Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Bloodysword on 13 February 2011, 06:42:27 PM
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Did you ever bid on a bunch of figures on e-bay, knowing that you were going to win them and then lossing everyone except the figure that you liked the least? Well that happened to me recently. I bid on about 40 old citadel figs and the only one I didn't bid on was this ugly horribly painted skeleton. Later, I started to feel sorry for the stupid hunk of lead and I went back and bid on it. Well while I was at work someone went and out bid me on every stinking figure but this....... thing :?
(http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb356/bloodysword1/100_0123-1.jpg)
This thing cost me about $6.50 U.S. I plan on striping this pig down and, in the words of king Dave, "Giving it a better paint job then it deserves"
On the other hand sometimes you get lucky :) I won these little pigs in a big bunch titled just dwarves. The picture was terrible, the only figures I recognized were a citadel figure the Dwarf with No Name and some other FA series figures. These things just looked like red blobs. I thought they were going to be crappy mini-fig figures but I took a chance. I was pleasantly surprised to find these FA series Knolls. I remember looking at these when I was a kid and I haven't seen them since.
(http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb356/bloodysword1/100_0125.jpg)
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but I would love to see some examples of painted ones if any of you have them. Thanks.
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Did you ever bid on a bunch of figures on e-bay, knowing that you were going to win them and then lossing everyone except the figure that you liked the least?
Haha, every now and then, that's why I own a single 25mm cowboy...
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I have one of those, I think. The guy standing right at the back, holding the spear. I think it's him anyway. I thought he was an early goblin type - he goes well with my other old Citadel goblins, anyway.
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I think we all have experiences like that. >:(
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Yeah, I've had experiences like this!!!
But, give it a nice paintjob and you might surprise yourself!!! :)
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I have built whole skirmish forces from the those EvilBay moments, "Well, at least I won one... OMG,THAT one?!" >:(
But then after about 10 losses I won three complete sets of LOTR extended version... simultaneously... :o
I now have a total of five complete sets - one unopened - not counting the bad (skips) individual DVDs I have winnowed out over the years. o_o 8)
Each year we have a 3 day LOTR Extended Version Marathon over New Years. :-*
One set is earmarked for each daughter, one for annual use, one backup, and one unopened. lol lol ;)
Gracias,
Glenn
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That gives me a great idea for a competition.
Construct a five member warband from your most undesired minis and try to make them look themed and good.
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Ah you lucky devil >:D! I've just started collecting those knolls. I'll be sure to put some on here when I get around to painting them (stripped them last week). My favourite minis ever :-*
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King Dave, I would be into that competition. I have some really ugly minatures laying around.
Andrew, can't wait to see the pictures. They are kind of cool looking.
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Did you ever bid on a bunch of figures on e-bay, knowing that you were going to win them and then lossing everyone except the figure that you liked the least? Well that happened to me recently. I bid on about 40 old citadel figs and the only one I didn't bid on was this ugly horribly painted skeleton. Later, I started to feel sorry for the stupid hunk of lead and I went back and bid on it. Well while I was at work someone went and out bid me on every stinking figure but this....... thing :?
Yes, I know the feeling and it's often what happens when you bid on something because it's 'cheap' and not because you really want it.
Fortunately I've had my 'wins' as well 8)
That gives me a great idea for a competition.
Construct a five member warband from your most undesired minis and try to make them look themed and good.
I really like this idea, might enter a group of these in the LPL. That said, most unwanted figures are from lots where they were the filler around some of the better pieces. In the case of my undead they just get a quick paintjob because an extra skeleton is still an extra skeleton.
I think the skeleton in the original post is quite nice, but not $6.50 nice of course 8)
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I won a lot with this thing in it
(http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k608/hotblast69/fantasy/12_800x600Crop.jpg)
I am not into historical minis so I dont even know what it is. The knolls look really cool though, I bet they'll paint up great.
Oh and welcome to the board
Damien
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I sold a collection of masts for Man-O-War once for £31. Couldn't believe it. :o
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Yeah, the masts are really valuable, because they snap!
I sold 5 of them for a tenner. My Man O War fleet of choice is the dwarfs!
King Dave, I'd be into that competition. I like doing just that with some flintloque minatures that I am not particularly keen on. :)
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some flintloque minatures that I am not particularly keen on. :)
You're bluffing! ;)
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I had a lucky score at the weekend, some numpty listed a bag of Heroquest minis up as "Platic Warhammer 40K" it poped up in a random search I did for "plastic" during a dinner break. 58 miniatures for £15 and they look like they are in one piece woooot!
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Well i don't tend to bid on items I don't want, but in terms of thinking I've got it in the bag, and then lose it all, aye that's happened quite a bit. An especially memorable recent one was a Monsterpocalypse Cthugrosh and Ultra... with a Mega! And I was pretty much set to get my grubby fingers on it, when someone swooped in and outbid me at the last minute! >:( >:( >:(
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I feel for you, that happens to me a lot during an auctions last remaining seconds
(<5 secs), freakn' snipers. Totally pisses me off, you can almost taste the win and poof its gone.
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Yeah tell me about it! :'(
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I´m sorry to tell you that ebay is not about grabbing a bargain but about paying premium price for things you threw away or could have gotten on the cheap some years ago. So concentate on one range at a time and forget about the mortage and the wife. ;)
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I hate to say it but if you can't beat the snipers...then join them...I'm not ashamed to say that I have. Plus it allows you to set the maximum price you are willing to pay for an item and walk away...you come back later and you have either won it or not....no hovering over the refresh button giving myself an ulcer anymore.
There are still bargains to be had...particularly if you are willing to buy groups of minis and ones that need to stripped...
I've gotten some really choice models in large groups of badly painted figures...if you are willing to do a little work it can pay off in the long run.
Cheers,
Blue
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Aaah the gold old days that ebay was easy... when no snipping occurred... then again.. doesn't really matter much as long as you have a maximum price in mind.
I got most annoyed if not only the auction isn't one that I wasn't really intersted in, but if the seller also asks a ridicioulous price for P&P. Paying 6 pound and then seeing a small envelope with only 2.2 pound and postage does not make me appy... neither do sellers who only are prepared to sell within their own country... missed some mighty fine auctions that way
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My 15 year old daughter has just joined the ranks of ebay bidders (on my account)......frantic run ups to my room (when I'm painting), 'daddy, can I bid on this CD, jewellery, t-shirt, item of clothing etc'........................the joy has returned
The Gnolls are some of my favorite minis ever. They go for silly prices if correctly listed so well done! My last bargain was a few years ago, 60 odd very early Mithril (including the M16 though without sword) for about £40.
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Last year, I got two lots of 20 badly painted metal GW and marauder dwarves each, for about £20 per lot and both of them included one of the MM15 dwarves that these days sometimes go for £20 to £35 per figure. And many of the other dwarves would go for £2-3 if listed individually. Lots are the way to go.
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Lots are the way to go.
Hear hear... That's also where those rare and expensive scenario minis hide. =)
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I won a lot with this thing in it
(http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k608/hotblast69/fantasy/12_800x600Crop.jpg)
I am not into historical minis so I dont even know what it is. The knolls look really cool though, I bet they'll paint up great.
Oh and welcome to the board
Damien
I've had similar figures turn up in job lots. Flattish, about 40mm? Awful figures.
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Onebigriver, yup thats the one, about 40mm of blah.
White Knight is right about lots, they are the only auctions that I bid on now.
Damien
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Its seems not having PayPal or credit cards can be a blessing...sort of.
A bit off topic, where on Long Island do you call home, Bloodysword? I used to hail from Sound Beach.
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I have to say sniping never bothers me. I put a bid in for what I'm prepared to pay and if someone snipes me fine, either they snipe too little and I get it anyway or they pay more than I would have, the same mini will be along in a month or two and I'll get it then.
I'm not going to go into other tricks of the whole bidding thing, I like getting bargains and more people doing what I do means slimmer pickings ;).
One thing I do defiantly do is refrain from bidding on something if I know a friend from the forums is avidly collecting that same thing. Why compete? They'll get what they want and I can start collecting in a few months time.
Having said all that job lots are rubbish, never worth the cost my advice to everyone is never bid on lots...
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I don't really mind snipers either, I did some sniping too when I could be bothered with it but in general I try to make sure my maximum bid really is my maximum bid. I did win some nice lots over time though 8)
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I was always under the impression EvilBay was where the seller tried to build maximum profit from your auction. Sniping reduces the chance for the frenzied (over) bidding.
I have no problem with sniping if it's someone just wanting the item and maximizing his chances. It's the snipers who only want a highly desired item for resell at an even higher price that make me twitchy. I always hope that kind of bidder/sniper is the guy wanting to re-sell the item only to find out he bid so much he can't recoup his costs.
Changing the subject, high priced postage certainly reduces the bite Evilbay puts on the seller...
Gracias,
Glenn
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I´m sorry to tell you that ebay is not about grabbing a bargain but about paying premium price for things you threw away or could have gotten on the cheap some years ago Pulper you are so right. I totally remeber going into my favorite hobby shop and looking at almost every classic minature posted here. I also remeber thinking that they were way to expensive.
Deaf - I live in Oakdale on the south shore, but I spent alot of time up in Rockypoint and Millerplace.
Conquistador - those guys who buy up the minis just to resell make me a little ill as well, although everyone has to make a buck one way or another.
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My coolest purchase on eBay was bidding a few years ago on a collection of 46 Citadel Star Trek The Motion Picture minis, including most of the aliens seen in the background at the start of the movie.
Wanting them as I didn't have ANY Trek figs then, I decided to be sensible, saying to myself allow about £2 a figure max, and bid £100 with about a day to go. Expected the bids to fly past my max quite quickly.
Got the lot for £10 and a few pence before P&P!
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Never understood the fuss about snipers. An open auction is an open auction, and the winner's the one who bids highest, not last. It's not rational to blame others 'cause you convinced yourself the auction was yours while it was still running, whether that was by three days or three minutes.
I've never had the experience described by the OP, but that's because I don't bid on stuff I don't legitimately want.
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I often bid on a few things that I kinda sorta want to complete a set, only to justify post and packaging on the one or two items I MUST have. A couple of times I have ended up with the padding figures... but hey, win some loose some. The collector mentality is that yeah, it looks rubbish, but if I have the other nine of a set of ten, that last ones going to annoy me.
I always bid the exact amount I think they are worth and walk away. I also ignore second chance offers because 99% of the time its shill bidders. Purely random statistic that, btw.
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@bloodysword, agree, with all such tactics it's a legitimate part of the game and if it makes a living for someone I hope I never imply they should be prevented from making a living.
Mostly I twitch because I go through a brief, unrealistic, moment of "If I had just bid..." which is illogical on my part. Obviously someone wanted it more than I did and bid more.
Gracias,
Glenn
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Good job snagging the gnolls. I bought a fair few back in the day - I happened to be in England the year they and the Fantasy Tribe dwarves were released. At 30p each, even a starving student could snag a fair few. They paint up quite nicely.
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got a few wolfen figs of there myself and have put up a load of GW stuff i don't want.
Though I will never really recover the costs of what was bought (though I bought a lot of it over a very long period) i put up my Ork and Space Marine Army for about £20 (if it was brand new I am guessing its worth well over a hundred at GW price) and already the Marine army, 4 hours after being put up is now worth £41.
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I tend to wait until my horde of half finished projects exceed my space and have an eBay blitz. Unfortunately I then tend to buy more!
I've had some good sales . A GW undead army I had sold for over £1000.00, then I got a few of the buyers complaining that they didn't get what they wanted because I split the sale into units!
On the other hand, I sold a painted GW dredd for £20.00! The buyer sent a real nice email saying what a bargain he got :(
A real stupid thing I do is sell stuff and a few months later think " why did I do that?"
I had a 1:48 scale aliens dropship and apc produced by smt which I decided I would never build and sold it a month before the company stopped making them! The prices are now very silly.
I've got a pile of stuff sat in my spare room waiting to be ebayed, but I keep holding onto them just in case!!!!!
PM
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A real stupid thing I do is sell stuff and a few months later think " why did I do that?"
I had a 1:48 scale aliens dropship and apc produced by smt which I decided I would never build and sold it a month before the company stopped making them! The prices are now very silly.
The next time you plan to do something like that please send me a message ;)
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A real stupid thing I do is sell stuff and a few months later think " why did I do that?"
I had a 1:48 scale aliens dropship and apc produced by smt which I decided I would never build and sold it a month before the company stopped making them! The prices are now very silly.
PM
We are not amused! ::)
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Just had a classic evil bay moment.
5 Wolfen figures going for a £10, no one else has bid, so I stick in ten pound. Today two other guys had bid, I then discovered that one bloke has put on a maximum bid of £30+ so he must desperately want them!
So instead I found a site with some of the pre-painted ones, £18 free postage too for 3-4 figs, which considering one metal figure goes on ebay for about £10 is not that bad, going to get some stuff to strip the paint of them if the paint job is really poor and re-base them and use them to buffer up my Wolfkin army.
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Never understood the fuss about snipers. An open auction is an open auction, and the winner's the one who bids highest, not last. It's not rational to blame others 'cause you convinced yourself the auction was yours while it was still running, whether that was by three days or three minutes.
I've never had the experience described by the OP, but that's because I don't bid on stuff I don't legitimately want.
The fuss is the principle of sniping. I have no issue being beaten in an auction, but it does smart when it's a snipe bid rather than a healthy slog to the finish line.
Anyway yes I've bought shite from ebay, you're a liar if you say you haven't ;)
The Commader
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Just had a classic evil bay moment.
5 Wolfen figures going for a £10, no one else has bid, so I stick in ten pound. Today two other guys had bid, I then discovered that one bloke has put on a maximum bid of £30+ so he must desperately want them!
So instead I found a site with some of the pre-painted ones, £18 free postage too for 3-4 figs, which considering one metal figure goes on ebay for about £10 is not that bad, going to get some stuff to strip the paint of them if the paint job is really poor and re-base them and use them to buffer up my Wolfkin army.
Hang on how do you know the guy's maximum bid then eh?
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I kept bidding! And it kept beating me! Eventually I gave up at around £30 and that was that.
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Well it could have been much higher though. I thought had some sneaky black ops CIA NSA funded hi-bid tm software.
Just my overactive imagination then ;)
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Well it could have been much higher though. I thought had some sneaky black ops CIA NSA funded hi-bid tm software.
Just my overactive imagination then ;)
Shhhhhh! Don't tell them about that!! Been keeping that secret so the KGB and the chinese don't get me! now I am DOOMED!
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My worst Evil-Bay Moment was when I found out they didn't let my brother-in-law pay my bills with his credit card. The international money transfer from my bank cost me a 35 Euro fee to pay my 20 US-Dollar bill...
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E-bay, sometimes good sometimes bad but I just managed to get Tim Trumans "Simon Girty-The Wilderness" for a very good price and am also bidding on his "Tecumseh" graphic novel. Superb inspiration for some French-Indian war skirmishes!
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I get 99% of all my minis from ebay. Not through choice. Australia never really shipped out many miniatures in the old days, and those they did where ridiciously expensive. That means very little chance of coming across a box in a boot sale. :(
That said, I still look. I found plenty of heroquest plastics over the last year- and a mint, never opened, shrink wrapped heroquest in an antique store wedged between scrabble boards and that game where the dice came in a plastic popper.
But besides that, I have to pay premium ebay prices.
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Wohooo, gor 4 nice old skool chaos warriors for 4 quid. :)
sadly had to pay a ridicioulous amount of P&P, which made them costly after al... Then again the miniatures were packaged quite well... I did ask for putting the models just in an envelope..
Anyhow, last week to my suprise a received quite a package:
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/braxandur/Miniatures/Postage%20and%20Packaging/PP01.jpg)
Opening it didn't give me a cle as to what was in there
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/braxandur/Miniatures/Postage%20and%20Packaging/PP02.jpg)
At the bottom were hiding a few packages, a oose shield an a loose base
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/braxandur/Miniatures/Postage%20and%20Packaging/PP03.jpg)
Got them out of the box..
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/braxandur/Miniatures/Postage%20and%20Packaging/PP04.jpg)
Well, they are painted okayish, but since I'll be repainting, a bit of shame for the 10 quid P&P
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/braxandur/Miniatures/Postage%20and%20Packaging/PP05.jpg)
Let's hope for better luck next time :)
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I just opened a package containing 22 PAINTED Dark Elf Executioners!!
Cost me the same as an unpainted unit of 10 D.E. Executioners
Unfortunately 9 of the swords had come off....
I blame GW tho for making AWKWARD places to separate the models on the molds.
But I'm not a mold maker... :D
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Hi Braxandur, are you telling me that the ebay seller used that enormous box to send four (4!) miniatures?! No wonder he charged such P&P prices. Btw I really like your pointing mini (made me laugh), I see that he is pre slotta, where is he from?
Damien
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Yeah, Allthough it was a bit ridicioulous and totally ineffective as protection for the minis, I could laugh about it as well :)
The miniature is a Grenadier necromancer, at the moment still available from mirliton:
http://www.mirliton.it/product_info.php?pName=necromancers-2&cName=fantasy-2528mm-undeads
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Thats classic.
Someone once sent me a cardboard shoe box, stuffed with wrap, containing a plastic food container, filled with bubblewrap, taped to a peice of cardboard where three matchboxes full of cotton, each containing one figure.
Whole thing smelt of horlicks for some reason. ???
Does yours smell of horlicks?
Could be the same guy.
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E-bay, sometimes good sometimes bad but I just managed to get Tim Trumans "Simon Girty-The Wilderness" for a very good price and am also bidding on his "Tecumseh" graphic novel. Superb inspiration for some French-Indian war skirmishes!
Cholly,
Agreed, excellent graphic novels.
One of my best wins was also a French and Indian War graphic novel or more correctly a collection of the comic strips from the Mickey Mouse Weekly magazine from the '50's. These were collected and released as Archive Adventures 2: Ron Embleton's 'Don o' the Drums' plus Roger's Rangers. I bid on a copy a few years ago and the bidding ended at around £40 or £50. Much more than I wanted to pay, let alone afford. A year or so later I saw another up for sale and won it for £10.
Cheers,
Barry
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I won a lot with this thing in it
(http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k608/hotblast69/fantasy/12_800x600Crop.jpg)
I am not into historical minis so I dont even know what it is. The knolls look really cool though, I bet they'll paint up great.
Oh and welcome to the board
Damien
The figure is a bronze 17th century spanish conquistador type. I have the figure. but it was never meant to be painted. Part of a collection of 'bronzes'.
I have some of the knolls from the 1980s and would love a find like that in a job lot. Lucky you.
Worst i ever got were "Easterlings". Turned out to be mongols from a decidedly ropey range. Couldn't even really play them as Mongols or with any of the other figures I have.