---- Original Message ----
From: brucehershen...@gmail.com
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Dealers, how are poster sales these days?
Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2010 09:02:36 -0500
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, <rixpost...@aol.com> 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,
brucehershen...@gmail.com 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
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--
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: lists...@listserv.american.edu
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