This gets out of control...

[Commander Adama]

Hello guys! I have time to make a new thead!

At the time, in 2002 I missed out on the Slave 1, I swore to myself as a young lad that I would buy that set one day or maybe just the figures. But no, the Jango Fett figure is so rare people sell for it alot of money, and it's just sick. I have quite a few 'rare' figures but I would not sell them for £100!

To be fair, the Jango figure has gone down in price( sort of) today I see one for £14. But then I look again and see one for £99. The prices of these figures are absurd. The Cloud City Boba fett can go over 200 quid!

And other figures can get expensive as well. When I was in my dark ages I missed alot of sets, and now it's almost impossible to get them.

I once went to a Carboot I brought 10 minifigures, just before I got there,I saw this lad around 14/15 he saw a Jango Fett figure, he says

"Look Mom, they have that Jango Fett, it's so rare!"

The sneaky woman on the till, heard this and belive it or not she bumped the price up!

This is so annoying!

Do you agree with these outrageous prices?

[fyrmedhatt]

These threads seem to appear with regular intervals, you might want to check the Millennium Falcon price thread as well. There is a simple reason for those prices: people are willing to pay them. It's a simple supply and demand problem, where there are lots of AFOLs like you and I who come out of their dark ages and we want to buy all the stuff we missed, but there are not very many people selling these items, so the sellers can demand high prices for the minifigs or sets or whatever else is coveted. I really don't see what the problem is, we have a functioning economy in this community where things are sold for market value, if they were priced lower than market value things would sell out in no time, and someone else would be able to sell the items at true market value. This cycle would be repeated indefinitely, it's simple economics.

We are lucky that Lego releases very few limited edition sets, so we don't see true scalping like in so many other collecting communities. The truth is that pretty much every product sold by Lego is sold in large quantities, so pretty much everyone has an opportunity to pick the item up when it is sold in stores. The problem with high prices occur on the rare occasion that a set is underrated and sold in small quantities during its regular production time, only to explode in popularity later, this is what happened to 10123 Cloud City. Or on some occasions there is a general large increase in the AFOL population, as is happening right now, so there are lots of new people trying to get all the sets they missed. Just look at membership here at Eurobricks, in the last year, membership has doubled, and many of the new members are willing to pay a lot for those sets they missed, thus the prices skyrocket.

Aftermarket supply is also a big problem, many people do not sell the sets or pieces they have bought, even if their kids outgrow the hobby. Things are just put in the attic for their grandkids to enjoy. This is likely the case with many Jango Fett figures, he came in a middle of the road set price wise, so a lot of people probably bought the set and own the figure, but very few people are selling, thus supply is limited and prices rise etc.

One reason for those cheaper jango fett minifigs is that people are using the parts from the Jango and C3PO pen set to create their own "countefeit" figures. These days I would not believe any price that is too good to be true as our community appears to be heavily targeted by scammers.

In conclusion, we can argue until we are green about what is "fair" or not, our market is guided by the simple law of supply and demand and will continue to be so whether we like it or not.

[Modulex Guy]

You can say the same thing for any hobby out there, if demand is high, and the product is rare, prices go up and there are always people willing to pay that price.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Well, we can complain about it, but what are we going to do about it? In all fairness, sellers do have the right to charge as they please on things they are selling. If people buy them, then it's them who accept those prices. Of course that it would be wonderful if we could all buy the old sets without having to pay that much, but that is simply not the case and we won't win anything by complaining about it.

That being said, I have paid around $70 for three minifigs I own ($70 for each): Jango Fett, Cloud City Boba Fett, and chrome C-3PO. To tell you the truth, I love these minifigures, and I think that, although I had to pay a high price for them, it is the price the market has, and so I'm very satisfied with my purchases and I love to take out these minifigs and see them whenever I want. It's just a matter of whether or not you are willing to pay the price. If you're not, then just don't buy them.

[Commander Adama]

Well, we can complain about it, but what are we going to do about it? In all fairness, sellers do have the right to charge as they please on things they are selling. If people buy them, then it's them who accept those prices. Of course that it would be wonderful if we could all buy the old sets without having to pay that much, but that is simply not the case and we won't win anything by complaining about it.

That being said, I have paid around $70 for three minifigs I own ($70 for each): Jango Fett, Cloud City Boba Fett, and chrome C-3PO. To tell you the truth, I love these minifigures, and I think that, although I had to pay a high price for them, it is the price the market has, and so I'm very satisfied with my purchases and I love to take out these minifigs and see them whenever I want. It's just a matter of whether or not you are willing to pay the price. If you're not, then just don't buy them.

I guess your right, although the prices are outrageous. It's not gonna stop unless of course LEGO release the sets again....