I'm not a dealler as such but I think it's safe to say they are depressed due
to recessions globally (No brainer) - Here in the UK were facing the worst
recession for over 100 years according to the Independant newspaper which is
admirable as far as newspapers go.
People will be buying though, just not as many, it may even be that people with
lots of disposable income are buying more.
Personally, I am on a hold from purchasing movie posters due to suffering 2 job
losses within 6 months - A new phase of experience for myself being in a job
for 14 years previously. I just need to save everything I have to pay for the
mortgage. I've even stopped smoking normal cigarettes and have moved onto roll
ups (and i don't mean the whacky stuff)
Times are rock bottom for some, have to keep your chin up though and plod on,
don't let it get you down if you are a fellow sufferer, 2 years time and we'll
be thinking what was all the fuss about.
If you are suffering as a dealer, you really need to contact me and get your
business added on The Movie Poster Forum, new members are signing up every day,
the forum also gets very high page impressions (And I mean Impressions, not
hits) - There is only one space left so act quickly, I can also put you on a
waiting list if the space fills.
Sorry, that didn't mean to turn into a sales pitch, you know me, I have a
tendancy to think of others before myself ;-)
Andy
www.movieposterforum.com
> Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:50:17 +0000
> From: evanzwei...@comcast.net
> Subject: Re: [MOPO] Are poster prices depressed?
> To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
>
> I think that if anyone had a database of posters and what they sold for over
> the last 15 years, someone could write some sort of analysis program that
> answered this question! Ok, so that was a smart ass answer. Sorry.
>
> I use your sales results database all of the time -- it kicks ass. And its
> very obvious that the posters that I personally have been looking at are down
> (way down). However that doesn't really mean that:
>
> 1) all posters in a particular price range are down (it may be just low
> end crappy 1940s and 1950s posters I tend to buy)
> 2) the prices are depressed because of the economy (as there seems to be
> a huge supply of posters being auctioned every week, perhaps way more than
> the market can sustain)
> 3) the pieces which are currently down are ever coming back up (I love
> the movie "Father Goose", but I don't expect it to sell for $100 again in my
> lifetime).
>
> The problem with using anecdotal evidence is that people only point to
> specific posters which support their claim. And, if you make a claim, people
> will point to some outlier which contridicts (the Librianna effect).
>
> The first challenge is to find a meaningful partitioning of the data which
> shows some meaningful demonstratable trend. For example, I would believe the
> statement "Non spectacular 1950s 1-sheets for A movies with top stars who
> were in their primes in the 1940s are down 50%". I would believe the
> statement that "Ugly posters from bad movies in the 1970s are worthless and
> should be discarded". However, I would not believe the statuement that "All
> 1970s posters are down 25%". Finding such a partition would have to be
> difficult (not to mention difficult to code).
>
> The second challenge is to find a way to analyze so little data. If all
> posters were in the same condition, and offered regularly the analysis would
> be easy. However, how do you compare sales of a G- poster (with free book)
> to a NM copy? I don't believe that there is a standard formula to predict
> the sale price based on condition (although Jon Warren thought there was one
> in 1986!). Even if there was some magic formula (e.g., VG = 75% NM), I doubt
> that it works across all decades.
>
> The third challenge is to agree on some reasonable definition of 'Value' so
> that we can compare results across different venues. Value has to be defined
> as what the seller will receive for the peice (not what the buyer will pay),
> as all of the venues charge differently for their services. For example if
> eMovieposter sells a poster for $15 (the seller get 40% or $6) and if HA.com
> sells it for $15 (a $1 bid plus $14 BP, the seller get $0.85) on eBay the
> number is somewhere in the middle. As a result, it makes little sense to use
> data from one of these sites which is outside that sites sweet spot! For
> eMovieposter its atlesast $50, for HA its at least $75. The issue here is
> that the overhead dominates the cost of the transaction and the value will
> not be correct.
>
> Let me know what you find!
>
> Evan
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bruce Hershenson" <brucehershen...@gmail.com>
> To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
> Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 7:44:24 AM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain
> Subject: [MOPO] Are poster prices depressed?
>
>
> I was talking to one of my consignors on the phone a couple of days ago, and
> he mentioned that he thought many prices were down in recent months.
>
> Of course, much of this can be attributed to the overall economy. Clearly
> some people are short on money, and others are just being cautious with their
> money. Also eBay has made such a mess of their listings that they are likely
> bringing far fewer new collectors into the hobby than they did in years past.
>
> I have been buying and selling collectibles for 44 years now, and EVERY time
> overall prices have been depressed (due to external reasons, like a poor
> economy, or a massive collection coming on the market), it has proven to be
> an excellent buying opportunity.
>
> I have been looking at WHO is buying the better quality items in my auctions,
> and who are the underbidders, and it seems like a lot of the most savvy and
> longest time collectors are doing a lot of buying (or trying to do a lot, but
> are getting outbid), and that would seem to say that they agree with me and
> are trying to find bargains while prices are somewhat depressed.
>
> I also notice that the prices of much lesser items (those that auction for $1
> to $20) are mostly extremely depressed. I attribute this to people being far
> more selective in what they buy, choosing to pass up items that are in lesser
> condition or of low desireability, even if they are dirt cheap (and they may
> be getting to spend the money they would have spent on better items instead).
>
> Anyway, I am betting that one more time this will prove to be a time when
> people look back and think "Why didn't I buy more when many decent items sold
> for reasonable prices".
>
> What do YOU think?
>
> Bruce Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
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