POV: eBaying Oldhammer from the EU.

Wilbur the Red

Wilbur the Red

Vassal
This is based in real events (literally yesterday).

Taking a look at eBay while watching a movie.

- 20€ for a Nurgle Beastman!? I deserve a treat, I'm on holidays.
<Half a millisecond later>
- What? It's twice that!
<3 Seconds later>
- You've received an offer by X_is_a_nice_seller: 17€ for one of Bob Olley's harpies. Great!
<click>
- Damn, that's 35€ for one model.
<Keeps lurking on the site, decided to buy something>
- Wait, that one looks interesting, 100€ worth of harpies. Let's contact the seller.
<click><click>
- 230€!!! Are you kidding?
<Maybe some bits for a conversion are cheap enough>
- The legs of a Lord of Change; no tail, a bit damaged, that will be cheaWHAT, 26€ FOR A SINGLE LEAD BIT?!
<One minute later>
- OK, let's check the German and the Italian sellers...
<click><click>
- FFS! Price is higher, even with cheaper shipping and no customs.
<Ragequits, opens local selling APP on smartphone>
-OK, last try and off to bed.
<Looks at a suspiciously clean and shiny Tzeentch Champion sold by a guy a few kilometers away>
- Hey mate, can you clarify if that's a recast? That mold line is so straight and big I think this may be a copy. Do you mind if I go by your store and take a look in person?
- HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY SAY I'M SELLING RECASTS. WE'RE A SERIOUS STORE AND OUR VALUATIONS ARE RIGHT. IT MAY BE THE LIGHTING OF THE PICTURE BUT IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BUY IT THEN DON'T COME.
<dies of facepalming>


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Note to admins: I'm sorry in advance for the shitposting, feel free to move this anywhere you think it belongs.
 
19,57eur.. that's.. erm.. £15.. for the Great Unclean one? no chance.. Familiar so.. that's just the Nurgle Familiar based on him (I always though they were kinda more designed for Epic, even though the timing wasn't great).. eBay sellers often just stuck 'buzz' words in the names.. I've seen "Jes Goodwin Skaven" used on some Colin Dixon and some plastics which I didn't think were Jes's work either (4ed plastics)..
 
ManicMan said:
19,57eur.. that's.. erm.. £15.. for the Great Unclean one? no chance.. Familiar so.. that's just the Nurgle Familiar based on him (I always though they were kinda more designed for Epic, even though the timing wasn't great).. eBay sellers often just stuck 'buzz' words in the names.. I've seen "Jes Goodwin Skaven" used on some Colin Dixon and some plastics which I didn't think were Jes's work either (4ed plastics)..
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Don't worry about the naming, that's wrong like 1 of every 3 models I look for. It's the Epic one that I wanted to use as proxy (I've got 2 GUOs, but one of them is missing a pair of horns).

The problem is that I have a hard time looking for an excuse and, once a year, buy something that costs me twice is price.

And, to be honest, after watching you all having fun on BOYL (and Thrudball the week before, for BB fans), I'm starting to think about renewing my passport, buying a cheap flight and stuffing my suitcase with models. But for that to work I need a route with some FLGS to visit, and I know exactly zero of those in the UK.
 
making me wonder about .. I'm not sure about spain or stuff but I know some countries have companies where you can buy stuff from places like eBay, it goes to them, they then ship it to wherever and deal with stuff. They charge a small fee but often can be cheaper then direct. Either that or find a local boy who can work out the shipping (maybe with a small batch) and see if they'll act as a third party.. I've no clue on the prices for that though so.. probebly not the best to ask but sometimes it can be cheaper too. I have a cousin in the USA which once in a while, If I get stuff which won't ship outside of the USA, or is just gonna be STUPID price, it can be cheaper (or in some cases, as said, the only possible way) to get stuff shipped to him and he ships it over to me.
 
Yeah, that works for companies that don't ship to certain places, but I guess you can't dodge customs, and in the end, shipping would be more or less the same if the eBay one is lower but you are adding the forwarder company cost.

If sellers adjusted the shipping (not only accepting combined shipping, but not trying to earn extra by overestimating that value), the automated eBay tool wouldn't charge so much for customs (as it's a % of the total amount). I mean, 12-15€ for shipping a single miniature that fits in a little bubble envelope with no tracking? That's the thing, in my opinion, that could be fixed. But I'll die of old age before watching it happen.
 
Shipping from the UK to the rest of the world for eBay has always been "fun" and that was even before the recent changes to only allow shipping via their (eBay's) own channels. However even before that you were left with the choice of "easy" just allow eBay global shipping and all you need worry about is sending it to UK warehouse and at that point your responsibility as a seller ends - eBay will do the rest. That's always expensive for the buyer and you get stuck unable to combine shipping (that caught out a buyer of some of my bits some years back). The alternative is you the seller have to work out the shipping ahead of time to every country you are happy to ship to. You also really have to ship it tracked because eBay now withhold payout for goods until delivery is confirmed so all it takes is one little "I didn't get it" and you seem to be stuffed as a seller. So in some ways I don't blame people for opting for the "easy" way out. I really wish eBay would sort out combining shipping for their global shipping programme. I think it'd really open up the market and I'm sure even at worst it could be done on a "refund basis". Still I doubt it's going to happen. My private gripe is when sellers don't combine shipping, but then send the goods combined and of course you can see the price paid on the postage labels!

I always feel massively bad about "International shipping" and do only try to charge what it costs. Say one mini (no thicker than about 22mm) to Spain from the UK - that would be £9.95 (large letter up to 100g tracked and signed for, value up to £50) which I might round up to £10 to contribute to the cost of the packing. So that's probably about 11-12 euros I guess? Now granted without any tracking that comes down to £3.40, which might be okay for a private sale. However if you've just spent a fortune on miniatures you probably do want them insured in some fashion? Still I feel the pain :(

ManicMan said:
19,57eur.. that's.. erm.. £15.. for the Great Unclean one? no chance.. Familiar so.. that's just the Nurgle Familiar based on him (I always though they were kinda more designed for Epic, even though the timing wasn't great)..
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It was just the EPIC scale greater daemon as far as I recall. They are about little smaller than a normal 28mm mini. Not the cheapest of models, seems to go for £10-15 in open auctions. A blister packed one went for about £30 recently so £15 is at the upper end of things, but probably not unreasonable (well it totally is unreasonable, but you get what I mean) for a "buy it now" especially if open to offers. I expect you can pick them up for closer to £5 with a bit of luck and timing.

Wilbur the Red said:
But for that to work I need a route with some FLGS to visit, and I know exactly zero of those in the UK.
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Well classic minis are harder - although there are a few places that sell such stuff. Current miniatures, be that GW or others - well we still have plenty of shops dotted around so working out a route that went past a few wouldn't be too hard!

You've got Knightmare Miniatures in Spain (I think) - they always have stunning old school minis, I've had loads on my wish lists for years (often long enough that they stop making them), but have never quite taken the plunge.
 
eBay shipping for international really sucks, I simply can’t justify the expense on the back of already inflated prices… :cry: Remember back when was purchasing old Megadrive games back in the 00’s how much cheaper it all was (ah nostalgia is a fickle friend).

BTW Was chatting to Curtis from Ramshackle Games and he explained that he was interviewed by a Spanish Oldhammer YouTuber at the event (sorry not sure of his name!) so expect some content soon. ;)
 
Brother Meredith said:
BTW Was chatting to Curtis from Ramshackle Games and he explained that he was interviewed by a Spanish Oldhammer YouTuber at the event (sorry not sure of his name!) so expect some content soon. ;)
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I assume that was a guy called Mercurius because he posted like a ton of videos along the weekend.

You've got Knightmare Miniatures in Spain (I think) - they always have stunning old school minis, I've had loads on my wish lists for years (often long enough that they stop making them), but have never quite taken the plunge.
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Yeah, I know Diego from Knightmare and I've got a lot of their miniatures (greenskins, beastmen and the last KS Chaos Dwarves). I can only recommend his store because he's been the fastest / more reliable seller (models are amazing, but you already know this). In fact, I would say that my Chaos Army project has 3 legs: Classic, Knightmare & Drew Williams' models.

I keep dreaming with one of them sculpting /selling human thugs, centaurs or beastmen (enough to build a unit or fill a couple of ranks). :geek:

Because paying to independent sculptors or stores makes me happier than contributing to the model speculative market.
 
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