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#1 Morgan

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Posted 08 July 2018 - 05:36 PM

"Toy Scalpers Buy Scarce Items, Then Resell Them at a Profit"
 

Here's a classic and very nostalgic article from 1996 from The Wall Street Journal of all places, about a scalper from the 1990s & his adventures with Trek figures, including Tapestry Picard.

 

I remember when this article first ran & I was pretty amazed by the scope of just one person's work and the amount of cash that it generated. (Also, it tended to explain why I was not seeing The Good Stuff on shelves). 

 

Also, this is a pretty cool window into the action figure craze of the late 1990s, one that was somewhat moderated by eBay starting in the early 2000s. On one hand scalpers received a worldwide selling platform, but on the other hand action figure bubble deflated quite a bit.

 

 

 



#2 Gothneo

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Posted 12 July 2018 - 06:11 AM

I'd say there is always a market for reselling. Some people I know do it to try and "pay" for their collection... I've never been an advocate of that, but recently I've decided to re-focus my collection and I've been amazed at what some items will go for. In the end my hope is simply to try and recoup some of what I spent and if I come anywhere close to break even I'd be thrilled. basically you hope for some good rare high priced items to even out the loss on most regular items.

 

I'd say these days its harder to predict what will hold any kind of value... though I guess the real scalpers look to see what is garnering the biggest price and go for those items. To them its about the quick flip, as most items seem to devalue eventually. I recently sold a used open 2004 movie  Spiderman figure for $30... I probably could have gotten more as MIB ones were commanding >$100... and I just thought that was outrageous! Still not sure why that is commanding such large prices. Other stuff seems to stabilize... I cut loose most of my DST SG-1 figures... I was happy to get $15 ea for them which is pretty much what they were new. 



#3 Morgan

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Posted 22 July 2018 - 01:32 PM

"Collectible Toy Values Are on the Rise—And It’s Not Just Star Wars"

 

A recent article in the WSJ, of all papers. I dunno if I buy all of the arguments in it, but there's an interesting list inside on which lines are hot now.

 

An interesting argument about the 1701 figures in there, made by "The Toys That Made Us" commentator.

 

This article gets bonus points for trashing those Funko Pop things -- I can't stand how there are entire walls of them inside collectible shops now. That fad needs to go away.



#4 Morgan

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Posted 19 June 2020 - 11:57 AM

Here's a rare publicity photo from 1992, just as the debut lineup was coming out. 

 

 

 

frakes.jpg



#5 MisterPL

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Posted 19 June 2020 - 06:34 PM

Ah, the good old days. Great pic!






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