Is the Hobby at an all time low?

[supermetroid]

Originally Posted by Gothamite

SF.com can be an echo chamber. There are a lot of forum members who join but have never posted. I'm sure there are even more lurkers who don't have accounts. On top of that, there are people who buy statues but don't even read forums like this one.

Furthermore, I see people making what I would consider to be impractical purchases. For example, I try to find the best deals on statues from DC Collectibles. However, there are people who pay full price + tax at my LCS. On Instagram, people have reported paying full price + tax + shipping from Sideshow for things I got for 50% off with free shipping.

So yeah, there's a lot of market behavior that supports the kinds of business practices we see.

Yep, I just think it's a bad look for a company if you can get a product for half price shortly after release. A new car doesn't even depreciate that fast lol. I think Jerry Mac(who's opinion is not worth a Sh!t now) mentioned before that he thinks the bubble will burst and the market will move towards smaller scales. I could kind of see that, but I'm not into them really and the ones that do look nice and impressive to me are pretty damn high for the scale: $250-300+ for 1/6 and $100+ for 1/10...

[mva5580]

Originally Posted by batman1180

I remember years ago there was a fellow forum member who literally said that they had their retirement funds tied up in this hobby. I couldn’t believe it when I read it back then. Hopefully they were able to get out and break even and diversify a little better. I don’t think there could be a worse place to put your investments for retirement.

Oh but that can't be, because Mr. I-Had-20-Statues-Up-On-Ebay a lot just said in his prestigious 20 years of collecting he has never heard anyone say that. So it can't possibly be. "That's the internet" I guess.

[Gothamite]

Originally Posted by supermetroid

Yep, I just think it's a bad look for a company if you can get a product for half price shortly after release. A new car doesn't even depreciate that fast lol. I think Jerry Mac(who's opinion is not worth a Sh!t now) mentioned before that he thinks the bubble will burst and the market will move towards smaller scales. I could kind of see that, but I'm not into them really and the ones that do look nice and impressive to me are pretty damn high for the scale: $250-300+ for 1/6 and $100+ for 1/10...

Lack of space is probably more of an issue for most people than price. (Indeed, many of these "sky is falling" threads are started by people who straight up admit that they've run out of space, lol.) I've seen plenty of 1/10, 1/9, 1/8, 1/7, and 1/6-scale statues being flipped for double or triple their MSRP on eBay.

[GaryTonge]

Originally Posted by risingstar

I never quite got the "if you hoped to retire off your statues" comment. It's utter nonsense. For one, no one is thinking that, not even remotely. In 20+ years of collecting, I have not once heard anyone ever say they hoped to retire off their statues. That being said, many of (us) older collectors, up until recently anyway, have been able to buy-new/sell-old for close to two decades. For the past 15 years at least, I have not had to pay a dime out of pocket for statues. It's been an awesome ride. At any time, I generally had 20 items for sale on eBay -- and they typically sold fast, and often at a profit. To date, I have moved over 300 pieces. Of course, it's unfortunate to see these easier-to-sell days go. All this to say, it's often laughable to see the oblivious dismiss this aspect of the hobby or misinterpret it as something barely resembling reality, yet they present their ideas as if it were a revelation. That's the internet.

Agreed. Collectors who've been in this game for a long time understand this is part of the hobby.

There's only so much space one can have to display or store collectibles. There's always new things that come along that catch your eye. Perhaps you just get bored of a particular piece or your collecting tastes have changed.

It's vital to have the ability to trade or upgrade your pieces to maintain longevity in this hobby.

[supermetroid]

If you haven't seen the shift then you haven't been in the hobby long. And that "retirement" comment sounds like something Comicbookguy would say to troll, I guessed it worked lol.

[mva5580]

You have the ability to trade or upgrade your pieces. I don't think it takes any kind of great clairvoyance to realize yeah, these are large statues and inevitably people run out of space.

Just because you want to break even/turn a profit does not mean that is a guarantee, ever. And if you buy something for $600 and sell it for $500 (or whatever,) then your world is not ending. And if you don't think that $100 that you "lost" ended up being worth that based on the amount of enjoyment you got from owning the statue for however long you owned it, then I'm not sure why you're buying them to begin with.

[craigcliff1]

Yes Jerry wrote that start of 2017 in the General Section

[adee]

I dunno, the only issue I have with the hobby is that it's getting to expensive. I had to cut down on what I buy each year but the stuff being produced is only getting better imo.

I just hope I'm around when this supposed bubble pops so I can reap the rewards.

[Tbolt]

For me it has nothing to do with resell. They have just out priced me.Therefore I barely come on the forums or participate in the hobby. I'd like to pick up probably a dozen or more things that are currently up, but I am not comfortable spending that much. And I'm someone that earns a decent living and can splurge here and there. But at 6-700 a pop...I can do other things with that kind of cash. I sort of regret ever starting up this hobby.

[batman1180]

Originally Posted by supermetroid

If you haven't seen the shift then you haven't been in the hobby long. And that "retirement" comment sounds like something Comicbookguy would say to troll, I guessed it worked lol.

Lol. You would think that. I don’t want to call anyone out since I don’t believe they even post here anymore but it wasn’t CBG.