Originally this post was going to be titled Lessons Learned while acquiring my Vampire counts miniatures, but then I realized that most of what I was going to say was about bartertown anyway so I figured I'd turn this post into an ode to the greatest warhammer site of all time!
What is bartertown:
bartertown is an online flea market for nerds! Whatever gaming related items you want to buy,sell or trade bartertown has them, usually at prices 30+% below retail. Obviously, 40K and WFB dominate, but it is not hard to find items for the other major games: MTG, WM, Hordes and so forth.
How bartertown works:
The site is organized as a discussion forum, rather than an online store or an auction. The major boards are divided into different categorys of gaming: i.e. a board for WFB, a board for 40K, a board for Privateer Press and so forth.When someone wants to sell something the create a post on the appropriate board with titles like: "H: orc boyz, skaven slaves W: empire spearmen". With the H: standing for "have" and the W: standing for "want", and more details in the message body. You can start creating posts as soon as you create a free account, mine was created years ago, so I don't know if they make you jump through more hoops now, but it seemed fairly straight-forward at the time. I won't bother to go over the various posting rules (as the forum is well moderated, and they are clearly explained there), except to say that advertising commercial services (painting...), bumping posts, and posting to often are frowned upon.
Once you find a deal you like or someone finds a deal of yours they like, you exchange PMs and work something out...the negotiation points usually are:
- What are the items/money being exchanged-expect to get equivelant value for newer kits, trading "in someones favour" for older for newer kits, and at least a 30% discount on goods exchanged for money (remember even the newest kits are generally available for 25% off on eBay)!
- What condition the items are in- some common terms are:
- NIB- New In Box (may have been opened)
- NOS- New on Sprue
- Off Sprue- Be careful here ask for photos, as often even the seller may not know what he has
- Assembled/Primed/Painted- Always find out if you are getting the extra bits or not!
- Stripped
- What version of the items they are: clan rats can be from 3rd, 4th,6th or 7th edition and it is important to know which.
Lessons learned:
Always take pictures:One thing that you should always do to avoid misunderstandings is take pictures...its possible you think you have all the bits but something is missing that you clipped and forgot, its possible you thought the box was 12 men, when it really should have been 16...even if your error was in good faith, and even if you can work it out...shipping can eat into your savings fast...so the best thing to do is to trade pictures (good ones) of whatever it is you are selling
There are plenty of fish in the sea: Give yourself time to make a good deal, and be prepared to walk away if you feel you are not being treated fairly...there are always more traders!
If your going for the flavor of the month be prepared to pay a premium: want the new vamps coming out this week? Guess what, you are not the only one, be prepared to pay a premium or wait a month.
While waiting for demand for a particular army to cool down, use it as an opportunity to play some games with proxies to figure out what you should and should not get, or even if you want the army at all!
If you must start painting right away, get a new kit first as those are not likely to come out on bartertown right away anyway, and paint it before moving on.
Always check seller ratings, and references: You can do this by clicking on the
number next to each profile's name and reading what past trading partners had to say.
Even highly rated sellers can disappoint: Suppose you need a unit for a tournament that is coming up in a month, and the seller is notoriously slow shipper...that lives on the other side of the country!
Watch out for weasel words: They can be honest misunderstandings, or a way to get over on you. I once traded for a converted ogre butcher...which, to me, meant->Ogre butcher converted in some way. To my trade partner it meant: Ogre holding the slab of ribs. Again pictures often take care of these kinds of misunderstandings before they happen.
Use common sense for the: Higher rating ships first rule. You get two points for a good review..so a guy with 100 rating and no bad reviews is probably safe, but if someone has a rating of say... 12 and you have a 2...and they insist you ship first I would find some higher rated people to deal with...especially if they are offering a really good deal. I personally have never been ripped off but it has happened.
One thing to consider if you and your partner can't agree is splitting up really big lots into phases, so
maybe instead of sending a 500 dollar army all at once you split it into 3 shipments each.
Before contacting a trader:
- Make sure you are okay with their ratings,
- You know what country they are in (shipping goods between countries may be really expensive)
- You look at their profile to see how they prefer to be contacted- some may prefer to be contacted by private message, some may prefer email, some may prefer to talk on the board itself.
And finally:
Follow the golden rule, be honest and forthright in describing what you have, communicate frequently and openly, most people will
