Insane ebay prices for Victorian sets

[Indianna]

Has anyone else noticed the absolutely crazy prices that some of the Victorian sets are going for on ebay?  Here are a few examples of currently active listings:

5407 Laundry

5321 Yellow Bedroom

5502 Pram

and some ended listings:

5400, 5402, 5506

5402 Pumpkin Cart

One expects to see high prices for the fence, car, truck, but these others are rather common sets in comparison.  What's going on here?   

p.s.  I am posting this in the General/News category rather than Shopping & Auctions because I see it as news rather than as a shopping opportunity.   

[Bill Blackhurst]

I don't know what all the hype about these particular sets is, but WOW  , there sure doesn't seem to be a financial crisis when it comes to Victorian times  !

[Gepetto]

I think for some items hard times make good hunting as people become pressed for cash and have to sell off items, but these prices do seem extreme.



Gepetto

[Amd]

yeah i don't know what to think either...

like a couple weeks ago a laundry set was $46 NIB look even better than this one... 

i think theres must be a dirty thing in the auctions... i remember a few months ago a guy selling Victorian boxes with the description "complete"  not even a NIB and his prices where too high... i try to sell a few extra boxes and a none reach his price and a couple didint reach half (even with my 100 positive)

i don't trust sellers like this ones... and i just keep myself out of the mess...

eBay is a wierd place, everything can happend, i couple weeks ago i get a bakery with box and instructions for 66, when i saw it a 300 a year ago... i get a beer keg yesterday for 28 and i remember once i paid 51...

[Bill Blackhurst]

I think for some items hard times make good hunting as people become pressed for cash and have to sell off items, but these prices do seem extreme.
Gepetto

I understand about selling off collections, but the bidders  , not the sellers have driven the prices for these sets out of reason! If you look at bid quantities, it seems almost unreal that many people would be willing to bid that high on what I consider not too rare of items, unless some shilling is involved  ! Oh well, who knows  ?

[kaethe]

it does seem a bit odd, especially as the first two items you listed were being sold by someone with only a single transaction history and that was for an unrelated fairly inexpensive item.  if you look at her items for sale, however, she has some rather nice pieces up, the trawler 3551 with a current high bid of $250 being one, is that a normal price for that item.  hopefully this is not a collector trying to gather some cash in our current economic slump, who will regret selling her pieces later.  being an eternal optimist, perhaps this is an indicator that playmobil is a better investment than some of our financial institutions!!
kaethe

[Martin Milner]

Odd prices indeed, but I don't think the seller is up to anything - there are still lots of very nice sets there with no bids and very reasonable prices (for now). They're going to be packing and posting in a few days.

It's wise to be wary with new sellers, but everybody has to be new once. The basic rule for all eBay bids still holds good - if it's not worth it to you personally, don't bid for it. Maybe a couple of people want these particular sets and there was a bidding war.

[Indianna]

Odd prices indeed, but I don't think the seller is up to anything - there are still lots of very nice sets there with no bids and very reasonable prices (for now). . .

I agree with you here Martin!  The seller seems to be OK, even though she is new.  In fact the seller genuinely seems rather modest in describing the sets and, based on what was said in the listing, seems to be doing some "spring cleaning" rather than selling off a valued collection.  I did a very cursory look at the bidders on some of these auctions and I did not see anything that looked like shill bidding as most of the bidders seem to have a decent amount of feedback (though I did not go so far as to check their feedback scores or comments.)  I find myself hoping that she makes a killing even though some of the prices seem high.  But that's what makes auctions so great and frustrating at the same time - there can be so much price variation over time. 

. . . being an eternal optimist, perhaps this is an indicator that playmobil is a better investment than some of our financial institutions!!

I think you're right about that, Kaethe!  I sold some excess stuff before Christmas and did very well - mostly duplicates and clearance table items that I had accumulated over the years - they definitely turned out to be a good investment!     In fact, given the current ebay interest, I need to get my act together and do some more listings!

[Sylvia]

Blimey! I wouldn't have expected to see those sets go so high, especially the one in the damaged box.

I feel like I'm sitting on a gold mine because I have all of the Victorian range, and almost all of it still in the original boxes.

I wouldn't want to part with any of it just yet, though.... still dreaming of the day when I will have the space to be able to set it all up together.

I have always thought of my Playmo collection as an investment, right from the very beginning. It helped me to justify the amount of money I spent on it over the years. 

[Martin Milner]

Blimey! I wouldn't have expected to see those sets go so high, especially the one in the damaged box.

I feel like I'm sitting on a gold mine because I have all of the Victorian range, and almost all of it still in the original boxes.

I wouldn't want to part with any of it just yet, though.... still dreaming of the day when I will have the space to be able to set it all up together.

I have always thought of my Playmo collection as an investment, right from the very beginning. It helped me to justify the amount of money I spent on it over the years. 

If I got any of these Victorian sets, I couldn't bear to leave them in their boxes.

Toys can be a great investment, especially if you keep them in mint condition. My dad has a vast collection of 1950s Dinky and Corgi toys, but not alas mint - most have been repainted to make them part of his own WW2 toy army, and they've all been played with extensively.

Nostalgia is a powerful motivator, and people will pay big money to re-live their childhood memories. It does make you wonder how anybody can bear to part with their own childhood toys, as we see happening every day , but I guess it's harder to be nostalgic aged 16 than 60. It's slightly surprising that Playmobil already commands big prices, but maybe we're seeing people in their 30s and 40s who have the spare cash to invest in a hobby.

I'm also dreaming of the day when I have enough room even to play properly with the stuff I have!