Star Wars ROTJ/ESB large lot score!!

[4NDR01D]

A week or so ago my good friend Suzanne told me that a friend of hers who has been living out of the country was coming to town to visit her family for Xmas. I was told that this friend had her childhood Star Wars toys boxed up and could no longer keep them at her parents and was wondering if I'd be interested in buying them.

I came very close to turning it down, as I'm not much of a Star Wars collector, and already have a tote or so of loose figures and incomplete vehicles etc that I haven't had room to display, and don't need to be out any more money at Christmas time for such things. Also, knowing that it was a childhood collection and not wanting to haggle on price with a non-collector who may think that their old star wars stuff was worth way more than it is/was etc.

But my friend assured me that she would give me a good price as she really needs to get rid of this stuff before she leaves again. I figured that the least I could do would be look at some pics she would send me and offer her a fair amount and if she turned it down no biggie.

Well I got 8 photos last night and the collection is as follows. (pls excuse spelling/name mistakes)

also, these are all Canadian bilingual cards / boxes. everything looks VG or better, no sure yet if boxes are still sealed or if everything was just carefully put back inside them. I'll edit later.

20 ROTJ MOC figures- Luke, Leia (disguise), Han (trenchcoat), Obi Wan, C3PO, Klattu and several characters that look like same race as Klattu, Imperial Guard, Gamorrean Guard, bib Fortuna, Ree Yees, X-Wing Pilot, 3x biker scouts, Admiral Akbar, 8d8 droid.

And a couple more Gamorrean Guards and a Rancor Keeper (these have fallen off the card but they are still in the the bubble. The others are all carded (unpunched).

Empire Strikes Back- Yoda and Han Solo (both mint looking and unpunched).

Also the following Micro playsets (which I've just learned were the precurser to the Micro Machines line): Death Star World, Death Star Compactor, Bespin World, Hoth (says monde hoth in french), and there's several more boxes but I cant read because they are blurry french.

Vehicles and stuff (all boxed)- MTV-7, AST-5, Speeder bike X2, de la foret endor (?) its french so I dunno, Cap-2, Wampa, B-Wing fighter x2, AT-AT,
ISP-6, Slave-1, Jabba the Hut X2, Tie Interceptor X3, Ewok Village, Scout Walker, Rancor Monster, Star Wars Portfolios for SW, ESB, ROTJ.

There about 5-10 more boxes I can't read/see.
I'm not sure how much she's looking for, I don't want to lowball. I'd have to sell most of it. Any ideas?

[Toyman_Chris]

If you are concerned about low balling her, you really can use market value as your friend right now. Generally when I buy a collection, I explain that I generally need to be into a collection at around 25% of what I think I can sell it for. Overhead and turn around time affect that number. Ebay/Paypal selling fees alone will eat up 25% of the actual sales (plus factor the hassles and time to list the items effectively). If you care to use Ebay as your tool of reference, make sure you check "completed" auctions. You want to see what has literally sold in the last 30 days & for a realistic price. Again, you need to realize what auctions sold quickly because of uneducated sellers and YOU factor it in as a bonus, however can give the collection owner a visual to show how it's a "buyers market" out there. Don't get me wrong. It's a "buyers market", but if you buy right, you can sell right.

The next thing I would do after that explanation (which is more or less telling her, "Hey, this is great stuff, but the market is down". That will bring her down to a realistic haggling level. Before making a cash offer, be sure to feel out what possibly might be her "happy number". I always do this. It's sales. The first person to speak loses. Simply by getting her to throw out the 1st number, you can gauge how you want to approach your counter offer. If she is way high, then you need to go back to the earlier steps again and reiterate cost effectiveness in buying a complete collection, slower turnaround time on the lesser items, etc. If she comes in low and you feel like you can pay more, you can look like a hero. If she comes in close to where you wanna be, it's haggle time and you get the price where you want it.

Biggest piece of advice. Talk about her collection like it's AWESOME. Some dealers, talk down an item, to try to get the price down. People aren't that stupid. If you talk about it like it's crap and want to buy crap....hey, that's weird. They get a bad vibe. I literally buy approximately 80% of the collections I look at, because I talk their stuff up and the market down. Just a word of advice.

I have never tried to explain my collection buying techniques on a forums before, but I hope this helps you.

[kennermike]

A week or so ago my good friend Suzanne told me that a friend of hers who has been living out of the country was coming to town to visit her family for Xmas. I was told that this friend had her childhood Star Wars toys boxed up and could no longer keep them at her parents and was wondering if I'd be interested in buying them.

I came very close to turning it down, as I'm not much of a Star Wars collector, and already have a tote or so of loose figures and incomplete vehicles etc that I haven't had room to display, and don't need to be out any more money at Christmas time for such things. Also, knowing that it was a childhood collection and not wanting to haggle on price with a non-collector who may think that their old star wars stuff was worth way more than it is/was etc.

But my friend assured me that she would give me a good price as she really needs to get rid of this stuff before she leaves again. I figured that the least I could do would be look at some pics she would send me and offer her a fair amount and if she turned it down no biggie.

Well I got 8 photos last night and the collection is as follows. (pls excuse spelling/name mistakes)

also, these are all Canadian bilingual cards / boxes. everything looks VG or better, no sure yet if boxes are still sealed or if everything was just carefully put back inside them. I'll edit later.

20 ROTJ MOC figures- Luke, Leia (disguise), Han (trenchcoat), Obi Wan, C3PO, Klattu and several characters that look like same race as Klattu, Imperial Guard, Gamorrean Guard, bib Fortuna, Ree Yees, X-Wing Pilot, 3x biker scouts, Admiral Akbar, 8d8 droid.

And a couple more Gamorrean Guards and a Rancor Keeper (these have fallen off the card but they are still in the the bubble. The others are all carded (unpunched).

Empire Strikes Back- Yoda and Han Solo (both mint looking and unpunched).

Also the following Micro playsets (which I've just learned were the precurser to the Micro Machines line): Death Star World, Death Star Compactor, Bespin World, Hoth (says monde hoth in french), and there's several more boxes but I cant read because they are blurry french.

Vehicles and stuff (all boxed)- MTV-7, AST-5, Speeder bike X2, de la foret endor (?) its french so I dunno, Cap-2, Wampa, B-Wing fighter x2, AT-AT,
ISP-6, Slave-1, Jabba the Hut X2, Tie Interceptor X3, Ewok Village, Scout Walker, Rancor Monster, Star Wars Portfolios for SW, ESB, ROTJ.

There about 5-10 more boxes I can't read/see.
I'm not sure how much she's looking for, I don't want to lowball. I'd have to sell most of it. Any ideas?

post the pictures Bro?

[RickD]

Try not to spend too much on ROTJ carded figures. Unless they are MINT and I mean MINT along with being unpunched, they don't bring much money unless they are Han Solo, Luke, Leia, Darth, Yoda, Ben Kenobi, etc. Sounds like the ones you listed are on the common side and don't bring more than $25-30 on a good day depending on condition.

Bilingual or Tri Logo carded figures are getting harder to come across especially if they are really good condition. The Tri Logo carded figures usually had damaged bubbles due to bad production. Ones to look for are the General Madine Emperors Royal Guard. These can bring $500-1000 each. Others to look for Leia, Darth, Luke Jedi, Luke, Han, any of the last 17.

Boxed Vehicles do ok, but the box condition is wear the money is at.

Collectors of Star Wars love MINT MINT items and will pay a premium price. Boxes and toys that show wear are hard to sell in the Star Wars world.

Be careful spending too much and watch for fakes. Recards are especially high in the Star Wars world.

[kennermike]

Back in September I had a nice boxed B-Wing Fighter, Boxed Speeder Bike and some Return of the Jedi carded Figures nobody bought them in the Forum had a hell of a time trying to get rid of the stuff finally Final Frontier Toys bought them for a fair price didnt make anything on them and I didnt want to do Ebay,So be carefull on Return of the Jedi boxed and Carded stuff not worth very much,so dont pay an arm and a leg for them if you expect to turn them around for a profit

[Figuremod73]

I wonder if the market is saturated on star wars now. I wouldnt think vintage stuff would be effected as much though..

[kennermike]

I wonder if the market is saturated on star wars now. I wouldnt think vintage stuff would be effected as much though..

Dont know if Saturated just know that Return of the Jedi stuff pretty much worthless.Cant Speak For Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back stuff though?

[Toyman_Chris]

Saturated? Yes, that's a a fair statement. However, it will always be popular. People complain about Lucas' continuing project of redoing-restoring-updating his movies. However, each generation gets a taste of Star Wars. Therefore, the market grows. Demand grows. There are plenty of product out there for collectors to find. There are holy grail items like any other collectible. Yet, with the growing collecting base with each generation it keeps the secondary market active and viable.

[RickD]

My brother and I have been collecting Vintage Star Wars for years. I recently sold my entired loose, carded, and boxed Star Wars collection. He is dwindling down his collection of 30 years. It was a pain to get rid of the ROTJ carded and boxed items for sure. Try not to get into that collection for a lot of money if I can give you any advice

[toys2cool]

yea the ROTJ has always been a pain to sell, it's mostly Jabba's palace creatures or ewoks...I personally love those..But not many feel the same way

[4NDR01D]

Thanks for responses and info guys. I'm in the early stages of the haggle, and may end up just listing them on ebay for her and taking a cut of the profits. I'm really looking for a fair estimate on market value for the lot. Assuming that it's as described VG or better carded and sealed boxes. I fully understand Star Wars stuff sells better than ESB or ROTJ, but ther's some sweet stuff in this lot. Boxed At-At, Carded Yoda.

At what price would you pull the trigger?

[Figuremod73]

yea the ROTJ has always been a pain to sell, it's mostly Jabba's palace creatures or ewoks...I personally love those..But not many feel the same way

I really like this kind of stuff to. Im probably in the minority but i thought ewolks were alsome when i was a kid.

[kennermike]

Dont Buy Return of the Jedi stuff its a trap!

[livnxxxl]

Star Wars vintage is the word. I do not know how many collector's/buyers that I have heard that from recently. There is way too much of the new stuff made and stored by people thinking that they are sitting on a potential gold mine.

[4NDR01D]

Return of the Jedi stuff pretty much worthless.