To open or not open...my dilemma

[Alexander Quinn]

Word of advice; never let Ebay influence any decision you ever make. Period. Remember, just because you look on there and see figures listed at thirty-seven times their actual value doesn't mean anyone is bidding on them. Ebay is like the low-end area of the Red Light District; go in looking for a deal, come home with herpies.

[Autobot Hound]

Originally Posted by Sun Swipe Prime

I say sealed them up even more. Put them into tupperware containers and drop them into vats of cement. Minty fresh FOR-EVER and ever. Then put them on display on your mantel. You can show everyone that comes over your MISB/MOSC collection.

"Is that a block of cement on your mantel?"

"No dude. That's my MISB Movie Bumblebee. Not too many of those around. It's rare I tell you."

With the ones you don't display, you can build a house or a shed with them. No waste there.

hahahaha that is an awesome idea! Don't give me ideas like that....i just might actually try that. lolzz

[ConvoyGTR]

Originally Posted by Tekkamanraiden

Open everything, keep the boxes of the rarer items.

This.

No amount of looking and youtube reviews will ever let you truly connect with your figures and appreciate every detail it has to offer.

[Mighty_Galvatron]

Originally Posted by PrimeCron

I have been purchasing lots of transformers figurines the past few months and opened most of them but I started wondering should I open them up or not... I don't think of them has an investment but as a therapy so my wife calls it...but going online ei ebay some of the products double in prices and it really got me thinking.

How do you determinate if you should open/ play/display the transformers figurines or let them get tortured in their packaging?

To open or not to open... what to do???

Ask yourself grasshopper, why did you buy them to begin with?

Originally Posted by Pascal

If you open those boxes, you're not a real collector.

M_G almost pisses pants....

Originally Posted by Team Jetfire

Ok, let’s say that I buy 2 Drift figures because I think it is the next big thing. If I keep one, my capital for the investment, with tax, amounts to 15.99 * 5% = $16.79.

Now, let’s say that in 4 years Hollywood has decided to make a Fast and the Furious / Transformers crossover move called: Fast and the Furious; Get my Drift.

All of a sudden, fans are clamoring for more of these figures then ever before. You see this as a great opportunity and decide to list it for $20. Your could potentially make a gross profit of $3.21. This of course does not account for the cost to sell it (ebay fees, gas, postage, time) as well as a little thing called inflation.

Let’s say that you decide to sell on ebay and make the guy pay for shipping.

The fees for ebay (according to the site anyways) are .50 to list and 9% of the final sale price. This works out to $2.30. So your net profit is going to be around 91 cents. This also doesn't include any money for gas and the amount your time is worth to ship the bugger.

No the other thing that we need to account for when talking investments is inflation.

Inflation is



The average rate of inflation for Canada is 2%. So essentially the value of 1 dollar drops 2 cents ever year. From an investment perspective, year over year, your investment (RE Drift) needs to increase in value by more than 2% in a year to keep up with the rate of inflation.

So using my above mentioned example of selling the Drift for 20 bucks and receiving a net profit of 91 cents (over 4 years is really just 22 cents per year) that works our to a rate of return of 1%. So your big investment is not even enough to keep up with inflation.

Now I understand that there are some toys that do increase in value due to other influences. Recently the classics Prime / Ultra Magnus and Classics Hotrod have become very hard to find, thus increasing the after market price, but that is never an easy thing to pick up early enough in the game. The fact of the matter is that in order to ensure you had the best chance of having the best figure for investment is to buy two of everything, but that also eats up your potential profit as for every 1 Hot Rod, there are 5 Tuner Mudfalps.

Unless you have insight as to the Transformers Market in the future, I suggest purchase for fun and invest your money in a 'real' investment.

Down Boy!

[BruticusMax]

open em, unless u have yet to display them or have plans to display em till you wait for shelfs haha, that's what im waitin for, that's why i haven't opened most of em yet, but i know itll be fun when i do!

[blitz]

I'm gonna open my unopened toys when I retire then I'll probably give them all to my grand kids.

[Richter]

I open everything unless it's worth over $300 MISB and a little older (ie. can't buy another)
Then I generally leave it

[ChrisW]

Originally Posted by Tekkamanraiden

Open everything, keep the boxes of the rarer items.

This.

I open everything I get as soon as it gets home. Why buy a Transformer if you're not going to transform it?

[Me.Grimlock.King]

These types of butt heads know nothing of what they speak! I have been making 50% - 300% profit with EVERYTHING I Sell online for YEARS and Im good at it! So please keep talking this crap and I will keep making my profit! Some birdbrain’s don’t know how to sell and what to buy. Maybe teamjetfie should stick to things you're good at and not talk about things you have No clue on! I have Success and its obvious you don’t so Stop bitching about your personal inadequacies.

PS I work with investments all day long and profits are no where as high as "some" people think!

Originally Posted by Team Jetfire

Ok, let’s say that I buy 2 Drift figures because I think it is the next big thing. If I keep one, my capital for the investment, with tax, amounts to 15.99 * 5% = $16.79.

Now, let’s say that in 4 years Hollywood has decided to make a Fast and the Furious / Transformers crossover move called: Fast and the Furious; Get my Drift.

All of a sudden, fans are clamoring for more of these figures then ever before. You see this as a great opportunity and decide to list it for $20. Your could potentially make a gross profit of $3.21. This of course does not account for the cost to sell it (ebay fees, gas, postage, time) as well as a little thing called inflation.

Let’s say that you decide to sell on ebay and make the guy pay for shipping.

The fees for ebay (according to the site anyways) are .50 to list and 9% of the final sale price. This works out to $2.30. So your net profit is going to be around 91 cents. This also doesn't include any money for gas and the amount your time is worth to ship the bugger.

No the other thing that we need to account for when talking investments is inflation.

Inflation is



The average rate of inflation for Canada is 2%. So essentially the value of 1 dollar drops 2 cents ever year. From an investment perspective, year over year, your investment (RE Drift) needs to increase in value by more than 2% in a year to keep up with the rate of inflation.

So using my above mentioned example of selling the Drift for 20 bucks and receiving a net profit of 91 cents (over 4 years is really just 22 cents per year) that works our to a rate of return of 1%. So your big investment is not even enough to keep up with inflation.

Now I understand that there are some toys that do increase in value due to other influences. Recently the classics Prime / Ultra Magnus and Classics Hotrod have become very hard to find, thus increasing the after market price, but that is never an easy thing to pick up early enough in the game. The fact of the matter is that in order to ensure you had the best chance of having the best figure for investment is to buy two of everything, but that also eats up your potential profit as for every 1 Hot Rod, there are 5 Tuner Mudfalps.

Unless you have insight as to the Transformers Market in the future, I suggest purchase for fun and invest your money in a 'real' investment.

[Nocturn]

Originally Posted by Me.Grimlock.King

These types of butt heads know nothing of what they speak! I have been making 50% - 300% profit with EVERYTHING I Sell online for YEARS and Im good at it! So please keep talking this crap and I will keep making my profit! Some birdbrain’s don’t know how to sell and what to buy. Maybe teamjetfie should stick to things you're good at and not talk about things you have No clue on! I have Success and its obvious you don’t so Stop bitching about your personal inadequacies.

PS I work with investments all day long and profits are no where as high as "some" people think!

Haha oh wow



No sir, it is you who are the butt head