'Overpaying' is all relative. If the market value is consistently at a certain price range then the people buying these items aren't overpaying, they're just 'paying'.

If that's the going rate for a particular figure or part etc then the OP's perception of 'overpayment' can be translated to mean 'it's too expensive for me'.

 

barrelks makes a valid point that I do agree with, but there is still a limit of reasonableness involved. If the gardener cost $500-1000 and she went with one of them that would be fine, but she's probably not going to pick the gardener that will give the same result as those if he wants $3000.

I am more experienced and very aggressive at finding deals, as I kind of mentioned a few posts earlier. It is not the norm for everyone, but I do have a number of incredible finds over the years and sometimes I buy at a reasonable price, and sometimes I find nothing. Chalk it up to either being on the lookout constantly (aka putting the time in) and/or just being in the right place at the right time.

Exactly I am only asking everyone to try and exercise a little patience before they pull the trigger.

While I agree with your points, you said yourself you couldn't find a streetwise gun for under $30...and I am not looking for prices to "drop" at all. They are going to steadily increase over time that is a given, but these few shock auctions give buyers and other sellers a false perception and some poor guy has to deal with it until prices settle, even if they are still higher than the last price.

Also nowhere did I state that this rant was based on these being pieces I wanted to purchase. The original post started based solely on an observation of accessories that I was not buying, not planning to buy, and do not need to buy at all. I have an almost complete G1 collection, so I need very little and I know that some stuff I will have to pay good money for.

I am speaking for the community as a whole, I already have my fasttrack guns and my full tilt gun and yes I didn't get a "deal" on these particular parts, but I paid a more than fair price at the time. You must have missed my post about how much I freely spend on toys because I am comfortable spending plenty of money on toys, pretty much whenever I want. Prices have not gone up beyond what I would pay, but I think that there are some items where the pricing has gone beyond what is reasonable. Prices do need to stay high because the toys are getting older, but if we let it get out of hand it will get the best of all of you.

I am trying to think of every collector in this community, whether they have been staying with it for years or are fresh into the hobby, again, just because I am asking people to be reasonable doesn't mean things won't cost them a lot of money!

 

Since you do this for a living, you should know the difference between currently available commodities and ones with a finite supply. G1 Transformers are not salmon, there is no new supply. Extremely rare items will always dictate high prices, no question. However, more common, less rare item prices are established solely on demand and it's effect on the current selling prices.

 

Exactly. For example I would say a Weirdwolf tail is much rarer than both fasttrack guns and full-tilts gun. And you consistently see them selling for $30-40, not for $60+ or $100+ like these other guns are. So these items that we are using as a current example (fasttrack and full-tilt guns) that I would class as "somewhat common/fairly rare"
depending on a specific day are experiencing spikes that are pretty much outrageous, and unfortunately a lot of people take this as the gospel as prior posters have stated. Even if there are not many of these items for sale at a given time, there is still a fairly good supply of them in existence which should allow demand to, yes, increase slightly along with price over time but not spiral out of control (even if it is only temporarily).

 

WAIT!!!   They AREN'T salmon???  When did that change???

 

Sorry, just tryin to lighten up the thread a bit  

It's just frustration is all it is  

 

Thanks for doing that. Yes, I know my original post is a little heavy (and maybe a bit unclear until we get a few more posts into the thread) and you know what, it is tough to phrase something like what I am feeling for this topic on a message board without you guys sitting in front of me to really hear it, because everyone will read it in their own way.

I didn't make this thread to whine about my money I spend on toys, things that upset me, things that I wanted to buy, or to argue with anyone as I have stated.

I purely made this thread to bring into view something that I feel is a serious thing for fans/collectors at all levels to watch, especially G1 guys new or old. That is the discussion I was hoping to get from everyone reading everything that has been said which doesn't always happen when threads go multi-page.

I do respect everyone's opinion, and if you think I am wrong, then that is your prerogative, I have no issue with that. But I have been watching this trend unfold and feel I have held my breath long enough. I also wasn't the first to post about it (see the full-tilt gun thread linked to in the OP), I just merely expanded it further by showing that it is occurring in more than one instance.

So therefore, let's continue. I really like the input received so far and would like to hear some more.

 

And THIS is the mentality he's trying to get people to get over. If your logic applied, then all Henkei Strafes would be $120. They're not. In fact, BBTS even dropped theirs to $41 because people wised up and stopped paying triple digits for that thing. Will that mentality be taken with everything else, especially G1? If the current pricing for TFC Hound or Minibots, then not even close. And those aren't even vintage.

 

It's this exact mentality and the gross misunderstanding of the functionality of free markets by the original poster that has lead to such chaos in how the economic system in our country (and many others to boot) now have to deal with daily. In vain attempts to bring prices under control, govt price fixing has only lead to adverse, disastrous consequences, time and time again.

Capitalism is mererly the function of allocating scarce resources freely, unperturbed, by the most efficient means available.
To dictate to others, "you must do this, or do that"...violates the very fundamental principle of individual liberty. Countless laws are currently on the books that have adopted these maniacal, and even tyrannical viewpoints out of the desire to "level the playing field" only to have such adverse effects for all parties involved.

 

I love the TF movies, but I believe the spike in G1 prices is because of the movies and the newer toys.

More and more people are becoming fans of Transformers and are getting into collecting. That, and those of us that have collected in the past and then stopped.... and have started up again......... Count me under the 2nd  

 

I may be wrong, but I don't believe the OP is advocating the second coming of Communism, just the application of restraint and common sense.

 

this may have already been said, but to the OP, there are alot of awesome deals out there to be had, maybe you are looking in the wrong areas, and yes, sometimes it takes awhile before you stumble across one. In the past six months, i got a complete wheeljack in very nice cond. (including a beat up torn box) for 35 dollars. Look on ebay, one of his frickin wing thingies goes for that much! Also, i got a g1 sunsreaker complete in nice cond. with very little paint chipping for 40 bucks. Again, people can ask up towards 30 bucks just for his fists and missles

 

That's why I purchased the KO's of Wheeljack, Sunstreaker and Mirage for $90./shipped. That's for all 3. Gotta' love iOffer  
Collecting the G1 headmasters now. Those can be an easy $110.++ for Minty complete samples.

 

ITT: U mad?

 

I don't have a gross misunderstanding of markets/capitalism, believe me I understand the concept of laissez-faire. That's not the point I am trying to make with this thread, nor am I attempting to fix or lower any prices for my benefit. If it comes across that way (especially at the beginning), that was not my intent. Overall, yes the market needs to be left alone and either the market or the people within it will dictate what will happen and prices will do what they will. I'm not trying to force interference by a governing body or anyone else, I am simply trying to offer advice, and it would be up to the purchaser of said items to make the decision to purchase or not purchase at a given price point by themselves.

Again, I have most of G1 and have the parts I have used as examples. Like any other collector I want to see the value of my collection increase vastly, but that is of much lower importance. For me, my G1 stuff is one of the many links I have back to the simpler times of my childhood and that is what is important to me and I am sure it is the same for many others. I am really just asking people to keep things in perspective.

That's basically it. And I will reiterate, yes prices will continue to rise, because things will get older, lost to time, etc. I don't mind paying high prices, I have done it many times before, and other times I have gotten killer deals on certain items. But these "shocks" happen all too often now, and I don't always chalk it up to the movies being the main cause. You will definitely see variances in price over historic periods of a year and longer, but believe me, the world hasn't lost half of its supply of fasttrack guns and full-tilt pistols in the last 45 days either.

 

You are not reading the thread in full. I have absolutely no trouble finding killer deals. In fact, I am extremely good at it and half of my collection was purchased that way over the years. The other half was purchased at different prices at different times and yes, I have clearly admitted that I have paid a lot of money for a large number of items and not minded doing it.

I am strictly trying to illustrate here that we can all still pay very large amounts of money for any item we choose but in the case of some of the items I have used as examples (and again already own at fairly expensive prices) that they have made it to a price point that is really not necessary (at this point in time at least).

 

That's his point, the more we'll be willing to pay, the higher the price will end up being. We all need to learn some self control. The same goes for newer figures. Windcharger? Warpath? Wreckgar? People go crazy trying to find them, which only gives purchase for scalpers, or even normal sellers, to jack up the prices, based off what people are willing to pay.

 

I suppose this is the wrong thread to mention the $100 Micromaster I bought a year or so ago.

 

Rabbicrater?

 

Erector is priceless.

 

Exactly. Poor judgment and freely overspending for no apparent reason on certain items or falling victim to whatever the current hype is, without taking a moment to look at what you're really doing throws fuel on the fire. It literally permits all the problems we don't want to see to occur later down the road. Whether it's by members, other collectors, dealers, scalpers, etc., having no self control causes all those bad things that we all complain about here on the boards to happen (please don't discuss them in this thread) and therefore we continue to have to deal with them in our hobby on a daily basis. If we all really put things into perspective, I think at some point it could possibly help to avoid these issues in the future. And you solve a problem by going to the root, in this case and many others, the root is common sense, patience and self control.

  haha I haven't come that close but I did pay $50 for my combiner blackout and spaceshot (just the figures) a few years ago.