Becoming A Warhammer Kingpin – Expanding the Empire: Mine and Yours

Being a Kingpin is rough! Deals to do, Daredevils to smash, and a woman to woo (I’m married, I only get to woo one!). The life of the Kingpin is full of ups and downs for sure and lately I’ve expanded my game to a larger scale.

Trader A

My parents owned a second hand store for almost 20 years and now are full time gunsmiths and in that time I guess I learned a thing or two. Their store was named A&B Traders, the A&B standing for our and another families last name, and I wanted an homage of sorts to that. Also works with Captain A, my handle.

One of the issues of selling second hand merch is getting quality product. I have been doing storage lockers and auction houses for merchandise, but those can be hard to get to as I have a full time job already. I’d seen some other groups market the idea of offering collection purchasing services and liked the idea of others coming to me instead of me going to them.

So that is what I’ve done! I have a website – www.trader-a.com and worked something out with the boys in Frontline blue and have an ad on their site, with art from my favorite Goat. I also have…wait for it…business cards! Ok, I have business cards coming in the mail. I’m legit yo!

So far things have been working out. People contact me, I give them a quote and it’s a go or it’s a no. Then I list em! Simple as that! I’ve already scored some merch from the people out there and my local area is knowing that I’m purchasing as well. I try to give a good deal on their stuff, not too much that I don’t make a good profit, but not too little as to be sad for them. For a lot of people, they just don’t want to take the time to sell it themselves. It can take a ton of time to pic and list stuff, and then you have to ship it. I personally love my little shipping area. I have boxes…boxes! And tape and bubble wrap! I have actually really come to enjoy the shipping process, as it is usually quite simple for Warhammer. I check my account, find the item, wrap it and drop it in a box. I use a thermal label printer and slap that bad boy on, purchasing postage directly through eBay. No waiting in line at the post office for me! It’s also fun as I know that shipping equals dough in my pocket. It has been a lot of fun.

In The Weeds

Lately I’ve been in the weeds with Warhammer. I picked up a nice Tyranids lot for a steal that had some sick Forge World models in it. The Forge World paid for the lot and the rest has been profit. I also just picked up and listed a huge Ork lot. I pictured and listed about 50 things in about 5 hours. That felt good! I also got some metal Fantasy stuff yesterday, picking up some Skitarii today, and have a Tau army coming in next week. It feels good to have something you start begin to move and take off, but also a bit scary. We’ll see how it works in the long run, but I’m excited very much so far!

I’ve also started doing commissions as well. My fellow second hand gamer and friend loves commissions as he puts no money into it and only gets money out of it. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but I’m helping a friend move some large, well painted models and I’m getting small cut of the sale. Time will tell.

What About You?

“That’s great Cap but what about us!” I hear you say over the interwebs?

My thought about this is that I’m still cherry picking stuff out of the lots I buy for me (don’t tell the wife!). The ork army came in a lovely Battlefoam 1520 pack. I love those things! I also picked out the Deff Koptas for what I hope to be my Skaven DEldar Corsairs army. I’m lifting the idea from Ten Inch Template with Koptas for jetbikes and flying things and the rat theme being something fun I can sink my teeth into. I also want this army to be something well converted and painted. Another article for another day.

Lets say you want a Thunderfire Cannon but don’t want to shell out the $50 for a used one and don’t have the skills or bits to make one out of scratch. Doing a search on eBay using the title and description feature I came across this army.

It contains the following

– space wolves squad pack

– space marines devastator squad

– space wolves wolf guard terminator squad x2 (total of 12 terminators)(one lead)

– space marine thunderfire canon (lead)

– canis wolf born (lead)

– ranger black main (lead)

– Logan grimnar the great wolf (lead)

– land speeder x2 ( one with cyclone missile launchers)

– predator tank

– vindicator tank

– dreadnought x5

– 5 boxes of spare parts

– 1 unbuilt spare twin cyclone missile launcher

– space wolves codex

The lot listed above will set you back $280. Keep the Thunderfire Cannon, list the rest individually will gross you $375. You get the Thunderfire Cannon for free and will pocket around $70 after fees. Lot of work? Yes, but if time is what you have then time is your commodity. Use it to your advantage. Don’t have the $280? There are lots of ways to raise money – eat out less, sell something, do odd jobs or work extra, spend less, find a smaller lot and start there.

Other Places to Score

Craigslist – I love and hate Craigslist. I like buying on Craigslist but don’t enjoy selling on Craigslist. I’ve picked up some great deals lately on Craigslist so I will continue to buy there and sell when I have to for large items I don’t want to ship.

Garage Sales – These will be hit or miss but you can score if you put in the time to find merch.

eBay – Search Buy It Now items recently listed or Auctions nearly ending to find deals.

Forums – Your local gaming forums often have buy, sell, trade places. Just be diligent and keep an eye out.

Frontline Sales – Get on the email list and keep an eye out for the 25% off sales! Get it new and cheap!

Conclusion

I’ve really enjoyed this season of my life in that this is a new endeavor for me and I am excited to see what it holds. One thing I plan on doing is taking gift certificates for my store to the tournaments I go to and add them to the prize pool. Tax deductible and giving back! In the end though, I enjoy seeing something I have created, something I own, take shape into a realm I love and enjoy already. Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my world.