Part out a complete figure??

[Blue Meanie]

Anyone that's been at a MegoMeet, or that has been here on the museum a long time, knows that I have a lot of figures and parts for sale (there should be some pics of my tables at Megomeets in the past). My question to everyone here is this...would you rather buy complete figures or parts from complete figures? All the parts would be all original. Knowing that a parted out figure usually will cost you more than a already completed figure. I need your opinions because I have been contemplating whether to part our my complete figures that I have had for sale the past 6 Meets. Thanks for the feedback to this question in advance.

[apes3978]

I'd buy parted out figures...

[steelcouch]

I would buy complete and parted out. Just depends on the figure. Whens the massive sales post?

[bgrimm77]

Well Roberto it all depends on the figures in my opinion. If I have a minty fresh Aquaman and only need gloves , I'm not gonna want to buy a whole new Aquaman.....I like to piece my figures.... it's part of the fun for me I guess.

[sauce]

I think it could look tacky to see for sale all the parts out there at one time that together would build a single complete figure. No offense intended here, Roberto.

Bryan

[rche]

In the world of rare figures, I kinda see a complete figure, or one that is more complete than the one I have as an upgrade. I would rather purchase the whole figure and then sell the lower grade item.

[david_b]

Piece by piece is more fun, I believe.. You had to do that a lot with the vintage Captain Action collecting.., and it adds to 'the hunt'.

I remember completing my Action Boy Aqualad a few years back..: One day at the Kane County Fair west of Chicago, I spent only $20 for a minty pair of boots (ULTRA-CHEAP price), but was taken an hour later by spending $60 on his belt.

Ah, but at the end of the day, it was all worthwhile...

I'm still looking for vintage gloves/boots for my Mego Speedy and Aqualad in a laid-back fashion; typically for me.., DM parts are just fine.

david_b

[Meule]

I need certain parts to complete a couple of figures, so if you have the right parts I'd take those over the whole figure

[PNGwynne]

Always interested in quality parts!

[EMCE Hammer]

I don't think there's an easy answer to this one. Of course you'll have a stampede for a comlock or a GA quiver, but then you're left with Alan Carter w/no comlock and a quiver-less GA. I know Dan used to have a lot of success with this approach, but that's been awhile. I can see you easily selling all the primo pieces and being stuck with gutted figures that you can't move. I do the Columbus Toy Show twice a year, and decent common Mego stuff hardly sells for me unless I give it away. I have dozens of T1 and T2 bodies and I can't sell them 3 for $15 anymore. As painful as it will be, I think if you factor in your time to photograph, list, and ship the stuff you're further ahead to cut your prices on your complete figures and sell them in Marketplace. I would also suggest you put prices on the figures in your posting. You can ask for offers, but you'll still get "How much for x?" and/or ridiculous offers.

Since you asked:-)

[Wee67]

Personally, I prefer buying complete figures. Yeah, there are a few parts I would have loved to come across, but I think Steve is right- the answer isn't so clear.

There are certain parts you could probably move, but then you'd be left with a bunch of incomplete figures and spare parts. It might, however, be worth getting something for a GA bow or quiver than to sit on a complete GA and get no money.

What I really think might be happening is that some here do not know how extenisive your parts and complete figure list happens to be. I myself was looking for a bunch of T1 bodies and never occurred to me to email you and ask. I saw you at Mego Meet and now I have all the T1s ones I need. I think I need to pay more attention to any Marketplace threads you start. In fact, I putting up some playsets that might need some loose figures to fil it out

[rche]

I don't think there's an easy answer to this one. Of course you'll have a stampede for a comlock or a GA quiver, but then you're left with Alan Carter w/no comlock and a quiver-less GA. I know Dan used to have a lot of success with this approach, but that's been awhile. I can see you easily selling all the primo pieces and being stuck with gutted figures that you can't move. I do the Columbus Toy Show twice a year, and decent common Mego stuff hardly sells for me unless I give it away. I have dozens of T1 and T2 bodies and I can't sell them 3 for $15 anymore. As painful as it will be, I think if you factor in your time to photograph, list, and ship the stuff you're further ahead to cut your prices on your complete figures and sell them in Marketplace. I would also suggest you put prices on the figures in your posting. You can ask for offers, but you'll still get "How much for x?" and/or ridiculous offers.

Since you asked:-)

very good points as well.

[generic]

...would you rather buy complete figures or parts from complete figures?

There have been some very good points made here.

I would like to add that I personally buy both complete figures and put together figures one part at a time. The main factor for me is cost rather than completing my collection quickly. I've been missing a handful of pieces for over 10 years because they cost too much when sold individually and I don't want to buy a complete figure just for one small part. Every once in a while, I get a deal on one of the elusive pieces. I'm patient and don't have a lot of cash to spend on toys, so I wait for the deals.

The same principal is true with selling. How you sell will depend on weather your more concerned about getting the highest price for your collection or spending the least amount of time dealing with it. You can certainly sell a lot of figures fast if you offer up a group of them for sale at a super low price, but if you're looking to earn as much money as you can from the sale, patients is the key.

[highquality]

Who are you and what have you done with Berto?

[Blue Meanie]

Who are you and what have you done with Berto?

I knew you were going to say that

Heath knows that I'd rather sell a complete figure than part stuff out...but it looks like there seems to be an even split on this issue. I personally loved buying lots of Mego figures and parts and putting figures together...this is one of the reasons why I have so much stuff and why I have been doing the Mego thing for so long. It seems though that when it came to selling complete figures I've noticed that people just wanted parts. The ratio at the MegoMeet of parts to figures sales was dramatic. Probably a 10 to 1. Please keep the opinions coming...cause in about a week I have a working vacation coming up and if the consensus is that people here on the museum want parts over complete figures then that's what I'll be doing during that time of my working vacation. I appreciate the all the feedback so far...keep 'em coming.