Idk how you find these deals on Ebay. Whenever I look there isn't much difference in price vs MSRP. I looked for several weeks, got burned on a few singles I bought trying to put together an ultramarine army. I gave up after buying about 5 or 600 points for top much money along with a box set that included models I'll never field or paint. Gw had just priced me out of the hobby.
I just got a lot of a bunch of really old space marines. There were like 20 second/third edition marines, some of the really old terminators from the original space hulk, and probably the first or second ever sculpt for mark 2 armor from rogue trader. It was really cool and I’m going to start getting into Horus heresy with it.
Same here. I recently got like 25 tactical marines from a used miniatures site I frequent, for something like $35. They were a mix of 2nd/3rd edition, and some Dark Angels models from the Dark Vengeance box. Combine this with five Terminators for a little over $20, and I've got the potential for a ~1000pt army. (Also, a DV Dark Angels Captain and a Dark Angels Librarian). I'm planning on painting them as a non-Chaos Fallen army. Though the cold weather has slowed down my ability to prime them.
Love to know which E-bay you use. When I see AOS or 40k models on sale the price difference is marginally less than the GW price and people are breaking up units, like say the Primaris sets in the Indomitus box and charging as if they were a cheap version of the box set. But here is the thing, not only is the exchange rate inferior from an Australian point of view, I pay a conversion rate and no one delivers to Australia for free. By comparison, anything ordered from E-bay is going to cost me 10% more minimum than the GW retail here. And you can't accrue models into a single delivery pack because, different sellers. So that is multiple delivery fees around $30 Australian.
That's one of the key reasons I haven't tried eBay so far for my hobby purchases. Australian markup is a real issue. Same for some of the other game companies like Asmodee or Catalyst - they ship less frequently to my local game store, but they cost almost half again what the base mini is worth in shipping... or worse.
I'm in the UK and when I buy from Ebay I always tick the UK only and free shipping tabs, plus I choose buy now not auction options. For myself I find it's better and cuts out all the silly prices, some people do ask stupid prices for single figures or unboxed sets. Also Game ( dont know if that is only in the UK) are now selling warhammer stuff as well as citadel paints.
I just got into warhammer and picked up all but one box through ebay. I spent about £150 on total for 1000 or so points and paid about 50% retail on average with some as low as 30%. I could not afford this hobby without ebay. If you're prepared to click into the new listings regularly and have patience you an catch some amazing deals.
As a canadian have to be a bit choosier on Ebay. A lot of times shipping from the states would gobble up any savings. Frequently cheaper to ship from europe even...
Unfortunately over the past few months ebay has been cracking down on model sales. As a reseller I've had countless legitimate 2nd hand sales pulled from the site as "counterfeit". If other sellers are experiencing the same thing it just means less competition and higher prices for the consumer on the 2nd hand market.
Maybe worth mentioning, that as you did, it is also a great way to support painters, too! Not as savings, maybe... But for people who are into playing and not painting. And as it happened to me, some of the people who contacted about the listings, can end up being future (off-site) commissions!
I've been buying my 40k minis from eBay for a while now. Since before I knew you're YT channel existed. Great video and even better advice. That army looks awesome!
There is a few good sellers that break apart the start collecting, combat patrols and big boxes. Easy 40-60% depending on the item demand. If you spend the weeks bidding on the low items you can come out with a decent army for pretty cheap. $18-20 squads and vehicles, new on sprue. Most will offer a massive discount on shipping. Pay to ship one at full shipping rate and each additional set is 1$.
The models look amazing, Casey! Ebay in the States sounds really good. Unfortunately in Canada, although you might find some good prices, the shipping costs absolutely destroy any savings on most auctions :(
AGREED. I'm a hobbyist with kitbashing and conversions in mind (3200pts Wulfen-cursed Redmaw Company) And i LOVE ebay. I frequently get asked by other players how i keep my costs so low. Biggest tip is to buy sprues, blind bags and bits collections, then keep them organized for later. I'm regularly doing characters for less than 15 dollars altogether.
I got back into the hobby around 3 years ago & I've bought at least 50% of my collection from ebay, probably more tbh. The rest is from my FLGS which has fantastic prices. Only bought couple of things direct from GW that are only available from their website.
Great video as always, quite a few stormcast there for me to collect and paint, thanks for the tips, I dont play just paint so most of my minis are from Ebay. I buy and dont even think of the names, watching this video showed me I had a couple from the stormcast dominion, must say I like the eternals more than the space marines ( need a few of those too). Keep up the great work.
Picking sets up on eBay is such a good way to go. Recently picked myself up a few, and now I just need to clear through my painting table and make room for them.
My dad had built an entire skaven Skryre with one of each old metal model (at least) filled out with kitbashed rats to fill out jezails etc. He would purposely keep track how much he bought on ebay and buy a percentage at the local game store, since its the only one within about 3 hours with the selection it had.
I find, at least here in Canada, is that more often than not any savings on price are more than offset by extremely high shipping costs, even from ebayers who are also selling in Canada. Not sure if it is like that everywhere else but it is not uncommon to see a shipping quote of like $30 on a bit listed for $5. (Not always but often) Personally, I have had way more luck buying used minis via local buy/sell or classified like FB marketplace.
this is so pretty. i want to get into AOS and am looking into the Deepkin. they look tough to paint. seeing models like stormcast make me wanna switch but i like that bug turtle too much!
I don't blame you, that turtle is really awesome! Skin is always an interesting thing to paint, but the deepkin aren't harder than anything else, just a different approach. Always get the models you think are cool, then figure out what works for you painting wise.
I have an amusing story to show how great Ebay is. When she came out, I wanted to preorder the Morvenn Vahl model because I had a really cool idea of mixing in pieces from a dominus and spare Imperial Knight bits for some kind of 'Head Sacristan' in my head. When it came to preordering though, I was late and figured it was all scalped to hell and back ass I did a walk of shame to Ebay. On Ebay, preorder boxes were going on for CHEAPER than on GW's website which left me dumbfounded. I think I got her for $40 when she costs $55; I purchased a preorder slot from a seller there, and had to do it again when they sadly weren't sent enough models and graciously gave me a full refund. Not to mention all the bits and singles sellers when it comes to finding pieces for just neat singulars or resources for a kitbash. Hell yeah, Ebay rocks.
That's a significant price difference! Problem is with me living in Cyprus, not sure if in the end, with the shipping and customs, it will probably end up the same price...
I'm on eBay A LOT for various hobbies. If I see a decent deal that I can snag, I regularly snatch it up and then sell it at what the going rate is which could be upwards of 20% extra. Sometimes people are selling NIB or on sprue stuff for like 30-40% of MSRP. If you can get stuff at those prices you can sometimes sell them at 70% of MSRP depending on the kits. Good way to make a few dollars each month.
Great project - Things have improved since the days when GW had no website, and the ‘Beanies and other toys’ section of eBay had a page and a half of miniatures in total
With some serious patience, and good timing, I've definitely found ebay to be of great use to me, for this hobby. I'm still waiting for a few packages to show up, but what has already, are all crazy good deals (I've also been buying through Facebook's marketplace, and have had insanely good deals there, as well.)! Been working on my Death Guard, for example, and just got a NOS Typhus, and 30x built-but-unpainted Poxwalkers, for just a hair over what Typhus retails for all by himself. Plus a NIB Mortarion for $100, killer deals on Chaos Marines and zerkers, etc., etc.
I've had tons of luck supplementing my start collecting box with ebay stuff. From bits to boxed sets, its all there and reasonably affordable. Great video!
I wanted more man skewer bolt boys for my kruleboyz army, but they're $45 for 3. I looked and the WHOLE dominion set was going for around $110-115 with shipping. I just sold yndrasta, the book, and a few characters, and ended up with about half the box for free.
eBay has become a barren landscape ever since Covid hit. As someone who likes to kitbash and purchase individual bits it's rough as they have become a lot more scarce and expensive. And since post Brexit there hasn't been a new shipping deal between the UK and the US, prices have doubled trying to get stuff to the US. Now the prices on regular kits and boxes are still great, but that's not what I've typically been purchasing off eBay these last 8 years
I agree that it’s gotten worse, especially because of Brexit. I used to get models from the UK all the time! Not so much anymore. I have seen lots of great stuff in the US though, almost everything I’ve purchased in the last 3 years has all been on eBay. That being said I do agree that it used to be a lot better overall.
@@eBayMiniatureRescues it's just hit and miss, still the odd bargain. I just picked up 12 boltboyz, 30 gutrippers and 1 of each of the dominion characters for £65. Typically you pay £35-40 for the kruelboyz half, so this was a great deal because the boltboyz is the unit you want the most multiples of.
I actually agree. I managed to get my hands on a couple of strike teams with 5 kroots, 5 crisis suits, 3 gammerheads and 1 devilfish for probably 100 or more € less than what i would've payed for them brand new, and they were in pretty good conditions. Also i just ordered a bundle with a Railgun, 1 Riptide and 2 not yet open Fire warriors teams as well as cards for the game for about 110 €, but i dont have them yet, will update upon receiving it.
shops in my city dont have discounts lol youre lucky if youre ONLY paying a 25% price hike in the shops around here. i pretty much only get my stuff from online because of this. i stopped going to the local shops after an episode of trapped under plastic where scott and jon talked about the difference between a good shop and a bad one. the stores in my city checked every box on the bad side. i was even talking to my buddy who still goes every once and a while and he said both shops have completely stopped carrying reaper minis. extreme price hikes, terrible stock selection, unfriendly environments, you name it. theres even an unfriendly rivalry between the two shops in town, where they tried to do a collab tournament or something back in the day and both sides claim the other cheated. both shops offer 3d printing, but charge an insane amount for it. i went in and wanted to price some bigger bases. they wanted $10 a base! i spent $10 on amazon and got 5. i wish there was a better option, closest shop is a 2 hour drive to the next city. so until a better shop shows up, ill be buying online.
Ebay at one point was giving 20-30% off coupons. That along with the normal discount ebayers were offering off MSRP is how I got into Warhammer originally in 2018. A Mawcrusha, 3 weirdnob warbands, 4 SC Ironjaws for 300. That with the entire reaper master paint line up for another 220. Was a very good entry point to the hobby. I feel bad for anyone trying to get into Warhammer today. May as well just buy an SM8k you'll save yourself money in the long run.
I had won 3 auction on ebay for a total of 15 flayed ones for literally less then half what I would have payed anywhere else. It may have costed me a lot. But I'm happy I have them
I think an important part of the 2nd hand market is that it helps not punish you for investing into the hobby, you can choose to tell off what you have and not just be down the cost of buying into it.
After doing some scouring for bits and other full kits, I have found that you can sometimes find auctions for 'out of box' sets, where you just get the sprues without the box or inserts, for at least a few dollars cheaper than buying new. I got a set of Primaris Aggressors, sprues only, for $35 the other day. Again, no box, no instructions, just sprues and bases. Stuff I would just be throwing away anyway.
Hammerhead tanks have been impossible to find for a good price on ebay lately, as a tau player I love our new found power in this codex, but now the prices have hiked up as a result.
I love your videos, think it’s great what you do, and completely agree with most of the premise of the video. But it’s kind of incorrect to say you spent $350 USD on the army when you were gifted a Krondys(sic), the true cost would have been $350 plus the cost of that model which is on eBay for $127.50 so $477.50 in total. On another note, as you said it’s important to support brick and mortar stores, without them most people wouldn’t have a place to play. In my humble opinion, eBay’s great to get models to people who don’t have flgs to go get the models from, but I think the benefit of that is outweighed heavily by the harm them do to flgs in lost revenue. Just my 2 cents.
well speak for yourself in the US. Germany is a barren wasteland for Warhammer on Ebay. Only people that put their horrible painted Firstborn Space Marines army ("well painted") for almost the 20% prices you get at online LGS. For a hobbyist like me, there is once every two month an okay-ish deal to find. Better is Ebay Kleinanzeigen, which is local Ebay (people often mail the stuff). There sometimes you find some sprues for good prices. And brexit really screwed German Ebaying over, before Brexit you got some great deals, much better supply, even decent shipping. Now you have to pay 18€ for shipping + VAT.
You never know what you will find on ebay. I haven't been on eBay for years but before the end times actually before way before that brain fart of GW, I bought an Imperial War Altar 1st edition for $0.29+ 4 Shipping. Later was rereleased on GW for $45. Another time bought an Undead army which was over $500 value at the time for the price of Nagash, and he came included all for $33.75. Included was Arkhan, a Black Coach converted, Mannefred and lots of Zombies and Skeletons
I would agree, I use ebay way too much for hobby stuff. My pile of shame is ever growing, the rabbit holes you end up going down on ebay, the deals, the flippant bids....
This also works well for kitbash armies, for my skaven-gaurd army it costs less fkr a box of clanrats and lasgun/special weapons than buying 20 gaurdsmen (even before the price hike with new heads)
@ebayminiaturerescues Casey your a hidden Gem of RU-vid! I'm getting back into the hobby and am having a blast! i was curious if you have an airbrush how to video for the non-beginners possibly in the works. im having troubles with paint drying out too fast inside the airbrush and clogging the nozzle which then makes it so slow to use, let alone even get 50% done on a large model. any tips or tricks appreciated !
I've been painting minis since 2000; I must have painted several thousand minis (I can't even count them all) an have never set foot in a GW store. 80%-90% of my minis came from eBay, the rest from Amazon or FLGS.
Adding to the matter of buying used miniatures, a person looking to build an army should consider third party alternatives. Now I'm not talking about metal or resin models, nice though those can look, because whether they cost any less than GW is often a crapshoot. Sometimes they can be a bargain (like ResinWarfare's 3D printed Ravenous Hordes, which have much cheaper and nicer looking "Globadiers" than GW's metal Skaven ones), while other times it's breaking even or MORE costly. Generally, unless you love the aesthetic of the model range in question, you should reserve the resin or metal options for really important models, like heroes or monsters, where the savings are better and you get more value for your bucks. Rather, I'm referring to manufacturers that actually put out plastic minis on sprue, much like most of GW's fare. Except way, WAY cheaper, because you're not paying the "Official Model Tax" that GW gets away with because of their market dominance and monopoly on the Warhammer franchise. What armies you can successfully replicate varies. With the biggest options being found in the Cities of Sigmar (for AoS) and Imperial Guard (for 40K). Because you can tap into a wealth of historical miniatures lines, as well as certain other wargames (Oathmark has a bunch of kits for Elves and Dwarfs, as well as for Goblins). Undead are also often common in plastic, and any "Barbarian" style figures can fill out a Slaves To Darkness army. The "cheats" are honestly endless, if you're willing to embrace them, and they provide good stylistic alternatives to the standard GW models. Good companies to look into are Warlord Games, Wargames Atlantic, North Star Military Figures, Victrix Ltd., Fireforge Games, and Perry Miniatures.
This is a cool summery but what about trying to put together a more obscure army than Storm Cast. Theyve been apart of every starter box. What about a cool Cities of Sigmar army? Or beastmen. I dig the content!
I recently bought some stuff on ebay for about 20% cheaper than retail but they were already assembled and cleanly basecoated. All i have to do now is add a wash and a few highlights and Im done. Cheaper and quicker
Wish there was a better way to sell army lots. I put a couple of armies up on eBay as giant lots, 50% off MSRP, no bids. Don't want to deal with breaking it up into units though, and the taxes & eBay fees really hurt too
Just as a reference, this is probably a lot more relevant ouside of UK/Europe, where prices are far higher. I rarely find good deals on ebay unless they are parts of starter sets or outright crappy miniatures.
I always keep an eye on eBay for deals been slowly collecting witch hunter inquisitors and kitbashed an old lotr witch king into a weirdboy for my ork army for shits and giggles not to mention the money I saved on ebay buying the sisters of battle Christmas box compared to cost from gw
For already one year I have ONLY bought minis on Ebay. I have completed almost 3 armies por the price of less than one, and now I have much more minis than I'll ever mount/paint. Thanks, Ebay
I think a really good point you miss ( and I think it’s something great about your process ) in the pros of buying second hand or buying models people don’t want from start collecting boxes etc. is the fact that it is a more environmentally conscious alternative. The fact that you’re reusing and up-cycling rather than exclusively buying new models is saving plastic. Something to think about I guess and have wondered if you’ve ever thought about it from that perspective. Afterthought : I wonder whether GW would ever consider (not sure if it’s even possible) recycling the plastics in production. Could be a cool angle in the future we’re moving toward. Chris
IMO 2nd edition is the purest form of WH. Those gorgeous metal minis from the 90's are so satisfying to paint, and the weight of playing them on the table....that's where its at. GW should go back to metal! I bet there's more lucrative ways of doing it now, and they beat plastic hands down.
Do they really though? Like sure nostalgia is a thing but metal is just an objectively worse medium to cast minis in. Its heavier, more expensive, holds less detail, harder to build, easier to break, easier to chip paint off of, harder to design for, more limited in what can be designed. I've been in this hobby for 25 years and still have plenty of metal models I play with to this day but I've never, for a second, felt it was a superior medium to injection molded plastic. (Though I will say it is VASTLY superior to finecast)
@@ryancooper3629 Well I've only been involved for 23 years, but the metal minis I paint have loads of detail but like I said it's only my opinion. I like the imperfections and the handcrafted look compared the CAD, resin/plastic of today. I bet there's now a low cost, effective way of casting metal compared to previous methods of the 90's. I'm not hating on 9th edition, personally I feel less love and more cold, mass produced and slightly more expensive feel than the hobby used to have. I do enjoy some new stuff, I really like the Eldar updates but for me, nothing beats metal.
@@David_LoPan Casting metal is cheap actually and has always been cheap. Far cheaper than plastic. This is why small mini companies still lean on it whereas injection molded plastic is rare. (basically only big players). When it comes to metal the cost is the material itself and the vastly increased shipping costs because now your product is 5x heavier. This is why companies like GW switched to resin. Same molds, same casting process but a lighter cheaper material. The high initial cost of injection plastic molds is easily overcome with volume savings. I'd argue, more than anything, based on the above, is that your preference for metal actually isn't the metal but rather the difference in art style between then and now coupled with the organic feel of a hand sculpted mini. Which is totally reasonable and fair.
Might be going crazy, and I'm new to the hobby so maybe there's a reason for it, but... the GW website and box fronts say Vindictors, no A, yet you and many eBay sellers say Vindicators... would love to know if there's a story behind this!
Honestly I've done this so many times it's almost not funny lol. My actual guess is that the way GW naming conventions generally are and the readability of the font is the culprit. "Vindicators" sounds correct, but it's definitely not! Older Stormcast models on the other hand have names like "Retributors" "Judicators" "Sequitors" Etc. So it already feels natural to just say it that way. It's weird for sure lol
@@eBayMiniatureRescues thanks so much for replying. I honestly thought there must be some cool kids knowledge that I was missing because I'm a newb 🙈 thanks for all the time and effort you put into your videos, your passion for the hobby is inspiring.
I have to concur with the Australian folks down below me, eBay's prices on GW stuff are most of the time not terribly different than what you have to pay GW, most of the time, I find. It's one of the reasons I don't bother with GW minis on eBay terribly often, if at all.
To be fair Dominion is a bit of an extreme example as it was a pretty big disaster for sales. One of the only instances I have ever seen of GW significantly discounting the box on its own site because they had so many to get rid of
Ebay is great if you pick up key units & stuff in big boxes. However Facebook marketplace is where I get the real bargains. I got Dominion for £50 less than half of RRP. I also picked up the AoS first edition for peanuts along with a load of death guard. I've got hundreds of ministers but didn't pay close fo full price for anything. I can't being myself to pay GW prices anymore.
I know this is a bit controversial but I think recast models are pretty great. I definitely buy some GW stuff but its just way out of my price range to build a 2000 point army so getting recast models for like 1/4 the price is a god send for me.
*high five's ebay* Freaking love it, recently got 100 white synthetic brush's similar to the new citadel one's for £25 mixed sizes should last me forever :D Embrace the bargain hunter within!
These look great! I don’t have any Warhammer though I’ve browsed eBay. I get nervous and don’t pull the trigger, but hopefully I’ll find the right offer. I keep thinking of ways it might go wrong instead of ways it might go right. I’m subscribed though so I will be coaxed video by video…
