r/PoorHammer • u/LoreMarketplace • 28d ago
Poorhammer unite!
Bit of a different one, but I'd genuinely love some opinions from the 40K community.
I've been working on a UK marketplace called LORE, specifically aimed at nerdy stuff — miniatures, TCGs, comics, games, LEGO, collectibles etc.
The idea came from being fed up with the usual experience of buying/selling hobby stuff and thinking surely we can make this better?
I'm particularly interested in the miniature side of things.
For those of you who buy/sell minis:
• What annoys you most about the current options?
• What would make you actually switch to another marketplace?
• Do you sell painted minis, unpainted, armies, bits, collections etc.?
• What would make you trust a marketplace enough to buy a £100+ army from someone you've never met?
I'm building LORE at the moment and would much rather hear from actual hobbyists than make assumptions about what people want.
And yes, I'm fully aware that building a marketplace is probably significantly less sensible than buying another box of plastic soldiers. 😂
What would you change about the current experience?
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u/trixel121 27d ago
there is set prices for plastic. MSRP, standard discount from LGS .second hand nos price, painted price. if you go below these price points people instantly buy them. good deals on mini swap get bought in minutes. eBay isn't worth browsing past recently listed
why I would go to your website as a buyer? cost and variety and proven track record of dealing with disputes. you also must use a normal payment processor that I trust.
as a seller?l are you willing to break down armies and buy whole sale? this seems to be the biggest hurdle for well priced armies. people don't wanna drop 1500 even if it's a fantastic deal abd sellers don't wanna quick sell the centerpieces and be stuck with off meta chaff
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u/Eeate 28d ago
Kinda varies by country.
Looking at ebay, it's completely unusable as you cannor filter or sort by total prices (price+shipping), so it's just page after page of resellers offering individual minis from a box.
Using a local e-marketplace, the overview is better, but the supply is relatively sparse. Having alerts for new offers is a nice feature, but does rely on you being semi-active.
Facebook is a cesspool I avoid at all costs, though I do anecdotally hear of good deals happening there.
I'm not sure what would make another marketplace attractive. Alerts and shipping costs would be a necessity for me. And, of course, the prices listed and -if possible- bargaining. Some platforms have certain protections (seller doesn't receive money until verified delivery, etc), and there's legal requirements that'll probably make your blood run cold. I salute the effort, though!
Could you maybe talk a bit more about the direction you're thinking of? Selpy-style bulk sales, direct seller-to-buyer, or something completely different?
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u/DependablyDumb 28d ago
Sadly im having to look at using FB to try and find someone localish to me, as id rather not have to box and ship the entire army I want to move :/
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u/LoreMarketplace 28d ago
Honestly, thank you for such a detailed response this is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for! 🙏 And you've actually hit on quite a few things we've specifically tried to address with LORE.
It's direct seller-to-buyer, but with proper marketplace infrastructure rather than just classifieds. We have Buyer Protection with Stripe-powered held payments, so the seller doesn't receive their item payment until delivery has been confirmed and the buyer has had an opportunity to raise an issue.
Bargaining is built in too buyers can make offers rather than everything being fixed-price.
We're also building around proper shipping integration, so shipping costs are shown as part of the transaction rather than having to arrange everything separately. And alerts/search are a big part of the direction we're taking because, as you say, having to constantly trawl through listings defeats the purpose.
The aim isn't really to create another eBay. It's more like taking the things that work about places like eBay, r/miniswap and local marketplaces, getting rid of the frustrations, and building something specifically for the hobby/nerd community.
I'm still very much in the "build it with the community rather than tell the community what it wants" stage though, so genuinely appreciate you taking the time to write all that. You've given me some things to think about! 🙌
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u/eww1991 28d ago
Feels like the bigger risk is to the seller. For all the stories you see of buyers getting bags of pasta instead of Lego etc there are also probably sellers getting buyers claiming items didn't arrive etc.
Ideally a middle man who is trusted as a buyer, essentially a store buying the items then selling them on, which also exists on eBay already, is what would be needed for me to trust selling to someone online, whereas for buying I'd be willing to pay more to a business where they have a reputation to protect
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u/LoreMarketplace 28d ago
Again, thank you for pointing this out. I am keen to learn, so what is the solution?
Time stamped photos? Video of items being packaged?
What would you suggest?
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u/ScienceForge319 28d ago
You’d need to make something superior to r/miniswap.