How much are you prepared to pay?

[Woolyniner]

With the recent threads on the increasing costs of vintage star wars, it's made me debate internally how much I'm prepared to pay.

I've completed my loose figure collection up to the Last 15 (I have 2 Ewoks) and I've been thinking am I prepared to pay the asking price for some of these figures? After some thought I decided in no way would I pay over £150 for a Yak face. I then later decided that for me I would not even pay over £40 for any one loose figure. It just does not feel right with me.

So do any of you have a cut off value?

I actually own no one item that I've purchased for more than £75, and I think £99 would be my limit for any item (MOC, vehicle, playset etc)

 

[ScruffyLookingNH]

It very much depends on the piece. How rare it actually is, how much it means to me as a collector and, most important of all, how much nostalgia it invokes. No hard and fast rule for me.

 

[lejackal]

If I were able to fund the purchase through sales of other items and it was a fair price I would say the skys the limit for me. If it were a cash addition to my collection unless it were a payment plan over a few months I would be naturally limited by disposable income to around £150ish.

 

[x-pack]

A tenner :wink:

No. It depends. Probably £50 would be the upper limit for pretty much anything. Only items I could remotely see myself buying at the minute would be odd ball stuff like boxed stickers, rubbers. That kind of thing.

 

[sith-smith]

It very much depends on the piece. How rare it actually is, how much it means to me as a collector and, most important of all, how much nostalgia it invokes. No hard and fast rule for me.

Yes that's pretty much the same for me


And of course how much I can afford. Have turned down pieces that I wanted and could have afforded but needed the money for more important things.

 

[hellhippie]

for me as a loose collector ive acquired a full kenner set many many years ago plus lots of variants . thinking back probably 150 u.s. is the most I paid back then which at the time wasn't bad for a complete amanaman or a yak .

now im a varants collector foreign mostly ....poch/pbp , ledy, glasslite etc..... ive gotten some amaxing pieces over the last 2 years which is probably how long ive been a foreign collector . it just depends on the piece , I was recently offered a poch jawa which I had a price in mind and the seller had another so I backed off even though he's very cool and ive had dealings with him before .

I pretty much have a price in my mind for each piece ive been looking for and that's where I draw the line such as .............
pbp red harness 4 lom - 350$
orange haired luke id do 800$
dt vader id go 3000$
and so on ..... if the price goes above what I have in my mind to offer I simply back off .

 

[Ross_Barr]

Common items like most loose figures and most MOCs, you have to set a limit. That limit of course depends on the item, but patience is key when it comes to finding stuff for reasonable prices on the common stuff. Pick a price at the low end of the reasonable range, and wait for your opportunity.

Now when it comes to very rare stuff - prototypes, certain non-U.S. MOCs - where there is just a few of them around, sometimes you don't have the luxury of setting a limit or being patient if you want to land the item. Even still, there should be a range of reasonableness and even if you have to overpay slightly to get something truly rare (and "overpaying" for something that is one of three known or less becomes very subjective), there is not much you can do if you want to get that item as the seller will have more leverage in that situation.

 

[Woolyniner]

Common items like most loose figures and most MOCs, you have to set a limit. That limit of course depends on the item, but patience is key when it comes to finding stuff for reasonable prices on the common stuff. Pick a price at the low end of the reasonable range, and wait for your opportunity.

Good advice, I think that's a good strategy going forward.

 

[Lee Gregory]

I think the post from Ross sums it up very well. I have in the past, 'overpaid' for a rare card or something I really wanted.
Sometimes you don't have much of a choice though, either pay what seems like over the odds at the time, or wait what could be a number of months or years for a certain piece to become available again, and in that time who knows what price someone else will be willing to pay.....possibly more than you were going to pay in the first place.

 

[BlueDog]

It's always a struggle to set a limit on what you're prepared to pay when the goal posts get shifted so frequently these days. When I started to put my loose set together it began with a chance purchase of 60 complete figure for $60 on Ebay. Took a punt as it was an out of focus photo and ended up paying off from then on with the exception of some of the last 17 ewoks and blue snag that was how I put my collection together. Buying lots keeping the one's I needed and selling off the rest.

I think I worked out one day it cost me roughly $500 to put he set together but as Ross said patience is most certainly key, it took 5 years to complete a loose set and was by far the most memorable time I've spent collecting.

 

[jayums]

As a new collector of loose figures I was wondering this...

Would admins or mods have an issue with me conducting an (anonymous) survey amongst forum members on price expectations, and collating / presenting results on the forum?

I appreciate there are so many variables to consider and it will be not so useful for the experienced collectors, but i do think it could be potentially useful for new collectors like me.

I'd find this quite interesting to do (possibly I might be the only one though??!). Would anybody else be interested in participating if I put a survey together?

 

[stormcab]

I am a MOC collector and nothing else. I do have a limit, and it's based on how much I'm prepared to lose if the market suddenly caves in. I have broken it slightly at Vectis when I've won items that were worth way more than I paid, so that justified it for me.

I'll openly admit that when I got back into the hobby in early 2015 I was sucked in by all the high prices and was looking at the hobby as a possible long term investment again. However, now I if I think about ever selling my collection, I feel like someone is trying to tear my heart out. I just couldn't imagine parting with it.

At the end of day, if you care about your future, you will be saving for your future, and you will almost certainly pass away with a chunk of money squirreled away that you'd never have got to enjoy. With the money put into your collection, it's there for you to look at and treasure, and with the option of selling a few bits if you suddenly need some funds.

 

[olisuds]

Common items like most loose figures and most MOCs, you have to set a limit. That limit of course depends on the item, but patience is key when it comes to finding stuff for reasonable prices on the common stuff. Pick a price at the low end of the reasonable range, and wait for your opportunity.

Now when it comes to very rare stuff - prototypes, certain non-U.S. MOCs - where there is just a few of them around, sometimes you don't have the luxury of setting a limit or being patient if you want to land the item. Even still, there should be a range of reasonableness and even if you have to overpay slightly to get something truly rare (and "overpaying" for something that is one of three known or less becomes very subjective), there is not much you can do if you want to get that item as the seller will have more leverage in that situation.

Yep pretty good advice.

When you are going after rare or one of a kind items and if you believe the bubble isn't about to burst anytime soon, sometimes you have to be prepared to overpay. You might even be stretched beyond what you feel is reasonable.

I've learnt the hard way a few times that sometimes overpaying can save you money in the long run. On a couple of occasions the asking price was above what I was willing to pay at the time but a couple of years later the price was almost double and I was kicking myself for not taking it first time around. But at the same time I thought, well I just need to bite the bullet now otherwise in a couple more years it's going to even worse or possibly out of my reach.

 

[db94]

Prices have gone a bit stupid putting things that I wanted out of reach, like most money is tight and finding it harder and harder to justify the increase. Problem is that buying and adding to my collection is a big part of collecting for me, bit **** that "normal" things have jumped up so much lately.

If I were able to fund the purchase through sales of other items

There's an item (modern admittedly) that I really want but the price has trebled in the last 12 months to £500ish meaning I just cant justify spending that amount on - but I'm in the process of selling a couple of other SW items to raise money for it, if I get enough I'll treat it as a straight trade as the thought of handing over £500 for something that really isn't that rare or hard to get would totally fry my brain and completely take away from owning it.

Looking at my collection some of the items that cost the least bring the biggest smile to my face - because of the childhood memories associated with them.

 

[maxf]

it depends! How much do I want it, how rare is it, is it something which will come up again or is this a once in a few years (or longer) chance?

I am missing a couple of Palitoys, and am between 700-1200 on them, which is what they are worth to me; knowing they will come up again and again. The meccanos I'm missing are a bit different and are far rarer, so if I pass on them I may not have a chance again for a few years - hence I'll go higher.

As an extreme example, I have wanted a L-Slot Fett for years now and they have always been slightly beyond some kind if internal level/voice I have for prices 'taking the piss', so I haven't got near owning one yet.

I have some internal voice for most things I buy - SW or otherwise, I guess I just follow that.

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

I'd feel like a bit of a lemon for doing so now...

...But one week before The Force Awakens opened at cinemas, if someone had said to me there was a secret advance screening that night, £200 for the ticket to see it a week before anyone else, I probably would have paid it!

For vintage I'm prepared to pay fair market value. I don't think I've ever bought anything that was a one-off so there is always some comparable sales date. Collecting at 'any price' would render the pursuit meaningless to me. Any fool can overpay and get what they want. Scoring the right item at the right price is what it is all about.

The best of all is scoring the right item at a bargain price - that can feel like genuine elation!

 

[Stuart Skinner]

I can remember the first ever podcast we did and I interviewed Iain on it, he said during that interview words to this affect 'we've all been there, you start collecting, you pay £50 for an item, then £100, then £200 and it goes up'.

I was back in the infancy of collecting again and at that point had probably only spent £60/£70 maximum price at that time and thought to myself, can't see my spending £200 for an item. Roll on 18 months I have spent a couple of hundred quid on several items since and just before Christmas made my largest purchase which was £600.

Would I go above this amount, Yes I would as long as I had the funds readily available and it was something I could justify spending the money on then without doubt.

Totally agree with Simon with his above comment about how rare and how much I desire the item.

But it's down to the collector, some people target the high end items, others have a £40 an item limit, doesn't matter how we collect as long as we all enjoy what we collect and how we collect I think it's irrelevant what we pay. I'll never been in a position to fork out several thousand for one item but I enjoy looking at these items when they're shared in acquisitions threads etc.

 

[skywalker]

I know how much I want to spend on stuff but when I want something and I can afford it I buy it, I hate to miss out on something because I have restricted myself to limit...

On the other hand if you only have so much money spare and nothing else then I suppose no matter how good the item or the deal you can't have it..

 

[olisuds]

I think another factor can also be how many items you actually own and how often you make purchases. I've bought several 5 figure items before but I don't make purchase very often. And when i do I usually let go of things to make up a lot of the cost. So whilst a few friends have commented to me that they would never spend that much on vintage Star Wars i have no doubt that their collections have probably cost them a lot more than me.

 

[olisuds]

As an extreme example, I have wanted a L-Slot Fett for years now and they have always been slightly beyond some kind if internal level/voice I have for prices 'taking the piss', so I haven't got near owning one yet.

I have some internal voice for most things I buy - SW or otherwise, I guess I just follow that.

I've felt the same about Rocket Fetts and also Red coat Bib Fortunas. They just feel slightly outside my comfort zone. And every time I get to the point where I might consider purchasing them being realistic I find that prices have again moved way beyond my comfort zone.