It still amazes me how much profit can be made reselling pre-owned board games on Ebay.
If you haven’t thought of reselling used board games before, you may just change your mind after reading this article.
We’ll go over where to source used board games, what condition should they be in and finally, which ones to look out for.
Where to Find Board Games to Resell
There are several ways to source your stock. Once you make it your mission to look for board games, you will come across them everywhere.
Charity shops
You must’ve seen board games there, surely. There are shelves full of them in almost every charity shop. Regularly, as well as the used games, there will be some that are still sealed in their original packaging.
The prices will vary depending on the game type and the condition but generally you will pay between 50p and £3.00. The sealed ones will, naturally, be a little more.
Car Boots, Jumble Sales, Garage Sales
These are fantastic places to purchase your board games for resale. You will find lots to choose from and, as all sellers are keen to get rid of all their ‘junk’, you are likely to pick some beauties up for next to nothing.
Job lots
Purchasing job lots and bundles of board games for individual resale can be very profitable. These could be customer returns or clearance stock, one type of product or a real mixture of everything.
You can often find deals like this on Ebay and save yourself hunting for each game individually. Do read through the listing description carefully though so you know exactly which items are included in the bundle and work out how much profit you can make reselling them. Don’t be afraid to make a lower offer to the seller either, it all helps your margins.
Ebay automatic bidding or Bid sniping
Not all Ebay sellers are aware of the value of certain board games.
Someone just clearing their stuff out may put a valuable board game on auction for a very low starting price. If you spot it, you could aim to win the auction and then resell the game for profit. Set automatic bidding and let Ebay do the bidding for you.
To improve your chances of winning further, you can sign up for an automated sniping software such as BidSlammer that will place your bid automatically just before the auction ends.
Facebook Marketplace
Of course you are going to find used board games here. Lots and lots of bundles of used board games are on offer for mostly very low prices and close to where you live. Absolutely take advantage of this opportunity.
Buying incomplete board games
Where possible, you should always check if a board game you’re interested in buying is complete, including instructions leaflet. Go through the contents list and see if there’s anything missing.
If you find some bits are missing or damaged, it’s not ideal, but depending on the game, you may still want to purchase it. Some sought-after board games are worth purchasing incomplete if the price is right.
Rare or vintage games especially will still sell really well incomplete or damaged. See below:
Incomplete Horror House sold for £199.99
Incomplete Dark Tower with damaged box and missing pieces sold for $249.92 + $55.31 shipping
Haunted Mansion incomplete sold for $200.00 + $16.98 shipping
What you could also do is to source any missing pieces separately. A complete game will naturally be worth a lot more than an incomplete one.
Reselling board game parts individually
There is a big market for board game parts. It makes perfect sense if you think about it – pieces get worn, lost, vacuumed, chewed by pets.
Game parts could be a valuable addition to your inventory – as you’re buying the games incomplete and therefore cheaper, the return on your investment can be huge. See examples of what sold below:
Hero Quest replacement figures sold for $23.99 + $23.02 shipping
Pizza Party board game replacement piece sold for $12.00 + $16.96 shipping
Dark Tower replacement piece sold for £24.95 + £1.95 shipping
Which pre-owned board games are valuable?
The most valuable board games are either rare vintage ones or collectible modern manufacture. It stands to reason that these will be harder to find and more expensive to purchase.
More common board games are still perfectly profitable and readily available to purchase.
Your buying decisions should depend on the condition and the price of the item. You can either look up sold prices on Ebay Sold Listings or Terapeak or, if you are also reselling on Amazon, use one of the scanning apps such as Scoutly or Profit Bandit.
These are invaluable, especially if you’re just starting out without much experience. Download it on your phone and scan the board game barcode. The app will return a screen showing you what the board game sells for on Amazon but will also show you prices on Ebay and historical prices on Camelcamelcamel.
You can make informed buying decisions in seconds and save yourself money buying stock that you won’t make much profit on.
Pre-owned board games that resell for £20 – £50
Here is an example list of 20 used board games that sold on Ebay this month for £20.00 – £50.00 plus postage. There are thousands more, just do some research on Ebay’s Sold Listings.
- Santorini £23.75
- Titanic £28.99
- Scythe £29.00
- Defense Grid £48.39
- Witch Of Salem £38.72
- Crossfire £38.71
- Clue: The Haunted Mansion £30.97
- City Of Kings £30.00
- Sonic The Hedgehog Crash Course £24.44
- Disney Monopoly Castle £39.99
- V-Commandos £35.00
- Airlines Europe £48.40
- 1970s Ultimatum £43.56
- Formula D £29.03
- Descent: Journeys The Dark £35.00
- Stratego £28.07
- Scrabble Deluxe £30.00
- The Settlers Of Catan £24.99
- Goosebumps £24.99
- Dominion £35.00
Pre-owned board games that resell for £100 – £300
Games in this category are a little harder to find and you will be expected to pay more to purchase them but the profits are considerable. Here come 20 examples of used board games that sold on Ebay this month for £100.00 – £300.00 plus postage:
- Fireball Island £262.16
- Zombicide £201.66
- Dogs Of War £110.00
- Terry Pratchett Discworld £160.00
- Hoplomachus Remastered £119.00
- Project L Masterbox £149.99
- Pokemon Master Trainer £145.19
- Start Wars Epic Duels £121.00
- Lord Of The Rings The Confrontation £185.52
- Puerto Rico £193.60
- Battlestar Galactica £137.00
- Kingdom Death Monster £250.00
- Shadow Hunters £159.72
- Cthulhu Wars £221.82
- Another Glorious Day In The Corps £210.00
- Dungeon Quest £140.00
- Quantum £145.19
- Grant Takes Command £120.00
- Ticket To Ride £249.14
- Talisman Dragons £300.00
Pre-owned board games that resell for £300 +
The following 20 examples of used board games sold on Ebay this month for more than £300.00 plus postage. Insane money considering these are pre-owned.
- Dungeons And Dragons Temple Of Elemental Evil £483.99
- Planet Unknown £399.29
- Everdell £315.00
- 1981 Dark Tower £483.15
- War Room £403.28
- 1986 Fireball Island £604.99
- Mansions Of Madness £364.00
- Talisman £343.00
- Hero Quest £463.82
- Feudum £350.00
- Camp Grizzly £360.00
- 1972 Seance £479.95
- Oathsworn Into The Deepwood £362.99
- Dungeon Universalis £604.99
- War Of The Ring £529.00
- Franklin Mint Monopoly £450.00
- Avalon Hill Star Wars £469.00
- World Of Warcraft: The Board Game £346.00
- Festung Budapest £367.53
- Horizon Zero Dawn £359.43
To conclude…
Adding used board games to your list of items you resell on Ebay is a smart move. Easy to source, cheap to buy, highly profitable. Do some research on what sells, invest in a scanning app and go and make some money!
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