Painted miniatures are often quick ways to bulk up your army by adding choices without having to go through all the hassle of building-priming-painting-basing etc. As it so happens, there are plenty of eBayers out there selling painted Warhammer models, be they 40k or Fantasy Battle.

What surprises me here, is every other person is selling 'Pro-Painted' models. This is quite confusing, as you'd expect anything with that sort of title to be a well-painted, high standard, tidy model.

You'd be wrong though. Sneaky eBayers out there seem to stick Pro-Painted onto just about any model, irrespective of whether it is painted in a grubby basecoat with Boltgun Metal painted slapdash across it, or an exquisite example of fine blending, highlighting and NMM.

SO, What Can you do about it? Here’s my list of things to do and watch out for:

PICTURES – It’s all about these in my opinion. Get as many as you can, get em sent to you by email if you have to. Blurry ones won’t do, they do not pick up detail. Really look at the paintjobs, is the paint to thick? Really scrutinise these things, its your money!

FEEDBACK – Check if the sellers sold any other models, and see what the paintjobs on them are like. If they are at a high standard, odds are so are the ones your bidding on.

DESCRIPTION – Often, if a model is below par the description will simply state, ‘See Photo’, of course the photo will be blurry so you can’t really see much. Always be wary of people trying to catch you out by saying the paintjob is magnificent, but the photo is crap.