Today on Facebook...

[Mr-shifter]

A few R2s are appearing now. The winner at £400 plans to grade and sell in the future in order to make a profit. There's an AFA85 or 90 unsold for £600. This is what's wrong with the hobby.

1. People are greedy

2. People are stupid

3. People are entering into a market they do not understand believing that the price rises will continue indefinitely and any investment they make will eventually yield a huge return.

Make no mistake, we are heading for a critical point. The first broken marriage/repossession of house/breakdown is just one or two vcjs away.

 

[Jimi Woolley]

A few R2s are appearing now. The winner at £400 plans to grade and sell in the future in order to make a profit. There's an AFA85 or 90 unsold for £600. This is what's wrong with the hobby.

That's not true actually Rich. I suggested that but I was wrong. He was just showing how much a similar condition one sells for once graded and as he collects graded figures (for future investment :roll: ) that's what his alternative would be if he were to buy an already graded example.

Jimi

 

[Jimi Woolley]

I'm one of the admins on Jabba's Palace and also a Pop Up focus collector (that's not finished buying a lot of the Pop Up MOC variants) so this ridiculously high price kicks me in both bollocks.
I felt the need to put my side of it all across on ONE of the many threads about it on Echo Base last night. I'm just going to copy and paste it here....

"I spoke to the winner of the Pop Up as he contacted me to thank me for turning off commenting on the post as he was getting abuse left right and centre.
I don't agree with the price he paid, hell, I've bought 3 complete nice Pop Ups for less than that and one is equally as nice... but he has the right to pay that if he chooses.

One of the reasons he gave for paying that much was the fact that he wanted to grade it for his personal collection (and not for resale) and also he mentioned that he's been trying to buy one for months on HERE (Echobase) and elsewhere and was sick of missing out after they sold in minutes. What does that say? The demand is much higher than the supply. What happens when demand is greater than supply? Prices go up. It's simple economics.

We at Jabba's Palace may have unintentionally given people the opportunity to overspend - given them the rope to hang themselves in some respect - but we cannot be held responsible for their motivation to do so. If they didn't buy on Jabba's they would buy on eBay or buy the ridiculously high items listed on here (Echobase) sometimes.

We have to accept that we are in uncharted collecting territory and the hobby is more popular than it's ever been. I wish I could pick up a Pop Up like this for £70 again like I did 20 months ago but it ain't going to happen."

Jimi

 

[Cardbackkid]

I'm one of the admins on Jabba's Palace and also a Pop Up focus collector (that's not finished buying a lot of the Pop Up MOC variants) so this ridiculously high price kicks me in both bollocks.
I felt the need to put my side of it all across on ONE of the many threads about it on Echo Base last night. I'm just going to copy and paste it here....

"I spoke to the winner of the Pop Up as he contacted me to thank me for turning off commenting on the post as he was getting abuse left right and centre.
I don't agree with the price he paid, hell, I've bought 3 complete nice Pop Ups for less than that and one is equally as nice... but he has the right to pay that if he chooses.

One of the reasons he gave for paying that much was the fact that he wanted to grade it for his personal collection (and not for resale) and also he mentioned that he's been trying to buy one for months on HERE (Echobase) and elsewhere and was sick of missing out after they sold in minutes. What does that say? The demand is much higher than the supply. What happens when demand is greater than supply? Prices go up. It's simple economics.

We at Jabba's Palace may have unintentionally given people the opportunity to overspend - given them the rope to hang themselves in some respect - but we cannot be held responsible for their motivation to do so. If they didn't buy on Jabba's they would buy on eBay or buy the ridiculously high items listed on here (Echobase) sometimes.

We have to accept that we are in uncharted collecting territory and the hobby is more popular than it's ever been. I wish I could pick up a Pop Up like this for £70 again like I did 20 months ago but it ain't going to happen."

Jimi

Totally agree with this

 

[Richard_H]

A few R2s are appearing now. The winner at £400 plans to grade and sell in the future in order to make a profit. There's an AFA85 or 90 unsold for £600. This is what's wrong with the hobby.

That's not true actually Rich. I suggested that but I was wrong. He was just showing how much a similar condition one sells for once graded and as he collects graded figures (for future investment :roll: ) that's what his alternative would be if he were to buy an already graded example.

Jimi

Ah thanks Jimi I misread his point

 

[Richard_H]

I don't blame Jabba's Palace at all for this. Fault is with the buyers solely. I do think it's the need to own now problem though. I've been looking for some items for 4 years now, and will get them at the price I'm happy. Buyers need to act responsibly too.

The only auctions that piss me off are the ones where the starting bid is near the full value of the item or even beyond it. In those circumstances then the sellers are to blame too.

 

[Jimi Woolley]

I don't blame Jabba's Palace at all for this. Fault is with the buyers solely. I do think it's the need to own now problem though. I've been looking for some items for 4 years now, and will get them at the price I'm happy. Buyers need to act responsibly too.

The only auctions that piss me off are the ones where the starting bid is near the full value of the item or even beyond it. In those circumstances then the sellers are to blame too.

I've been after a nice cheap Trilogo Pop Up MOC for about 2 years now... not given up yet :wink: although I think I have well and truly missed the boat now, just like with a VCJ.

The starting of auctions at full market value is annoying. It basically tells everyone that you want to get as much as you possibly can for that item.
Maybe we should make it that every item has to start at 99p?

Jimi

 

[edd_jedi]

A guy who doesn't believe the Toy Toni scandal is real. A product of the modern collecting world where real knowledge is buried in seconds to people showing off their unopened cardboard boxes.

 

[Richard_H]

I don't blame Jabba's Palace at all for this. Fault is with the buyers solely. I do think it's the need to own now problem though. I've been looking for some items for 4 years now, and will get them at the price I'm happy. Buyers need to act responsibly too.

The only auctions that piss me off are the ones where the starting bid is near the full value of the item or even beyond it. In those circumstances then the sellers are to blame too.

I've been after a nice cheap Trilogo Pop Up MOC for about 2 years now... not given up yet :wink: although I think I have well and truly missed the boat now, just like with a VCJ.

The starting of auctions at full market value is annoying. It basically tells everyone that you want to get as much as you possibly can for that item.
Maybe we should make it that every item has to start at 99p?

Jimi

One r2 moc went recently for under £300 but I don't know condition. VCJ - glad I got mine when I did.
It's a difficult one as it wouldn't be right for a seller to get a really low price on an item as people didn't do research.

 

[lejackal]

Maybe we should make it that every item has to start at 99p?

Jimi

This would be great but you would also have to allow reserves and that could lead to too much admin involvement

 

[lejackal]

A guy who doesn't believe the Toy Toni scandal is real. A product of the modern collecting world where real knowledge is buried in seconds to people showing off their unopened cardboard boxes.

toni.png

WTF
That is possibly the stupidest thing I've read this year

 

[edd_jedi]

This would be great but you would also have to allow reserves and that could lead to too much admin involvement

I disagree, if you want to auction something rather than sell it for a fixed price in hope you will make more money, you should also have to take the risk that it may sell for less than you wanted.

 

[lejackal]

This would be great but you would also have to allow reserves and that could lead to too much admin involvement

I disagree, if you want to auction something rather than sell it for a fixed price in hope you will make more money, you should also have to take the risk that it may sell for less than you wanted.

I see what you mean, I suppose I was just thinking that not everyone is trying to screw as much as they can, they just hope to achieve a fair price but don't want a hundred quid MOC to go under £50.
Maybe a better idea would be the start price is limited to 50% of the expected market value.
Stormtrooper £7 start, Klaatu MOC £15 start and so on

 

[aussiejames]

A guy who doesn't believe the Toy Toni scandal is real. A product of the modern collecting world where real knowledge is buried in seconds to people showing off their unopened cardboard boxes.

toni.png

WTF
That is possibly the stupidest thing I've read this year

It's awesome :lol: Jason Joiner & Jason Smith are really the same person & the whole scandal is really just a fake scandal so people can buy cheap PBP figures on cards :wink:

The sad thing is Aaron really does have a fantastic eye for detail with loose variants just some of his theories are wacky.

 

[MarkG]

A guy who doesn't believe the Toy Toni scandal is real. A product of the modern collecting world where real knowledge is buried in seconds to people showing off their unopened cardboard boxes.

toni.png

That guy always seems to get his comments across at the slightest whiff at a TT... he really does believe they are real and the scandal was a big hoax.... I wonder if he really is Toni in disguise...lol.

 

[Mr-shifter]

I have crossed paths with Aaron in the past over stuff ironically he didn't believe was real but is.

He is a bit of a conspiracy theorist I think, but he does spend a lot of time researching variants to the most minute detail. I wonder if that's why some of his theories are so highly strung.

 

[Cazza]

So how does he explain the iron marks on the earlier ones? What about the lack of machine press mark on the back? That's just the tip of the iceberg. Nutter :lol:

 

[theforceuk]

I thought the TT was a hoax just like a Global Warming?

You telling me it's true, all of it?

 

[Tarkin's nosehair]

I believe that "Toy Tony" is a mythical evil figure made up by children to scare grown ups from spending large sums of their child's inheritance on toys.........................And I also believe that the moon is made from cheese. CHEESE I TELL YA!!!!!!!!!!!! :twisted:

 

[wrighty]

This is going to be there with the most BS you can write in a paragraph!! :lol: