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Old Newsletters: 28JUL99 - 14JUL99 - 30JUN99 - 16JUN99 - 12MAY99
Looney Tunes Newsletter 11-AUG-99
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| Hi Everyone, Christmas is definitely here. We received two catalogs with Christmas in them over the last week and several stores have already started putting small stuff out. It will be interesting to see how much LT stuff shows up in retail this year. WB seems to be trying to reverse their disastrous policy of trying to keep everything in their Studio Stores(How many people actually live close to one?). This led to very little actually showing up in regular stores last year but this summer has seen plenty of collectibles coming out and hopefully they will reverse that trend. Getting ready for Halloween... Richard & Gwen EMail: Daffyduck@www1.utech.net |
| 1. Seen in
Stores 2. Looney News 3. Collectors Corner 4. Our Site Updates 5. Other Site Updates 6. Submitting to the Newsletter |
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Pricing An Item Everyone likes to get a good bargain. Knowing how to gauge what an item is actually worth will let you have that feeling more often. There are several things that influence the value of an item. Condition, Collectiblity, Scarcity and Book Values are the largest factors. We will cover these one at a time in the paragraphs below. Most people use books to determine the starting price of an item. For us Looney Tunes collectors most of the time this isn't an option though. The best way to start is to look at similar items and get a rough estimate of where to start. Then use the information below to adjust that to where you feel comfortable. An items condition can vary greatly. For most collectors anything below Near Mint is unacceptable. This of course depends on the type of item though. A Moss Metal Bank from the 40's is going to be hard to find in great condition but most items from the 80's and 90's should be available still in the package. Having the original pacakge does add value to the item. This is especially true for boxes with nice graphics on them. Examine the item carefully and deduct value for any flaws and add value for the original package in great condition. For more information on condition see our article "Grading An Item". Collectiblity breaks down into how many people are interested in collecting it and the type of item. A Looney Tunes Frametray puzzle from the 70's will appeal to at least two groups: Looney Tunes and Puzzle collectors. A Ron Lee statue of Tweety & Sylvester will appeal to even more groups: Ron Lee, Figurine, Looney Tunes and Tweety & Sylvester collectors. The more groups that would be interested in the item the more collectible it will be. Obviously the more traditional collectible types will be more sought after. Like Cookie Jars, Salt & Pepper Sets, Puzzles, and Toys. Also how well the item is made should influence the price. A cheap Bugs Bunny water pistol with just a decal of him on the side should not be worth much. However a figural one would be worth more. More time was obviously spent on the design of the item and it will look nicer overall. This is probably the most judgemental factor because it really boils down to if it appeals to you. Scarcity is probably the least understood factor. Most people do not seem to realize that just about everything is mass produced. This means tens of thousands of the item were made or even hundreds of thousands in some cases-Even most limited editions are measured in the thousands. Time is the biggest factor for weeding out the numbers. Moms throw things out, toys wear out, fragile items break. So the older an item is usually the scarcer it is. Beware of limited editions too. Unless it is a numbered edition and the total number made is listed this term means very little. In todays market most collectibles are sold as limited editions when in fact the only limit on them is how many they can crank out in their time limit. So for scarcity add value for age and true limited editions but subtract it for items where the edition size is unknown. Book Value is a very controversial factor. The thing to be aware of is that most books are written by dealers. They definitely don't have your wallet in mind when pricing. The standard way of pricing is to average several auctions and get a mean value. There is a large flaw in this system. Most people who attend auctions are hard core collectors with plenty of money to spend. This makes the value very inflated in my opinion. Also the auctions tend to specialize on a type of item so they attract the big collectors in that particular field. A good example of this is an '89 Good Co. Tweety & Sylvester cookie jar. This is listed at $475 in a 1999 book that I bought. However I have NEVER seen one sell for this. In the four years that I have been watching auctions the highest price was only around $200-with the original box! Personally I use 50% of the book value as a starting value for most items. You may have to pay higher than this to get a special item but usually you can find it way cheaper than Book Value. The key thing to remember out of all of this is that YOU have the final word on what an item is worth. If you think it is overpriced don't be afraid to make a lower offer or walk away. With very few exceptions you can always find that item somewhere else-and you will be much happier when you do. |
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