I’m starting to regret selling all my old VHS tapes… 8-O
EDIT: and this copy of SW for $17,000 ?! It’s not even the original release!
Speculator boom, '80s nostalgia, and money laundering would explain that price.
Speculator boom, '80s nostalgia, and money laundering would explain that price.
And yet there are some other copies going for $11. I don’t get what’s so special about the ones that are going for thousands. 😕
Heritage Auctions is pulling the same shady crap they did with the video game market. There’s a documentary about these practices on YouTube called “Exposing FRAUD And DECEPTION In The Retro Video Game Market”.
Here’s their ploy: they create a new category of graded collectibles, then sell them to themselves and other insiders at massively inflated prices, prices no reasonable person would ever pay except their own insiders. This sets inflated baseline prices and balloons that entire collectible market. They then profit massively through their partners’ grading services and subsequent auction premiums. Their insiders also seem to buy up huge inventories of the collectibles in question (in this case sealed VHS tapes) before starting the scam, so they have a corner on the market. It’s quite ingenious, except that it’s borderline illegal.
Wow, that’s amazing, thanks for the info. That did seem awfully fishy to me. I thought Heritage was a reputable auction house. Guess not! Yikes.
I’ll check out that documentary.
Heritage Auctions is pulling the same shady crap they did with the video game market. There’s a documentary about these practices on YouTube called “Exposing FRAUD And DECEPTION In The Retro Video Game Market”.
I watched the documentary and it was quite shocking. I’d say what they’re doing is definitely illegal, and might even be considered racketeering. I hope nobody is duped into bidding on these fraudulently-valued items.
That’s nuts! But this isn’t something that I haven’t seen or heard about before either. The whole retro aftermarket, regardless of the media (i.e., movies, games, toys, etc.) is in a total derelict and overinflated state anymore. Too many swindlers and even too many naive ignorant people involved with this, which is ruining the whole thing, imo. That’s why you see this kind of crap going on.
And that’s why I personally haven’t collected anything in a while now. Everything is way overpriced and too many scams going on and that’s before the economy got all goof up too. It sucks! Especially, for people or even younger people that are just getting into retro collecting of films, games, toys, or etc. In my opinion, it’s quickly becoming not worth it anymore.
Frank Dux is a dangerous dude!
