UK & US MOC price differences

subzero

Sith Lord
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So iv'e bought a Luke Jedi MOC, Kenner 77 back on ebay.com in auction, total cost £240, that's with both overseas shipping to the UK and import tax/VAT.

The exact same Luke Jedi Kenner 77 back sold on ebay.co.uk last night in auction for £400 all in, exact same condition as my one, that's a hell of a price difference, i'm so bloody glad I went ahead and bought the one from the US instead of waiting for the UK auction to end thinking I would get it cheaper with only UK postage to pay.

Is there a reason ( or several ) for this kind of price difference between the US & UK?, there's been quite a few MOC's that iv'e noticed over the past several months that go a lot cheaper in the states compared to over here.

Are they just in more supply over there or something?
 

jared007

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Sometimes it can just be luck of a particular auction and everyone else is snoozing. But I think there are region price trends that can be exploited if you know what to look for.

Below is one of the slides I did at celebration London charting the price of a loose set of complete first 12 figures. Taken from the data in Star Wars Tracker at the time, the chart basically shows it being quite a bit cheaper to put the set together in the US vs Europe. A global average line is also given for perspective. The volume graph seems to suggest classic supply vs demand with more stock available in the US (blue line).

priceTrends.png


Interestingly, the reverse was true for a set of last 17 figures - much cheaper in Europe vs US. I agree, MOCs tend to be cheaper in the US, so if you have a good way to get them over here it's worth doing.

Cheers, Jared.
 

edd_jedi

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As Jared says I wouldn't read too much in to two identical items selling for £240 and then £400, that's just eBay for you. But yes I agree generally most Kenner and Trilogo MOCs are cheaper in the US. I have always bought lots from the US, although it was much better 10 odd years ago when the exchange rate was almost $2 to the pound. Even though now it's dropped to more like $1.20, it is still often cheaper. For Kenner stuff it is the much greater supply, and for trilogos it is IMO because they are less sought after over there.
 

subzero

Sith Lord
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Wow brilliant info there, thanks guys, I know i'm only looking at just 2 sales here in comparison but the one I bought in the US was £165 without the shipping and import so that's got my attention about the price gap, but yes if there was a way to somehow bring over a ton of MOC's that could be a good resource to tap into :D

Thing is too prices obviously vary from whoever is bidding, time of year etc etc, but that graph confirms what iv'e suspected.

Also very interesting to see how although there's a large price difference between the two, that they both correlate almost perfectly with the up & down trend.
 

edd_jedi

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Due to the **** exchange rate there isn't really enough of a difference now to make it worthwhile importing loads of stuff to resell. Things are generally still cheaper if you want them for your own collection, but gone are the days of eBay USA being half the price of UK (unless the pound makes a dramatic comeback.)
 
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