Depreciation of SSW statues... is it a trend??.

[The Josh]

Think Josh meant that his Cave Troll and Balrog are minty minty. Not that he owns two Balrogs.

Yup

 

[HighElven]

Gotcha. Cat in the furnace.

 

[moonlightdrive21]

One of the considerations is that when "nicer" versions of the same character come out, the former highly valued "one to get" could drop a whole lot in value.

Like Star Wars characters, you will see many more variations of the LOTR chracters in the next 25 years plus. LOTR statues and busts will only get better and more interesting over time, which means we can expect to see an even better Balrog one day as an example.

Dave

 

[Wor-Gar]

Too many people are collecting for the hope that in 20 years they can sell them for $$$$$$$$....

All too true.

Nothing will reach the rarity level of the 1978 3 3/4" Ben or Vader with telescoping saber that I bought for $1.99 when I was a kid and now sells for thousands. Some reports say there's only 20-30 of those left in existence. Who knows? But so many people now buy to keep in the box. In other words, they buy to sell...someday. And because of this, there will always be a solid supply of "collectibles" in the future.

 

[gtb]

All too true.

Nothing will reach the rarity level of the 1978 3 3/4" Ben or Vader with telescoping saber that I bought for $1.99 when I was a kid and now sells for thousands. Some reports say there's only 20-30 of those left in existence. Who knows? But so many people now buy to keep in the box. In other words, they buy to sell...someday. And because of this, there will always be a solid supply of "collectibles" in the future.

Yes, very true to a large extend, SW collectibles first appear in an era where collectibles are not very common and rather pricey products, at least in my country, in the early 70s where the economy is not very well-developed, who will have that kind of money to purchase toys!! In the 80s, we can settle a simple meal at about 1.20USD, while the toy cost about close to 6.00USD!!

Now, MANY people are collecting, thus the "rarity" of the items are not there, in a certain way, I am glad that the price drops a little while I am close to complete my collection with 4 pieces left...in fact 6 if I include the muppets, and 7 if I include Gandalf the Grey Bronze.... the last which is rather stable in price...the last offer I got was 13,000EURO before shipping - and of course, its way beyond me, its more than my annual income, for god sake!!

 

[Seretur]

Just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to Spaceman, who added all the new Sideshow lines and products to his site.

Oh, and my collection gained another $10 in value since my last post...

 

[88th division]

I think the last time I made any kind of money on my collectibles is when I sold my 1/6th GI Joe collection way back in the early 90's. As has been said. Most of today's collectibles are sold as just that,collectibles. Everyone stockpiles eveything in the hopes of selling big down the road. Many of my friends who collect Star Wars tell me they are saving it all for there kids so they can get rich someday. Me I buy it because I like it and it's fun. If by some chance a certain piece becomes a little more valuable and I am looking to unload it, great. But for the most part when I move into something else I unload it for my cost just to flip it quick. So enjoy your collections, and don't worry about the values. it will only take the fun out of it for you.

 

[Daveyjaro]

So enjoy your collections, and don't worry about the values. it will only take the fun out of it for you.

Very good advice. I am a collector cause I love Lord of the Rings, I did not buy all the SSW and order the new Sideshow items because I want to make any money.

I think that when SSW released those huge edition ROTK statues, the demand fell flat. Even now, we still have KOTD, Galadriel and Pippin still available. These are all great pieces, but the edition sizes are huge (except for Pippin, don't know what is up with that).

Now, the latest trend seems to be the SSE and the regular edition. I am sure some people who bought the SSE figures are trying to make a buck. It does hurt the collector, making him spend more. On the other hand, if you ordered something you wanted, and then after receiving it did not like it or need to sell for financial reasons, are you an Ogre for selling it on ebay. I don't think so.

Depreciation, I think the existing SSW will continue to fall and then level out and maybe, maybe steadily climb. I missed picking up an Aragorn Statue for $550 because I was short on funds and this was just a few weeks ago. Mostly everything is down. And now I hope the 14 statues I missed will continue to go down so I can get them some day.

 

[The Josh]

So enjoy your collections, and don't worry about the values. it will only take the fun out of it for you.

I'll second that. I don't worry I just enjoy.

 

[spaceman]

Just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to Spaceman, who added all the new Sideshow lines and products to his site.

Oh, and my collection gained another $10 in value since my last post...

Hey, Thanks Seretur. It may still be a couple days until it is all tracking properly - I have the data archived, but need to process it. Once all is said and done, it will be over 150 new items added to the Sideshow tracking area.

 

[daelith]

Hey Spaceman,
Could you set the quantity max to 10? When I go to manage my auctions, I'm limited to 3 per item.

 

[goliath]

Hey Spaceman,
Could you set the quantity max to 10? When I go to manage my auctions, I'm limited to 3 per item.

Are you collecting armies of the same item?

 

[daelith]

Hehe, I do like them Galadhrim archers

 

[spaceman]

Hey Spaceman,
Could you set the quantity max to 10? When I go to manage my auctions, I'm limited to 3 per item.

Hi Daelith,

I'll give it some thought, but probably not. There were some concrete reasons for keeping the size down. Just one of which, for example, had to do with limitations for rendering forms in certain browsers, combined with my desire to keep all rep's of a single item appearing on a single page in the collection manager update pages. For the vast majority of collectors I think 3 per category certainly suffices. Consider me informed however, that there are exceptions.

P.S. Along with the sideshow area updates, I'm doing some major site-wide systems revamping. Behind-the-scenes type stuff that hopefully helps the site run smoother, faster and more stably as it continues to grow. However, I can't aquire any new data until the job is done, so things are about a day out of date right now, and may stay that way for another day or so.

 

[Seretur]

Again, Spaceman, I must say that I'm truly surprised you're bothering with any of this -- the site is incredibly valuable, not just as an eBay value tracker, but as a wonderfully handy way of keeping track of all our collectibles, as the lines swell and become too unwieldy for our poor brains.

I can't wait for the new sections to become operational. Right now, of course, there are glitches -- like the 12" SW figures being mixed up with the PF figures of the same name -- but I'm sure you'll work it out. And I guess the Sideshow section needs a "Famous Personalities" subset after all, for all the people who ordered their John Wayne... and perhaps "Military", just to be reasonably thorough.

But I'm sure you know all that. Thank you again.

 

[customizerwannabe]

I just bought 5 Sideshow Star Trek busts MIB off ebay for 63.00 shipped. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and Gorn. Considering the retail from SS on them was 205.00 plus shipping I am very concerned about buying these types of items direct. Now Star Trek is not as hot as LOTR right now, but I've looked at similar LOTR items and seen the same type of depreciation. A little loss isn't a big deal for most of us as we buy the stuff because we like it anyway, but 75 percent depreciation??? I don't like throwing money out the window for ANY reason and that definitely includes my larger ticket hobbies.
Truly rare and very limited releases will probably hold and even increase in value, but when you get into editions in the thousands I would definitely think twice before buying direct. The items are very well made and I'm ecstatic I was able to get them so reasonably. However, I feel much happier having them in my collection at 63.00 then 205.00+
As always...Caveat Emptor

 

[Wetanut]

I'll add my appreciation to Spaceman for his site. I use it quite often and, like Seretur said, it's a great way to keep a one-stop place to account for your treasures. I have other accounding methods as well, but it's always good to have backups.

 

[goliath]

I'll add my appreciation to Spaceman for his site. I use it quite often and, like Seretur said, it's a great way to keep a one-stop place to account for your treasures.

Treasures

No, precioussss'...!

 

[darth dypshyt]

Everything is just balancing out IMO. Besides does it really matter what they are worth? Yeah, the Balrog might drop below what I paid but I enjoy the thought that I'm lucky enough to own one. That too me is more important and no I don't have more money than sense.

Yeah, I'm with you JL....Just as long as they aren't worth TOO much less than what you ended up paying for something...The main thing I think you have to remember...Is that if you bought something for a certain price, you must have been happy to pay at least that much....or you wouldn't have bought it. ....

But, of course it's never nice to pay $xxx.xx, and then later on down the track see the same item for $xxx.xx - a hundred or two...

 

[daelith]

Hmmm retail value 13k...current value...28k. Not bad =) If it drops a few K's , np. I like the stuff enough where I wouldn't be concerned even if it dipped to back down to its retail value. Course, I gotta diversify and sell every once and a while--like last month--when Doom + Sentinels + regular purchases added to over 1,200.00 =/