# "Pro Painted" on eBay.



## MetalHandkerchief (Aug 3, 2009)

This is a rant. Bewarned. There are lot of scams and annoyances on eBay, but when people advertise something as "pro painted", why in god's name is it 75% of the time an amateur paint job?? How insulting can you get? "Hey, look at these minis, they're pro painted because I say so, here's a picture which might look shit but it's pro, I promiz."

Here are some highlights of stuff that is "pro painted" on eBay:









http://cgi.ebay.com/Warhammer-40K-D...648?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d2ee046c8









http://cgi.ebay.com/Warhammer-pro-p...pt=UK_Toys_RolePlaying_RL&hash=item45fac8612e









http://cgi.ebay.com/WARHAMMER-40K-S...100?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25621e6cfc









http://cgi.ebay.com/LSL-Pro-Painted...461?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb81f9d95

God, eBay is such a love/hate/hate to love relationship.


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## Achaylus72 (Apr 30, 2011)

Well technically they are, if someone paints a figure and claims it is pro painted and it sells, well that person has earned money from a painted figure and is a professional job, is it a scam you bet it is.


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)

Those last 3...dear Nurgle, even _I_ paint better than that! 

You're absolutely right, though; for a long time *SilverTabby* (a friend of mine who is an excellent painter) and I would look through eBay and laugh our collective arses off at some of the monstrosities on there calling themselves 'pro painted'. You look at some of them and think, "Well, I guess they can call it 'pro' because they did actually _pay_ the short-sighted epileptic monkey with the 6" Dulux house-painting brush and the jar of fucking Hammerite a few peanuts to daub paint on the model..."


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## Drannith (Sep 18, 2010)

Man don't get me started on "pro painted" stuff on eBay... my girl and I either laugh our butts off at what they have up there or get a bit mad at how much they are wanting for the model and people are actually bidding on them!


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## DeathKlokk (Jun 9, 2008)

Master Painted must mean you have to master your urge to bitch slap the guy you bought it from...

I've actually bought a Limited Edition fig from this seller (South American sweatshop methinks) because it was cheaper than I could have gotten it pristine from other sellers and nobody was bidding on it.

Check out that entire first page. all of them are less than 10 hrs. left and he has a total of 3 bids for 50 or so auctions. I don't know how they get by.

My favorite is that they do the shittiest NMM you've ever SEEN (basically slapping grays on it randomly) and talk it up like it's sooo cool.

Oh and they have tiny pictures...

This is why I do not ever put "pro panted" on my auctions.


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## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

Hmm, I never used to put pro-painted on my auctions but then I got asked by sellers why I hadn't, so no I do but I don't feel like I'm that great a painter to be honest. The buyers seem to be happy though 

DeathKlokk: that Master Painted really does have tiny pictures... is he hiding anything do you think? :biggrin:


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## Azkaellon (Jun 23, 2009)

Those are totally "Master Painted" they painted them well masturbating from the looks of things. Who said E-bay sellers don't Multi-task?


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## The Gunslinger (Apr 4, 2011)

the first one aint bad, about as good as anything i could do if i really went for it.
But i see your point, i see pro painted alot, and most of them do look pretty good, especially a iron warriors rhino i saw once with the fw doors, i wanted it so bad but when it got to £50 i decided it wasnt worth it, was funny raising the price though


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

pro painted has become a joke, but to be honest i cant blame them for using the term, ebay is about getting seen and there is so much shite on ebay people refine there searches right from the word go, so people use key words like "pro painted" to try and get on peoples radar, what they dont realize is by using pro painted on a poor or average painted model they will be ignored, because people dont like to be lied to on ebay as the layer of trust on ebay is very thin between seller and buyer to start with.

Genuinely propainted models do sell well and the best can do very well, but they need to be painted to showcase quality and be a genuine work of art to pull in the big money.


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

It used to bug me, but as I never buy minis for the paint work I stopped worrying.

Pro Painted is just a set of words used so often that they have lost meaning, I never use the phrase as a seller. Proper Paint jobs sell themselves.

They can call a turd Pro Coiled for all I care,
it is still something they have voided from their bowels and therefore still a pile of shit.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

On this note, what is the typical cost for models on ebay? I intend to sell some stuff soon but don`t want to undercut myself. 

Most of what I intend to sell would pass for a good standard (easily better than anything in the first post) but I would not go so far as to call them pro painted. 

Would slightly under original cost be a reasonable amount to expect?


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## Drannith (Sep 18, 2010)

all depends on the people looking to buy. Personally I try to never go above GW prices since I will be stripping and repainting the models to match my army. That being said if there is an awesomely painted special character I am willing to go $15 above but it really needs to be sweet.

Another way I would be willing to go a bit above GW prices is for a full army that is painted very nicely and is at least 1500pts. 

Other than those two exceptions I tend to set my max bid (adding in shipping if I have to pay for it) to at least $5-10 under depending on the model.


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

If you look at the ebay pulse stats, people mainly search for 'painted' rather than pro painted, so as long as you mention it's painted in the title you'll be sorted.

Personally i like to say 'well painted' and let the pictures speak for themselves.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Okay then. Most of what I`m looking to sell is painted well enough, it`s the older stuff that I`ll probably sell for cheap. Thanks for that.


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## Drannith (Sep 18, 2010)

The reasons why I won't pay full/close to full GW prices on eBay is:

1) I don't get all the options I would get in a normal box
2) I have seen some TERRIBLE glue jobs... people never use gorilla glue... please...
3) I am on eBay to NOT pay GW direct prices


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## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

The term 'pro painted' always bugged me. Would you classify someone who changed a tap once as a professional plumber? Unless you are either qualified in some way or paid on a full time basis, to me putting pro-painted on your auction is a lie.


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

Seeing what was on offer as either 'pro' or 'master' painted on e-bay gave me the shove to start selling painted minis, so far I've done alright out of it. 
My painting skills are less than perfect but people seem happy to pay money for what I've painted, if they're happy to buy I'm more than happy to sell.

I don't use any silly terms though, I just stick them in the shop window at my local. I don't think I've ever used e-bay.


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

SilverTabby said:


> The term 'pro painted' always bugged me. Would you classify someone who changed a tap once as a professional plumber? Unless you are either qualified in some way or paid on a full time basis, to me putting pro-painted on your auction is a lie.


Agreed. Most of the good 'pro painters' have their competition achievements on there, and if your planning to do good quality painting for a living (or part of it) then it would make sense to enter competitions to get your name out there.


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## GrizBe (May 12, 2010)

Hell if they're 'Pro' or 'Master' painted... You'll be seeing my work on the heavy metal pages soon


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## Achaylus72 (Apr 30, 2011)

I bought an Ork Warboss on EBay that was titled "Table Top Standard" and the guy said it was a rough paint job and thus it was cheap, i think it was about 3British Pounds with 2British Pounds postage.

I bought it because i was going to strip it and repaint it my "Purple Skulls" paint scheme.

Well low and behold it came in the mail and i got it out and wow it was far better than at the time i could have painted, i decided right there and then to keep it as is.

So it can sometimes work in the opposite way.

But boy i have seen some bad shit that is passed off as Pro-Painted.

I look for deceptive photos, like bad lighting, slightly blurred and the figure is very small compared to the field of the photo, that usually sends alarm bells and i just pass on the model.


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## arlins (Sep 8, 2010)

Achaylus72 said:


> I look for deceptive photos, like bad lighting, slightly blurred and the figure is very small compared to the field of the photo, that usually sends alarm bells and i just pass on the model.


 This ^^ 
always when using ebay , if theres any doubt just pass


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## Grins1878 (May 10, 2010)

MetalHandkerchief said:


> http://cgi.ebay.com/WARHAMMER-40K-S...100?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25621e6cfc


Hey, you mean this isn't pro-painted?! I thought it was a picasso!

That lass holding the bird is similar style to some dark angels I saw at triples last weekend. They were painted in a very arty/comicbook way with mad highlights and stuff, but they looked stunning. I wanted to buy them to keep as was because they looked great, but alas, I went to the hasselfree stand and my money was lost! ;-)


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Drannith said:


> The reasons why I won't pay full/close to full GW prices on eBay is:
> 
> 1) I don't get all the options I would get in a normal box
> 2) I have seen some TERRIBLE glue jobs... people never use gorilla glue... please...
> 3) I am on eBay to NOT pay GW direct prices


 I use gorilla glue almost exclusively. Wondering why you dislike it?

I am just going to toss this out. If a person is doing a good enough job at painting, when are they going to find time to do stuff for ebay? They should be doing commissions.


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)

A quick guide to Ebay terminology for painting:

*Unpainted* - There is no paint on the model.

*Painted to a basic gaming standard* - There is some paint on the model, though we're not sure exactly where.

*Painted to a good tabletop standard* - There is paint all over the model. 

*Painted to a display standard* - There is paint all over the model, and some of the colours may have some relation to some of the other colours.

*Pro painted* - Well...someone got paid something to put some paint on it once. We're not making any promises. _Caveat emptor_, and all that. 

*Master painted* - We had to try and cover up the artistic Hiroshima left behind by the 'pro painter', so this time we had to pay someone a bit more. 

*Painted by a Golden Daemon painter* - Painted by someone who may or may not have entered Golden Daemon once, back in the dawn of time, so long ago in fact that there's no proof other than their word for it. They've certainly _heard_ of Golden Daemon, though.

*Painted by Golden Daemon winner (*_insert name of actual Golden Daemon-winning painter here_*)* - OK, this one might be the real deal.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Svart quit messing around here and go mold some more of the Eldar range in resin...


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)

djinn24 said:


> Svart quit messing around here and go mold some more of the Eldar range in resin...


It's Sunday, and I have tomorrow off as well. So, ply me with beer, guitars and buxom redheads and perchance I may consider the likelihood of my acquiescing to your request on Tuesday. 

Barbosa
Means 'maybe' 
/Barbosa


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

I want more of the farseers pressed into resin damn it.


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)

djinn24 said:


> I want more of the farseers pressed into resin damn it.


Well I have been doing some Space Elves over the last couple of weeks, but I honesty couldn't tell you which ones. All pointy-ears look alike to me...


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

Azkaellon said:


> Those are totally "Master Painted" they painted them well masturbating from the looks of things.


It's how I get my whites to look oh-so-good.


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

djinn24 said:


> I am just going to toss this out. If a person is doing a good enough job at painting, when are they going to find time to do stuff for ebay? They should be doing commissions.


Some of them end up on ebay as a result of commission projects that were backed out of. It amazes me that people would send models to a painter and pay 50% of the fee then never pay the rest, but it does seem to happen.

There's also people who paint for forum competitions, and once the mini is done it'll find it's way to ebay.


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## DeathKlokk (Jun 9, 2008)

Boc said:


> It's how I get my whites to look oh-so-good.


Remind me to not handle your models, BoC! uke:



djinn24 said:


> I am just going to toss this out. If a person is doing a good enough job at painting, when are they going to find time to do stuff for ebay? They should be doing commissions.


I get some things that I just want to paint! Then end up throwing up on Ebay afterwards. Plus I pick up a fair amount of commissions from Ebay purchases. Either from a 2nd highest bidder or expanding to an entire army from a purchase.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

You both bring up good points, I am involved in a forum that does a lot of competitions and its a great motivation to paint models lol.


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