I'm starting to wonder what rare means these day's. I see a listing on ebay for a particular figure and the seller CLAIMS it's a rare item. If it's soooooooo rare, then how come I see like 5-8 of them on ebay same day from other sellers? What I would consider rare is something that you DON'T see listed on ebay very often and when you do there maybe only 2? That calculator robot watch Kaltor that I like so much I consider VERY rare. I see maybe one MIB pop up on ebay every few years! THAT is RARE! So please, define rare for me. Or at least tell me what YOU think is rare.
Pretty much what you said. It's funny when you see "VERY RARE!" and there are 40 of the same item up there.
High demand, low supply. Sellers will say anything to get people to buy their stuff, so like all online purchases, you have to research for yourself.
Its up to the person looking to define rare or not. If its something you haven't seen in your area at all then it would be a rarity to you. Or you might see it a bunch and other never will. Makes me wonder if there is a Tuner Mudflap drought somewhere people are sad over.
Sometimes "rare" is based on location. HA Mudflap is (from what I've heard) plentiful in Canada. They hardly exist in the US. Sometimes it's a marketing ploy. Just like adding "Optimus" to a title will increase hits on ebay, so will adding "rare". Which will get more hits? G1 Headmaster Apeface complete Spasma G1 Headmaster Apeface complete Spasma RARE OPTIMUS PRIME duh. It could be a legitimate descriptor. G1 WHITE SHUFFLER RARE LUCKY DRAW BLUE BIG CONVOY RARE etc etc etc etc etc
That Animated Black Convoy will be rare. Isn't it only getting 300 sets total? To me, Rare is anything produced for the overseas market that isn't mass released and the botcon stuff here.
Your answer here. http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans...are-not.html?highlight=show+us+something+rare
Like everybody is saying, it's up to the purchaser to determine what is "rare" in most cases. Example: I consider Animated Wreck-Gar rare because I never found him in stores, yet I've heard stories where he's shelfwarmed. Now, if it's an MISB G1 figure (Sunstreaker/Combiner giftset), then it's actually a rare item.
Well, that does make sense to me. However, it still seems odd to see something marked as rare when there's clearly 5 of them listed on the same day.
Quite the opposite, I believe. Rare is defined simply by the number of units produced by the manufacturer. "Rare" in all basics of the term means nothing more than the number of the item that's available. Yes, Demand has it's place when it comes to the value of said item, but value isn't what we're talking about here. Any individual person or Ebay scalper (because we know they don't qualify as "human beings") can bullshit and call something "Rare" simply to drive up their asking price or catch suckers into paying more than they should for any given item. That doesn't mean it's a rarity by any means.
A low supply with a high demand. (general) Can depend on locality and personal values, etc. An example that everyone would be considered "rare": Victory Bots: Victory Saber LioKaiser Road Caesar
There is no objective definition. It's pure marketing. Simply used as a justification to try and get a higher price for something. The fact that so many people use "rare" in the title of an auction is kind of comical because it does not help the item show up in searches. How many times have you included "rare" as one of the words you search on? Personally, I think it's a crime to call any general release Transformer rare - They were all produced by the tens (if not hundreds) of thousands each. That's not rare.
