What are you thoughts on "Toy Speculating" ??

[jds1911a1]

Hmmmm....

Collectibles are ALWAYS a bad investment. After 20 years there's usually a nostalgic bump where prices shoot up wildly. The same often happens short term for new, hot stuff.... but inevitably they'll dip to almost nothing. It's too tough, and not generally worth the effort to try and guess what'll hit.

Don C.

Well put. You want to invest in something buy precious metals or diamonds. They always appreciate over the long haul.

[Mikey]

I think Beatles will go up in the distant future.

Mark by words they will go down in history as one of the "great masters"

[ctc]

>You want to invest in something buy precious metals or diamonds.

Those fluctuate too. Gold got a bump a year or two back.... what with the end of the world coming and all*.... but it slid back to earlier levels, and has been creeping up (and dipping down) slowly for a while. Same thing happened in the 80's. (I guess folks had a surplus of 70's chains back then.)

*I've always wondered why the survivalists types see gold as a neccesity post-apocalypse. For gold to have any real exchange value you need a society of some sort. Zombies, aliens and bests from the abyss don't deal in ingots.

Don C.

[Peter Panda]

I think most toy lines have a certain time frame where they are desireable and then they eventually drop off to very little...it will happen to almost every toy line once the kids who played with the toys get too old to want to collect them. Half the shows i go to no one even knows who matt mason is or the waltons....if you really want to invest in toys invest in things that are timeless....i personally think thats why Megos have the value that they do....Batman is timeless....The waltons are not....

[jds1911a1]

>You want to invest in something buy precious metals or diamonds.

Those fluctuate too. Gold got a bump a year or two back.... what with the end of the world coming and all*.... but it slid back to earlier levels, and has been creeping up (and dipping down) slowly for a while. Same thing happened in the 80's. (I guess folks had a surplus of 70's chains back then.)

*I've always wondered why the survivalists types see gold as a neccesity post-apocalypse. For gold to have any real exchange value you need a society of some sort. Zombies, aliens and bests from the abyss don't deal in ingots.

Don C.

Like anything the amount of cash in the market will make a difference in price but the swing is small and since we were talking about a olnger term you look at 5-10-20 year returns its always up, where most toy lines don't.
post apoclyspe the only thing that will matter is food and bullets, but gold has been viewed as valuable in our world for over 3000 years.. I'll bet on those odds until someone finds the philospher stone or an alchemist makes gold from lead the value will be there

[ctc]

>I think most toy lines have a certain time frame where they are desireable and then they eventually drop off

It's around 20 to 30 years that nostalgia kicks in, and a percentage of folks pine for their past and actively seek it out. After a year or ten.... depending on the size of the market, the acceptability of said items, pirice and availability.... it cools off. Mostly. A few genuinely rare or desirable items will always hold their value, but the rest will take a dip. They might not lose value altogether, but they won't maintain enough to make the investmemt worthwhile.

Maybe. Unless the subject gets recycled and takes off.... like Batman in the 90's. Then there's another few years of boom coming. Juggling all this is why collectibles tend to be a bad investment; too many variables.

If you REALLY want to make a couple bucks though, the trick is to branch out past the obvious, into knockoffs of popular stuff, related but low-key items, etc.... and hope for a bit of luck. Look at stuff like Mego knockoffs: back in the day some of 'em (like the Tomlands) were super cheap. Nobody hoarded them, enough folks had them for a touch of recognition in later years, and some of the rarest go for big bucks now.

Don C.

[spacecaps]

Well recycling also hurts a line too. Look at something like Star Wars. The stuff that really holds the value is the original toys because aside from a piece being valuable because it's rare, it also valuable because in most cases it holds sentimental value to the buyer too where as the new stuff is a flood of mass-market items half aimed at children for toy value and the other half aimed at adults to collect. Also with something like Batman, is there any one Batman line that has any real worth. There are so many lines that have BAtman and so many exlusive Batman toy lines out there over the years, there really isn't a "definitive" Batman line. I think he's been made into over 200+ different figures at this point too which is weird since he's only ever worn about five costumes. I thought the Animated Series toys were awesome but with the exception of one or two difficult pieces (like the Robin Roadster that all but burned in a fire) the stuff just doesn't sell.

When I go to the flea markets over the summer there are always these guys selling these cheap made in Hong Kong superheroesque figures. You can get five of them for $10 and I've never been tempted to buy any of them. Maybe 30 years from now I'll see them on ebay selling for a grand a piece but I'm ok with not buying them for sure.

[clemso]

Investing in Toys can be done, but you better have the right storage facility to keep them mint for 30 years or so, plus time and research on market trending. When you factor all that into it for the profit you might get out of it, well your time might be better spent else where. Its nice to see all the Power Rangers stuff doing so well. These were the toys that i bought for my kids, so its proof that some things will hold value. I think some some prices seem like more because of inflation more than anything, when you think of the price of a new toy.

[MIB41]

Watch out 4NDRO1D. Speculating toy value is the "fool's gold" of this hobby. I can't tell you how many times I have bought doubles or triples of something because I thought it would take off later in price. Now some things do take off. But figure lines are a fickle market. Plus it's all about timing. Demand fluctuates like the wind. And to make money, sometimes you have to be right there when people are lining up. Because tomorrow that line can be gone...literally. And reading enthusiastic comments on forums seldom translates either. Ask the people who actually make these figures. Many things I bought multiples of, I either got lucky and broke even or lost money. Only rarely did I get ahead. And the trouble I went through to achieve a small profit was not worth the fuss. So if you like figures, just buy them for yourself. There are a blue million people sitting at flea markets and online auction sites waiting for that "big payday" that never happens. Plus now you have toy companies getting in on the game and short packing figures that creates a black market where stock boys take the rare ones and scalp them on Ebay. I detest that nonsense.

[Brazoo]

I think people can make quick cash with knowledgable "flipping", but I think most long term investments in any collectable is going to end in very little pay-off overall.

There are way better ways to invest money - so why even bother?

Personally, I think a lot of people start off enjoying toys/comics/cards (or any collectible) for very simple reasons - then they start to spend real money as they get deeper in - and like to justify the larger expenses by tricking themselves into thinking they're doing it for bigger (possibly more "adult") reasons.

I think - be honest - buy what you enjoy - and only buy what you can comfortably afford.