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Author Topic: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?  (Read 692 times)

Offline Jmash

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Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« on: May 21, 2021, 10:49:16 AM »
Something I've had in the back of my mind for a while.

Of course we will probably all from time to time buy our minis online, directly from GW or other manufacturers, eBay online auctions etc. and if you're lucky you will buy in person from a local shop or store (non-Covid times obv). I have recently also got some bits and bobs from social media groups set up specifically for buying/trading/selling warhammer stuff.

What I'm more interested to know is if anybody has ever had any luck in finding good minis (or any minis for that matter) in some more unusual places? I have often wondered if there's anything good to be found in say; charity shops? or car-boot/garage sales? antique shops sometimes have toys and games and could have stuff squirreled away from a 'job lot' sort of thing?

I'm just trying to figure out if there's any other places I should be keeping an eye on from time to time rather than just endlessly scrolling through eBay that regularly becomes pretty stagnant.

Would be interested to hear whether any others have had any experiences of finding good stuff in places that might otherwise have been overlooked?

Offline Jmash

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Re: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2021, 10:52:55 AM »
To kick things off - it might not be classed as totally unexpected but I did once come across a couple of Imperial Guard sets in a toy shop in Windermere once(Bowness actually if we're being picky), it must have once been a stockist or acquired some stock but only had a handful of bits left that it was selling off cheap. I think I bought a Chimera for about £12 or something.

Maybe not totally unheard of to find GW stuff in a toy shop but I wasn't really looking for it at the time so it was unexpected to me at least.


Offline Victor

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Re: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2021, 02:45:12 PM »
I once bought a huge collection of various miniatures (various 80s and early 90s GW miniatures, but also plenty of other things from various manufacturers). I saw the offer online on a platform for local private sales. There were only some small low resolution pictures and only a rough description, which promised more. I called the guy - he was selling it for a friend - to ask what else was included and the answer was still quite vague, as he wasn't familiar with the stuff. But I remember that he said that there were like 7 big dragon models alone. So I decided to risk the 30 minute drive to see what it was all about and I was glad that I did. As soon as I saw the sheer volume of what was for sale and when I opened the first drawer of one of the boxes, I knew I had to get it. I paid the few hundred Euros that were asked and filled up the entire trunk of the car with all the stuff. I had no personal use for most of it and sold it on ebay over the next couple of months for several 100% of profit (it was a significant time investment though!). I still have some of those miniatures left with a possible revenue of a few 100€.

I did end up with quite a few strange, some 'exotic' and some broken miniatures though, which are probably next to unsellable. I do not know what to do with them. Throwing them away feels wrong, but having them lie around for years is a bit of a burden too.
« Last Edit: May 21, 2021, 02:48:31 PM by Victor »

Offline Warlord

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Re: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2021, 12:37:57 AM »
Ebay if at all now.
Might look into Black Tree Miniatures and Fireforge at a point because they have some nice things.
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Offline Zygmund

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Re: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2021, 08:47:40 AM »
Browsing the open 2nd hand marketplaces in the web, intentionally looking for miniatures, figurines, orcs, knights or the like among toys and such has resulted in some finds. The same might happen in eBay from time to time, when people don't know what they have, and make no connection to warhammer or miniature games. But such methodological browsing takes a lot of time.

15-30 years ago many independent toy shops, cartoon shops, book shops and some 2nd hand retailers of cartoons had a small booth of warhammer stuff. As they went bust, this stuff ended up in ever more obscure places. So 5-10 years ago you could find real treasures in some back alley shops which had acquired their goods from various shop closures. But those treasures seem to have been located & bought by now. Haven't seen or heard of such in a long while.

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Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2021, 09:12:04 AM »
Where do I buy minis? Anywhere they are available for sale. :icon_wink: :engel:

Prefer to shop in local stores.

I also buy miniatures at conventions from vendors, and "flea markets" that run at the conventions.  Some vendors have sale racks of older items that are still hanging around their inventories.  A person never knows what goodies will show up on a "flea market" table at a convention.

Kickstarters ... oh my, wicked bad habit with these. :icon_mrgreen: :icon_lol:

Sometimes buying direct from manufacturer or wholesaler, if I can't get it otherwise or if I need something more than what was available elsewhere.

Ebay from time to time, although this really does take effort and time.
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Offline Captain Dob Van Dwi

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Re: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2021, 12:40:28 PM »
These days?

Depends on what game I'm interested in.

Warlord for ww2 stuff.

GW and Victoria Miniatures for 40k.
I choose too keep "Old Warhammer" alive with my blood sweat and tears.

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Offline Sharkbelly

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Re: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2021, 02:08:50 PM »
I try to support my local shops as much as I can.

Offline Jmash

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Re: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2021, 12:40:30 PM »
Interesting variations here.

I just find that lately the offerings on eBay are starting to dry up or just be massively over-priced so it's getting quite rare for anything of real merit to pop up and be worth a flutter on, and even then if they're open auction they inevitably sell for silly money. I get the occasional score on there (once got 2.5 HE dragons NOS for about £25 buy it now) but it's starting to become really stagnant.

Had a little bit of luck with social media buy/sell/swap groups but again that's very hit and miss.

Buying direct from GW is generally like burning money unless I get the 'start collecting' boxes that tend to save a few £££, surprising for GW to allow that!

Sadly I have no independent stockists near me to support :unsure:

Hmm maybe there would be some merit in frequenting the occasional 'car-boot' sale from time to time to see if anything crops up...

Offline Victor

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Re: Buying Minis - Where do you get yours?
« Reply #9 on: May 26, 2021, 02:52:32 PM »
Ebay.co.uk was my primary source for Warhammer miniatures in the last 10+ years. Since the BREXIT however that's not really an option anymore as you now have to pay import charges for anything worth more than 22€, when it's shipping from the UK. This also puts me off buying anything from other UK-based miniature companies.