Is AFA killing Star Wars collecting?

[bigbarada]

Look at this ridiculous nonsense:

Ebay item# 360009394165

What makes this guy think that an AFA grade suddenly makes his MOC Cloud Car Pilot worth $800?

I'm seeing it all over ebay now. You have to sift through 5 or 6 overpriced AFA carded vintage figures just to find one decent non-graded carded vintage figure.

I've been looking around for a MOC vintage AT-AT Driver, on an ESB card, and did a search on ebay this morning and I found:
2 AFA graded MOC auctions with BINs for $300 and $600 and one non-AFA figure with a BIN (Buy it Now) of $125.

AFA is a disease that, unless stopped now, is going to signal the death of action figure collecting.

[El Chuxter]

$800? Wow! What a bargain. This is a bargain for me.

[2-1B]

I never heard of that seller before.

Look at a cross listed item:
G.I. JOE ARAH 1984 CARDED STORM SHADOW AFA 90 PEACH

$5,999.99 - what a deal !

[Neuroleptic]

That's just insane. I know if you are buying an AFA figure that you are paying for assurance that it's not a forgery. But I think 850 or 5,000 dollars is just out right insane.

This nonsense is why I have started makeing my own cardbacks and restoring vintage figures. Granted, they aren't worth nearly as much as the real deal, but it's just as much fun trying to find the various peaces, working on the card back, and putting the whole shooting match together. Put em in a star case and they are just as pretty as the real thing, and I didn't pay an arm and a leg for them.

I do think eventualy people will stop selling AFA figures for outlandish summs of money because sellers will realize they can't get that kind of money for them.

At least I hope people arent stupid enough to buy them at those prices.

[Kidhuman]

AFA can go to hell.

[Slicker]

AFA can go to hell.

AMEN!!!!!!

[Exhaust Port]

I don't see what the big deal is with AFA. Honestly with those that have a sizable collection of rare or vintage figures I think AFA is a great idea. Should anything happen to your collection it would be hard to prove to your insurance company the actual condition of your lost figures even if you had them cataloged. AFA assigns a very specific grade/value to you item which makes it's value very specific. It's like all paperwork you get when buying any diamond now-a-days. Every flaw and error is marked down and it's given a very specific grade. Does it really change the intrinsic value of the diamond? No, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say. But the great thing is that you take that official report card to your insurance company and you are covered for a diamond of exactly equal value, not some "almost" replacement.

I would love to buy some vintage MOC figures if I should ever have gobs of extra money laying around. If I do I would most likely opt for a graded figure especially since the best opportunity to buy is online, which makes it impossible to judge a figure in person. That report card tells me exactly what I'm getting into and I don't run the risk of being duped by some sellers overestimation of the condition of his figure/card, not at these prices anyway.

So I don't think it's killing collecting. The key word there is collecting. Collecting, especially items that are now 30+ years old quickly becomes more expensive as the supply continues to decrease. I don't think AFA can be looked at being responsible for the explosion in price but the change in supply and demand are continuing to shift. Folks who grew up with the OT are now hitting a point in their lives when they have a lot more money than they ever have before which gives them the ability to buy into their childhood.

I'm not a big car person but the last few nights I've been watching the Barrett Jackson car auction. Sweet Jesus some of those cars go for a crap load of money. I remember being in high school when you could buy those classic muscle cars for next to nothing, now they are going for $50k-$100,000 in good condition. Wow. I think the driving factor is that the folks who grew up with them are in the peak years of their earning and the nostalgia bug leads them to buying these cars of their youth. Just like the figures, supply is forever decreasing and demand is increasing.

[decadentdave]

AFA=Action Figures Anonymous

[vader121]

I agree that AFA has it's place in collecting but these outlandish prices people are selling a carded Star Wars toy figure that originally sold for around $2.99 is completely insane.

I don't think there are many people in this world who have thousands of dollars to drop on one carded figure. I don't care how "rare" it is conceived to be.

I do collect carded figures and have amassed a decent collection of them but I myself would never pay more than $50 for a carded figure. I usually get mine in the $25-35 range. Granted I don't have too many "rare" carded figures but that's ok to me.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

I've noticed that with comic books also. Those graded issues have gigantic values, and I seldom see them being sold. That's the old it's-worth-X-amount-of-money, but it's really only worth what someone offers you for it.