Trading toys
On a day to day basis I spend more time
trading or doing trading related tasks than any other aspect of the hobby. I
usually find some time to paint or model every day and sometimes I’m lucky enough
to get a game in, but not a day goes by without me doing some trading.
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Does your basement look like this? You might want to trade. |
I have written about it before, but trading
really opened the hobby up for me. It made getting new armies and models easier
and turned the excitement of shopping for miniatures a constant thing. I didn’t
have to have money in the bank when I could turn my toys into new toys and I
could search out deals to get that “winner” feeling.
I have realized, however, that many people
don’t know how to trade or are worried about trading because of its many risks.
While there are some risks and initial trades may, depending on the forum, be a
pain, it is well worth trying out for players who maybe haven’t experienced
this side of the hobby.
Where to trade?
Outside of conventional trading at shows
and conventions, the internet is your place to connect to fellow gamers who
want your stuff.
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On the internet, every day is the Toy Fair! |
The online venue is very much a factor of
where you are located and what you are trying to trade. For example, an
Infinity trading forum probably isn’t the best place for 6mm historicals and an
Australian site might be a bad place to sell single miniatures from the UK.
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This Aussie tried to sell an Aquila Stronghold on a German trade site. |
Here are some of my favorites:
www.bartertown.com:
This is my absolute favorite place to trade. It is a forum based trading site
with a large number of specialized trading forums (for GW futuristic,
historical, Non-GW Fantasy, terrain, etc). The key to the site is the robust
feedback system. Rather than use a feedback post or similar like many sites,
Bartertown uses a feedback system that displays your numerical feedback (with a
link to written reviews). This is your “number”.
When you buy, sell or trade, you rate the
other person on a standard positive/neutral/negative system. However, rather
than using a percentage positive rating, any negative feedback turns your
number red and makes it negative. You can have 500 positive and one negative,
and your number will be a big fat red negative 500.
This system may seem harsh, but it forces
users to look at the review and see why it’s negative. The mods are also phenomenal
at making sure negative reviews are only for serious things.
Your number also has a tangible effect on
your trading. Although not forum rules, practice dictates that the person with
a lower number ships their items first (so the more “trusted” person can open
it up, see its all there and then ship). Some people apply this to payments
also (I do not due to paypal protection). What this means is that as you trade
more and become more trusted, you lessen your risk of getting burnt.
There is a huge trading community that I
find to be responsive and always active. I’ve done my best trading there and
almost never had a bad experience with anyone on there.
However, there are some negatives. The
community is mainly American and I’ve had no success trying to trade on it
since I’ve come to the UK. Shipping is too high and there aren’t enough Europeans.
Also, you can only post once per forum every 7 days (4 if you donate 25 dollars
a year to them) and bumping is not allowed. This can be annoying when you
switch wants.
Overall, a great site to check out and one
I promise will give you a good experience.
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The only place to get better deals than on Bartertown. |
www.Dakkadakka.com:
The Dakka swap shop is what I view as the internet equivalent of the Mos Eisley
Cantina. You never know who is there, what they might sell or how your
experience will be. I’ve had some of my biggest sales on Dakka but also had
many disappointments. The feedback system is iffy and not universally used. I
really like their location tags that make it clear where people are from and
where they will ship. Overall, it’s been hit or miss, but somewhere I’d look if
you want to pick up random stuff.
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I think I bought a landspeeder on Dakkadakka off the guy on the left once. |
Facebook groups: (Groups include Flames of
War Swap Shop, Wargame Trading UK, Tabletop Trading UK and others). These
groups have been pretty good to me. I find they have more non-responsive buyers
and sellers than others and there is generally no great feedback system, but I’ve
generally had wonderful experiences. Most groups seems to have a core of
mature, responsible traders who are great to trade with and who can be
invaluable as you try to find certain items.
I particularly want to call out the Flames
of War Swap Shop (2014). I’ve been trading there for a number of months and
have met some fantastic traders that I consistently do business with. When I am
looking for an army, they’ll notice and direct me to people who are selling the
same. In the same vein, I’ve had an individual notice something I wanted was at
their FLGS and purchase it to re-sell to me after asking if I still wanted it.
It is great to find people who are equally jumpy in their army selection and
who you know you always have something they could use and vice versa.
Types of Trading
Searching for the deal:
Whatever you are looking for, there is
probably some poor sap who bought on and doesn’t want it anymore. You can
usually find better deals than at online stores if you dig hard enough. The
hobby dollar doesn’t go that far anymore, so trading is a way to find deals.
Buying and splitting:
People will often want to sell their army
in one go. Everyone knows someone who bought 10,000 points of Space Marines on
a whim and now can’t be bothered to sell them piece by piece. You can often get
45-50% (or more) off of retail value on huge lots. Most people don’t have
hundreds of dollars/pounds sitting around, but if you do, buying huge lots can
be lucrative.
Once you buy the giant lot, you can keep
what you like and sell the rest piecemeal. If you do it right and the army is
popular enough, you can have a brand new army that was paid for by what you
sold.
I used to do this a lot when I was still in
school. I would buy an army at less than half price, keep some choice units and
then slowly regain my initial investment by smaller sales. Sales of small lots
and units would often get my 70-75% of retail, so each model was giving me back
1.5 times what I paid for it. If you can sell 2/3rds of the army,
you’ve gotten a free force.
One thing to look out for here is
LIQUIDITY. Some models sell better than others. No one wants plastic space
marine scouts, vespids or kradschutzen models while models like riptides,
terminators and panthers will almost always find a buyer. Make sure the models
are in good shape or new. Weird color scheme reduce resale value. However, if
it’s something you think would strip off nicely, you can find a diamond in the
rough. Just be smart about what you buy for resale.
Swapping:
Sometimes you buy an army and are super excited
by it. Sometimes that excitement dies a quick death. You could sell your army
(see above), but then you’ve just thrown away a bunch of value. Instead, you
might think about swapping.
Most swapping is done by trading something
you have for something someone else has at an equal or close retail value. I
have 5 Panzer IVs, you have 5 Shermans, bam, we swap. If models are less
popular, in less good shape or whatever, the 1:1 ratio in value may change. In
any case, you get something new for your old at the smallest loss possible.
My “rules” for trading:
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Follow the rules or you know who is coming... |
Here are some of the things I think are
important for a new trader to know :
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Always describe your items as
much as you can. It’s not a Space Marine Captain. It’s a Space Marine Captain
with storm bolter and power sword, bare metal, on base with head option 1.
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Pictures are always a plus.
More pictures are better. If you can’t take them then, make sure you can if
anyone wants to see them. Use a lot of light. Value goes up when you can show
off the great condition of your toys.
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Disclose ANY problem early.
Sometimes something is broken or you’re worried about something breaking when
you ship. Let the person know. Don’t let them open up something missing a
piece. No one enjoys that.
- -
If you missed that something
was missing, fix it immediately. Call up customer service, troll ebay, just fix
it. The time and money it’ll cost you to fix your mistake is nothing compared
to losing your reputation as a trader. You wouldn’t want someone to dump
incomplete junk on you, so don’t do it to them.
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If something breaks in shipping
or isn’t perfect for the other person, fix it immediately. You wouldn’t want
broken things. In the same way you want to be satisfied with your trade, so
does the other guy. If it’s a partial refund or whatever, make sure your
customer is happy every single time.
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Never trade models you don’t
own. I’ve known traders (usually young, usually iffy traders) who would float
trades. You may know you have that unit of X coming this week from a guy, but
that doesn’t mean you should offer to trade that unit until it is in your hand
and has been inspected. You don’t know if it’ll get lost, be in bad shape, not
as described or anything. Don’t trade what you don’t have.
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If you can’t send the money for
a purchase promptly, make sure you tell the person when you are offering them.
Sometimes I’d rather have the $50 today rather than your $90 in two weeks when
you get paid. If you don’t have the money now, say it. “I can give you $90 in
two weeks if you hold onto it”. Don’t negotiate and then drop the “I can’t pay”
bomb on someone.
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If you say you’ll ship on a
certain day, do so. If you said you can and can’t, communicate. I’m guilty of
thinking I can ship quickly when I really shouldn’t be thinking that. I’ve been
a slow trader sometimes. However, I always communicate. If it’s going to take
longer, I’ll let you know. Also, if you drag your feet for too long, make sure
you toss in a little extra for the guy on the other side.
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If you ship and you haven’t
gotten insurance/tracking, it’s on you. If you do it that way and it fails to
show, make sure you have the money to pony up. Don’t make the person do the
whole paypal dispute thing. Once it’s apparent your stuff never arrived and you
decided not to pay for knowing where it is, refund and apologize.
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Don’t ask someone who you don’t
know to send money “friends and family” on paypal. They will have no
protection. I don’t care I’m trading with the pope, if it’s the first time (or
few times), I want protection. As you get to know traders and trust them, you
can think about getting out of the fees. Until then, be safe and don’t ask them
to not be safe.
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The key is for everyone to be
happy. Don’t agree to a deal where you’ll be unhappy. Don’t push a deal where
the other guy will be unhappy. Make sure everyone loves what they got and try
to fix any problems. This hobby is about having a good time with other gamers.
You’re a gamer. You know what it is to be a gamer. Don’t be the guy who fucks
over another gamer.
I hope that if you haven’t tried trading,
you’ll give it a shot. It’s great fun and you can meet some wonderful folks
doing so. After all, anything that gets toys in your hands cheaper can’t be so
bad, can it?