like a PT coach, I think now they are 4 people (partners) who also run games nights and weekends sessions.

I dont know if you guys hired a new editor or just decided to crank it up a notch but this video was excellent. Keep doing this. Nick being back on the camera was cool too!

Nearly 20 years ago, I bought two Imperial Guard Steel Legion squads on eBay, which were fabulously well painted. The price was ridiculously low (~$35), given their quality. I got really lucky. I turned around and sold two of my own unpainted (but primed) Steel Legion squads, and made my money back and then some. Goes to show that people are not getting value for their painted models.

I love your videos and Jays narration is always awesome you can tell he really loves minis ❤I really do love the fact you both were in this one a fair amount. As well as Jay and his bro have a friendship that translates well to the audience. Great work gentleman. May you battle many more Eons! ❤

Well Jay, i have zero regrets to this day grabbing your incredibly painted Deathwatch army, and feel i got a great deal for it. If that makes you feel any better

Dang. Really thought that was gonna go for more than 350. Maybe because you started low it gave the impression you had little worth for the work you did. If that makes sense. I thought up did a bang up job! It was nice to see more of Nick! Fantastic work as always!! Thanks gents!!!

This was one of the best videos, edits and right amount of comedy. Love it. Nice work.

Maybe it didn´t go as good as you expected, but damn if this video was a lot of fun to watch, good job you two guys!!

Awesome video! Very well edited, excellent pacing. Seeing you work for specific goal makes deeply engaging. Even the sponsor part was fun. Definitely would like to see more of this kind.

Excellent video guys!! Seeing the live range of emotions with the auction at the end was a great watch

Oh man the random $4,000 setup "gangsta life" cut was incredible. Spit my coffee out laughing so hard.

Great video fellas! Super fun to watch. And I agree with many of the comments saying was good to see more of Nick. With Jay as the artist and Nick as the tech guru you guys make a great dynamic duo!

Awesome video guys. Sorry it didn't sell for more. Loads of fun to watch you guys do such a great job in such a short time.

What an excellent video! The concept and the tone were super fun! I'd love to see you guys try again with a different approach to the ebay side.

I loved this video. I can tell you put a lot of time into it. The paint job was great also. I think people might have a hard time spending a lot on a color scheme they didn’t pick. If it was done in the Margie W color scheme, I bet it would’ve sold for more. Great army great video thanks!

What an cool experiment! I have just listed my og 1989 Hero Quest that I’d painted up and I didn’t know what to price it at! I asked in a fb group and I got a lot of compliments about my painting from total strangers so I’m hopeful! 🤞😊🤞

I really liked this video!!! Was really interesting to see the whole thing from start to finish!!!!

I actually buy and sell armies as a sort of hobby / slide hustle. The basic graph of how I sell models online. NIB Army = 15-25% off MSRP Built but not painted = 40-50% off MSRP Painted badly = 55-65% off MSRP Painted decent = 50% off MSRP Painted God Tier= +20 to 25% MSRP Heres the kickers. 1. A paint style the buyer cant replicate themselves might as well be painted badly because the buyer needs to be able to add models to their army that look similar so if youre going to sell a whole army it better be 2000 points and competitive so they dont have to paint and add new modesl that look worse than the ones you made. 2. Buying a whole army is a huge investment and like people who buy anything custom it needs to be perfect for them OR be an insane deal. 3. Armies are a point of pride for most players and it becomes irksome when you constantly get complimented on a paint job you didnt do 4. The one that gets a lot of people. The cost of buying a god tier painted model and commissioning your own custom painted god tier model is virtually the same. So why would I buy an army painted god tier when for the same price I can commission my own completely custom army. Lastly the world is in a recession and I assumed this was shot probably over the course of Oct? Which means recession + holidays coming up = bad time for warhammer resellers. The one dollar starting bid thing isssssss finnnne risky but fine. It was a much better idea for content because starting at 1$ you at least have a guarantee SOMEONE will buy it, but if you listed at 500$ theres a chance no one would buy it and the video wouldve kind of had a ....weird ending. PS: In case you want to do it yourself its a fun hobby. Warhammer armies are cumbersome so if you find one at a garage sale or swap meet you can usually get a really good deal just for them to not have to lug it back to the house. The best deal Ive had so far is 2k+ points of Eldar for 120 USD (Sold to a friend for 140$) and 3k points of Primaris for 150$ (I split it out and sold it online) If you get a good deal give a good deal. Recently, once I break even on a lot. I give away 500 point armies to new players trying to get into the game for free the only catch is they have to play at least 3 games. My philosophy is if you can play 3 games for new players thats basically 12 hours of game time and by that time youre pretty invested.(Now that I write this I think I may basically be a warhammer drug dealer) I also just sell to my friends for whatever I bought the models for. I dont make a ton of money, but my friends arent the SIGMA MALE GRINDSET HUSTLER😏 that I am so they have a tougher time finding and getting the good deals. It loses profit but as long as I break even. I essentially get models I want for free and my friends get cheap models.

This was super fun. Always like seeing both of you in vids

LOL you may have not made the bank you were hoping but its one of the best vids you’ve done in my opinion. The auction countdown at the end was surprisingly entertaining. Also as a film guy I wanted to suggest that if you have the camera with the optics and good lighting. You can achieve full focus by closing your aperture and widening your Depth of field. Specially if you’re on a tripod. That being said stacking images is a good option too specially for someone working from a phone. You’re stuff is growing on my all the time thanks for the hard work!

Used to sell Bolt Action armies on E-bay on a regular basis. Pricing for me was $5 (USD) per fig for man size (7 for cav and 10 for larger figs) Vehicles like tanks were $20. Added in the retail cost of the army, and then shipping and e-bay costs. Sold at that price on a regular basis but stopped doing it years ago. Never claim Pro Painter, most who do ARE NOT. I used to claim above average wargaming standards. Problem these days are kit costs have doubled and gotten silly. Take flames of war for instance, tanks are average at $10 for kit cost unless you get starter kits. Add in cost of decals and another $10 per vehicle for assembly, painting, decaling, and dusting and sealing. That is $20 a tank or $100 for 5, have a hard time getting people to want to pay that for 5 little tanks, but it costs me 50 alone to buy them.

I never comment on youtube but this was probably your most interesting video since the creation of your channel. Thank you for posting this.

Just re-watched it. Ending the auction on a Friday in between 4-5pm works better. You get a lot of peeps who can't resist goofing off at work on Ebay at that precise moment. OR, if you end it on Sunday before 5pm is good too. You don't want the Snipers occupied with their favorite TV show or making dinner.

I could feel the excitement as you watched the auction finish - feel bad on your sale price but........... makes for a good video - especially the painting bits!!

i thank that becouse of the squat nerf this sold for much less than it should have but this was a great video, hope it blows up and makes up for the ebay sale

Really excellent editing, humor, and approach. Outstanding video! I wonder if you did the same idea with a different army? Maybe like Tyrs or Harlequins or whatever the current meta has on top?

The recast ones sure do. A magnetised custodes army can sell for 2-3times as much it costed to make. And that is including the cost of the printer, but not counting "work hours" .

Very nice work on painting and photography. I would value the force at $700 for sure. As was mentioned, the 0 feedback likely was making folks a little hesitant to bid.

that was a good video. I'm shocked but not surprised at the outcome. good job fellas!

This is pure serendipity, it’s sorta an examination of warhammer army worth, but it really is an examination of how to flip warhammer on eBay

Best idea so far for a series, you can do better, smaller army’s or just HQs

love this kind of videos you guys working together for a project I would love to see more

Did I just see a Fake Business mug in an Eons of Battle video? Goddamnit do i love it!

This video was pretty funny! Love when you both are in the videos.

Realy cool looking army!! Awsome paintjob! Love the cartoonish look

Every time Jay says "my squats" I can see his brain going "don't fall in love, don't fall in love"

If you want to earn money with (well) painted armies, just make sure to reach the biggest audience possible: 1. Choose a very popular army. And by popular I mean one that sells to high prices and fast in used or new conditions. 2. Choose a very popular paint scheme. Now this can be a bit tricky. But you can also approach the other way around: Avoid unpopular paint schemes. And use paint schemes that are very attractive for the eye. Best would be probably staying close to GW Box cover. 3. Simple, but eye catching and creative basing. That might even be the one thing that makes the army more unique from similar paint schemes. 3. Take good pictures. Image stacking helps a lot. Show the (hopefully well painted) faces of the most outstanding minis. 4. Write a lot of text how you did the painting and basing. Give it a(n emotional) background and maybe a tiny bit of lore. 5. !!! Give the buyer the option to get more models in the same style !!! Just imagine you would like buy an army for 800$ but you desperately want to have the one extra character who is not included. Do you still buy it or not? Well, chances are, if the painter gives you the option to purchase more minis in the exact same style, you'll more likely bid on the army. Also, this is a win-win, because someone who is willing to spent a lot of money on a painted army is most likely willing to spent more on some extra work. And because you, the painter, already know how to paint this particular style, will have an easy way to earn extra cash without too much effort. If I forgot anything, please add below. No one should work for one dollar an hour because of bad ebay sales. :D

Nice to see Nick honestly. I started this channel when you guys were together pretty often on screen so this feels right. No offense Jay! I love the "Jay's Big Comfty Couch" show lol

That sounds about right for resale... this just says more about ebay than anything else. You usually get ~30% market value on any item in pawn, garage sale, ebay whatever - unless you bought gold/silver or collectables that appreciated.

Love to see the Fake Business mug!! The Pig would be proud.

This was a great video! Hell ya! It was funny and awesome and it was nice to see an ebayer get a bad ass army set from you guys.

I like the DRG error cube at the foot of the first dwarf you painted. R&S!

I'd bet you'd get more bids painting them the same color scheme as the box. GW spends a lot of time and money researching default colors that will sell models, so why let that work go to waste if you are just gonna sell?

First time seeing you but DANG, I gotta subscribe

I approve of the message this video, but for an all new account I recommend that you sell a few items at a reasonable price to get in a few good reviews. That will help you get a better price down the line.

In the past I've sold some armies on ebay, unpainted I think the highest price I got for one was around £600 (there was a good amount of stuff in there) I was thinking about selling my T'au army recently and had a look on ebay and noticed that a lot of armies aren't going for too much anymore, even well painted ones seem to be struggling; there is a cost of living crisis going on so it's interesting to see how that is having an impact upon the hobby.

I feel like putting a poster boy army up as the nobody account and one as the eob account and seeing how they do against each other would be an interesting video

I sold about $80k worth of 40k on Ebay in 2020. There's a definite hierarchy of how much a model with get with unpainted-on-sprue getting the most to painted at the bottom. Painted minis have to be REALLY good to recoup your money (and have good pictures, end on 5pm Friday or Sunday...) there's a real formula to getting the highest price.

Those were beautiful models. Thanks for the video. I have bought and sold Warhammer stuff on eBay and I never seem to make bank. Usually you break even before EBay charges you.😂

This is awesome. Makes me want to get back into 40k

Really enjoyed the video! Would love to see you do this again but with Space Marines. I think you might come closer to the profit you were looking for. Maybe Ultra Marines, Blood or Dark Angels. One of the more popular Space Marine factions. Think it might up your odds and would be fun to watch!

I think that also the main reason why the set sold for so low is that while the minis looked good, it was still a simple easy to replicate paint job. Besides the OSL there wasnt anything your average pleb painter (as miniac calls us) couldn’t do, and it wasnt what i would call “original” colors, i think it would have been better to just pick a color scheme from the codex or something and add some flavor to that.At the end of the day it was just a zenithal highlight with contrast paints(i know army painter doesnt call them that but you guys know what i mean). The guys with deep pockets that get their stuff commission painted expect more than that.

I think a problem was that it wasn't posted on a Sunday evening. Sundays are THE day to browse eBay as your mind wanders into existential dread from ever creeping workweek that's about to set in.

1) new account with 0 feedback 2) suspiciously good pictures 3) unorthodox paint scheme

Great video. I hope this becomes a series.

Love the back and forth in this video

The quality of your videos is constantly improving 😁

Haha, this has been one of your best videos yet guys, very good

I honestly thought the battle barge thing was a joke until about half way through the "ad" when I was thinking "there's a lot of production value for this joke" 😂

I was looking at that cruise thinking "they don't really hit any ports", and my boyfriend said "why would you care about the ports when you're on a gaming cruise?" True dat.

Ohh, my first video of yours. Great hosts!

Y’all turned up the comedy to 11 on this one. Well done, I laughed WAY too hard the whole video 😂

I’m not good enough yet for my painting to “add value” but I feel like if you just love painting and are good at it, it’s really not a bad side hustle. Doing what you love and you get paid. Obviously there’s probably ways to improve your profits like putting it up for higher or doing more ‘main stream’ factions. But it’s an insightful video

This was so entertaining to watch, do anotherone!

Thanks for making this into one video. It was an epic and fun journey. I wish you guys had some so much better.

I was going to put this on in the background but it was so entertaining I just ended up sitting there.

Hey jay! Awesome work!! Can i please ask where those cubes from the bases are from?

Good for you that you have got some profit. The absolute majority was sold with a great discont, about 50%. Do not forget about shipping and comissions.

Part of the problem is no feedback. Part of the problem is it has to appeal to the right buyer. I think those eBay sales are traps or going to end up a loss. The only people making money doing this are doing commissions where the buyer has specified what they’re looking for. Maybe some one with social media clout can get a little better than this test, but it still comes down to “do I want my army looking this way”. Especially consider when it’s not a 2k army being sold so they have to replicate or commission someone to replicate it on other models

Well... Even though you guys both got super screwed, that was probably my favorite video or yours. - I really like the Nick & Jay Show. - the editing was hilarious and amazing! - as someone who wants to sell minis it was rather insightful. - the end was tragic... But tragedy + time = comedy...? throughout the video I was thinking, it would be cool to sell multiple armies or models to see if there was a pattern because one sale could have been a fluke, but at the end of the video is not really worth going through that again. Thank you both for your hard work and giving us goblins entertainment.