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eBay seller and forum member starwarsprotos is continuing to drop rare and unreleased items on eBay, and there are some goodies up right now and ending soon. The one of major interest is a clear, boxed, Beast Wars Transmetal Optimus Primal. Clear “test shots” or “lunch time specials” really picked up in the 2000’s with Takara’s G1 reissues, so seeing a pure clear Beast Wars figure from the 90s is indeed rare. Paperwork from the factory to a former Hasbro employee is shown and included. Check out all the pics for this and his other auctions below!
- PROTOTYPE Transformers Beast Wars OPTIMUS PRIMAL
- UNRELEASED Transformers Generation 2 G2 AUTOLAUCHER
- UNRELEASED Transformers Generation AUTOJETTER
- UNRELEASED Transformers Protectobot GROOVE
- UNRELEASED Transformers Generation 2 Megatron Combat Hero
- UNRELEASED Transformers Generation 2 Optimus Prime Combat Hero
- Transformers Generation 2 LASER OPTIMUS PRIME PRODUCTION SAMPLE
- UNRELEASED Transformers Generation 2 GoBots SET OF 6
flatline72
here we go…………………………………………………………..
flatline72
personally It's totally ^^^^^^^^^^
but also
It's turned into a quest for both to knock heads in every posted thread of a unreleased sale….with one calling the other a But without out right saying
And now it seems every thread gets with both of them doing a
IT's gotten and
flik68
and old collectors are leaving the hobby daily which are the people who are going to bid on your items. new collectors aren't going to spend 4 digits or more on a transformer that they have never heard of or care about. your market for these figures are leaving the hobby as we speak. what has been happening lately with these autions isn't good for who's left out there either.
SpinalCord
$900 for a prototype? Whaaat???
Tony_Bacala
He did, and I did tell him that. IMO, most of the stuff up on eBay right now is worthy of attention, so this thread is good to go. Prices and their reason, etc – that's not for me to decide. If they're too high, they won't sell. The market will decide. I just think it's cool that we get to look at them for a bit, and if you have coin, grab them too.
starwarsprotos
…Sorry, I didn't remember that I had. Too much forum discussion taking place at the end of very long days.
Swoop Dogg
Except you already posted about it – in this very same thread!
starwarsprotos
This was a concern I had… i did not want to come across like I was using tfw2005 to "hock my crap" (my words) So I actually messaged one of the administrator of the site (tony) He told me if it was a rare piece to go ahead and post it in news and rumor, if they did not think it was appropriate they would move it to different location or delete it.
When you have something like this (auction below) you want everyone to see it. Because of how cool it is. I really do not care if it encourages bids:
Prototype Transformers Beast Wars Optimus Primal Utterly Unbelievable | eBay
Pete Sync
When I go in to my drunken rage's I just stick to tweeting out from the BotCon Twitter account…
Swoop Dogg
Agreed.
Disagree. Pete should be able to come on to the boards and express his opinions just like any other fan. He doesn't represent FP 24/7.
rapid_fire
This isnt news. Stop trying to plug all your auctions.
Swoop Dogg
Nope. He isn't representing FP in this instance – he is responding as a fan of Transformers. I think that is pretty obvious. Also, he isn't telling the seller "how to do business and set prices". Stop trying to make something out of nothing.
Afterburner
Anyone else find it ironic and a little annoying that someone who represents FunPub has the audacity to tell a free eBay seller how to do business and set prices? Ha, ridiculous.
Indeed in the end the consumer will decide so making a big deal out of it seems counterproductive. And definitely nobody's job in this thread to impress someone intent on trying to impress everyone else.
I for one am enjoying the public nature of the auctions and communications. If stuff trickles out slowly, that's fine. At least it is trickling out and someone is showing up and accountable.
Pete Sync
Not gonna quote every line, but I will cover it all.. quickly.
HighPrime, great post. Please note though that I acquired some MISB G1 items from a very reputable seller who was quick to tell me they were a warehouse find. I knew EXACTLY how many he had, and get got top dollar for them, because there WAS an established market value. Knowing the quantity does not always lower value.
starwarsproto's… Let's break it down (if you are still reading).
First, again, I am FULLY aware of how the market works. Been doing this forever 20 years as a "Collector" and funny enough, yes, when my company does produce and sell high end, exclusive Transformers, we do rush to sell them all the first week. Anyone on here can tell you that. We also sell them at a price and quantity in which we hope they appreciate for the customer.
Second, this isn't an issue of them being out of my price range. And I already have all 6. So, would kind to stand to reason that I would WANT these to sell for as MUCH as possible to make mine "worth more" right? No, see, this is actually BAD for those who collect vintage Proto's because when these SIT on Ebay like yours are now, the items become easily accessible. Common. Nothing is worse than seeing the "Prototypes R Us" listings that litter eBay.
Lets get back to the value of what you are listing. NOTHING wrong at all with being Free Market capitalist. But your comparison of these items to Apple iPads is very apple (no pun intended) and oranges. Apple, like most companies, spends a great deal of time before entering the market with a new product developing a pricing strategy. They try to find that balance between maximizing profits while also maximizing units sold. You obviously can't sell an iPad for 2 grand, because you won't make nearly as much at that price vs a price more affordable to the general masses. And you obviously would not sell it at $15 because you would be losing money.
This is not what you are doing. You are putting items out at a trickle. And yes, with these type of items, that is how you HAVE to do it if you want to squeeze every last penny out of their value. And I'll make it very clear that you are under no obligation to reveal how many you have. All that said, (and I won't say "facts" here), if I were a betting man, having dealt with these types of finds before, my best guess is you have quite a few of these and the last one you sell will go for nowhere near what the first one you sold went for. It's just the nature of the TF hobby (which you seem to be a little unfamiliar with).
But do not pretend that having bidders compete over the first one released is a true gauge of the value. It's not. They are not worth $3800. The 4 regular ones were not worth that even before this latest find. That is based on 20 years of these being sold. The other 2, while new to the market, have quickly found their value.
Finally, I never called you deceptive. I said very clearly that the practice is manipulative at best/deceptive at worst. Personally, I lean towards the former. You are manipulating the value. And you are free to do that. But I have talked to others who collect these, and they know what is going on, and that is why I don't blame them for being very cautious with any of these items going forward…
(And High Prime, that is exactly the point of my posts. Buyer Beware!)
starwarsprotos
I'm sorry I missed this the first time.
Are you under the impression that the way to find the true value of something is to sell all of them in a fixed-price listing? That is not even an auction.
If you had 10 widgets and you posted them for $15 each in a fixed price listing and you sold them all, are you under the impression your widgets true value is $15?
If you put up 10 iPads at $15 each you're going to sell all of them pretty damn fast.
The objective in sales is to find the line between satisfying your customers (so that they become repeat customers) while you simultaneously maximize your profits and minimize your losses.
Certainly you understand there's no rush to sell every item that you own in the first week that you have it? Transformers aren’t going away anytime soon. New collectors are entering the hobby daily.