Thoughts on the rising prices of vintage stuff

Hi
I'm very lucky in regards to my collection. I have pretty much every boxed vehicle and in most cases two of each plus 450 loose figures all complete. I finished this collection last year and was able to get most of it due to an inheritance that I got when my parents passed away.
The only things I don't have are a sonic speeder and a tattooine skiff and I don't have any carded figures.
What made me think of this topic, was a bt phone engineer came round yesterday in his 40s and he was blown away by my collection he hadn't seen any vintage stuff since he was I kid and couldn't believe it.
We spent ages talking and he was asking about how he would get into collecting if he chose to start. I warned him of the impact it would have on his wallet and probably on his relationship with his wife :lol: but after he left I had a look around on eBay to see what was about.
All I can say is that I'm glad I am not after any boxed vehicles any more. The average prices people are asking for at ats are around £200-£250 boxed. They boxes have had it with rips and creases and the vehicles are often incomplete and have discolouration. Other items are tie fighters boxed for £150 again floppy boxes with rips and damage and yellow vehicles. I saw a couple of y wings and x wings and an ewok village for £250.
Plus there are tons of repro boxes with inserts
How will this affect current collectors? No one wants tatty boxes and knackered vehicles surely no matter how rare they are. It would seem an impossible task to get one of everything in mint condition. The loose figures still seem reasonable and the afa graded loose stuff seems ok.
I guess I'm worried that people will be put off by prices and condition and will eventually become disheartened and not bother collecting in the first place
In one of my books it says how part of the genius of the toy line was to create figures cheap and small so that all the kids would want them all and this would be a reasonable thing to achieve. It was the same with the vehicles. Over time you could end up with all your favourites.
I was able to get all my stuff and bought my last starwars item about a year ago. But for new and current collectors I can't see what the attraction would be if it's impossible to find even one boxed vehicle in mint condition complete and for a reasonable price tag ie under £150
What do you guys think? Is it that things aren't being listed on eBay due to the time of year?
Is eBay dead now for most collectors due to people trying to overcharge on crap items? How do you new and current collectors feel about the scene and about the condition and price of stuff? Are collectors now just going for smaller targets like a hand full of figs and one or two vehicles?
What would happen if people just lost interest? Finally are collectors now leaving eBay and just using forums and Facebook?
Just curious and wondered what you all think. I know nothing about collecting on Facebook but just wondered what options are there for today's collectors. Cheers and all the best merry Christmas, Jonathan

Vehicles are kind of out of fashion at the moment - a lot of new collectors aren't even looking at them and are solely going for MOC figures, which is what has seen the massive rises.

A lot of boxed ships aren't far off where they were 10 years ago. A white TIE was always about £100, and were really hard to get before the internet. Sonic Landspeeders and skiffs are probably not far off the same price they were too.

Rising prices suck though - I assumed I could have my pick of stuff now I am all responsible and working hard for the man, but nope - because prices have gone mental.

I love the vehicles and play sets.

Price hike is a shame for collectors. Means I won't be buying any more carded figures unless I get a good deal.

Many items are going in the reverse direction. I had a big sale of graded MOC ROTJ & tri figures recently. About 1/3 went for more than expected, 1/3 for what I expected, and 1/3 for well under. For instance, an 80 grade Han Trench ROTJ sold for just £77. I paid £33 to get it graded. I've seen ungraded ones sell for the same and more.

I paid £475 for a 75 graded R2 12 back earlier this year, and since, I saw one sell for under £300. I bought a 70 grade Jawa 12 back for £350, earlier again, then recently watch a 75 go for only £275. I also watched an 80 grade Palitoy AT-AT Comander go for £150 when I bought one for £250 earlier. I have several other examples.

On the other side, I've won several items from Vectis that had previously gone for several hundred more. My bids were the lowest of all previous sales of the exact same thing, so win some lose some.

I'd say the usual grails are holding their value, but everything else can be subjected to big fluctuations.

Luke 12 backs were going mental earlier this year, and that 75 grade Takara for sale on this forum now for £875 would have been snapped up in minutes. It's still languishing there now.

I don't care if I sound like a miserable old ****er, but the absolutely ridiculous rises in price have turned me right off collecting Star Wars. It's got so far away from where I and many others started that there's just no fun in it anymore for me personally. It is true thought that some items have never really shifted in value since the 90's. These would be vehicles and some playsets. But I see prices and certain posts on FB and feel as though it's just about money now, and if you ain't got tons of it then you're out pretty much.

Bah!

I'm priced out to as I absolutely refuse to pay current asking prices for stuff I used to be able to pick up for WAY less. In saying that anybody want my Bespin Proof run for £50k. :wink: Should asked Nigo to sell it for me lol. Good luck to the new blood in the hobby, your gonna need it.

Star Wars is the 'buzz' word at the moment - it's everywhere. Give it a few months and we might see some prices stabilise. Some stuff has gone bloody mental - normally all the things I'm bidding on - but it might not always be the case.

I think some of this depends on how well Disney handle the franchise, if TFA is as good as some say it is, and if ROGUE ONE proves to be just as awesome (I'm looking forward to this more than TFA!) - then we might have to either get used to higher prices, looking twice as hard for bargains, or getting out of the hobby altogether.

And Barry - don't go!

x-pack said:

I don't care if I sound like a miserable old ****er, but the absolutely ridiculous rises in price have turned me right off collecting Star Wars. It's got so far away from where I and many others started that there's just no fun in it anymore for me personally. It is true thought that some items have never really shifted in value since the 90's. These would be vehicles and some playsets. But I see prices and certain posts on FB and feel as though it's just about money now, and if you ain't got tons of it then you're out pretty much.

Bah!

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I think one of the reasons it angers collectors so much, is simply because we are smitten with SW, it's in the genes, therefore it becomes an "insult" to us personally and to the hobby that we follow.
So no matter what happens, you may want to leave the hobby, your adamant, then you pop into a shop one day, and there's an EB luke figure, or a vintage item mixed in with other stuff, and BANG!! Your back on it :lol:
And as said, you can't leave Barry, the force ( and fellow SWFUKERS ) will always drag you back :lol:
Just pop back up in your attic, sit back, gaze on your collection and afford yourself a gleeful smile :wink:

The current market is shocking not only are things going way above what I class as affordable but also what I class as value for money it certainly has priced me out of completing my collection so far HOWEVER I have sold items and I'm not complaining about the price they went for so it kind of swings around great time to sell not so great to buy I am sure in a year or so it will calm down a little after all new collectors will be collecting stuff from the 90s thinking its vintage or even the new Disney stuff but I think the days of car boot sales etc have passed I hope it doesn't put any of us off and we keep hunting after all there is no time limit

Michael Sith said:

x-pack said:

I don't care if I sound like a miserable old ****er, but the absolutely ridiculous rises in price have turned me right off collecting Star Wars. It's got so far away from where I and many others started that there's just no fun in it anymore for me personally. It is true thought that some items have never really shifted in value since the 90's. These would be vehicles and some playsets. But I see prices and certain posts on FB and feel as though it's just about money now, and if you ain't got tons of it then you're out pretty much.

Bah!

Click to expand...

I think one of the reasons it angers collectors so much, is simply because we are smitten with SW, it's in the genes, therefore it becomes an "insult" to us personally and to the hobby that we follow.
So no matter what happens, you may want to leave the hobby, your adamant, then you pop into a shop one day, and there's an EB luke figure, or a vintage item mixed in with other stuff, and BANG!! Your back on it :lol:
And as said, you can't leave Barry, the force ( and fellow SWFUKERS ) will always drag you back :lol:
Just pop back up in your attic, sit back, gaze on your collection and afford yourself a gleeful smile :wink:

Click to expand...

Oh i'm not out of love for Star Wars. For the likes of us chaps on SWFUK Star Wars is part of our consciousness. It almost does literally surround us and bind the universe together :? Star Wars has almost out lasted every single other thing in my life and now our young lad is well into it, which is what it's all about really.

No, i'm not leaving leaving, but I am pretty much out as far as collecting goes. Simply cannot afford it anymore. And that has nothing to do with changing jobs. It's just too sodding expensive and besides, I wouldn't spend that sort of cash even if I had it to spare. And the greed! Oh my god! The greed ... :roll: Not my thing.

But Star Wars and SWF.UK are still great. The generosity we see on this forum is amazing. I have experienced this several times myself and have seen countless gestures to others. You guys know who you are. Thankyou

But surely this continued increase can't just keep on going?

Surely all the incredibly rich collectors that are buying up stuff will eventually have evyerything they want that's rare and will stop buying?

A lot of the price rise must be down to people just jumping on the bandwagon and the assumption that all things star wars = $$$$$

Eventually no one will be able to buy anything...and it may all come crashing down!

Has anyone ever thought that in future that there may be very little to purchase , because it's all locked up in collections ? Thoughts please , I'm not sure myself , I regard pricing as a take it or leave it deal and there isn't much I can do about it .

stormcab said:

Many items are going in the reverse direction. I had a big sale of graded MOC ROTJ & tri figures recently. About 1/3 went for more than expected, 1/3 for what I expected, and 1/3 for well under. For instance, an 80 grade Han Trench ROTJ sold for just £77. I paid £33 to get it graded. I've seen ungraded ones sell for the same and more.

I paid £475 for a 75 graded R2 12 back earlier this year, and since, I saw one sell for under £300. I bought a 70 grade Jawa 12 back for £350, earlier again, then recently watch a 75 go for only £275. I also watched an 80 grade Palitoy AT-AT Comander go for £150 when I bought one for £250 earlier. I have several other examples.

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To be honest none of those prices surprise me, I'm actually a little surprised some of them went so high. Unless you have something super rare like a POTF Anakin, grades below 85 simply put people off and in most cases reduce the value. That's not new, it's always been like that. If you want to collect AFA stuff, you need to go for the high end stuff or not bother at all. And paying more for grading than the value is also fairly common. You can't expect to take a £50 MOC, spend £30 on grading it and have something worth significantly more than the original purchase price, especially with a 'low' 80 grade and common MOCs or loose figures.

Survival kit Chris said:

Has anyone ever thought that in future that there may be very little to purchase , because it's all locked up in collections ? Thoughts please , I'm not sure myself , I regard pricing as a take it or leave it deal and there isn't much I can do about it .

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People will always churn and there is a lot of stuff - most SW is very common. But you have a valid point when you start thinking about truly rare pieces - they are already seen far less often than a few years ago.

Good comments and interesting thoughts I guess I'm wondering more about the condition of items around for sale at the moment, especially boxed vehicles on eBay. I wondered if items in bad condition would be desirable if that was all that was available once the good stuff has all been bought up?
I would have thought it wouldn't be, but then again is see carded stuff with yellow bubbles being sold.
This boxed shuttle on eBay is going crazily high considering the box is knackered and the ships yellow
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161914144589?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I paid £270 posted for one of my boxed shuttles and it's mint with only one small tape tear on the side. That was a year ago. I'm watching a couple more boxed items so it will be interesting to see what they make. Could be the time of year and the new movie I suppose but I can't see what the attraction is for worn boxes myself especially if the buyer will be paying a lot for it. What do you guys think?