You can get your NM VHS tapes slabbed now:

http://cgagrading.com/videogamegrader/default.aspx

Every time you think things can't get any dumber with this grading of anything deemed "collectible", it does.

So what they want by saying "factory sealed (with watermark or security seal) VHS tapes", is sealed, unopened, unused VHS tapes. They will then grade the boxes, because the tapes are untouched, and put them in a bigger clear, slabbed box with their grade.

However there is also mention of loose grading of presumably opened and used VHS tapes, but they only seem to be accepting certain titles. I wonder if they are checking if they still play well, or if the rewinder did them in? Let's hope they can find a VHS player.

Show of hands, would you pay $2,520 for a graded 1984 GI Joe Firefly VHS? Somebody did according to the website and I wish them the best.

I still do have a few VHS tapes, but the player is disconnected, and I forgot how to hook it up. I don't expect to be grading them.

Yeah, well, there are serious G.I. Joe collectors out there. What do you do when you have all the figures going back to the 70's and all the accessories and playsets (White Tiger Hunt, Shark's Surprise - fun stuff)? Then, you hear there are hard to find G.I. Joe cartoons on VHS that maybe didn't get transferred to DVD. Suddenly, you have a want list again and something to ask your old contacts about.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
Show of hands, would you pay $2,520 for a graded 1984 GI Joe Firefly VHS? Somebody did according to the website and I wish them the best.

I still do have a few VHS tapes, but the player is disconnected, and I forgot how to hook it up. I don't expect to be grading them.

I did find a book of entertainment themed gift cards (about 200 of em) in my collection. I guess I collect those too.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Yeah, well, there are serious G.I. Joe collectors out there. What do you do when you have all the figures going back to the 70's and all the accessories and playsets (White Tiger Hunt, Shark's Surprise - fun stuff)? Then, you hear there are hard to find G.I. Joe cartoons on VHS that maybe didn't get transferred to DVD. Suddenly, you have a want list again and something to ask your old contacts about.

Hey Jess,

Yeah I could see that as far as picking up something you can never use just because it fits into your title. But if the tape is shrink wrapped, sealed and unused, does someone need it slabbed and graded too?

At some point enough should be enough. I think things sometimes go too far in the various collectibles markets, not just in cards, because collectors are resigned to say "buy whatever you like", when sometimes the response should be, "Dude, you're wasting your money".

Hey Raven,

My brother wanted to have a garage sale yesterday even though it had just rained overnight. He made only enough to buy lunch on Monday but we had an interesting conversation with an experienced collector/seller who stopped by. He and his brother buy and sell high quality records mostly, and like you said, he's interested in only particular stuff. He noted that Beatles stuff still sells but slower than it used to. Pink Floyd still moves pretty good but Led Zeppelin not so much - not even the rare imports. I told him I watch "Jeopardy" and there was a question last year (a rock group photo) which none of the contestants could identify - not even a guess: a publicity shot of Led Zeppelin around 1970.

He added that punk albums from the late 70's and early 80's are good sellers because they were done in small runs. I told him I rescued some punk albums from a dumpster a friend had rented before he moved. The collector/seller said he has dumpster-dived before too. People just junk boxes of stuff without going through it when they're getting a recently-deceased relative's house ready for sale. The guy recalled being on one end of a dumpster and a woman was on the other end. She found a bag full of quarters and some saleable stuff and he pulled out a bag of silver coins and some other stuff.

He gave us a quick overview of the estate sales world these days. The people who run them tend to cherry-pick them before anybody on the street shows up. You can still find some good stuff, items outside the expertise of whoever is running one but it's tough. He still checks them out but seems to like hitting garage sales and flea markets.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I can't believe people who just throw albums or books away. They could take them to used bookstores and record stores (sometimes the same store) and trade in for something they want. It's just easier to toss them in the dumpster. My friend threw out albums, books, and 60's opera/play programs (his dad used to have a radio show, talking about music). Jess

It's not that easy to find people who are willing to pay for vinyl records or books, even if its just a couple of bucks. Going to a business is even worse. Found that out when I was sorting through decades of stuff in the garage.

I have a record store by me and I brought in boxes of 45s and maybe 30 albums. I would say that they were late 70s up to when cassettes took over, well known groups and artists. The owner only wanted a few albums and 45s. He said that people don't ask for 45s and only certain albums move. I get that, but he just passed on some great music and did not care. I think its just a matter of changing taste. People of the same generation have this stuff if they wanted it and younger people are into funk and rap. Didn't have any of that.

Anyway I got like $15, which was not worth me dragging the stuff over there and I'm not doing it again. Selling used books? No one is even reading books when you hear them. You can put books out for free with no takers.

I wound up giving a lot of good things away to my friends and neighbors and dumping the rest. I hope it brings me good Karma because it sure didn't bring me anything else.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

Boy this thread has been sitting idle for quite a while. Yes, garage sales, flea markets, and Estate sales are all disappointing for the average collector that just loves to look through a pile of anything. I'm like that, but it hardly pays anymore to try. It's a combination of bad outcomes.

First, you can't find many good places to look. Once Covid hit, all those church meets, flea markets, hobby shows, and street fairs stopped overnight. Most of them still haven't come back. Thrift stores closed because no one wanted to buy used stuff. Nobody wanted strangers in their house, so nobody was publicly advertising. It was easier for people to just throw their stuff away since no one they knew wanted to pay for anything. Free was the only price that moved, and it still is.

Second, most stuff that people put up for sale should be thrown away. Trying to find something good at a garage sale is tough. You hear about the Ming vase or the Austin First Edition, but I know I'm not running across them. Everybody is Googling everything and they know the worth. Unless its enough for an actual auction consignment, they might not find any demand anyway.

Third, people who have money already own everything they need, which is why they are so keen about collecting things they don't need. People who don't have money may need quite a lot, but they can't pay for any of it, which is why they don't have it.

In addition to getting practically nothing for those vinyls I sold to a record store back before Covid, I had to update my furniture last year. Among some well-worn stuff that I didn't care about and threw out, which were promptly carried off by scavengers, I had three bigger pieces of some vintage value. I knew it, but so what. I couldn't find an antique dealer or thrift store that was interested. The antique dealers had similar items already and the thrift dealers said that younger buyers went for modern or smaller things and expensive pieces were not in demand for their regular customers.

I finally gave the vintage furniture away to an acquaintance who at least saved me the carting fees. Did he make any money off it? I have no idea and I don't want to know.

We all should love and value our possessions, they are a reflection of who we are. Just don't think that other people will find value in our stuff and don't fall for someone else's incessant sales pitch of future accumulating wealth.

By the way, the only thing that makes for pretty decent easy money is metal, gold and silver, because that is literally worth its weight.

Jewelry with diamonds and other precious stones are subjective to what buyers you can find for the size, cuts, clarity, inclusions and the current fashion threads. It's hard to get actual worth or even to know what it should be worth.

And all those good massive china sets that every bride had to have, nobody wants them anymore, not even brides.

You're right about younger buyers not wanting old stuff. Furniture from George Washington's time has actually dropped in value. You see it all the time on "Antiques Roadshow."

Some art still increases in value even people I've never heard of - not that I'm knowledgeable about it - so some young people are buying that.

I'd have to disagree about people googling everything. I've noticed too many instances of people too lazy to do their own research. They want someone to tell them what they have or they assume they have something rarer than what they have based on little-no evidence and then they lash out at anyone who points out why they don't have the rarer thing. They don't want to hear it.

Yeah, the guy my brother and I talked to said the best thing to get into was gold coins (at least hold their value and easy to carry). I had a couple of gold coins (one of the 1/10 of a Krugerrands and a Spanish one - no, it wasn't a doubloon) but sold them a few years ago. Maybe I should get into that. Still, I know it's only rock-n-roll (cards), but I like it.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I'd have to disagree about people googling everything. I've noticed too many instances of people too lazy to do their own research. They want someone to tell them what they have or they assume they have something rarer than what they have based on little-no evidence and then they lash out at anyone who points out why they don't have the rarer thing. They don't want to hear it.

Well certainly there are still people who don't want to use or even know how to use a PC, but the necessity of having a Smart phone is forcing even older individuals who have been avoiding the internet to update. And once they have a Smart phone, they need an email and all the apps just come. Almost every grandparent who can afford it has Zoom for the grandkids and Facebook for the family. It's become a handicap not to have that Smart Phone.

And one of the reasons why people do have an overblown sense of what their stuff is worth is because of googling and especially surfing eBay. They see an asking price on eBay and think that is the market price, when it's just a wish. They don't understand about condition issues or that even some expensive and rare items may have minimal demand for a variety of reasons.

Even for us on Card Talk, it gets very difficult to predict card values when there are so many exceptions to the rule, that no one can say what the rule is anymore.

All I know from my own experiences is that if you are trying to sell anything that average people might own, collectibles or not, it's hard to find anyone willing to pay anything, let alone pay what it's worth.