Kepler
Cornell Big Red
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Business, Economics, and Taxes: Capitalism. Yay? >=(
- Thread starter RaceBoarder
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Jimjamesak
Already insane, UAA making it worse
Magic: The Gathering laughs in LEGOs face for those prices.
Booster pack prices were about $3 for Alpha and Beta, a Beta Edition Volcanic Island is $5000 for a “Heavily Played” version, a later Revised Edition reprint is still about $700.
A sealed Revised Edition booster pack, just a pack of 15 cards that sold for ~$3, is $400.
Something newer? Innistrad was a set released 10 years. A box of 36 booster packs could be had for $100-150 or so. Today? $700.
And that’s just sealed product, prices on individual cards can be insane considering their initial cost.
Those Hot Wheel cars from about 1968 to about 1973 or so have maintained a pretty solid value, especially when you consider most of them were sold for less than $1 at the time.
Proud2baLaker
Master of Science
I used to collect MTG as well. But I have seen the the prices of that stuff fluctuate wildly and crash. It honestly would not surprise me to see additional crashes in the future.
My point wasn't that LEGO was the mostly costly thing, but that from what I have witnessed, it has consistently maintained or increased in price compared to other collectible things.
Handyman
Hug someone you care about...
Before I worked at the comic shop I worked at a collectible story a buddy ran. It was like 5-6 months from going under because they lost their shirt on Beanie Babies. MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh! were basically what kept it alive...even the sports collectibles couldn't sell. (I have like 3 Willie Mays signed balls at my parents cause they had like 30) They kept it open after the Beanie Crash as a tax shelter but they wanted out so we started selling stuff on Ebay and prepping for liquidation. They checked out so badly we did all the ordering, most of the selling and managed all of the tourneys held in the store. Since we were making minimum wage and they couldn't even be bothered to put a tape in the security system we robbed that place blind. My buddy and I bought enough stuff to cover our butts then started just taking what no one would buy in store and sold it. Funded almost a year of living on just that stuff. We had quite the system...they had no idea what they had nor did they care anymore. Another guy did that with the sports memorabilia, he even opened up his own store for a bit I think.
The best was in every box of Yu-Gi-Oh! there was one rare and one super rare card. My buddy had a super accurate scale and was able to weigh the packs and figure out which ones had the valuable cards. We would pay retail for that pack ($2.99 or something) and sell the card for $60 online. The rest of the box would get sold that day and no one knew what was happening. By the end we would order 6 boxes of every new set of MTG (which were harder to sell) and Yu-Gi-Oh! and 2 would sell right away, one we would take the super rare and sell off the rest and then after a busy day or week one would just go away. (to my buddy's apartment)
When they had final liquidation we cut a deal to buy the remaining stuff for a couple hundred bucks and turned around made well over $2000. We undercut most other sellers on combined shipping so people always overpaid for our stuff even internationally. (only the German mail was an issue)
The best was in every box of Yu-Gi-Oh! there was one rare and one super rare card. My buddy had a super accurate scale and was able to weigh the packs and figure out which ones had the valuable cards. We would pay retail for that pack ($2.99 or something) and sell the card for $60 online. The rest of the box would get sold that day and no one knew what was happening. By the end we would order 6 boxes of every new set of MTG (which were harder to sell) and Yu-Gi-Oh! and 2 would sell right away, one we would take the super rare and sell off the rest and then after a busy day or week one would just go away. (to my buddy's apartment)
When they had final liquidation we cut a deal to buy the remaining stuff for a couple hundred bucks and turned around made well over $2000. We undercut most other sellers on combined shipping so people always overpaid for our stuff even internationally. (only the German mail was an issue)
Jimjamesak
Already insane, UAA making it worse
When did this happen? I'm curious as to what sets and stuff you were selling off.
The weighing of the Yu-Gi-Oh stuff is definitely something I've heard before. MTG had a thing called box mapping where the machine that was supposed to distribute the rare cards into each pack randomly wasn't very random and instead used an algorithm. It took a few weeks but usually sets could be mapped out, then you opened a specific pack in a box, figured out where you were on the map, open the valuable rares and then sold off the rest of the packs. It's why you NEVER buy loose booster packs from older MTG sets, it's 99% likely they're from mapped boxes and have crap rares. It's also why MTG unboxing videos on YouTube typically have a mention of where they are starting from in the box, so it can used to help map the set.
Jimjamesak
Already insane, UAA making it worse
The only real MTG price crash was with the Chronicles set and they fixed that with the Reserve List. Prices may fluctuate with reprintings and playability but most cards have been steadily increasing in value for the last 10+ years as the player base has grown, especially stuff on the reserve list.
I mean the only exception would be stuff in standard but why the fuck would you be trying to collect standard stuff long term anyway?
Granted, the whole MTG finance world is a cesspool of shady dealers, insider trading, and hoarding so why the fuck would you want in it anyway?
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
Fuck
aparch
Well-known member
I'm throughly enjoying seeing I'm not the only one who sometimes questions the crap I collected as a youth. Haha. Now I want to take a week off, go home, and find all that crap and see if I can dump it. Minus the Lego, I'm hanging onto every one of them.
In different news, a small "family capital manager," was caught with his pants so far removed and so overextended that big financial firms have had to write off billions (with a B) in losses this past week.
Turns out, Morgan Stanley had insider knowledge the crash was coming, dumped five billion dollars worth of the crap shares, and bailed before other financial firms even knew what was happening. Oh, and the firms that bought what Morgan Stanley was selling? M.S. didn't disclose *any* of the information to the buyers.
In different news, a small "family capital manager," was caught with his pants so far removed and so overextended that big financial firms have had to write off billions (with a B) in losses this past week.
Turns out, Morgan Stanley had insider knowledge the crash was coming, dumped five billion dollars worth of the crap shares, and bailed before other financial firms even knew what was happening. Oh, and the firms that bought what Morgan Stanley was selling? M.S. didn't disclose *any* of the information to the buyers.
FadeToBlack&Gold
8647
Yesterday, United Airlines sent out a Tweet that they're targeting 50% of applicants accepted to their new pilot training academy to be female or minorities. Training to enter a profession that, at least in America, is 90% lily white & grunty male.
Predictably, said Tweet got ratioed hard by concerned white people who definitely aren't racist or misogynist because they "don't care what color they are or what's between their legs", but they just want the "most qualified" people at the controls.
Predictably, said Tweet got ratioed hard by concerned white people who definitely aren't racist or misogynist because they "don't care what color they are or what's between their legs", but they just want the "most qualified" people at the controls.
Handyman
Hug someone you care about...
Yeah you can tell all those "want only the best pilots" people didn't even read the tweet. The "lessers" these non-racists are worried about will be just as trained as the White People.
JimJamesak,
2006-2007. I cant remember some of the stuff that was there (we had MTG stuff that was decently old but we didnt have much of a MTG gaming base at our store) but I know if the owners had given a crap they could have made enough to keep the place open. We tried to convince them but they were determined. They had no idea of the value of stuff they had. For a while my buddy and I discussed trying to open our own version of the store in a bigger space since all the games would follow us but we never would have gotten a loan at that point.
French Rage
NICKERSON HAS [CENSORED]
Buying a house. I now see how the mortgage people nearly brought down Western civilization.
Jimjamesak
Already insane, UAA making it worse
Can't speak for the other games but it wouldn't have been an easy time for Magic at that point. 2006-2007 is the Time Spiral/Lorwyn era where the player base was pretty low and it wouldn't start expanding until 2009 with Zendikar and the Duels of the Planeswalkers game.
Those Time Spiral boxes would be worth a mint nowadays though.
St. Clown
Ideas Posted are Likely Not My Own
Were you approved for 2 or 3 million?
dxmnkd316
Lucia Apologist
YOu're smart enough to do the research, but for the love of god, get an inspection and listen to it.
LOL! I remember when WF approved me for something like $400k as a 26-year-old only a year or two after the Great Recession.
Handyman
Hug someone you care about...
We are doing a kitchen remodel on our home (which we bought about 100k market value...maybe more at this point prices around here are going up for lesser homes than ours) and we asked for a specific amount to cover the cost based on the equity we have in the home. WF was doing everything they could to try and get my GF (it is in her name) to take more money. I guarantee we could have taken out a loan for the full valuation of the home and THEN SOME if we asked to at a very low rate.
They just never learn...moral hazard my ass.
They just never learn...moral hazard my ass.
Kepler
Cornell Big Red
We bought our house for 20% of what we were approved for. Everybody at every step along the way was appalled. "Why wouldn't you get bigger?" "Because we don't want bigger." "B-b-b-but you can get... BIGGER!?!" It didn't compute. It's like the mindset which I specifically left the Island to get away from has engulfed the entire country now. Like big hair and vocal fry, that was a mistake for you hayseeds. You don't have to copy everything from the coasts.
St. Clown
Ideas Posted are Likely Not My Own
When my wife and I bought this house, we told our real estate agent that we had a hard cap. While we could afford much more, it just didn’t interest us. We told the mortgage broker that we wanted to keep it to as close to $100k as possible. We actually had to take out for $120k in order to avoid regulations regarding initiating fees being too high compared to the loan amount.
French Rage
NICKERSON HAS [CENSORED]
No we have the majority in down payment, only need a mortgage for part of it. But the Chase people have dropped the ball so many times during the closing period I'm not sure we'll finish on time, even though financially we could not be more of a sure thing. I'm glad we somehow have the dumbest people handling the most money, that seems smart.
Handyman
Hug someone you care about...
So we were looking all over the North Metro and prices were...decent. Saw a worse house than this about 2 blocks away from our current place (house was outdated by 20 years) which sold while we were there for like $280k. (been on the market less than a week) I laughed. Saw a sign for an open house at this place and walked in. Place just had a full front and back yard, 2.5 stall garage, new roof, new Anderson Windows, finished complete basement with 3/4 bath and upgraded electrical and appliances. (with some obvious DIY crap done as well which is awful but fine) It was $250k and had been on the market for MONTHS! Worth well more than that. The reason...renters next door which turned people off. GF and I loved it the second we walked in. Had her mom stop by (international banker, logistics professor and full on cheapskate) and within 1 minute said "I like it you need to buy it we will help". GF negotiated the price down to like $218k (waited a week to make them sweat) and we locked in a rate so low her broker's eyes bulged out of his head when we signed it. A year later a house across the street that had barely a front yard, little to no back yard, small garage, split level and so on sold for damned near 300k. Other places sold after ours sold for way more than ours and sold in days! (still do) Meanwhile the renters left (new renters now) and our place is just continuing to rise in value.
Even the losers get lucky sometimes :^)
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