Selling models.

[eddiesolo]

I am after some advice and wondered if you any of you have any thoughts or advice.

When I was doing my Chieftain Tank Overhaul Diorama I was offered £30 for it, It was 95% finished when I posted it as finished on here as there was just a plaque and a bit of grassing to do. I was of course very flattered but declined the offer as I rather like it and decided to keep it. I have totally finished the model now (pic below) and have now been offered £40...tempting but not sure.

I have researched on the likes of Ebay and have seen 1/35 stand-alone vehicles ranging from £10 to silly money with the average around £25-ish. Boarded items seem to either go for good money or don't sell.

Many moons ago I was asked to do a commission build of my 1/125 sunken U-boat, this sounded good until the person wanted to pay £30 including price of model, glues, paints, board-this is before my time in distressing and weathering etc so I made not a lot for the time involved...it worked out at something like a £1 an hour if that. I enjoyed working on the U-boat but felt I deserved a bit more... then I got thinking, am I overpricing, or being greedy? Hence the dilemma now.

So, here is the question: Have any of you made models to sell on, or had an offer, and what is the parameters for this venture? I mean, I know we build for the love of our hobby but to what price do we put on our time/skill etc?

This is doing my head in as I don't think they're good enough, so don't want to charge silly money (I know, we are all our worse critic). Is £40 a good offer for the tank? I know only I can really answer that, but just after some thoughts.

Ta guys for any comments, figured the best folk to ask are modellers.

Si

[John]

I would say you need to cover the cost of the kit and materials, then decide what you think your time is worth, your work is good enough to be of a good value but it's also down to what the person is willing to pay

[Alan 45]

Mate for what you payed for the kit and I suppose you had most of the stuff you added already so £40 is a good price but it's a fine build and if I had turned that out I wouldn't even consider it unless it was for silly money.

So it depends on two things

1 do you want to sell it

2 do you think £40 in the pocket is really going to make my he difference to your life

Hope this lets you decide

[yak face]

Ive sold quite a few on E-bay Si , but they werent commisions or anything like that , just thinning out the cabinet a bit. It started when I saw some built models up for auction , and thought mine were as good as that so I tentatively put one of my older builds on. It sold for about £8 plus postage (at that time about £3) . When you take away the price of the packaging I made about £7 , not a fortune but a bit towards my next purchase . Ive since sold quite a few (not recently though), figuring that if it clears a bit of space in the cabinet ,and theyre not specifically models that i want to keep ,and someone else can make good use of them then everyones a winner. In response to the question £40 isnt a bad price , youve had the enjoyment out of the build so the purchase price was worth it , but now youre getting it back so you can spend it again!!!

[downscale model art]

si. i usually sell my models on ebay. this is because the dragon wont let me display them anywhere and we only live in a small house. youll never get the kind of money that would cover your time. i love my hobby and dont want to give it up so this is a good compromise for me. i generally put them on sale for whatever the kit cost me so that way they wont sell for 99p. my advice is to keep hold of em unless youre having a clearout. forty quid for the tank is probably the going rate for a built kit. have a look at the ones ive sold by going on facebook....downscale model art. the most i ever got was 100 quid for a ship that cost 55 for the kit, 25 for photo etch and then i had to post it!

[Guest]

Si I used to have the same qaundery but with paintings and drawings. I had a few people ask me to do commissioned work then baulked at the price. Or worse still had people that had agreed to the price given when they enqiured only to say they couldn't afford it once the work was done. I was to trusting and would let people pay once the work had been completed to their liking. I don't do painting much any more prefering to do the kits for my own enjoyment.

[Gern]

It's highly unlikely you'll get what it's worth in terms of the time and skills you've added to the original kit so ..... do you want the model on your shelf to admire and show off to people, or do you want whatever money you can get for it in your pocket? Only you can answer that one Si.

Gern

[Guest]

I don't build enough to consider selling any!

But as the guys have said, if you consider it in terms of a per hour basis you'll never come out with anything approaching a reasonable return.

However, in our hobby there's the enjoyment of creating something to factor in to the equation.

Personally, unless it holds sentimental value, I'd pocket the 40 squids & put part of it to another kit & part to a prezzie for the other half - more modelling & keeping SWMBO happy is a good deal!

Cheers

Patrick

[Guest]

I sold the Waverly for £850, I sold her to a retired sailor who used to work on her, I sold her with all the rc gear batteries and everything I recon on cost alone I lost about 50-100 quid,if I sold her to include my time even at 5quid an hour she would have cost thousands .

I did buy a 52" 3d tv and a soundbar with the money though, which we watch everyday, I sailed the Waverley 3times in as many years so am happy with the outcome. It is the building I enjoy after that I tend to loose interest quite quickly (mind you since I have discovered the joys of dio the models tend to get a second bout of interest ) so I would be happy if I sold one and got enough money to build another one. I think if you are happy with the price offered accept it if not don't as I think you would regret it as I am sure we all have an idea what we think our models are worth, and accepting less would only nag at us long term.

[Guest]

There seem to be two categories of gain from selling it:

Does it clear a useful space that you could put to better use?

How much pleasure would the asking price give you? (I usually convert money to pints of beer, or bottles of wine, or boxes of Thornton's chocolates to judge the benefit of money.)

So, would having some benefit of clearing a space (zero or something), plus being able to have X pints of beer (or other things) which you would not have bought, make you happier than keeping it? Not easy (unless really good money is expected).

Can you put a reserve price on an eBay auction? That way you would either sell for an acceptable price, or still have whatever pleasure it continues to give you.

[Guest]

Si, it is really quite simple. If you make a loss, that means you are too generous. So just price it slightly over what you have paid for the dio and stuff.

John

[john i am]

I keep all mine good or bad but am slowly running out of shelf space the majority of mine sit in the loft were I model I have a few of my best examples downstairs and rotate them every so often I think that if you brake even on the model and materials used that would be acceptable.if I did sell any then it would only be the ones I did badly but who would pay money for those I keep them for ref as to how bad I was when I returned to the hobby from my childhood and I always compare my 1st to last my advice is keep it

[colin m]

I've been tempted to sell a few just to make space. But the thought of posting puts me right off.

[eddiesolo]

Some sound advice guys, thank you very much for your input, I appreciate your time and thoughts.

I have been mulling over your comments and have decided I like the tank too much to part with it, so that is sorted. When the shelves start to fill up too much and space is limited then I think some may go-they will all be stored in my mancave-shed so not many folk will see them as none are going in the house. I may even have ago at sourcing some part builds and cheap kits to sell on as the outlay will be little-we shall see.

Many thanks again

Si

[Guest]

Is your choice Si, so is the best one

PS: I prefer to don't gave my opinion, because always I sold something I lose many money I'm not a good reference