I do agree that the key to continued robust sales is adapting to changing times. Some dealers seem to be waiting for 1995 (or 2000 or 2005) prices to return again and price their inventory accordingly and their sales are anemic, and they may be waiting for decades more to start getting those prices.
I see it as a simple case of supply and demand. The Internet greatly increased the demand for many items, and but in many cases it has also increased the supply to greater than the increased demand, and that often net exerts downward pressure on prices. Here is a simple example. Growing up I read a series of children's sports books with a hero named Chip Hilton. I remembered them fondly, and in my 30s I tried to find them, and old book dealers wanted $30 each for them. There were around 12 books in the series, so that was too rich for my blood. Flash forward to 1998 and eBay, and I see them listed for $30 each, and they are selling well, along with all the other nostalgic crap that was being discovered daily by millions of new eBay users (I also saw crap movie posters and lobby cards selling for $30 to $50 each!). But the price for the Chip Hilton books was still too rich for my blood. But within a couple of years lots of book dealers with hundreds of thousands of books listed everything online, and, since these books had sold hundreds of thousands of copies each, it turned out there were still thousands of each out there, and the price started dropping like a rock, once everyone who had a yen to re-read these books had bought them and done so. Around 2005 I bought them all for around $2 each. I think that is the situation with commonly available posters and lobby cards. The supply outweighs the demand, and it is likely to remain that way for many years. Meanwhile, truly cool (and especially rare) posters continue to go into collections that are "black holes" and the numbers of truly great posters on the market keeps diminishing. Bruce On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 7:58 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Mostly down compared to a year ago, 3 years ago AND 5 years ago. When > you're a small dealer, the one thing that can save you is a nucleus (even if > it's relatively small) of returning buyers who purchase more than one > item...ideally 6 to 10 or so every time a series of auctions ends. Take > away that nucleus of faithful buyers and it's a bit scary out there... > > In a message dated 9/3/2010 5:30:08 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, > [email protected] writes: > > Michael said that MoPo was solely comprised of poster dealers, so I thought > I'd ask dealers the following: > > How are your sales vs, one year ago? > How about 3 years ago or 5 years ago? > If they have changed, why do you think that is? > > Bruce > > -- > Bruce Hershenson and the other 28 members of the eMoviePoster.com team > P.O. Box 874 > West Plains, MO 65775 > Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take > lunch) > our site <http://www.emovieposter.com/> > our auctions <http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html> > 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 28 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. Box 874 West Plains, MO 65775 Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take lunch) our site <http://www.emovieposter.com/> our auctions <http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html> 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.
