The Energon Pub

i have taken great pains to try and outline how this will take place. one of my managers at my company who also collects suggested a what it should be price based on logical apreciation and market demand... then a what it is column due to ebay inflation. this gives you a gray area of a safe realm to sell in. again i will be starting a thread asking for help once a real direction to go is figured out... and im still reading alll your suggestions, all good ones that will find their way in...

It's impossible to determine, even if you account for age and whatnot.

The best I can figure is the highest price someone had ever paid for a figure and the lowest. That gives you an extremely rough estimate and ONLY accounts for a figure in the exact same state.

So what's the highest amount ever paid for a MISB Twintist and what's the lowest? For the same figure you're going to have to do a similar grading for loose and complete, loose, packaging variants.

Good luck.

Megs for pres wrote:Im wondering what you think this collection is worth roughly. ALL FIGS ARE LOOSE.
Here we go.....

CLASSICS HENKEI-voyager optimus prime and megatron

GENERATIONS/UNIVERSE-white star scream,grey star scream x2,thunder cracker,sky warp dirge,thrust,ramjet,kup,grimlock,red alert,sun streaker,prowl,iron hide, ratchet,hound with ravage,drift,wheel jack,mirage,warpath,white astrotrain,octane,thunder wing,sky shadow,scrapheap,skull grin,dark mount,blurr,
galvatron,scourge x3. ALSO optimus prime/megatron classics two pack.

R.T.S.- jazz,wreckgar,rodimus prime,cyclonus,turbo tracks,percepter,bumble bee.

W.F.C/F.O.C.-megatron,optimus prime,sound wave,shockwave,bumble bee,cliff jumper.

ENERGON-barricade.


Well tahts my collection. Again all are loose and in perfect condition. So what do you guys think that would be worth? Just wondering if I got a good deal here as most of my older figures came from ebay lol.
Thanks!!

As others have said, it's a tricky one. Unfortunately the classics line have essentially become scalper fodder with many of the figures so I can totally understand your wanting to know if you got a good deal- especially when you're new/returned to the hobby (welcome to the insanity btw ).

My advice would honestly be to check ebay, including completed listings.

Ultimately though what it comes down to is, are you happy with the figures and are you glad you own them despite what you paid. Some of us pay $10 for something at one point. Others pay exponential amounts more than that (how many of us wish we had a time machine so we could buy things like Liokaiser sealed at retail ).

Ultimately what matters is that you're happy with your collection and hey, if it turns out it wasn't as good of a bargain as you'd like, there's always the next time right (and trust me - now you're hooked, so there WILL be a next time ).

RhA wrote:It's impossible to determine, even if you account for age and whatnot.

The best I can figure is the highest price someone had ever paid for a figure and the lowest. That gives you an extremely rough estimate and ONLY accounts for a figure in the exact same state.

So what's the highest amount ever paid for a MISB Twintist and what's the lowest? For the same figure you're going to have to do a similar grading for loose and complete, loose, packaging variants.

Good luck.

Yeah this is going to be a beast, I still think the older a figure is the easier this will be though. We won't know until we try however.

My guide would be a simple one:
MIB: 80% of new
Loose & Complete: 60% of new
Loose & Incomplete: 30- 40% of new
I would list packaging/toy variants as +2.5% (consideration to the more obscure toy variants)
Aprreciation % for older figures to be determined
AFA: I wouldn't bother, the whole things a scam with no academic credentials reinforcing the service that they offer.

Sinnertwin wrote:MIB: 80% of new

This brings Fort max to... 80$! Boxed.

RhA wrote:

Sinnertwin wrote:MIB: 80% of new

This brings Fort max to... 80$! Boxed.

I shouldve specified that they were for newer figures, hence the appreciation % statement in my previous post. I'd have to work out a new scale for say, '84-90 and '90-00 etc And then there's inflation to factor in also

RhA wrote:

Sinnertwin wrote:MIB: 80% of new

This brings Fort max to... 80$! Boxed.

Give it two months til the reissue comes out and who knows

Back in the day... I used to enjoy reading the old toyfare price guide to see what figures where in the green and which ones were in the red. It was a pretty handy tool but the thing was, the guide was null and void 24 hours after print.

The pricing on Transformers changes daily. Its as simple as that.

If you plan on going through with it I would suggest giving yourselves a bi monthly/ quarterly update period. To update a guide such as the one you are proposing, would be too much of a monumental task if the period were any shorter than the one I suggested.

For example, in the past three weeks I have watched MIB G1 Fort Max sell twice between $800 and $1200.

Good luck with it but I cant ever see it happening.

quickmixed wrote:Back in the day... I used to enjoy reading the old toyfare price guide to see what figures where in the green and which ones were in the red. It was a pretty handy tool but the thing was, the guide was null and void 24 hours after print.

The pricing on Transformers changes daily. Its as simple as that.

If you plan on going through with it I would suggest giving yourselves a bi monthly/ quarterly update period. To update a guide such as the one you are proposing, would be too much of a monumental task if the period were any shorter than the one I suggested.

For example, in the past three weeks I have watched MIB G1 Fort Max sell twice between $800 and $1200.

Good luck with it but I cant ever see it happening.

My point exactly. Usually G1 Megazarak goes for $600 - $800, I got mine for (about) $350.

Shmax.com has two graphs per figure: one for price based on e-Bay 'sold for' listings and another for the prices Shmax users have recorded their figures were bought for. It actually also projects a trend-line for the values, based on prices paid.

An example: Fortress Maximus prices on Shmax

EBAY


Prices paid by Shmax collectors

They are extremely useful as a general record of prices actually paid in recent years, and as far as I'm concerned, this Shmax resource is the closest we will come to an 'accurate' price guide.

A generation ago, you could put together a price guide that would be published and printed, and the prices would be good for a year or so, until the following year's guide came out.

With the advent of the internet, you can't do that anymore. Prices fluctuate from day to day. A 3rd-party company announces an upgrade kit for Classics Ultra Magnus, and the going rate for a Classics UM doubles or triples overnight.

Any attempt to make a reliable price guide would have to be updated at least weekly, and would have to take into account: recent purchase prices and current listings on major exchanges like eBay, current prices at online retailers, import prices, foreign exchange rates, and more. It would be a full-time job to research and maintain such a database.

Or you could just use this simple, easy-to-remember price guide for all collectibles: It's worth as much as someone is currently willing to pay.

RhA wrote:
My point exactly. Usually G1 Megazarak goes for $600 - $800, I got mine for (about) $350.

Thats cheaper than a boxed Scorponok. Deal of the year contender

one of my techs at my office suggested a program that auto googles or searches ebay and comes up with an average price for a relative price you can bargain with as a baseline. the only thing he said would be a problem is with soooo many transformers and variations, you could end up with eroneous data or no price at all. this is going to be a monumental undertaking if it can be done at all, but i have 3 database pros and programmers looking into it to make our life easier if this can be done.

VioMeTriX wrote:one of my techs at my office suggested a program that auto googles or searches ebay and comes up with an average price for a relative price you can bargain with as a baseline. the only thing he said would be a problem is with soooo many transformers and variations, you could end up with eroneous data or no price at all. this is going to be a monumental undertaking if it can be done at all, but i have 3 database pros and programmers looking into it to make our life easier if this can be done.

What part of "it's already been done, by Shmax.com", did you not understand?

void

VioMeTriX wrote:(...)
hey smart guy, why didnt you direct the op to this when this topic first started? then we couldve avoided pages of useless conversation. your like a guy bringing birthday gifts to a funeral.

*EDIT* well they have a comprehensive character and parts list and original cost, but not the current value... so stfu when you come in here with your snarky attitude....

Oops... I didn't realize it was your time of the month

Anyhow... I'll explain it you step by step, cause you seem to be real slow on the uptake.
1. Look up figure on Shmax.com (for example, C-01 Henkei Convoy, the first figure on OP's list).
2. Scroll down, PAST the picturs of the figure and the parts.
3. Gawk at the first graph, showing the results of recent e-Bay sales. Green points: sealed figures. Red points: loose figures. Green line: trend line for e-Bay price of sealed boxes (evidently between $90 and $125). Red line: trend line for loose figures coming down to around $80 mark, going down just a bit).
4. Gawk at the second graph. These are the prices Shmax members paid for their Henkei Convoy figure, and probably include forum buys, fleamarket finds and what not. This shows you: MISB: ~$70. Opened figures: ~$35.

I'd say that the Shmax graphs contain enough price points to provide a very accurate estimate of current and up-to-date values. They show you both a trend-line for price, or else the most recent prices paid for a figure. Sure, there's always going to be sales missed in these graphs, some people luck out on the price they pay, some people do not mark their paid value correctly or mark an open figure as sealed, but those mistakes usually only provide outliers which can easily be disregarded.

alldarker wrote:Oops... I didn't realize it was your time of the month

Like I said back on Page 5, I spent a lot of time cleaning up this thread and will not go light on anyone who steps out of line.

So stay on topic and keep it civil.

now how did you manage to get a comment that i edited deleted 3 min after i made it?

VioMeTriX wrote:now how did you manage to get a comment that i edited deleted 3 min after i made it?

They're watching. Always. Waiting.

Sinnertwin wrote:

VioMeTriX wrote:now how did you manage to get a comment that i edited deleted 3 min after i made it?

They're watching. Always. Waiting.

aparently so... i need to really think more before i post. i am being an ass and i dont want to get banned.

quickmixed wrote:

RhA wrote:
My point exactly. Usually G1 Megazarak goes for $600 - $800, I got mine for (about) $350.

Thats cheaper than a boxed Scorponok. Deal of the year contender

Every day I'm still psyched about it.