RANT: "pro" painted ebay models

[eosgreen]

So my brother who hates painting just bought a "pro painted" grey knights army (i already hate him enough for playing GK) and it arrives in what I would call "the furthest thing you can be from pro" painted.

Now i warned him that people are going to put "pro" to attract attention and that pro is a very relative term in that anyone who has sold painted models can be considered a pro but this is such a low standard.to make matters worse he paid retail price for them. there are no detail pics (obviously the guy knew he wasnt pro) so thats a red flag for me but maybe someone getting a gift can be fooled, say a mother or friend.

I'm just curious if anyone else is offended or slightly "annoyed" by people who do this. Its clearly your own fault for buying poorly painted models and even more so if you pay more then retail but i cant help but being upset at the audacity of these people. whats even worse is I see people saying "pro painted" and they have DETAILED PICS AND ITS CLEARLY BAD STUFF.

yeh thats just my rant for today :(

[Uncle Nutsy]

one is considered a professional if they receive money for their services, regardless of skill level.

[Necron2.0]

It's a fairly common rant that comes up time to time.

Here's what was discussed in the last iteration:
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=21217

One Ebay seller that I used to absolutely despise was "Midgard Models" based out of South America somewhere. Their Ebay store doesn't exist anymore, but they used to offer "pro" painted and "master" painted minis at ridiculous mark-up. Truth be told, some of there stuff wasn't bad, but none of it was spectacular - certainly not worth 3 times retail.

What annoyed me most about them though was they spammed every conceivable 40K term in their listing, so that any search for bits and kits you did would result in thousands (no joke, thousands) of unrelated hits. Apparently I'm not the only one whom they bothered. I've seen blogs dedicated to how much people hated them.

[eosgreen]

ah well it was my rant lol. had to get it out somehow

[Chuck777]

Pro painted is there to trick the uninformed.

Never buy an army based on its paint job unless you can see a small horde of large pictures showcasing details.

As always, "Buyer Beware" is operative when it comes to eBay.

[isotope99]

As far as I can tell, pro painted means they used a brush and not their fingers.

[Chuck777]

As far as I can tell, pro painted means they used a brush and not their fingers.

I've seen some "pro painted" armies that a child could finger paint better.

[fuzzbuket]

anyone remember the pro-painted star wars marine army... that was a nice wee giggle :P

[lobster-overlord]

one is considered a professional if they receive money for their services, regardless of skill level.

See, now I would counter this with Professional means one earns a living at it, not if one receives money for it. In the US, you can do things for money and still be considered amateur or "hobby" level. My wife does craft shows, and while she does have to have a sales tax ID, she is in no way considered professional at it.

To say something is Pro Painted is rather misleading in most cases, if the person is doing it for a living (or at least attempting to make a living off it) then it could be true no matter the level of skill. I don't paint for a living, and my paint jobs are 1000 times better than the pro stuff on ebay. However, I am a "hobby" level painter because those Items I've sold do not contribute to my standard of living.

So Pro-painted is just a way to say "I'm selling stuff that's painted to earn a living."

[Deadlift]

Personally I consider eavy metal by GWs painters to set the standard for "pro painted" that's the sort of quality I would expect. I do a little bit of painting for friends and had a few requests after selling a few bits on eBay. I certainly would not describe anything I do as pro and I generally add 100% to the cost of the model so I don't consider myself expensive either. I usually advertise as "well painted" and always include 3 to 4 good pictures as well of each mini. Too many eBay adds have very poor pictures that advertise "pro" quality. That's a load of bull.
I also recently used a company for a commission for myself. Really as a physical comparison to what I do.
1 model for £80 with a 50% up front deposit. Well over what I charge. I placed this order on feb 8th. After much pestering from me with constant phone calls the model arrived today. Maximum quoted time was 10 weeks but I was told originally 4 to 6 weeks. However I did get a full refund and a free model so can't complain too much.
However was the paint job worth the £80. I don't think so. Maybe I should up what I charge (nope) I will stick to mates rates :)

[magickbk]

I'm pretty sure the "pro" refers to their actual profession - internet con artist.

I knew a few people who used to do the painted stuff on eBay thing, painting service, etc as a way to support their hobby. My takeaways from observing their experiences were:
1. That the people buying the stuff didn't typically seem to care about the exact painting level, these people were never going to paint things of their own, and considered them game pieces and not artwork.
2. Most average people don't see the difference between good painting and great painting. If you show a person an average model painted red, and a great model painted blue, and their favorite color is red, they'll probably say the red one is better.
3. The painters knew these things, and were painting for money and not enjoyment, and so the more work they did, the less time and effort they put into the commissions.
4. Putting "Pro Painted" on your auction generally resulted in a higher selling price regardless of quality.

These are some unfair generalizations, but you get where I'm going with this. This mentality creates a general devaluation of the "pro painted" moniker. That's when the "MAS" painted tag popped up, and was eventually devalued.

Also, everything you can possibly be interested in on eBay has this kind of thing going on. I have a number of hobbies. There are a ton of Nintendo DS Lites with Asian knockoff limited edition cases being sold as originals, and when I used to look at guitars on eBay, there were always a ton of no-name instruments on there with a couple-hundred dollar price tag.

[Demonus]

It's a fairly common rant that comes up time to time.

Here's what was discussed in the last iteration:
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=21217

One Ebay seller that I used to absolutely despise was "Midgard Models" based out of South America somewhere. Their Ebay store doesn't exist anymore, but they used to offer "pro" painted and "master" painted minis at ridiculous mark-up. Truth be told, some of there stuff wasn't bad, but none of it was spectacular - certainly not worth 3 times retail.

What annoyed me most about them though was they spammed every conceivable 40K term in their listing, so that any search for bits and kits you did would result in thousands (no joke, thousands) of unrelated hits. Apparently I'm not the only one whom they bothered. I've seen blogs dedicated to how much people hated them.



Haha Ive bought 3 "pro painted" items from Midgard Models (Brazil I believe). The only issue Ive had with them is a broken Njal staff which must have been already mostly broken, and split in the middle when I took it out of the bubble wrap.

The Eldrad and Jain Zar models I bought from them were really quite nicely painted, and I paid just about retail for the models. The Njal I actually got for less than $20 (new model cost) because the winner changed their mind.

My other issue with them is that they take FOREVER lol. i guess mail takes 2 months from South America, of course it took 45 days to receive something from Forge world...

[inquisitorsog]

I actually prefer the idea the "pro painted" is not higher than a 7 on a scale of 1-10 (10 being Heavy Metal/ Golden Daemon territory). Even that isn't that high.

The simple reason is that no one should be getting high marks for appearance for an army they bought off of someone else. Buying a ready to go army from someone should be an automatic Does Not Qualify for any judging related to the quality of the finished product. To me, it's plagiarism to claim points for something someone else did.

What I don't get is the rage at the prices that pop up on these threads. I think for a "decently" painted army, someone should be getting something in the 15-25 USD range per hour. That adds up fast if you're talking about 1850 pts. If someone's charging in that range for the work they do, then it's simply a matter of do you like the result of what you get for the cost? It's purely a personal choice for the buyer unless the ebay posting is misrepresenting the final product.

And by way of disclosure: I don't sell or buy "pro painted" figures unless that's how the manufacturer makes them.

[MaltonNecromancer]

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/MaltonNecromancer/Comedy/Pro-Painted.jpg

eBay Paint Terms Translator - A Buyers Guide.

"Pro-painted" = Selling for 2 to 3 times the RRP. Translation - "I played 40K for sixth months, and grew out of it. Now I'm interested in beer and girls, and want to sell my models to pay for both. I'm lying about the paint quality, indicating one of two things: either I'm aware of how bad they look, so I'm a greedy scumbag, or, I am arrogance personified, and so utterly delusional that I believe that a layer of cack-handed drybrushing and heavy, non-blended highlights actually counts as painting skill. I have used several advanced techniques, including that horrible one where I painted the eyes using object source lighting so they look like they glow. Sadly, that technique takes real, genuine skill, so they don't; it just looks like I can't paint between the lines. P&P will be in the higher boundaries of reasonable... with an option for courier delivery if you wish, to ensure my masterworks can be delivered with their glory intact. I will be disappointed when it doesn't sell for the price I paid in the shops."

"Well Painted" = Selling for 1.5 times the RRP. Translation - "I experimented with 40K for three months. I used Acrylic paint I bought from a discount bookstore - the kind that takes half an hour to dry. I didn't thin it down. I glued them together with approximately nine times the amount of superglue I needed, as well as liberally pouring poly cement across the models to ensure any fine detail is destroyed. If the models are for a Chaos army of any sort, I may well have thick tubes of Green Stuff with ugly fingerprints all over them that are supposed to look like tentacles, but actually look like thick tubes of poorly mixed Green Stuff with ugly fingerprints all over them. I may have glued half a model onto the base as a casualty - all my friends told me it was awesome; I didn't realise that because they were eleven and chronically asocial, they wouldn't know awesome if it came up and hit them with a baseball bat. Almost all of my models' close combat weapons will be covered in thick smears of red enamel paint from my Dad's old Airfix box (which will have ravaged my GW brushes because I didn't know what turpentine was). I will claim it looks like blood. I will be wrong. I am convinced that the atrocities I have visited upon these poor miniatures are Not That Bad, despite all evidence to the contrary. P&P will be the only reasonable thing about this auction. I will be disappointed when it doesn't sell for the price I paid in the shops."

"Tabletop Quality" = Selling for a little over the RRP. Translation - "I have glued these models together with some bizarre epoxy glue used to repair tractor tyres in the old Soviet bloc, and which my Dad assured me would work. Even faced with the evidence this glue was both corrosive and probably, on some level, alive, I refused to acknowledge my error, stubbornly gluing everything in sight. As a result, there may be some cat hairs and pubes in amongst all the glue on/in/around the model. I will not charge you for those. I didn't shave off the bits of sprue along smooth edges where pieces join, meaning my model doesn't fit together at all, with ugly gaping holes revealing my models' unpainted grey insides. If I am creative, I may have tried filling this with Green Stuff (possibly attempting to make more failtastic "Chaos tentacles" if I am rich enough to afford Green Stuff), or else with more of that weird glue, which has now gone flaky and rubbery. As for the paint, either it's so thick all detail is obscured, or it's Tipp-Ex. The paint is probably Ultramarine blue, with a red line around each shoulderpad so wavy, it looks like it was drawn by an alcoholic spider with a serious neurological condition suffering a bad marriage break-up. I may have based the model with big lumps of sand and what can only be described as a "heroic" amount of PVA glue. If a psyker/magic user/elf, there may even be some glitter (the herpes of craft materials), so as to give it a "magical" feel. This model is so badly assembled and painted, it's a wonder I didn't die while assembling it. P&P will be outrageously high, demonstrating I have no belief in my workmanship. I will be disappointed when it doesn't sell for the price I paid in the shops."

"Poor Quality" = Selling for just under the RRP. Translation - "Look, my son was into this for a while, and I don't know what these are or frankly why you'd want them; we only let him have 'em to stop him starting those fires. That was a terrible Christmas. Anyway, he's into drugs and robbing now, so we're having a clear out and they're yours if you want them. P&P will be pick-up only, and only on weeknights after six but before seven - I'm down the pub after that. I will be disappointed when it doesn't sell for the price I paid in the shops."

[Kaiserdean]

I seem to notice that people who just sell "painted" armies instead of "pro painted" armies pull in a lot more cash...

[the jeske]

I have glued these models together with some bizarre epoxy glue used to repair tractor tyres in the old Soviet bloc, and which my Dad assured me would work. Even faced with the evidence this glue was both corrosive and probably, on some level, alive, I refused to acknowledge my error, stubbornly gluing everything in sight. As a result, there may be some cat hairs and pubes in amongst all the glue on/in/around the model.
I actualy loled at this . Back in 1994 I was wisiting Italy [my soon to be wife had to get stuff for her major in art and took me , as I was cheaper then a mule] . In a shop in Rome my box of models not only fliped and landed on floor , but also my reflexs from football told me to kick something that moves down . The case fliped , got kicked , hit the wall and broken . the dmg to models was , some paint scratches[not much back then I tried to impress my soon to be wife and decided my chaos marines master pice army would be gloss heavy] and that is old . I mean you would need a bunker booster to get rid of TOWOT[the mentioned "glue"].

[RedScorpionsGirl]

It's a fairly common rant that comes up time to time.

Here's what was discussed in the last iteration:
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=21217

One Ebay seller that I used to absolutely despise was "Midgard Models" based out of South America somewhere. Their Ebay store doesn't exist anymore, but they used to offer "pro" painted and "master" painted minis at ridiculous mark-up. Truth be told, some of there stuff wasn't bad, but none of it was spectacular - certainly not worth 3 times retail.

What annoyed me most about them though was they spammed every conceivable 40K term in their listing, so that any search for bits and kits you did would result in thousands (no joke, thousands) of unrelated hits. Apparently I'm not the only one whom they bothered. I've seen blogs dedicated to how much people hated them.



I'm very pleased to hear this honestly. Their models were some of the most atrocious that I had ever seen with the label "pro painted", and the way they spammed everything, it kinda hurt my eyes after a while. Thanks for the update!