Why are Snow Serpents going for so much $$$?

[FireFox91]

I really have doubts that 1 person could really impact the price of Snow Serpents over the long run. Right now sure, he bids up all of them on eBay. But eventually he is going to stop and there are plenty more out there. Last I heard most GIJoe figures made in the 80s had runs in the hundreds of thousands if not over a million. Good luck getting the majority of that.

[navy viper]

they can be found incomplete for a fair amount of money ($1.65) but the shipping will be around $5.00 or so to get it here in about a month or so LOL

Gi Joe Action Force Figure Snow Serpant | eBay

[erichpersson]

Guys or Gals: I am the person you are speaking of. It never occurred to me that anyone would take such interests in my action or strategy or motivation. You will note no doubt that I make no effort to hide my identity, it is my actual name on both ebay and on this forum. A simple Google search will show that I am a casino executive. It is true that I have accumulated over 20,000 snow serpents. The precise number is 32,331 as of yesterday. 20,118 are complete. There were 800,000 produced. While it is true that individual sellers list snow serpents for retarded sums of money, trust me when I tell you I know exactly how much each one sells for in whatever form. The ten day running average for 85 snow serpents complete with file card is 28.84. Complete without the file card is 21.42. The price goes up and down, though it has largely flattened out. As of now I pay a max price of 35 for complete with file card and 30 without. That depends on the condition and auction demand. I buy through 12 different channels currently and have professional buyers looking for them as well. As long as I am winning 70% of eBay auctions my max price stays the same. If I win more than 70% I lower the price, and vice versa.

Now as to why. This is not a financial investment, but it is financial research. I have been collecting these figures for about three years now. I am measuring the effect a disruptive purchasor has on a closed market. That is a market that has a finite amount of a particular item. I in tend to continue to purchase until such time that I can not procure more than 50 in a given month. The applications of this are mainly for financial instruments.

For example non sophisticated sellers are currently listing the item for silly amounts like 99 complete. They will get no buyers obviously as there is no actual demand. They, like many others, see buy it now listing for $50...they never sell...they wrongly believe there is a buying frenzy out there... Meanwhile their action effectively removes one item from the economy system marketplace. That's to my benefit. Other interesting things occur as well. For example fraudulent bidders have bid me up with no intention of paying (and true to ebays word one persons account was disabled) I found that interesting as well. There are many more lessons to be applied that I won't bore you with (if you are still reading that is)

My end game: I collected gi joe as a child and I have a 2 year old boy that I have amassed a collection for. Hopefully he will enjoy them as I did. As for the huge amount of snow serpents, I will just dump them back in the market place using eBay and other marketplaces for what I assume will be a huge loss. But I can tell you from a personal level it has been money well spent. I have already learned alot.

What I would leave you withe is this: what may seem like a lot of money to some may seem like grains of Sands on the beach to others.

YO JOE!!! ARAH

Eric

[Super Sport]

Guys or Gals: I am the person you are speaking of. It never occurred to me that anyone would take such interests in may action or strategy or motivation. You will note no doubt that I make no effort to hide my identity, it is my actual name on both ebay and on this forum. A simple Google search will show that I am a casino executive. It is true that I have accumulated over 20,000 snow serpents. The precise number is 32,331 as of yesterday. 20,118 are complete. There were 800,000 produced. While it is true that individual sellers list snow serpents for retarded sums of money, trust me when I tell you I know exactly how much each one sells for in whatever form. The ten day running average for 85 snow serpents complete with file card is 28.84. Complete without the file card is 21.42. The price goes up and down, though it has largely flattened out. As of now I pay a max price of 35 for complete with file card and 30 without. That depends on the condition and auction demand. I buy through 12 different channels currently and have professional buyers looking for them as well. As long as I am winning 70% of eBay auctions my max price stays the same. If I win more than 70% I lower the price, and vice versa.

Now as to why. This is not a financial investment, but it is financial research. I have been collecting these figures for about three years now. I am measuring the effect a disruptive purchasor has on a closed market. That is a market that has a finite amount of a particular item. I it end to continue to purchase until such time that I can not procure more than 50 in a given month. The applications of this are mainly for financial instruments.

For example no sophisticated sellers are currently listing the item for silly amounts like 99 complete. They will get no buyers obviously as there is no actual demand. Meanwhile their action effectively removes one item from the economy system marketplace. That's to my benefit. Other interesting things occur as well. For example fraudulent bidders have bid me up with no intention of paying (and true to ebays word one persons account was disabled) I found that interesting as well. There are many more lessons to be applied that I won't bore you with (if you are still reading that is)

My end game: I collected gi joe as a child and I have a 2 year old boy that I have amassed a collection fr. Hopefully he will enjoy them as I did. As for the huge amount of snow serpents, I will just dump them back in the market place using eBay and other marketplaces for what I assume will be a huge loss. But I can tell you from a personal level it has been money well spent. I have already learned alot...

Fascinating. I have one suggestion - If you would apply this method of financial research to the 50TH Anniversary Blowtorch figure, it would be greatly appreciated. I have a boatload of them, and I want those Ronald McDonald lookin' S.O.B.s out of my house.

...What I would leave you withe is this: what may seem like a lot of money to some may seem like grains of Sands on the beach to others...

Classy.

[scrapiron]

Guys or Gals: I am the person you are speaking of. It never occurred to me that anyone would take such interests in may action or strategy or motivation. You will note no doubt that I make no effort to hide my identity, it is my actual name on both ebay and on this forum. A simple Google search will show that I am a casino executive. It is true that I have accumulated over 20,000 snow serpents. The precise number is 32,331 as of yesterday. 20,118 are complete. There were 800,000 produced. While it is true that individual sellers list snow serpents for retarded sums of money, trust me when I tell you I know exactly how much each one sells for in whatever form. The ten day running average for 85 snow serpents complete with file card is 28.84. Complete without the file card is 21.42. The price goes up and down, though it has largely flattened out. As of now I pay a max price of 35 for complete with file card and 30 without. That depends on the condition and auction demand. I buy through 12 different channels currently and have professional buyers looking for them as well. As long as I am winning 70% of eBay auctions my max price stays the same. If I win more than 70% I lower the price, and vice versa.

Now as to why. This is not a financial investment, but it is financial research. I have been collecting these figures for about three years now. I am measuring the effect a disruptive purchasor has on a closed market. That is a market that has a finite amount of a particular item. I it end to continue to purchase until such time that I can not procure more than 50 in a given month. The applications of this are mainly for financial instruments.

For example no sophisticated sellers are currently listing the item for silly amounts like 99 complete. They will get no buyers obviously as there is no actual demand. Meanwhile their action effectively removes one item from the economy system marketplace. That's to my benefit. Other interesting things occur as well. For example fraudulent bidders have bid me up with no intention of paying (and true to ebays word one persons account was disabled) I found that interesting as well. There are many more lessons to be applied that I won't bore you with (if you are still reading that is)

My end game: I collected gi joe as a child and I have a 2 year old boy that I have amassed a collection fr. Hopefully he will enjoy them as I did. As for the huge amount of snow serpents, I will just dump them back in the market place using eBay and other marketplaces for what I assume will be a huge loss. But I can tell you from a personal level it has been money well spent. I have already learned alot.

What I would leave you withe is this: what may seem like a lot of money to some may seem like grains of Sands on the beach to others.

YO JOE!!! ARAH

Eric

I find it insulting that you would suggest that the kind of money you are ending is a pittance to you. Most people work hard for their money, and as a collector, $30.00 is a lot to me. I hope your wealth never dries up, as you would probably find those precious "grains of sand on the beach" more important than you thought. Keep this in mind: Everyone is subject to Fortune's fickle wheel; you go up and you come down. The attitude of elites like you is why a war of the classes is inevitable. Maybe your army of Snow Serpents will come in handy after all!

[erichpersson]

Perhaps if you didn't find inspiration in the words of Al Bundy you would be more successful in life.

The purpose of the comment that you take offense to isn't to boost myself up. It's to address those who hoped to somehow participate and benefit from the price fluctuation in snow serpents the last few years. When I liquidate these guys some people without the means may get left holding the bag so to speak. And that would be unfortunate.

[Super Sport]

Hey bro - don't start dissing Al Bundy. He's my Oprah Winfrey.

[scrapiron]

Perhaps if you didn't find inspiration in the words of Al Bundy you would be more successful in life.

The purpose of the comment that you take offense to isn't to boost myself up. It's to address those who hoped to somehow participate and benefit from the price fluctuation in snow serpents the last few years. When I liquidate these guys some people without the means may get left holding the bag so to speak. And that would be unfortunate.

You know, I usually follow the mantra "Never argue with an idiot," but in your case I'll make an exception. Taking pot-shots at someone for using a humourous quote is actually a low-brow thing to do in itself. Secondly, I am actually quite successful in life - Thanks for asking. As an educator, I inspire inner-city youth to reach their potential despite their circumstances. As a well-to-do casino exec, which I highly doubt you are, you have been successful in....????? Helping run an organization that legally steals from others, even when they only have a few "grains of sand" left in their pockets??? Running an "experiment" to enrich yourself and/or your organization by wasting time collecting 30,000 + action figures and using economic vocabulary to make it sound like some sort of a legitimate game-theory-esque thesis to add to the lexicon of economic theory along the lines of true geniuses like Keynes or Galbraith!?! Your elite attitude and dismissal of me, and the rest of the collectors like me, as some sort of residue to be scraped off your shoe is really sad. I hope you don't raise your children with the same attitude. How sad.

I know you'll probably be salivating to respond, and you're welcome to do so, but good luck, since all aspects of my argument give me the moral high ground, and yours give you..........an unattractive sheen at BEST. I hope others pop in and give you a well-deserved piece of their minds, considering how many of us you've insulted.

I'm done with you now. You should go. I think I just heard someone crying..........Oh, it was a gambling addict who just had his last five dollars taken legally. I guess that means you can buy Snow Serpent number 30,355.

By the way, do I sound low-brow or unsuccessful? I can't count the errors in spelling, syntax, or grammar that are strewn throughout your posts.

[erichpersson]

Actually you sound like a whiny little bitch who feebly attempts to take the moral high ground while typing anonymous insults through the yojoe.com forum!

You criticize my spelling, my career, you call my a liar and you really think you've taken the moral high ground? Frankly, your posts are filled with child like anger. You should carefully reread your posts. You've never met me, and Ive had many many enquires from people trying to understand what I'm doing.

The purpose of my post was and is twofold: 1. To help people understand what my goal is. It's not to appear smart. In fact, I openly admit this isn't a sound investment strategy and 2. To discourage others from making the mistake to buy into this closed market thinking they are making a sound investment.

Now, enough with the chat, why dont you go sit on the couch with your hand down your pants like your hero Al Bundy!

[scrapiron]

Actually you sound like a whiny little bitch who feebly attempts to take the moral high ground while typing anonymous insults through the yojoe.com forum!

Go sit on the couch with your hand down your pants like your hero Al Bundy!

Ah, I love that your response reinforces everything I just said! Anonymous.........says Eric "Something" from "Somewhere-city", "Somewhere-state", U.S.A.? 90210? Are you even formally educated? Is that the most insightful, articulate response you can give? What was it I was saying about you having NO way to respond because my argument was so sound? Ha!!!

Your aggressive, abusive, ANONYMOUS, obscene response is indicative of the mind behind it, and whatever mind collects 33,000 figures. Personally, I'd be willing to net that there's more likely childhood trauma behind the hoarding than executive experimentation.

I'll leave you to you your super-Snow Serpent orgy/experiment. Why not 30,000 Zaranas instead?

OK, now I'm REALLY done with you.