Why are these minis so hard to get off of eBay?

[Felon]

Been buying minis by the bushel the last couple weeks off of eBay. Obviously, commonality affects desirability, and not just for me, but for those who actually play the DDM skirmish game, maybe you have some insight I don't on why certain minis sell competitively whil others don't.

For instance, speaking in terms of D&D, Mad Slashers, despite being fairly cool in their ookyness, don't do much of anything, but there's always some folks bidding on them.

Certain humanoids are hard to get as well, and it's always puzzling to me because, y'know, it's not like needing a couatl or ettin. You can make do with another mini. In particular, I've been outbid on Lareth the Beautiful three or four times now.

There's always a line for man-at-arms and ninjas too. Well, I guess if you need ninjas, ya need lots of'em.

And the huge minis have a wide variance in what they go for. Bulettes, formorians, and nightwalkers sell for dirt, storm and cloud giants not much more. Glabrezus, warforged titans, and behirs get pretty expensive. And god help you if you're in the market for a red or gold dragon.

I realize that all of that may not necessarily have anything to do with the skirmish game--dragons are just popular--but, c'mon, Lareth the Beautiful?

 

[Sammael]

Mad Slashers are a stand-in for medium spiders.

Man-at-arms are popular for both skirmish and RPG, as generic soldiers.

Huge Uncommons are cheap as dirt because they are also common as dirt. Huge rares are somewhat more difficult to get. I was lucky to pull two huge red dragons, and I managed to get a huge gold for $22 (shipped), a behir for $12, a warforged titan for $6, and a storm giant for $6. As far as the dragons' prices go, it's all because of the "coolness" factor.

I have no idea why people need herds of ninjae; the mini sucks for skirmish (too few HPs). Likewise, I have no idea why Lareth seems to be popular at the moment. I got one for $3.25 a couple of months ago, and I think that's a reasonable price for a humanoid Rare.

 

[Felon]

Ah, thought all huges were rarre.

As for the men-at-arms, there are certainly other human warriors that nobody bids on (city guard for instance).

 

[Gizzard]

Ah, thought all huges were rarre.

Just the expensive ones. ;-) Bulettes and Treants are pretty sweet and you'll probably pay more on shipping than you will on the mini.

Mad Slashers, despite being fairly cool in their ookyness, don't do much of anything, but there's always some folks bidding on them.

Sahuagin another popular Uncommon it seems. I don't think they are particularly great in the minis game, but they are a nice sculpt.

 

[MerricB]

Ah, thought all huges were rarre.

As for the men-at-arms, there are certainly other human warriors that nobody bids on (city guard for instance).

6 rare huges:
Huge Gold Dragon; Huge Red Dragon; Behir; Glabrezu; Storm Giant; Warforged Titan

6 rare uncommons (3 times as common as the rares):
Treant, Bulette, Cloud Giant, Fomorian, Fiendish Tyrannosaurus, Nightwalker.

In 24 packs, the ratio was 1 of each of the rare huges and 3 of each of the uncommon huges.

Cheers!

 

[Zander]

I suspect that quite a few minis are bought not for DDM or even D&D but just because they look cool. I have a few minis mostly from the earlier ranges just because they're nice scupts (sc. the troll, centaur, treant, dire ape, lizardman). I made a diorama for some of them using a MageKnight dungeon set. I display the diorama on a shelf.

People buying minis for their looks doesn't account entirely for why some minis are more expensive than others but it may be a contributing factor.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Supply and Demand baby!

 

[Ysgarran]

Supply and Demand baby!

Exactly.

I think you have to realize that are a large number of people who have no interest in the skirmish side of the minis (like myself) who are willing to bid on things just because they are cool and not because they will fit well into a warband.

Lareth does happen to be one of those memorable characters from first edition.

Ysgarran.

 

[Felon]

Supply and Demand baby!

Exactly.

It's swell that you guys are in agreement and all, but note that my post does indicate that I'm unaware of the principle of supply and demand, but rather inquires as what the source of the demand for minis that, in D&D, aren't that wonderful. A Mad Slasher really doesn't do anything in D&D. No special attacks, no special qualities. Free Whirlwind Attack feat, and that's about it.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

This reminds me of trying to buy some SW minis the other week on Ebay. I just started a D6 SW campaign last week and wanted to pick up a bucket of stormtroopers and various aliens and grunts from Episodes 4-6, and I wanted them cheap since I have no interested in collecting whole sets.

I couldn't win an auction to get some basic stormtroopers to save my life. Clonetroopers are CLOSE to stormtroopers, but I wanted to keep the right feel. In the end I got 10 grunts with knives (not even blasters!) for .99 and 6 rodian mercenaries for .99 .

I guess I will have to keep looking...but I would have though picking up large amounts of commons would be cheaper than it is.

DS