Any consignor not happy with the prices quits consigning, so the number of unhappy consignors shrinks in no time at all. Yet we are constantly consigned *MORE AND MORE* with every passing month, and our existing consignors keep sending us more and more, and we keep getting more and more brand new consignors, so this is all very curious. Especially since the vast majority of the backers of this theory are solely those who run competing auctions (or who used to run competing auctions).
Are there many posters that sell for less now than they did a few years ago? Yes, of course, and many of the most obvious are the ones sold by Heritage and Christies during their boom years. Didn't *THOSE *buyers get "screwed" a lot more than the people who bought a poster from us for $50 a while ago and it now has auctioned for $15? I have had this argument with dealers for over 45 years, starting in 1968 when I was a major comic book dealer. The only "collectors" who moan and groan about some prices falling are "investor types". Those who collect for the love of the items are thrilled when prices go down, because their money goes so much further. And they know as I know that over time prices will have ups and downs, and if you buy more during dips you will end up with your money having gone far further than if you buy mostly when items are "hot". Of course, dealers always want prices to go endlessly higher. If the government would just start a "QE4" for movie posters, we would see that happen! On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 4:46 PM, Richard C Evans <[email protected]> wrote: > Yep, the very obvious part of this, which is old and dull, is that supply > now outstrips demand. > > The fact that the movie poster "Wal Mart" has a large section of the > market seems largely irrelevant to me. > > Still an overabundance of stuff that not a lot of people particularly > want, regardless of who's selling it. > > Unless the argument is that if other dealers, or online auctions had those > 3,000 odd pieces they'd handle it differently, and be careful to bring less > to market. > > But if it's a matter of selling half a dozen less of something a year > before the market is flooded, I'd have thought there's too big a problem. > And if you were being careful to limit the availability of all the $20-100 > material, all you'd have is a trickle of stuff you're not making enough > money on anyway. > > What would be interesting to know is what trend there is with material > within that range that's there's a loss of demand for. > > > On 1 Nov 2013, at 19:03, Richard Halegua Posters + Comic Art wrote: > > > At 04:29 AM 11/1/2013, Tommy Barr wrote: > >> I have noticed a trend in prices realised at online auctions recently, > and that is quite a substantial number of posters in the usual $20 - $100 > range selling at prices way below the average of the last couple of years. > Is this a sign of a falling market or a temporary aberration? > >> > >> Tommy Barr > > > > > > Tommy, the situation is very obvious. You have fleaBay with every dealer > in the world offering the same posters over & over again all at the same > time. Some of these dealers are smarter than others and see a diminishing > value on material that does not sell, and they lower their prices again and > again and again and again in an attempt to sell them. But it is a two-edged > sword because buyers see this and as the listed prices go down down down, > the collectors look at this and say to themselves "this poster was listed > at $200 and I was thinking of buying it. Then it was relisted at $125 and I > was still thinking. Then it was relisted again at $75 and I was still > thinking, but I was wondering what was happening. Then it was relisted at > $25 and though I knew it had to be a great price, I asled myself "why would > I want a poster that it seems nobody wants and probably has no investment > value? I guess I'm not interested anymore" > > > > that is one factor. > > > > Another factor is that one seller is selling approximately 3000 items > per week, where 60% of his sales the week of October 27-31 went for $14.00 > or less (that's about 1800 posters of 2844 listed) and less than 10% sold > at $100 or more. These numbers are fairly consistent from week to week. > Even worse, sometimes the same poster is listed (not the same copy) so > often in a compressed period of time (for instance, Fire Trap from 1935. > sold 8 times from 4/5/2012 to 2/17/2013) and rides the price down from > $100.00 on 4/5/12 to $24.00 on 2/17/13. This shows collectors how there > aren't enough buyers at a certain price level to support the Wal Marting of > sub-$100 posters, if there would be any support for even valuable posters > sold in such a compressed period of time. > > > > seriously, if a Forbidden Planet or DTESS one sheet came to market > starting at $1.00 12 times a year and selling with no reserve, even those > titles would see price deterioration, although it wouldn't be as serious as > a sub-$200 poster. > > > > Facts are that the movie poster hobby is small and the known population > of serious collectors (with serious being a word of subjective meaning) may > be 10,000 people, or if you mean "truly serious collector" it could be just > a couple thousand or even less. > > How many people out of 10,000 would have any interest in a Fire Trap > poster, no matter how cool it is? (there aren't even 10 apparently, as the > Fire Trap posters came from a small deal I found with a friend and we split > them, with he sending his to be sold on consignment to the other auction. > I've sold 3 copies and between both sales records (mine and his) I can tell > you there were not 10 buyers as one person bought multiple copies from both > myself and the other guy. Some posters will have greater interest and some > will have lesser interest, but the ready supply outstrips the number of > people wanting them, so the prices go down-down-down to reflect this simple > fact > > > > There are other factors of course - for instance, older films have a > deteriorating interest as the people who know them are dying off or as they > age, need less and less or just stop buying in anticipation of selling in > their Autumn days. So you'll have lessening interest and greater supply. > > > > Would prices go up on a large selection of material if so many posters > were not offered so frequently? Well of course they would because the > perception of availability or lack of availability would increase the > ability of people to sell them for a better price. > > > > A $20,000 poster may sell for $25,000 at auction on a certain day, and > that is $5000 and people say "wow, the buyer paid $5000 extra for that > poster. That's alot of money!" but it is only a 25% increase over it's > perceived value > > > > But when a $20.00 poster sells for $40.00, it's only $20.00 so it > doesn't bear the same remark, even though it's a 100% increase. > > > > some of these are complicated issues, others are very obvious > > > > one more note: can you imagine how a collector feels when someone keeps > offering the same poster over-and-over too frequently and it drives down > his "investment" from $100.00 to $24.00? How would anyone feel? When people > see a decrease of a few percentage points in their stock portfolio it is > often like getting hit by a bulldozer. What about when you lose 76% at the > same venue that you spent your money to begin with?? How low would the 11th > copy have gone for if the other seller had more? (there were only 20 copies > of Fire Trap. My remaining 7 copies are essentially warehoused, while the > other 1/2 are gone) > > > > some of it is poor stewardship by sellers. We ARE gatekeepers of a sort, > guarding the investment of our consignors, our buyers and ourselves. Some > people don't care however, so you have declining values.. and there is your > answer Tommy > > > > Rich > > > > 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. > -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 29 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. 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