bradleyl30
Command Sergeant Major
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What figure are you still hunting down? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter zblang
- Start date
ccdc11
Sergeant First Class
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Frank, I bet you $500 they sell
LOL Well Done
Warrior
Lieutenant General
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Well since I'm the seller of the standard bearers, here goes.
Say what you want about Ebay, but it puts sellers in touch with countless buyers, specifically QUALIFIED buyers, ie, people who are looking for something and aren't afraid to spend to get it.
Over the past four or so years, I've bought quite a few collections; I buy them lock, stock and barrel, no cherry picking, here is my offer for the whole shooting match, I'm not going to take the Trophy/K & C/First Legion and leave the rest so that the seller has an impossible task of selling off the lesser desired items. Been there, seen that, felt awful one time telling some poor woman "Whoever came in here and cherry picked out all the desired sets left you with the scraps, they are worth .10 cents on the dollar unfortunately."
Buying a collection is rewarding if you buy right, but it's a lot of work; you have to crunch the numbers and determine value, ie, do research as to the value, drive to wherever the collection is (I've literally bought collections in my back yard, also bought collections as far south as Alexandria and as far west as Chicago), view it, determine value, make an offer, pack it, bring it home, sort it all out and catalog it all.
The rule of thumb on collections is 1/3rd of the sales pay for what you paid for it, so basically you break even after 1/3rd of the sales, you make your money on the next third, you have to work your *** off to sell the bottom 1/3rd, most of it hangs around for a long time. So, it's a crap shoot; sometimes it's 25% to break even, sometimes it's 50% to break even, it's a challenge everytime.
I really don't know anyone I've bought a collection from who wasn't happy with the money they got, most of the time is a wife/son/daughter/brother/sister of a deceased collector and they are thrilled to have the whole shooting match out the door in one shot, now it's my problem to sell it, it's out of their life and they can get on with their lives. Other times it's a collector who loses interest, switches periods, switches brands and again, he's happy to have it all out of his hair.
It's part and parcel to being in business; if you buy right and sell right, you can make a **** ton of money and the last time I checked, I sell toy soldiers full time, the purpose of which is to put a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food in my stomach, ie, make money, it's a business like any other business, I am in it to earn a living, not part time playing reindeer games.
Sorry if it upsets some people that I make a living selling hobby related items, items that for most of the time are not a priority for most people, it's a hobby afterall, they are in it for ****s and giggles, it's not life or death.
Well, it is life and death for me, Julie, Matt from HB, Mike from Sierra, Tim from Troops of Time, Rick from MTS, Nicholas from Crown, Jim and Dave from CTS and others who do this full time, for a living.
The First Legion items I am selling are MIB, never removed, never displayed. I have exactly ONE of each, so my goal is to get max dollars for each item, get back my investment and make a profit on the sale of the goods.
If someone is not willing to pay my asking price, it's a simple process; don't buy it, maybe someone else will, maybe they won't, time will tell.
I'm not wearing a mask and holding a gun, I am siting behind a computer listing items on my website and Ebay.
Thanks for listening.
Say what you want about Ebay, but it puts sellers in touch with countless buyers, specifically QUALIFIED buyers, ie, people who are looking for something and aren't afraid to spend to get it.
Over the past four or so years, I've bought quite a few collections; I buy them lock, stock and barrel, no cherry picking, here is my offer for the whole shooting match, I'm not going to take the Trophy/K & C/First Legion and leave the rest so that the seller has an impossible task of selling off the lesser desired items. Been there, seen that, felt awful one time telling some poor woman "Whoever came in here and cherry picked out all the desired sets left you with the scraps, they are worth .10 cents on the dollar unfortunately."
Buying a collection is rewarding if you buy right, but it's a lot of work; you have to crunch the numbers and determine value, ie, do research as to the value, drive to wherever the collection is (I've literally bought collections in my back yard, also bought collections as far south as Alexandria and as far west as Chicago), view it, determine value, make an offer, pack it, bring it home, sort it all out and catalog it all.
The rule of thumb on collections is 1/3rd of the sales pay for what you paid for it, so basically you break even after 1/3rd of the sales, you make your money on the next third, you have to work your *** off to sell the bottom 1/3rd, most of it hangs around for a long time. So, it's a crap shoot; sometimes it's 25% to break even, sometimes it's 50% to break even, it's a challenge everytime.
I really don't know anyone I've bought a collection from who wasn't happy with the money they got, most of the time is a wife/son/daughter/brother/sister of a deceased collector and they are thrilled to have the whole shooting match out the door in one shot, now it's my problem to sell it, it's out of their life and they can get on with their lives. Other times it's a collector who loses interest, switches periods, switches brands and again, he's happy to have it all out of his hair.
It's part and parcel to being in business; if you buy right and sell right, you can make a **** ton of money and the last time I checked, I sell toy soldiers full time, the purpose of which is to put a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food in my stomach, ie, make money, it's a business like any other business, I am in it to earn a living, not part time playing reindeer games.
Sorry if it upsets some people that I make a living selling hobby related items, items that for most of the time are not a priority for most people, it's a hobby afterall, they are in it for ****s and giggles, it's not life or death.
Well, it is life and death for me, Julie, Matt from HB, Mike from Sierra, Tim from Troops of Time, Rick from MTS, Nicholas from Crown, Jim and Dave from CTS and others who do this full time, for a living.
The First Legion items I am selling are MIB, never removed, never displayed. I have exactly ONE of each, so my goal is to get max dollars for each item, get back my investment and make a profit on the sale of the goods.
If someone is not willing to pay my asking price, it's a simple process; don't buy it, maybe someone else will, maybe they won't, time will tell.
I'm not wearing a mask and holding a gun, I am siting behind a computer listing items on my website and Ebay.
Thanks for listening.
Frank, I bet you $500 they sell
LOL LOL LOL^&grin......Nope......And you won't either :rolleyes2:....But I do have an diabolical idea, if I were you and I could find someone else to take that bet I would buy it for $250 dollars and then collect on the bet for $500 thus creating a nifty profit of $250..^&grin. Then after that if I were you :wink2: I woulld try to resell the flagbearer for maybe an additional $200...."Comprende Vous".....If that's too complicated or unethical ........ I'll tell you what just for fun, I will bet you a dollar that it does not sell for $250 .^&grin.........It will be fun to watch how this all transpires.^&grin
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spartan71
Sergeant Major
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I got one of the flag bearers, thank you George!!. Greatly appreciated!!. been wanting this for s long time, it might just be the grail for me, hoping and wanting. Now finally I found it, and can start planning on how I am going to build this group... I am stoked!!
4th Hussar
Sergeant Major
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- Nov 22, 2007
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Frontline Charge of the Light Brigade glossies, especially Russians
Because Brad it's a fools bet....Read Post #45......Real Money ??....Real Money is when you buy and hoard products for $69 dollars (or actually much less as a dealer at wholesale) then hoard it and wait on it to be "retired" and then resell it for $250 or 4X's fair resale value.....Personally I think these collectors have way over paid for these flagbearers IMO.... but as George said no one held a gun to their heads, He's definitely right about that.....A Good Sale for Him (Well Done) it's a free market called Capitalism....if they are happy paying that much that's all that matters......Again we have had this dicussion in other threads.... if FL re-released flagbearers, collectors would be able to purchase them directly from FL at more reasonable prices in a second run and not have to pay sky high prices on evil bay......Unfortunately this is a common game in the hobby and some guys just have to have a piece no matter what it costs them...it's all good everyone is happy especially the seller
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You might want to check out the latest NAPS FL Mass battle release.... at $43.95 very reasonable....i think you will find these to be very close in sculpts to the original series and the paint could be easily modified. Would save you a ton of money:salute::
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bradleyl30
Command Sergeant Major
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Hunter Rose
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If only I had a dollar for every time Frank told me I was crazy about my asking price of a FL item that subsequently sold!
bradleyl30
Command Sergeant Major
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spartan71
Sergeant Major
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We have been in the same side of many of the discussions on this forum, and more than likely we will be again, Frank. If I may, I see the dealer as a fellow collector. How much will it take to pry a piece from him/ her as a collector to sell. I have the 1st foot guards ( no, don't have the ramming one).If I ever sell those loved pieces, what is the price that will take me to sell it? Double to slightly more, will not be enough. Again, this are loved pieces. I as you wished that FL would have made remakes, but that did not happen. So here I am. And of course I don't doubt that eventually the mass battle ones will come out with something like the 92nd.. But it won't be the original 92nd Gordons..
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Sure no problem do you accept pay-pal
Warrior
Lieutenant General
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To Franks point; if a dealer scarfs up the majority of a production run, thus depriving other dealers of stock and as a result, their customers, then said dealer peddles the figures on Ebay for sky high prices, that is annoying and he and other collectors have every right to be upset about it.
In my case, the First Legion and other items I sell are parts of collections I've purchased, I only have one of said item.
It's two totally different situations, but again, I don't blame him for being upset at the hording aspect.
It's a fools game as sooner or later, you're going to get torched on an item that does not sell like you thought it would.