On the "But, even in today's world, with literally 500 to 1,000 movie poster auctions starting at 99 cents every week at places like Emovieposter.com and MoviePosterBid.com...", know that you are behind the times!
We have been auctioning 2,000 or more items most weeks, and Rich does hundreds more, so you are off the mark on this stat. If I could find the right employees, I would have 7 days of auctions a week, all with different foci! Bruce On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 4:20 PM, James Richard <[email protected]>wrote: > Jeffery, > > I certainly feel the same way you do about the fact that everything I still > want is now priced out of my ability to buy. You're right, it sucks and it's > nowhere near as much fun as it used to be. But you seem to blame "The > Dealers" who are really not the cause of price increases over the decades. > The cause is the increased popularity of movie poster collecting. I've been > at it since 1965, when, if you knew where to dig around, you could find > 1-sheets of titles like EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, BREAKFAST AT > TIFFANY'S, WAR OF THE WORLDS, PSYCHO, THIS ISLAND EARTH for $10 or $20 > bucks... sometimes people would just give them to you for free! And those > were the *popular* titles. Saul Bass window cards? Most of the few people > who had any interest in movie posters back then would have asked "Who's Saul > Bass?" > > So, to me if feels like *any* price above $20 for a movie poster is > "artificially high". Does that mean dealers should continue to offer me > great posters for only $20 bucks just because I used to be able to buy them > for that price? You say dealers should "not be in retail"? Why not? That's > what "dealer" means. You seem to be confusing the term with "auctioneer", > but even auctioneers set their minimum bids with consideration to recent > sales results. They are supposed to get the best price they can for > something -- not work to sell it as cheap as possible. > > You seem to think that "dealers" are still picking up quality posters for > $25 but instead of selling them for a markup of only $75 they are now > greedily marking them up to $500 or more. Um, look, if you could just > privately e-mail me the address of this wholesale vintage poster warehouse > where the dealers go to pickup great old movie posters at super-cheap > prices, I would really appreciate it... > > A markup from $25 to $75 back in the good old days would still have meant > the dealer was making a 200% profit. So, if somehow that same dealer can > find a BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S today for, say, $700 (where?), then he could > mark it up to $2,100 and still only be getting the same 200% markup he used > to get back when in the days when you thought he was being "fair". > > Sadly, the world just doesn't stand still for us and inflation is a killer. > All the publicity about movie poster collecting over the past 45 years has > resulted in a whole lot more people buying posters -- that and the fact > that, while I always wanted to have old movie posters as a kid, many of > today's well-heeled buyers didn't get interested in them until much later in > life when nostalgia for the days of their youth started to hit them and they > went looking to buy some pieces of it with their fat wallets. That's how we > got from $75 bucks to $thousands of bucks over the last 30 years. > > But it didn't stop there. No, unfortunately, when really desirable posters > started consistently selling for those multi-thousand dollar price tags > (which only began happening on a regular basis, what, maybe 15 years ago?) > that's when you attract the notice of people who only "buy to invest" and > who really have very little interest in the poster as a poster. It's sad > when that happens, but there's no way to avoid it and you really can't blame > the dealers for selling posters at the price that someone is willing to pay. > > But, even in today's world, with literally 500 to 1,000 movie poster > auctions starting at 99 cents every week at places like Emovieposter.com and > MoviePosterBid.com you just can't argue that there is no place left where > there are low starting prices. Even Heritage puts fairly reasonable minimum > bids on a lot of their items. It is what happens to the prices once the > bidding starts that you really seem to be upset about. Me too. But that is, > in fact, the "fair market value" you say you want to get back to. The fair > market hasn't gone anywhere, it's just that people like you and I no longer > feel it's "fair" by our personal pricing standards. There's nothing to be > done about that except wait for the market to crash (but history tells us > that isn't likely where genuine collectibles like vintage posters are > concerned. The best we're likely to see is a slight overall pull back in > prices. In fact, I believe we already saw that at the beginning of this year > and it didn't last long). > > Answer this honestly: You suddenly find yourself in serious need of cash. > You have no choice but to sell some of your posters. You pick the 10 best > posters you have and put them up for auction. Are you going to start the > bidding at 99 cents and "trust the market" or are you going to set a minimum > bid that is closer to what you think they are worth? > > -- JR > > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > Send a message addressed to: > [email protected] > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > The author of this message is solely > responsible for its content. > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
