Is it better...

coldascrystal · Post by **coldascrystal** » Sat Aug 06, 2011 1:13 pm

when selling if you have all the pieces of a combiner (including accessories) except a single robot is it better to buy that robot or sell what you have?

Optimus Maximus · Post by **Optimus Maximus** » Sat Aug 06, 2011 2:36 pm

Which combiner are you speaking of? It may bring you more if you can find the last figure cheap.

Roadbuster · Post by **Roadbuster** » Sat Aug 06, 2011 5:16 pm

Optimus Maximus wrote:It may bring you more if you can find the last figure cheap.

Especially if it's the combiner leader!

Yeah, which combiner do you have and what figure are you missing?

coldascrystal · Post by **coldascrystal** » Sat Aug 06, 2011 7:11 pm

well i went out this morning and found a treasure trove of bots in a garage sale. in is was an almost complete monstructor minus one of the limbs all guns, backs, feet fists head. all the other stuff i should get $500 for. i see a complete monstructor went for $290.

Optimus Maximus · Post by **Optimus Maximus** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:02 am

oh so youre one of those guys.

DAMN SCALPERS!!!

coldascrystal · Post by **coldascrystal** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 12:39 pm

yes and no. have had a love of bots since i was a kid. but lost my job and unemployment doesn't pay all my bills. trust me i would LOVE to keep them but i have a choice between selling or eating. Didn't know that it was frowned upon in the forum. But trust me i can hang with any of you on g1 Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Gobots, Mask, Mighty Orbots, Turbo Teen and many others knowlege.

LD2062 · Post by **LD2062** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 1:14 pm

oh so youre one of those guys. DAMN SCALPERS!!!

Thats kind of an amusing comment to make on a transformers store forum. And a bit unfair too. Scalpers are people who run up to the store and buy all the ones available so you have to pay more than the normal price to get one. Finding one at a garage sale and reselling it is not the same thing at all.

Besides there is practically no chance any of us might have stumbled across the garage sale. So by selling it online now we all have a chance to buy it if we want it. besides you never can tell what will happen with stuff a garage sale. A lot of people throw away whatever doesn't sell. Or maybe some kid ends up with it. $500 vintage figure now a chew toy for a week before they lose all the parts.

Selling transformers saved me too after I lost my job. And practically speaking I can tell you although dealers may reduce your chances of finding a super deal we really don't prevent you from getting good deals. After all we have buy it at a price that cheap enough for us to resell and still make money after paying all the fees.

well i went out this morning and found a treasure trove of bots in a garage sale. in is was an almost complete monstructor minus one of the limbs all guns, backs, feet fists head. all the other stuff i should get $500 for. i see a complete monstructor went for $290.

You make more money splitting it up and selling everything separately. But that takes more time and entails more fees. And guaranteed some things are not hard to find. So they might sit a long time if they sell at all. When I have a combiner that close to complete I usually try to complete it. The cost of the missing stuff tends to wipe out the extra value a complete set has. But I find it sells better/faster complete.

Auctions are always a gamble. For me a usually a losing one. The only upside to them is it usually means a quick sale. But I prefer buy now. I get a much better value. But some stuff sits for EVER. I had a couple things up for more than 18 months. But once you have a few hundred things listed its not so important that stuff sell fast.

coldascrystal · Post by **coldascrystal** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 5:40 pm

thanks for the info i am going to get the last piece because of what u said and a few other factors..I need to research the price a bit more and its the slow season. The 290 price was a bid and in my history with eBay bids are usually bargain basement prices. Unfortunatly i cant find much on the right prices for them i have seen where they can sell for as much as $500.

Still buzzing on the buy though can't believe it. in the box i got:

A complete powermasters optimus prime

a bumblebee pretender shell with both guns

a pretenders pincher missing the large gun

32 micromasters

4 micromaster base playsets complete: hothouse, airwave, greasepit, ironworks

Targetmaster guns: haywire, hair plitter and zig zag

powermaster engine: getaway

a broken main body of omega supreme

ultra magnus's cab trailer and clips (cabs in really bad shape though)

action masters: soundwave(complete) starscream, Jazz (complete w/ a leg broken off) grimlock (complete) prowl (with gun)

astrotrains rifle, tracks gun, strangleholds gun

and 3 huge star trek light up statues with bases of 1701,1701-d and 1701-e

and the 99% complete monstructor

the whole box cost me $20

Roadbuster · Post by **Roadbuster** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:26 pm

Damn! You got ALL of that for $20!!!

Enjoy making a hell of a profit. Garage sales are fun! I remember the last box full of G1's I scored for $25 but it was nowhere near the haul you raked in. Congrats!

coldascrystal · Post by **coldascrystal** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 10:39 pm

bought the last piece for $17.00 shipped, icepick, so in a few days i will actually have the 2nd most expensive transformer. Part of me doesn't want to let it go cause i know i will probably never even see it again.

Optimus Maximus · Post by **Optimus Maximus** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:55 am

LD2062 wrote:
oh so youre one of those guys. DAMN SCALPERS!!!
Thats kind of an amusing comment to make on a transformers store forum. And a bit unfair too. Scalpers are people who run up to the store and buy all the ones available so you have to pay more than the normal price to get one. Finding one at a garage sale and reselling it is not the same thing at all.

Besides there is practically no chance any of us might have stumbled across the garage sale. So by selling it online now we all have a chance to buy it if we want it. besides you never can tell what will happen with stuff a garage sale. A lot of people throw away whatever doesn't sell. Or maybe some kid ends up with it. $500 vintage figure now a chew toy for a week before they lose all the parts.

Selling transformers saved me too after I lost my job. And practically speaking I can tell you although dealers may reduce your chances of finding a super deal we really don't prevent you from getting good deals. After all we have buy it at a price that cheap enough for us to resell and still make money after paying all the fees.

well i went out this morning and found a treasure trove of bots in a garage sale. in is was an almost complete monstructor minus one of the limbs all guns, backs, feet fists head. all the other stuff i should get $500 for. i see a complete monstructor went for $290.
You make more money splitting it up and selling everything separately. But that takes more time and entails more fees. And guaranteed some things are not hard to find. So they might sit a long time if they sell at all. When I have a combiner that close to complete I usually try to complete it. The cost of the missing stuff tends to wipe out the extra value a complete set has. But I find it sells better/faster complete.

Auctions are always a gamble. For me a usually a losing one. The only upside to them is it usually means a quick sale. But I prefer buy now. I get a much better value. But some stuff sits for EVER. I had a couple things up for more than 18 months. But once you have a few hundred things listed its not so important that stuff sell fast.

Ok Im all for making a little profit but if he got the whole box for 25 bucks there is no need to sell them at full going price. Be happy that you can make some money off it and someone else is getting a good deal. I mean damn I can understand people that dont collect doing this, but a fellow collector I would think knows better. But thats just my opinion, maybe I was a little harsh on the guy.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 6:50 am

I had a complete monstructor and sold it to a friend for 100 bucks

dont think it was so sort after when I sold it and I kinda just didnt like it

Optimus Maximus · Post by **Optimus Maximus** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:51 am

100 bucks for Monstructor, now thats playing fair and treating your fellow collectors with respect. You can make some profit, but you dont need to rape your fellow collectors.

Nice thing you did there Cliffjumper. Thanks.

Good to know everyones not out for themselves.

LD2062 · Post by **LD2062** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:45 am

Ok Im all for making a little profit but if he got the whole box for 25 bucks there is no need to sell them at full going price. Be happy that you can make some money off it and someone else is getting a good deal. I mean damn I can understand people that dont collect doing this, but a fellow collector I would think knows better. But thats just my opinion, maybe I was a little harsh on the guy.

I understand your point I really do. But its a different deal when you are trying to pay your bills than it is when you are just doing some hobby trading. And selling stuff on ebay is not like a normally job. You don't get paid for your time and effort. Finding a deal like that might actually be a once in a lifetime thing. I go to hundreds or thousands of garage sales and not even 1% of them even have that many transformers for sale. And I have yet to find one that had that many vintage, that complete, for those prices.

Deals like that are how you get by on the majority of days when you find nothing to resale, or when no buys anything.

coldascrystal · Post by **coldascrystal** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:46 am

so does that mean i can get your RID ultra-magnus and optimus prime for $30 total if i promise to not resell?
(omega prime was one of my own pieces i hated to let go when i lost my job) Don't see how you equate selling something at fair market value "rape" or "taking advantage of." what i paid for them doesn't change their worth and if anything i might go back to where i bought them and give them a couple hundred after i sell everything, but i wont because they are moving to Dallas (the guy just got a $100,000 a year job fresh out of college) and yesterday i literally had to choose whether to spend my last $2 washing my clothes or buying something to eat

Countdown · Post by **Countdown** » Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:23 pm

I think you got a steal.

If you decide to keep it, great. It's worth displaying.

If you decide to sell it, great. I'd get the most I could sell it for. (Friends excluded - meaning I'd cut a friend a deal).

Either way - Congrats!

Optimus Maximus · Post by **Optimus Maximus** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:11 am

coldascrystal wrote:so does that mean i can get your RID ultra-magnus and optimus prime for $30 total if i promise to not resell?
(omega prime was one of my own pieces i hated to let go when i lost my job) Don't see how you equate selling something at fair market value "rape" or "taking advantage of." what i paid for them doesn't change their worth and if anything i might go back to where i bought them and give them a couple hundred after i sell everything, but i wont because they are moving to Dallas (the guy just got a $100,000 a year job fresh out of college) and yesterday i literally had to choose whether to spend my last $2 washing my clothes or buying something to eat

Like I said maybe I was a little harsh on you. If so my fault. And as for the RID set, if you want it take it off my hands please. 30 bucks sounds like a good deal to me.

coldascrystal · Post by **coldascrystal** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:11 am

some of the items i haven't identified yet above

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Post by **Minerva** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:57 pm

That's a pretty nice lot you've got there!

As for the unknown items:

The purple gun belongs to GI Joe Snow Serpent (v2) (1991)
The gray gun below is a weapon for MOTU Roboto.
The gray sword to the right of Roboto's weapon is from the MOTU weapons pack.
The gray shield/armor plate to the left of those weapons looks like one of the armor plates for Dino Riders Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The brown spear in the bottom left looks like a Lego spear.

coldascrystal · Post by **coldascrystal** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:57 pm

dang ur good lol