Miniswap

What do they actually do

Miniswap is a niche, catalogue-driven marketplace for second‑hand tabletop miniatures, starting with Warhammer. Sellers create structured listings by matching items to a catalogue entry, add photos, and ship using prepaid labels with tracking; buyers pay through Miniswap (Stripe) and payments are captured when the seller ships. Miniswap charges a 7% seller fee and currently supports domestic transactions in the US, UK, and Canada with dispute mediation for items not as described (homepage, Seller FAQ, Buyer FAQ).

The founders say they’ve built a 20,000+ item catalogue and are replacing unstructured forum/DM sales with searchable listings; their YC launch notes ~1,000 signups and about $40k of seller inventory shortly after launch (YC company page).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Casual players selling spare models: They don’t want to bargain in DMs or write long listings on eBay/Facebook. They worry about scams and handling shipping and tracking themselves.
• Hobby collectors hunting specific miniatures: Finding exact models across scattered listings is slow; listings often miss condition/parts details. They fear recasts/fakes and want predictable shipping and refunds if an item isn’t as described.
• Local game stores (FLGS) and small retailers: Consumer marketplaces force manual, one‑by‑one listings and don’t integrate with inventory systems. Stores need reliable payouts, bulk labels, and fewer disputes that erode margins.
• Commission painters and sellers of painted minis: Social feeds/DM sales lack trust and clear condition/finish expectations. They want prepaid shipping, protection from chargebacks after shipping, and a buyer base that understands the category.
• High‑volume resellers/power sellers: They need bulk listing, accurate catalogue matching, pricing data, and exportable sales records. Consumer platforms create extra fraud risk, ad‑hoc shipping, and unpredictable payout timing.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led, hyperlocal onboarding at nearby clubs and FLGS: photograph and list first items for early users, waive the first‑sale fee, and lean on prepaid labels and held‑funds to reduce risk. Reinforce with step‑by‑step posts in active local Discord/Facebook groups (Seller FAQ, Buyer FAQ, YC page).
• First 50: Run a FLGS onboarding playbook: simple revenue share, in‑store training, and co‑branded listing days where Miniswap staff bulk‑list store inventory. Drive buyers via sponsored tournament prizes and pinned posts in national hobby communities, highlighting catalogue matching and shipping guarantees (About, Seller FAQ).
• First 100: Target power sellers and commission painters with a time‑limited migration offer (CSV/import help, reduced fees for 30 days, faster payouts) and a featured “painted minis” category. Do 1:1 outreach to top eBay/Marketplace sellers and show up at one regional convention to concentrate listings and demand (About, Seller FAQ)).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Games Workshop (Warhammer’s owner) reported FY2023/24 revenue of ~£526m with ~£495m from core product sales; FY2024/25 revenue was ~£618m, underscoring the scale of the primary miniatures market (GW FY2024 Annual Report, GW FY2025 Annual Report). The used/resale market for tabletop miniatures is a subset of this—likely in the tens to low hundreds of millions in GMV globally depending on participation and turnover assumptions.

Bottom-up calculation:

Assume 250k hobbyists in US/UK/CA transact used minis annually, each doing ~$250 of GMV per year, implying ~$62.5m peer‑to‑peer GMV; at a 7% take rate, that’s ~$4.4m in annual marketplace revenue potential in current geographies. Including adjacent miniatures beyond Warhammer could raise GMV proportionally if participation and spend are similar.

Assumptions:

• About 250k hobbyists in US/UK/CA buy/sell used miniatures annually.
• Average used GMV per transacting hobbyist is ~$250/year; take rate remains 7% (current Miniswap fee) (Seller FAQ).
• Adjacent miniature games add ~25% incremental GMV over Warhammer-only volumes in the same regions.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• eBay: Default venue for used miniatures with large audience and auction/fixed‑price formats, but complex fees and no hobby‑specific catalogue or prepaid‑label flow (eBay fees).
• Facebook Marketplace and hobby buy/sell groups: Free, local P2P listings used widely by hobbyists, but listings are unstructured with bargaining/DMs and inconsistent payments/ship‑protections across groups (Facebook commerce policies).
• Etsy: Popular for painted minis and commissions with built‑in payments/storefronts, but fee stack applies and it’s not optimized for high‑volume used‑mini reselling or catalogue matching (Etsy fees).
• Miniature Market (buyback/consignment programs): Retailer that buys used stock or offers trade credit; works as a store rather than an open P2P marketplace with a searchable community catalogue (Buyback program).
• BoardGameGeek / GeekMarket: Niche community marketplace useful for collectors, but more of an advertising/coordination layer than a full marketplace with integrated payments, prepaid labels, and pro‑seller tooling (BGG marketplace guide).