Buying single DDM online--whaddaya think?

[Chiaroscuro23]

So I've just about decided to skip buying any boxes of Underdark and instead buy the commons and uncommons I want from that set (and older sets) online. It looks like this strategy could save me money and time (plus no trading online to get what I really want) but I'd like to hear opinions from people that have done it before. Any good or bad stories? Helpful hints? Which websites offer the best prices, shipping, and service?

Thanks!

-C.

 

[JimAde]

I've used icon usa and they've been good. There are lots of places to order.

I think it's well worth doing, especially if you want them primarily for RP purposes. You can definitely save money. I also bought some Star Wars minis for my D&D game. Some of the figures have either no weapons or primitive weapons and work just fine, plus my players don't go "Oh, look it's an orc." Instead they say "what the blazes is that thing?" That's always fun.

 

[Oryan77]

The cheapest for buying singles is to buy from fellow Enworld player in the Miniatures Trading and RPG Marketplace forum or Ebay. I have a link in my sig with a list of all the minis I'm selling and their prices. There's a couple other Enworld users with miniatures for sale threads also. You can find good deals on Ebay also and it's more secure than buying from random gamers.

Feel free to shoot me an email if you'd like to work out a deal for some minis.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I've bought several D&D Minis online. I use them, almost exclusively, for RPG gaming and not for DDM gaming.

I'm in the process of setting up an "All Warforged" 1-shot, and I needed not only enough warforged figures to make the party, but also some bad guys.

I bought, as singles, 2 warforged heros, 1 warforged wizard, and 4 warforged fighters (mooks). I also bought, as a pack, 25 dark travelers (to represent some Karrnathi bad guys).

In total, I paid less than or about $1 per figure (on average, including shipping). I got exactly what I needed, the figures are ready to go at a moment's notice (as in, no painting required), and they look decent (some better than others).

All in all, my experience has been very positive.

I highly recommend finding someone selling "bulk packs" like this fellow does: http://stores.ebay.com/Auggies-Games-n-Movies_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

 

[heirodule]

I buy mostly large monsters for RPG and it saved me money. I only wanted a few of the underdark rares:

Marut
Aspic of Kord
Iron Golem
Balor
Death Slaad
Half-fiend Ogre


and a few fistfulls of commons and uncommons. Uncommon Larges are also good and may be had cheaply. I only want 1 Dark Naga, so i just buy one instead of getting 4 in 2 cases.

 

[DaveStebbins]

I have a had a bunch of experiences buying online.

First is The Card Vault. I have purchased a handful of times from them and find them to be the best all-around online retailer. They only show what they have in stock (some other places won't tell you they're out of stock on a figure until you put it in your cart, or worse, see below), their shipping charges are reasonable and service has been exemplary. The one time I had a problem with an order it was resolved in less than 24 hours (on a weekend no less) with only a single e-mail required.

Popular Collections is a good place and I have purchased there once with no problems. They fall into the category, IIRC, of showing everything and only telling you what's out of stock after you tried to put it into your cart.

I had a bad experience with IconUSA (mentioned earlier), so I can't recommend them. I placed an order with them and they sent me about two-thirds of it. The rest, they said, were out of stock. They didn't charge me for the out-of-stock items, but then they didn't give me a chance to cancel the order either (poor customer service practice). It irritated me that they showed some items as being out-of-stock on their web store, and then others were only out-of-stock when they went to pack my order. When I checked, those items still showed as *in* stock in their web-store, even after several days. So I don't recommend using them because of their shoddy inventory control and less-than-ideal notification practices.

I also cannot recommend Chumba Toys. They also sent me about two-thirds of my order, but they had the gall to charge me for the entire thing! It has been a struggle of nearly two months to get them to fulfill their commitment. The last e-mail I received said they would be mailing the rest of my order out last Saturday, but I have received no notification and no package yet. Stay away from that store.

-Dave

 

[amethal]

I don't play the DDM game, only the RPG. However, I am something of a collector and a completist. This is can be an expensive character defect!

I have limited myself to buying one box from each set, to get the list of minis in the set and have the thrill of one random rare. It also allows me to support my FLGS in a small way, which is important to me - my next nearest store is a boat or plane trip away, so I want to keep my FLGS going.

I then buy a complete set of commons and uncommons on eBay. The figures work out at a very reasonably cost, but as they usually have to come from the USA the postage is generally about an extra 100% cost per figure. However, even if you live in the same country as the seller, always check the postage before bidding. Some sellers charge a high postage for the first mini, but only have a small increment for additional items. I've been caught before bidding on dozens of auctions with the same seller to take advantage of this, then getting outbid at the last minute on every one except one, so getting stung for postage.

I then try and pick up as many rares as I can manage to get cheaply on eBay. The prices vary considerably, presumably because some are better than others for the DDM game. I've resigned myself to never getting a beholder, for example.

There is also the occasional "must have" figure which I can't bring myself to do without - I'm trying to work on my will power, and I'm a lot better than I was!

I've also noticed a definite "price curve", where new sets cost more when they come out, the price falls as they get more common, then shoots back up again once the set is out of print. Some people start selling unwanted commons on eBay in sets of 10 or more of the same mini, so this can be a great way to pick up a squad of orcs (or in my case, an army of celestial dire badgers for a dollar - I couldn't resist it, and I'll fit them into an encounter somehow!)

If you are solely interested in having minis for role-playing, be wary of buying rares such as ogres and trolls, because the pattern at the moment seems to be to subsequently include uncommon (and therefore cheaper) versions in later sets. Also, as the quality is improving all the time, generally the later the mini is the better it looks.

I have also used popular collections, and found them very good for commons and uncommons but sometimes expensive for rares. I do find it helpful to know what their rare prices are, as it would be daft to get sucked into bidding more than that on eBay.

However, others have said, they don't tell you what's in stock, and I wouldn't bother trying to buy older singles from them - you sometimes have to put 10 minis in your cart before you get one that is actually in stock, and life is too short for that.

 

[Anti-Sean]

Some people start selling unwanted commons on eBay in sets of 10 or more of the same mini, so this can be a great way to pick up a squad of orcs (or in my case, an army of celestial dire badgers for a dollar - I couldn't resist it, and I'll fit them into an encounter somehow!)

11 Celestial Dire Badgers, 2 Myconid Guards and 4 Displacer Serpents will allow you to reenact Badger Badger Badger!

I'm 2 CDB's shy of this myself...

 

[Chiaroscuro23]

I play only RPG, not the minis game. For the first several sets I bought 3-4 random boxes of each. Eventually I found I wasn't getting enough good stuff to buy randomly. I took to trading minis I didn't want on maxminis.com, but even good trades took a fair amount of time, and within 3 or 4 trades I had a bad trade that took months to complete and soured me on online trading. I'm not sure I trust people enough to go back to it, or to buy from people on other message boards.

eBay is a possibility, though they also have relatively high time investment, as you must search for what you want, research price, bid for it, check back later, mail checks to other individuals, wait for them to clear, then wait for the seller to finally ship the package. I'm hoping an online store would shorten and ease this process significantly by just letting me click, pay by credit card, and get them within a week. Unless the price is much higher, it will probably be worth it.

Of course, I'll still need to shop around to find the best prices. And I need to find a store that ships via USPS, as FedEx and UPS are both very inconvenient for me.

Maybe I'll go do a few quick searches on eBay to see what they have, then look at popularcollections.com.


As to my wants--I have a fair number of orcs, skeletons, and the like, and I normally buy metal for PCs (though my players don't always; but aside from female characters I'm normally pretty well set on those). I also buy metal for "boss" type monsters (Painting a balor right now), so I think I'll mostly be looking for the large uncommons (ogres, trolls, giant spiders) and general use commons (militia men, orcs, etc.)

Thanks!

 

[JimAde]

eBay auctions can be annoying, but remember to check the eBay stores. There are several of them that sell single DDM minis for flat prices. No bidding, no waiting, just buy what you want. Some of them take credit cards, or you can use PayPal.