Are Prices Ever Going to Come Back Down?
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Well said. It's like art. You should buy it because it speaks to you and enjoy it, not because it will be worth more money when the artist is dead and leave it in a warehouse.Pins are worth nothing more than sentimental value no matter what you paid for them. The market will eventually crash like beanies or vinylmations or any other fad collectible and they will all be worthless monetarily.
They are not a longterm investment. But my collection is priceless to me because it represents time, adventures, friendships and magic. That cannot be bought or sold.
Lol this was the confirmation that I needed that I’m not going crazy and these prices are getting ridiculous and there ain’t a thing we can do about it. I’ve been pouty that some of the new releases have alluded me and even when I’m offering high end older Auction pins they don’t match up to this new wave of releases and traders who think they have literal gold because they have access to employee releases.I know what you're talking about. It's so weird you posted this last night- I was literally talking to my husband about the 2010 shift about an hour before I saw this post.
Before 2010, I'd say the typical going price for a grail was $300 or so. Of course, there were SOME pins going for more, but not a lot! And grails took TIME to become grails- they usually weren't grails right off the bat. Even the pins that were popular right away still went through periods were they were $50, $75, $100, etc., before they went super high.
Around 2009/2010, it seemed like pin trading was going to die. A lot of old time pin traders left the hobby, Dizpins shut down, Pinpics got sold, ds.com stopped releasing the "high-end" pins...actually, in general, pin releases were pretty sad around then! Then, something happened, and a new wave of traders/collectors/resellers came in. I know DSSH carried us for a while, as far as nice, low edition pins. I guess the WDI wave started with D23 Expo and the pop-up stores?
But yeah, that "it's a grail right away" mentality really changed things. Nice pin + a lot of people who want them= crazy demand! It's been tough to get things to trade for some of these pins!
I think...for prices to come down some, one of a few things would have to happen.
1.) More access to/types of low edition pins (like ds.com coming back)
2.) A lot of people leaving the hobby (demand shrinking)
3.) Complete hobby collapse (like Beabie Babies, although those are starting to come back)
4.) Apocalypse
WDI pins are an interesting study. In some cases, you'd expect some of the prices to go down eventually, due to the type of show/character not being as popular anymore. Like someone mentioned above, we've seen some characters flex in popularity, like Tinker Bell and Jessica. But so far, most of the WDI pins in the "new era" (not the older WDI pins) are keeping or increasing their value. I wonder at what point the market will get flooded enough that some older sets lose their appeal...
I don't know that I added anything to the conversation, but it was wild to me because you posted JUST as I was thinking about this!
There are 2 main factors in the ‘cost’ of pin trading- Time or Money and depending on which you have more of depends on your results most of the time-
Everything eventually falls in value as people move on and old ‘grails’ become easier to acquire as collections change hands and history is forgotten.
I started collecting the 2005 Piece of History set in oh 06 but refused to pay the going prices- I literally finished that set this year having acquired all under $50 each.
Got an Angry Donald on its original card for $15 etc.
A few pins fall into obscurity so it’s not always possible to wait but for the majority time solves the $$$ problem
Lol so true! Someone once said patience is the virtue and I have absolutely zero patience so that’s been my struggle.I think that's true for some pins, but not all of them (as you kind of said). The older things left on my Wants list have just kept climbing (Ariel Nouveau, SB Gomes, Ariel Ahoy, Beast Transformation). I've had them on my Wants list since 2006, and the prices just keep climbing. It's tough being a Princess collector, man!
Pin pricing really is a tug of war with patience.... if the seller has more patience they can wait for the price that they want, if the buyer has more patience they can wait for the price they want.Lol so true! Someone once said patience is the virtue and I have absolutely zero patience so that’s been my struggle.
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