With the release of Age of Sigmar there has been some discussion that eBay would be flooded with WHFB armies.
The basis for this was firstly, that the game wouldn't appeal to everyone so people would get out; secondly, that existing armies (and in particular existing models) would be made obsolete by prospective releases; and thirdly, people wouldn't want to rebase their models so would sell and start again. All of this would lead to a glut on eBay driving prices down.
Complicating this scenario is that there "appears" to be some semblance of an active rundown of the existing WHFB range on GW websites. Go onto a forum and there is a "doom and gloom" story about how the webstores are regularly posting "Sold Out" signs on particular models.
So the picture is a little bit mixed.
What I do think you will see is a shift in the market. I'm pretty sure all the "Spec" painting companies (particularly some of the big operations in Asia who use eBay) will shift their entire effort to painting new Age of Sigmar miniatures. Expect to see a lot of Stormcast dominating their offerings. You won't see many Bretonnian Lances or Black Orc units for sale from them.
What I suspect will happen is that older models that are NIB (plastics) will hold their value at levels we have seen previously. Very well painted armies will still hold value but that might dip in the near future while the playing field (pun intended) is murky. Poorly painted figs will continue to sell for a substantial discount to new.
Things will be situational - the rumoured Orc replacements apparently have a new aesthetic and that will see the existing mark depressed for the replaced figures.
But in reality this has always been the way through the thirty years of Warhammer......new releases depress the market in old figures....for a while at least. However there always seems to be a market for readily useable figures.
Personally if I was looking to sell armies I'd wait a few months to see how things develop. If you are worried by a change in aesthetics then that may influence your decision. However remember there has always been a resale market for figures. I don't think the AoS changes that.
In the last few weeks leading up I said to a few people there would be a fire sale of whfb on trade me. But the more I think about it and speaking to other 8th ed die hards who are all keeping there armies and carrying on playing proper warhammer. There hasn't really been much of an influx of listings on trade me I the last few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI'm still looking for demons or the of bit that would finish off the armies I already have.
I wonder if we should we be factoring in people burning their model collections? Would that make the remaining stock more valuable, given that production has ceased?
ReplyDeleteA change in aesthetic could increase the value of models for people that want to have new models that look like their existing ranges. I remember when orcs all had the Kevin Adams huge lower lip. it was only relatively recently that they got the current snuggle tooth look. My 25 year old Dark Elves don't look like the current models but they are similar enough and a cohesive paint job helps.
ReplyDeletePeople that are playing AoS with a fun and learning mindset seem to be having a lot of fun. their videos resemble some of the warhammer total war videos. So whether that will depress the market for old hammer models remains to be seen.