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Post by spockoda on Mar 14, 2018 17:37:21 GMT -6
Here is an example of why, as far as collecting goes, online is now king and probably has been for a while now. I went to a flea market four days ago. I'm looking for Star Wars figures and after traveling 60 miles(one way)only one vendor has any Star Wars figures at all. He has a carded Episode I TC-14 and Captain Panaka. He's asking $35 and $20 respectively. Although I'm mostly sure that's nuts for the TC-14 he was part of that one wave of Episode I figures that was harder to come by than the others I know the guy is certifiable asking $20 for the Panaka. I would have offered him $18 and $8 for them but he had them tagged so normally I don't give somebody counteroffers in that situation because I'll get someone pissed. Anyhow, I go home later that day and buy a carded TC-14 for $10 shipped online. I didn't try to search for a Panaka but this illustrates my point of what I'm saying here. I'm not saying there aren't online prices that are outrageous but there are more options, potentially, as far as prices to choose from for an item. And the day before, I spotted a Luke Skywalker figure that must have slipped past me from the 30th Anniversary Collection at a comic book store. They had $29.95 or something like that on it. I went home later that day and bought one online for half that cost shipped.
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Mar 16, 2018 12:57:36 GMT -6
Anyone who sells SW stuff in meatspace--be it at swap meets, conventions, or whatever--is completely insane, in my experience. Like $50 for a dancing Jar Jar insane. Are there people not aware that there's this invention called the internet and that on this thing they sell things? And are there that many in the general public that the whole endeavor of selling crap at %300 above the average online price is somehow profitable?
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Post by spockoda on Mar 16, 2018 17:49:12 GMT -6
Anyone who sells SW stuff in meatspace--be it at swap meets, conventions, or whatever--is completely insane, in my experience. Like $50 for a dancing Jar Jar insane. Are there people not aware that there's this invention called the internet and that on this thing they sell things? And are there that many in the general public that the whole endeavor of selling crap at %300 above the average online price is somehow profitable? Star Wars items are like anything with Elvis or The Beatles names and/or likenesses slapped on it. If I would have offered the guy $26 for the two figures at the flea market the guy would have had at least $26 as opposed to I'm betting $0, as the figures probably didn't sell.
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Post by figurecollector on Mar 16, 2018 18:14:16 GMT -6
Anyone who sells SW stuff in meatspace--be it at swap meets, conventions, or whatever--is completely insane, in my experience. Like $50 for a dancing Jar Jar insane. Are there people not aware that there's this invention called the internet and that on this thing they sell things? And are there that many in the general public that the whole endeavor of selling crap at %300 above the average online price is somehow profitable? Star Wars items are like anything with Elvis or The Beatles names and/or likenesses slapped on it. If I would have offered the guy $26 for the two figures at the flea market the guy would have had at least $26 as opposed to I'm betting $0, as the figures probably didn't sell. More than likely, they are -$25 or -$50 depending on what the booth space cost is where they are selling.
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Post by spockoda on Mar 16, 2018 18:32:12 GMT -6
I do understand there is a certain amount of investment involved in something like a flea market but I have seen a few people have at least reasonable prices, like asking $15 for the Target Lava Obi-Wan and Anakin. I think that is a fair and reasonable pricing. Unfortunately some of the vendors that sell Star Wars that I was thinking may be at the one I went to weren't there.
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Mar 16, 2018 19:14:19 GMT -6
I feel like it’s pretty counterproductive to recoup your costs by hiking your prices up. When I see a couple pieces overpriced I just walk away. Seems like folks that go crazy high on the price tag rarely budge or are reasonable at all.
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Post by spockoda on Mar 16, 2018 19:47:08 GMT -6
I feel like it’s pretty counterproductive to recoup your costs by hiking your prices up. When I see a couple pieces overpriced I just walk away. Seems like folks that go crazy high on the price tag rarely budge or are reasonable at all. As soon as I saw the $20 on Panaka, that did pretty much get my feet going in a different direction...away from the vendor's table!
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Post by Thor Laserpunch on Mar 16, 2018 20:37:00 GMT -6
For $20, you can get two all you can eat Panakas at the International House of Panakas.
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Post by rihia2k on Mar 16, 2018 20:52:52 GMT -6
There's been more than a few occasions where I've been talking to vendors or junk store merchants (usu. because I've met them a few times we'll be pretty chatty) and they happily let me know they're looking up internet values on their recent hauls. Literally at that moment, with the laptop out on the counter/table. It quickly becomes apparent they choose the highest pricetag next to their poorly researched item and decide, "hey, thats it's worth". From sellers like this I've scored bargains ONLY when they've: a) researched incorrectly b) dismissed an item as junk, placing it in a bag lot or $1/$2 box.
When I do luck out like this, there's always that look they give the item, then give me. Like, "Blast, I shoulda read the smallprint on its foot."
I love receiving that look.
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Post by 3 3/4"collector on Mar 16, 2018 22:47:03 GMT -6
i despise when i go to collecting shops and ask a price and the first thing they do is go to ebay to see what its marked at. this is why i might as well have just stayed home and went to ebay myself.
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Post by spockoda on Mar 17, 2018 19:39:52 GMT -6
i despise when i go to collecting shops and ask a price and the first thing they do is go to ebay to see what its marked at. this is why i might as well have just stayed home and went to ebay myself. This seems to be the world we live in. I remember a DAV thrift store I frequent had some comic books primarily from the 80's given to them and there were a couple of people on their phones looking at the comics, as if they were looking to see if any of the comics were worth buying to resell I would assume.
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Post by figurecollector on Mar 18, 2018 10:40:28 GMT -6
i despise when i go to collecting shops and ask a price and the first thing they do is go to ebay to see what its marked at. this is why i might as well have just stayed home and went to ebay myself. I have not been to a flea market in eons, but the last few times I was, it was the same story. One would think that they would have done the research before making a appearance at the flea market and maybe put ranges in a notebook so that it would not appear that they were dependent on it. I would not mind if they referenced it and then made their price 50% off of that, but that is never the case.
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Post by 3 3/4"collector on Mar 19, 2018 2:05:09 GMT -6
yeah the only thing i get out of going to their shop rather than just using ebay, since they are using ebay prices, is to pay the same price minus the shipping cost. but that doesnt happen either because they dont look for the lowest it sold for they look for the highest.
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Post by spockoda on Mar 19, 2018 16:26:42 GMT -6
At times I honestly don't know what is going on when it comes to ebay. For example, two sellers had the same carded Clone figure from ROTS in the same condition. One had $51 on it and another had $12 on it. Unless one was a rare variation, that's a pretty stark difference!
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