Subject:
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Re: LD's Auctions (Re: Going once, going twice, sold!)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego.direct
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Date:
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Tue, 9 Apr 2002 21:35:17 GMT
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In lugnet.lego.direct, Leonard Hoffman writes:
> This is the first step towards LEGO as COLLECTIBLE, something you buy in mint,
> keep sealed, and hope it goes up in value.
Well, actually no. The first instance of lego as a collectible would simply
have been people keeping sets in a collectible condition (which has been
going on for quite a while). Another previous instance of TLC marketing
things in this manner would be the bionickle masks. I expect there are
other examples as well.
> I know there are a lot of collectors out there who do just that, and thats
> fine I guess.
People can, of course, do anything they like. And I am with you in that
bricks are for playing with. The only collector issues I want to ever
concern myself with when it comes to lego have to do with the condition of a
single element -- esp. if I am paying some absurd secondary market price for
said item.
But marketing to collectors is a different thing altogether. Such marketing
tactics create needless hype and can have negative repercussions. Sure,
short-term benefits of stronger sales and such might be realized, but longer
term people often just get burned -- and that creates longer term bad PR.
If you don't believe me just look at the last 10-15 years of comic book
marketing techniques.
I also think that there is something dishonest in selling a limited edition
of an item, the most desirable numbers of which have been withheld from
public consumption -- or withheld with the specific intent of capitalizing
on collector speculation at a later time. That pretty much stinks from top
to bottom.
I did a quick google of some collectible terminology that tlc uses for
marketing purposes and came up with the following:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.geocities.com/televisioncity/set/8681/terms.html
Hard to Find/HTF: This is an item that you can find in auctions or stores
but not every day. This is what the vast majority of "rare" items really
are. Usually there are plenty of the item around, it's just hard to find one.
LE/Limited Edition: In todays market this is beginning to be meaningless.
It should mean that a set number of items are produced and then no more. A
lot of new items though are marketed using an unscrupulous tactic. For them
LE means that it is made for a certain time. This means that the collector
will have no idea of the true edition size and for these items it is almost
always a large number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's worth noting that the s@h catalogue almost always has some item or
other marked "hard to find" -- but if you can pick up the phone and just
order it, how rare does that really make the item? Only an idiot would fall
for that kind of tactic. That's right up there with $4.99 being less that
$5.00...a smart buyer always conceptually rounds up and thinks of tax and
shipping besides.
I am not sure if this new train set is the first "Limited Edition" TLC has
produced, but in the main the concept is worthless if the limitation is
anything over perhaps a few hundred. You can well imagine that the concept
is further diluted by continuing to produce the same item as an unlimited
edition. Comic book publishers did all the same stuff (for all I know they
may still be doing the same idiot things today) -- but in the end you just
piss off the buyers that thought they were going to realize some profit for
their speculative purchases. Sure, sometimes it works -- often it does not.
Some future sellers may be lucky enough to find an even "bigger fool" than
themselves to sell their stuff to, but many will not be able to do so.
Buyers should generally stick to buying things that they will actually use.
Sure, one can be careful of an item and maybe someday some profit might be
realized on a well-cared-for item -- but it's tough to discover the sure
things in this category. Basically, it's anyone's guess which items will or
won't be collectible.
Here's a good one: lego 375 yellow castle eBay Item # 1720302909 --
currently at $50, didn't sell a short time ago for $107 and was relisted.
What does it mean? It means the buyer wants more than the market value of
the set than the last time the hammer fell. Is he misguided in his
valuation of the set? Probably. But, if he is patient long enough he will
undoubtedly discover a bigger fool than himself to sell the set to...
Short anecdote about collectibility: Many years ago I spent approx. $225 on
what was a rare and difficult to find illustrated edition of "Hamlet" --
it's only flaws were due to it having been rebound due to age, as a
consequence it was missing two endpaper designs and a cover decoration. Last
year I bought the same book online with the original cover and in FAR better
condition than my previous purchase for about $125. What does it mean? It
means that the internet has taken the mystique out of the collectible item
-- if you want it, you can probably find it on the internet. And probably
for a LOT LESS than what everyone thought it was worth before. The problem
was always putting the seller and buyer together -- and now the solution is
a commonplace appliance in most western homes: a web enabled computer.
What a great definition BTW:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mystique noun . An aura of heightened value, interest, or meaning
surrounding something, arising from attitudes and beliefs that impute
special power or mystery to it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Point being: there is no mystery about buying lego. It's just little
plastic bricks, folks! Don't be fooled into thinking it's anything more or
less than just that...sadly, there will always be the idiots around driving
up prices and speculative ardour around everything and anything.
Apparently, the TLC marketing dept. doesn't know the bottom when they have
reached it. This is it, people! A multi-national corporation bilking
children with empty collecible schemes for limited edition sets and masks in
all colors. They should be so proud of themselves...
Lastly, I am REALLY glad that Suz noticed these auctions and posted about
them. And Kerry has it 100% correct -- her post was hilarious and I assume
it was written tongue firmly planted in cheek.
-- Hop-Frog
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