Slow sales lately

[supermanTF]

I am a big g1 collector but only a few pieces. I don't mind buying reissues / ko or whatever you call it. I like how they look (new) and I can't afford brand new stuff. I don't like anything else - a purist haha

[The 12th Prime]

I'd say the market/fandom is tapped spaciously and financially with the higher end purchases and just the sheer selection of what is out there. There is just about something for every TF fan out there, except Duocons where are my 3P Duocons? It was a lot easier to collect on a budget back in '06 to '08 than it is now. Stretching a $1000 to $1500 annually on TF's has gotten really tough trying to include 3rd party items let alone the pile on of MP's. Back when Walmart would have sales on Universe figures you could get a wave of 4 for $40 plus tax, you still can by evidence of the recent rollback sale. I didn't buy Legends/Legion figures back then either and now I do because they have gotten better, so even Hasbro is offering more.

[Tekkamanraiden]

It's one of the reasons I stopped selling. I've been donating any extras I buy on sale that I no longer want.

[Pascal]

Nothing's selling (even 3rd party toys) unless I give it away. American buyers, as usual, are the worst lowballers.

[Scrapper6]

You wouldn't know that from the cons, things sell like crazy at conventions, yeah the sales threads seem to get little traffic. Personally I blame the decline in interest us older fans have after a while, we part out our stuff to clear out the space, but if all of us are doing it at the same time nobody's going to want to buy.

I just slashed my stuff to half price and nobody wanted any of the scouts for 2.50$ a piece. (Which is what 5$ is when cut in half.) So yeah, sales all across the board are slow to go.

It's not unusual, it's merely finding the right buyer at the right time and right now I've noticed a hell of a lot more people getting out of huge collections and focusing more on small niches rather than buying up everything under the sun or plugging holes in their collections.

[Goaliebot]

As a potential buyer, here's what's stopping me:

- Budget. You guys are right, 3p and MP are eating up all of my budget and stretching it past its limits. I'm not sure how long this will last before I get fed up and need to change something.*

- Already have it: I've just already got almost everything commonly for sale from RiD, A/E/C, Alternators, CHUG, Movies, Animated, Prime/BH... Most of the threads are "got it, got it, got it..."

Sadly I don't think there's anything sellers can really do about these... Just part of the times TF collecting is in.


* I need to decide whether I collect "Collectibles" or toys. Because the collectibles (MP, most 3p) are beautiful, but I have more fun with the toys...

[Supernova]

Admittedly, I don't have much experience in selling as I only started parting with figures I no longer wanted very recently, but I have been surprised as to how slow the going has been.

I hadn't actually put much thought as to the "why" of it all. I had just assumed that people were just waiting for the prices to drop low enough that they just couldn't refuse (we're all out for the best deal, right?). But likely it is a case of there just being so much out there (official and otherwise) that many just don't have the spare cash for odds and ends.

The other surprise is what I have managed to sell - figures that I thought were going to be the least desirable (Uni 2.0 Blaster, RtS Bumblebee, etc).

In the end, though, I am faced with the prospect of hanging on to a bunch of stuff I don't want, but just don't want to give away. Hopefully, my fortunes will change with a bit of patience.

[wervenom]

Originally Posted by Goaliebot

As a potential buyer, here's what's stopping me:

- Budget. You guys are right, 3p and MP are eating up all of my budget and stretching it past its limits. I'm not sure how long this will last before I get fed up and need to change something.*

- Already have it: I've just already got almost everything commonly for sale from RiD, A/E/C, Alternators, CHUG, Movies, Animated, Prime/BH... Most of the threads are "got it, got it, got it..."

Sadly I don't think there's anything sellers can really do about these... Just part of the times TF collecting is in.

This

[QuadESL63]

All the new stuffs, esp. the Bay's movies stuffs are made in abundance so most people got them already. I ran out of space and needed to liquidate most of these movie stuffs at a lost early this year in conventions and I still got a few pieces left that no one wants unless I give it away. On retrospect it is a good thing I stopped buying movies stuffs starting @ Dark of the Moon or else I would be stucked with even more stuffs.

Another example: remember the BinalTech line? It used to be hot items but apparently no one want them anymore. May be because of the MP Autobot cars? Who knows?

The 3rd party stuffs are having a piece of the pie too for sure.

I am glad I never see these as investments...

[canprime]

The simple fact is that pretty much all fandoms are experiencing this problem. TF fans are just the lucky ones that have a large base (ASIA really helps) and newer product/media.

However look at the secondary market of GI Joe, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, etc. etc.

It is all slowly dropping. Yes there will always be demand for "rare" items, or popular characters. Another problem is the sheer amount of product, and the redundancy of that product. Star Wars fans especially know this problem. How many times can we buy the same character in slightly different formats before we say enough is enough?

However I personally feel that a lot of the demand has been driven by kids of the 80s and we are getting older. As others have said space and already having what we want are big factors.

One of the scariest/weirdest trends I have seen lately is Pawn Shops selling toys, for inflated prices. If people are willing to dump their collections at these places then the market is definitely on a downward trend.

However, again, this is nothing new to a large segment of the toy collecting market. TF fans are just one of the few groups left to start feeling the pinch.