13 replies to this topic

[stoneyface]

i am on vacation in dallas and i lost the bidding on this sweet item...

http://cgi.ebay.com/...e=STRK:MEDWX:IT

i personally love godbeast's stuff and he lives close too! damn. i hope you on LRG got it at least

peace

stoneyface

[sherrie]

Oh my, they only went for $20.50???? someone does not know the value of TGB's! I am so sorry you lost them stoney! I to, hope someone on the board got them.

[Nyarlathotep]

My condolences, I hear you. I was also going to try for those but screwed up the timing and it was all over. I'm betting if not for some bad luck for a few of us (or dopeyness for me) the winning bid would have been higher.

[TheOrgg]

Holy Shyit! THAT'S IT??!@

I'm stunned.

[jkaris]

I think it has more to do with niche items and eBay timing.

Just like Romandou's. I had no problem selling Romandohs at their YJP value on the store and the board, but throw one on eBay in an auction format and you'll be lucky to get shipping costs for it. BIN's seemed to work ok, though.

[THEGODBEAST]

Well someone got a STEAL! He did pay $10 per figure for those. The problem w/ Battlechaser's auction was that I think some of those figures were flawed (ones he wanted that were just laying around the studio in scrap containers) mixed w/ good ones.

Anyway, muscle customs are weird...Ebay doesn't seem to be a good way to re-sell them. I have also noticed that my BB/LB/GB customs sell for original prices or a good deal more IF collectors don't have to sell them in a pinch. When collectors have to liquidate their stuff and they sell my customs, they tend to think they won't get their original value and sell them for a good deal less. Big mistake. Artimus proved that point well. He sat on 3 LB customs and the 3 GB (which I think he still has). Finally a few months ago he sold the 3 LB and some of them went for almost 50% more than what he had paid for it. The other 2 went for 25-30% more! If Dark Eternal didn't jump the gun and cancel the same bidder's bids he would have sold his 3 GB for possibly 150% more than what he originally paid for them!!! Once he canceled the bidders bids and blocked him from bidding again, the canceled bids were for $500 each!!!

Patience is the key when selling my customs, not haste and slashing prices. Also, selling them in lots is just like selling anything in a lot. You get a way better deal.

Well, it would be kewl to see the lucky winner post that he/she scored and scored BIG!!! That was a $60 savings!!!

TGB

[Strontium Dog]

How is it that customs typically cost people $5+ to produce yet toy companies are able to bang out figures at a couple of cents a piece?

Is it just economies of scale , or is there more to it than that?

[jkaris]

How is it that customs typically cost people $5+ to produce yet toy companies are able to bang out figures at a couple of cents a piece?

Is it just economies of scale , or is there more to it than that?

Yep, bulk pricing on the materials and the cost of the equipment spread across millions of pieces. Plus uber cheap labor in 3rd world countries like China.

[THEGODBEAST]

How is it that customs typically cost people $5+ to produce yet toy companies are able to bang out figures at a couple of cents a piece?

Is it just economies of scale , or is there more to it than that?

Jkaris is correct. My molds cost so much in materials, so much in labor, then the casts cost so much in materials, so much in labor and to top it off, you are lucky to get 30-40 perfect castings to sell.

In China, you pay about $10,000 for a metal mold (depending on size/pieces/parts) that lasts forever and you can pound out as many toys as you can pay for. The plastic pellets I think are a lot cheaper, especially in China. So you sell quantity and some of the quality you get from a person doing it themselves is lost vs. a sweatshop pounding out tons and tons of them per day.

You are also restrained in China to having to pay off that huge overhead ($10,000 mold), which means color variants upon color variants (which is why the big toy companies love chase figures, variants, exclusives (usually paint jobs or plastic variations of the same figure)... Sure I make lots of color variants, but, they are super limited or OOAKs and I don't have to sell anywhere near as many to pay off the mold. Then I can go onto making a different mold. W/ China, you have to keep pounding out figures from that mold to pay it off and make a living/profit to even make it worth doing.

The thing about my stuff or any person who molds and casts, is that you are truly getting a very limited piece. Just think if a toy company made a popular toy and told collectors it was limited to 30 or 40 pieces...it would be $$$. Oh wait, isn't that what the vinyl toy scene is all about? Roto cast vinyl is even cheaper than pvc injection molded toys and those vinyl toy companies rake in the $$$ on their mold costs.

I am planning on having a new toy line of my own made in China. I have the financial investor and I have the support of another independent toy designer to get the molds made and place the orders once the molds are done. However, I am still just a little skeptical of whether or not I would sell enough to pay off the mold/investment costs and still squeak out a living so I could put my all into it. It is pretty scary, but, you never know if you don't try.

TGB

PS. Veers, I didn't know he won that latest auction. I know he won Battlechaser's though. Looks like he is hording my customs now...I don't blame him if he is getting them @ these ridiculously low prices. If I had the $, I would be bidding on these auctions too.

[stoneyface]

now yousee why i am sad:(

godbeast, love your stuff bro. i would be interested in your future project. sounds cool. hope to hear more

[gilgar]

They went for less than I thought too.

But I have to say, after having watched two TGB re-sale auctions it doesn't look like the MUSCLE figures hold their original sale price very well. With this auction Battlechaser wasn't able to sell them for ~$1 a piece and with this auction they sold for just for $1.46 a piece.

I don't think it's a reflection on the figures, but rather the seemingly personal nature of the sculpts and colors.

great, a reminder I was going to bid on that at the end and then got tied up and missed it. I im'd battlechaser after but never got a reply, c'est la vie