The last HP Goblet of Fire auto for Robert Pattinson/Cedric Diggory I saw on eBay (sometime before Christmas) sold for more than $150. Another one sold in mid-November for around $127. I think that if someone had one to sell, added the word "Twilight" to the title, and listed it in both the trading card and movie memorabilia categories, we'd see much higher prices for the auto.

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Originally posted by dstrohmeng:
I guess I waited too long to order the binder!

Well, I wish I'd ordered it back when I was going to. A case, that is. I've only just finished the first book and thought I'd look around eBay.

What's with this release? Are sealed boxes extremely rare now as one seller claims? I'd assume cases are next to impossible then, if that's true.
I saw one base set (still) going for over AU$200. For a base set. Of all things.

Perhaps when the frenzy dies down prices might be more reasonable. Well, I hope so, from a buyer point of view

My sets were sent off to the league of nations... 3 to Australia, 1ea to Canada, the UK and France. None heading any where near those $$

I know that if I still had boxes, I would not be in any hurry to sell them. The supply can not come close to meeting the US demand, let alone the overseas collectors.

I was just looking at an email sent to me by one of my dealers back in November.

Base sets only $8
Mini master set $99
Master set $499
Boxes $47
Case $425

Base sets are now going for over $140, boxes for over $200. I saw a complete pieceworks set sell for $700, $200 more than what it cost 2 months ago for a Master Set. Unbelieveable. There must have been a lot of newcomer card collectors come out of the woodwork for this set. I do wonder if the prices will ever go down, or just stay this high as the supply will dry up.

Sidewinder, are those prices on eBay Australia? Base sets are only going for $30-$40USD on eBay USA with the highest that I have seen at $71USD.

Never mind, I just popped on to eBay.au, there are only 2-3 listings for sets, most from the same dealer. With sets going for $129, $167.50 and $201 (AUS) or $90, $117 and $140 USD respectivly, it is no wonder why I sold 3 to Aussies.

Is there any specific reason that more people are not bidding on items from international sellers? It seems that you guys are WAY overpaying for stuff just to buy it from Aussies.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: igman7,

I've found that there are more new collectors around at the moment. Most don't even realise to look overseas for cards. If I don't have what they want I send them to one of my favourite sellers.
I don't remember who the sellers are for the base sets that are stupidly over-priced but there are three sellers there who have their own 'support group' and only bid on each others auctions to get their FB up.

I'm just surpised at the prices of the AU current auctions for base sets. I never factor in Aussie end prices into any research I do as most times the sellers are the same people with the same fake prices.

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Is there any specific reason that more people are not bidding on items from international sellers? It seems that you guys are WAY overpaying for stuff just to buy it from Aussies.

That's the newbies, those of us who know what we're doing and where to look shop overseas.

Did anyone other than Hot Topic get retail boxes for this set? Usually I see a box of the more mainstream Inkworks products at Target but not so for Twilight. Anyone would think it would be a no-brainer to have some major retailers sell packs of these cards considering the extreme popularity of the series.

I was trying to get a case from the people who took over from Cards Inc as the main UK supplier and they said they had pre-ordered but had not got any as the entire print run had sold within the USA.

I would expect Inkworks to drastically increase the numbers for the next film.

Some Aussies don't want to buy from overseas and some just don't know how to look at international auctions. For this reason there are 2 sellers in particular that have cornered the market. They always start their auctions at 99 cents and let the bidders duke out over the items. However in some cases the winners are actually overseas buyers (UK, Germany and US in particular) especially now that the Aussie dollar is low.

The prices I quoted were all in US dollars, so it looks like everyone is paying a lot for these Twilight cards. Inkworks should double the amount for their next set, they'd make a killing.

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Originally posted by Sidewinder:Inkworks should double the amount for their next set, they'd make a killing.

I don't know about that. People went truly crazy over the 500-case Harry Potter POA set, so Artbox released an update set six months later. It had a massive number of pre-orders from dealers and would-be dealers who all hoped to cash in on the phenomenon. It's estimated (because we don't know for sure) that Artbox produced around 2400 hobby cases, plus there were retail boxes that contained one of two high-numbered costume cards.

The result was that eBay was flooded with HP cards. Prices for all but the variants and rare cards quickly hit rock bottom. I have more POAU cards in my collection than I have for any other set precisely because the prices were so low. Boxes that cost about $55 were selling for $35, despite there being autos for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a triple auto of all three. A lot of sellers lost a great deal of money on the release, and I know of at least two dealers who ended up going out of business because their greed made them buy too many cases.

Inkworks will need to be careful about the number of cases produced for the next Twilight movie and dealers will also need to think about how many cases to order. Otherwise, they could all fall into the same trap that Artbox and its dealers did.

Very good point, Inkworks will surely up the print run, but hopefully not that much. I just do not know if Twilight will have the "shelf life" to sustain it as a viable property.

I'm wondering if there might be an Update set to coincide with the DVD release. Maybe with those autographs that were originally planned for the initial release?

Well I did say that Inkworks would make a killing, not the dealers I'm sure they would sell out, but then dealers may not be able to sell them for as much as they have for this set.

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Originally posted by Sidewinder:
Well I did say that Inkworks would make a killing, not the dealers I'm sure they would sell out, but then dealers may not be able to sell them for as much as they have for this set.

As a manufacturer, they should want more than just to sell the product themselves. They should also want the supply chain to do well (ok, not INSANELY well like with this release) in order to ensure that they keep the franchise alive. You don't want to kill a product line by being greedy and if distributors/dealers are stuck with or have to dump product at a loss, they will not purchase near the ammount on the next release.

In my opinion, they could likely produce another 35-50% of this print run, making some available for UK/AU and other colectors and everyone could still profit.

Very possible, that does not mean that product does not make it across the pond.

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Originally posted by Batman:
I just read in the new NSU that Hot Topic will have an exclusive Twilight card. Does anyone have any info on this? Will it be sold separately, or come in boxes(packs) that are exclusive to Hot Topic?

Does anyone have any extras of this card they'd be willing to trade? Apparently I missed the rush - every card-selling store in a 50 mile radius is completely out of this set, and my HT ran out within the first 24 hours of the release. Geez!

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As a manufacturer, they should want more than just to sell the product themselves. They should also want the supply chain to do well (ok, not INSANELY well like with this release) in order to ensure that they keep the franchise alive. You don't want to kill a product line by being greedy and if distributors/dealers are stuck with or have to dump product at a loss, they will not purchase near the ammount on the next release.

In my opinion, they could likely produce another 35-50% of this print run, making some available for UK/AU and other colectors and everyone could still profit.

Yes, you are right there. I do think though if Inkworks can produce great sets for this franchise they will all do very well. If you look at Supernatural season one, they sold out fast and now the binders and the boys costumes are still expensive to aquire and difficult to find. They obviously upped the production for the following sets as binders are still $20 and the costumes are cheaper than the first season (though still aren't completely cheap).

If they produce as you say 35%-50% more on the next release prices will most likely be reasonable rather than become so high as they have with this set.

I could be very wrong, but in general, the first release for a franchise seems to sell better than any of the subsequent sets. Of course, most of those licenses don't have the crazed, teen fan girl factor going for them.

This whole thing is craziness. I needed an extra base set for my niece, whose birthday is Jan. 20th, so fortunately for me my regular dealer had some base sets left and sold it to me for a very fair price, but still, it's been a LONG time since I paid over $6 for a base set. Ultimately, it is a good thing. Maybe some of these young girls (and boys) will find other sets they're interested in and stick with the hobby.

These prices are ridiculous! I've seen a single base card go for $5 + shipping