Time for a charter, standard or professional organisation?

Taffius

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With current debates at the fore, is it time then for a charter, standard or professional collecting body that if a member of, complies with a set of regulations or standards that people can choose to be part of or disregard at their own risk?

If such regs or standards are breeched, it can then be investigated by said body in order to establish facts, reports and form a conclusion?

Members, organisations and events can then sign up to such a charter, standard or body in order to provide some level of assurance that vintage items are governed by a form regulatory body that is made up of informed, experienced and ethical personnel that at the core want to promote and protect the pastime and its future.

Members get a voice, buyers and sellers understand the standard to adhere to and a body voted for to represent and uphold the values determined by its membership?

Is it time for the UK collectors to lead the protection of the pastime for future generations?

Preservation committees, ethic boards, buying and selling governance and education and assistance - all under one over arching form?

Too serious or an emerging requirement?
 

edd_jedi

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The idea was floated on Facebook last year, but it was hard to get people to agree on specifics and members etc. Personally I think it's a good idea but only if 'senior' collectors are on the 'board', I won't name names but people who write books etc.
 

lejackal

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Arguably AFA, CAS and UKG are official bodies, none of which have guarantees that are worth the paper they are printed on.

From my perspective working in a heavily regulated industry, Energy, such regulation would be expensive and mostly pointless - you need to do something spectacularly wrong/bad to even get a slap on the wrists.

I like the idea but feel it should be covered by the mantra "don't be a ****"
 

TrooperWill

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I like the idea but feel it should be covered by the mantra "don't be a ****"

THIS!


we shouldn't have to be wary or careful, or set up collector committees, just boot anyone scamming, ripping off and generally being a twat. sadly most people preach benefit of the doubt, look how little was done about the fake baggie figures now being sold on FB, defended by the admins and still ne refunds for those owed thousands, while certain robbing pricks get richer!
 

Taffius

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lejackal said:
Arguably AFA, CAS and UKG are official bodies, none of which have guarantees that are worth the paper they are printed on.

From my perspective working in a heavily regulated industry, Energy, such regulation would be expensive and mostly pointless - you need to do something spectacularly wrong/bad to even get a slap on the wrists.
Lejackel - are they services, rather than official bodies? Like you say they get things wrong but if they are part of a charter then people know how and why they fail.
Agree scales on regulatory bodies are different here and not saying it should be an Ofgem, etc. Where is the voice and standard laid down for the majority to understand. Perhaps start at a charter with members voting for the wording?
This could provide clarity and wide ranging influence?
 

TK-7785

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lejackal said:
Arguably AFA, CAS and UKG are official bodies, none of which have guarantees that are worth the paper they are printed on.

I think if there were to be a charter or official body they would certainly have to be not for profit. The biggest problem with the grading companies is they operate for just that, profit. Not for the circulation of knowledge and benefit of the community. Admittedly they have a good knowledge of vintage items, however, as has been demonstrated time and time again, they don't know everything and often don't act in a moral manner when called out far making mistakes.

lejackal said:
I like the idea but feel it should be covered by the mantra "don't be a ****"

:lol: It amazes me how many people still struggle with that.
 

peekaygee73

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It's an interesting idea, but with so many relatively small-time sellers, and so many different selling platforms, I just can't see people buying into it.

lejackal said:
I like the idea but feel it should be covered by the mantra "don't be a ****"
It's a sensible ethos, but it's clear that some people have different ideas about what constitutes 'being a ****'!
 

spoons

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Although in essence a good idea, this idea makes me go cold with the amount of squabbling and bickering that would take place to get anywhere close to a united group.

Bodies like these work for professions but also need funding and only a few collectors would pay - the FB masses would carry on regardless. I wouldn't pay to be part of of a group either, I'm a collector first and foremost, tend to buy from trusted sources, appreciate the input from many on this forum and elsewhere (the various guides from the likes of Jason and Frank and many more) and would hope that I'm seen to give something back too. I know what I think on matters and don't need someone else to decide for me.

I belong to a chartered professional body because they produce standards for carrying out work and enforce a decent minimum wage for workers. I'm not sure what we'd gain from a collecting body. We might as well have a SWFUK code of conduct - which Carl has put so succinctly :lol:

We'd all have issues with who is on the board too. Even those (or perhaps especially those) who write books split opinion. It was telling that a lot of the the old time US collectors thought CAS's 'preserving' of repro was a good idea. Inevitably there would then be a rival Echo group, an ICC group and so on - all a bit depressing just thinking about it
 

TheJabbaWookie

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I can see why the idea of a chartered body has been suggested at this point in time, following on from a number of fairly high profile "scandals" but I also feel that we're in danger of taking our little hobby too seriously. After all I know I got into it to have fun, and I'm worried that a chartered body would introduce would start to remove that fun, as well as too much red tape etc. I would much rather self police.

We just need to get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet... Don't be a c**t and don't make an exception for someone whose been a massive c**t just because they're your mate or it hasn't effected you.
 

Snaketibe

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The idea is good in theory, but sadly would not work in practice. As has already been stated, most sellers are private individuals, and most shops small scale too. Most would never get to hear about the organisation, and fewer still would care about it. There would be no way to compel anyone to join and no way of enforcing any decisions / standards it set, always assuming agreement could be reached by the organisation as to what those were in the first place. And most obviously of all, unlike other regulatory bodies, there would be no legal basis for a Vintage Star Wars organisation, and hence any decisions or standards it set out would have to be voluntarily adopted by participants, and even then the signatories wouldn't be legally obligated to comply with any of them.

I realise all that sounds depressingly negative, however I do feel word of mouth amongst community members remains our most effective weapon. If a trader / company / individual is clearly misbehaving in whatever way most collectors consider to be unacceptable, then spreading the word about their bad practice, and collectors collectively refusing to use / buy from them, thus driving down their sales, is just about the only legal way to persuade them to change their ways.

In other words, we need to keep on doing what we as a community are already doing, calling out the fakers, scammers and scumbags, shining a spotlight on them to help others steer well clear.
 

Sundancer Squadron

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Would be interesting and id support it, my concern though would it turn into a toxic atmosphere? **** floats at the end of the day, how long would it be before a throbbing tit turd gets in and spoils it or corrupts it for financial gain...


Interesting though, one ill watch.
 
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