Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

[both-teams-played-hard]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

Anyone know what a seller gets paid for appearing on Biggest Loser...I mean Pawn Stars?

Those are some big boys. I love the Subway product placement. Once they got those DVD residual checks, they all packed on some LB's.

Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Hardcore Pawn, Storage Wars, Storage Hunters, and Auction Hunters are the best things on TV.

I am in the process of pitching my reality show idea to some network honchos: "Paranormal Hoarders". Going thru the collection of obsessive collectors and contacting the kindred spirits of past owners of their items.

[otismalibu]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

Anyone know what a seller gets paid for appearing on Biggest Loser...I mean Pawn Stars?

[gnishiyama]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

I'm not going to lie..I love Pawn Stars..I just take the prices with a grain
of salt since the show does have to be entertaining..

My favorite is...

Rick's "expert" : This would go for about $4000-$5000 on auction.

Rick: (to seller) Ok so how much do you want for it.

Seller: Well he said $4000-$5000 so how about $3500?

Rick: Well $4-$5K is best case and then you have to factor in auction fees,
etc..I can do $500..I have to display it, it takes up a lot of room, it will
sit here for months

Seller: Ooooh.. how about $3200?

(after some back and forth)

Rick: Ok I will do $2400..that's the most I will go..

Rick and seller agrees to deal..

The low ball offers Rick makes is the most entertaining part of the show!!

Goh Nishiyama

[Tedw9]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

Just my 2 cents....


I think Pawn Stars does more to hurt than help our hobby. Now keep in mind I've not watched it a lot, I don't really care for the show or the people on it.

The episode where someone brings in a Lou Gehrig signed jersey was a classic case of doing damage to our hobby. First, the autograph on the jersey was a fake, it looked a lot like his wife signed his autograph. And second, every COA they touted that went with the jersey was a bunch of CRAP! I may be off here, but I seem to remember a STAT coa and an AAU coa. Stat puts out nothing but fake items. They even said they would buy it because of the "solid" paperwork...UGH!

Now if some newbie saw this episode, saw the STAT coa and went out and purchased ANY item with a STAT coa, they are going to be severely disappointed when/if they sell it. And that is going to turn them off to our hobby.


Now I've read stories they use fillers, or clips of items that are not actually purchased by the store. If this was a filler, the LEAST they could do is their homework and bring in something that has a coa that carries a lot more weight.


Same goes with Storage Wars. A recent episode had one guy finding a large box of sport cards. He was saying how this was a "$100 card" and this was a $50 autograph.....only most of what he was showing were $5-10 cards. This gives people the impression that most of the stuff out there is worth a fortune. If he has a buyer at those prices, I have a bunch of cards I will sell at HALF those prices.



It's nice seeing items we don't normally see be brought out into the light, but they are doing the public a disservice by giving them unrealistic prices and portraying bogus coa's as legit companies and opinions.



In case you can't tell, my vote is bad for the hobby.

[jppopma]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

Just remember there is not too much reality in these reality TV shows. I always find it funny just how everything ends up being a great deal and all happy endings.

For every good deal, I am sure there are 10 times as many that hit the cutting room floor.

[mbrieve]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

If you think Rick is undervaluing your item, consign it somewhere and see how much you get.

Exactly. That is why it always surprised me that my friends found them to be less than upstanding.

[brewcrew]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

I will say, having discussed these shows with friends, the guys on Pawn Stars catch the most scorn. I think they are generally pretty up front with collectors on their assessment and generally tell them that they are willing to pay somewhere close to 50% of retail. Depending on the industry, a 50% mark-up is pretty standard.

This surprises me a bit. My husband and I watch that show all the time and think that many of the people who bring stuff into the store are expecting WAY too much for their items. And some of them clearly are doing it just to get on tv, not to maximize the value of their goods.

In fact, we yell at the tv a little more than we probably should. It's a pawn shop, not an auction house. If you think Rick is undervaluing your item, consign it somewhere and see how much you get.

[mbrieve]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

It should also be mentioned on American Pickers, they undervalued a couple of hand-painted carnival posters and ended up splitting a good portion of the profit with the original owner.

[mbrieve]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

To the original question, I think it raises awareness to collecting in general, but as for realized prices they probably have little effect. In general, the low prices being paid for items these days has much more to do with a depressed collectibles market and a struggling economy in general. It is absolutely a buyers market out there right now.

I will say, having discussed these shows with friends, the guys on Pawn Stars catch the most scorn. I think they are generally pretty up front with collectors on their assessment and generally tell them that they are willing to pay somewhere close to 50% of retail. Depending on the industry, a 50% mark-up is pretty standard.

[xpress34]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

Never one to pass up a good, my moral compass also makes me give some type of hint when I do find one before making the purchase...

2 Cases in Point:

1) 1927 OAL Ball I purchased at Tanque Verde Swap Meet in Tucson, AZ the weekend my father passed. I was going through a tub of old baseballs when i saw the red and blue (grey from fading) stitching. It was marked with sharpie (on the ball! UGH!) $2-. I asked the seller if the price was right and he said every ball in the tub was $2 each. The ball (even with the marking is valued somewhere around the $600-$700 range).

2) 1890's 'Inside Out' Stitch or 'Seamless' Baseball and a Nolan Ryan AUTO OAL Bobby Brown Ball. The wife and I were participating (selling) at the Super Duper Garage Sale in Longmont, CO a few years back and after setting up, we made the rounds. At one booth, a woman had two baseballs in wood holders with the gold glove holding the ball. They were marked $8 each. I asked if the prices were correct or if they were just for the holders (I' sure many of you have been to flea markets where you see a tag, pick it up to buy and get told that's just for the case, etc). She told me (kind of rudely) that those were the prices, take it or leave it, so I took them for $16 for the pair. I gave the Ryan to a buddy for his B-Day (he had always wanted a Ryan AU Ball) and the Seamless Ball is in my permanent collection. To this day it is the ONLY one I have ever seen in person - I have only seen old catalog pictures (drawings) of them before. It is about 10 times rarer than a 'Lemon Peel' ball and has an estimated value (even in it's shape) of around $2,000+.

On the other hand (and this has more to do with the OP question), I have been to many Garage Sales, Flea Markets, Swap Meets, etc (including eBay and Craigslist) where because of the Reality TV shows, people get deluded into thinking that their autograph ball from Joe Schmoe or their 1990's card sets are worth a fortune.

So while I will take a great deal when it lands in my lap, I will give the seller an opportunity to ask me questions - which I would answer honestly - but I do not feel I am obligated (if they already have a price they want and they don't ask) to give them any extra information.

Does that make me a bad person? I don't believe so. I think it just makes me a shrewd collector.

- Smitty

[ivo610]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

The guys on American Pickers are not buying items for retail for their own personal collection. They are running a business with many expenses, they make offers to people who have been collecting or around collecting for years. While they make a profit, they also have the connections to know who to sell certain items to.

I seriously do not understand anyone resenting them for what they do, they are pickers, not collectors. Dont blame them for being a middleman for other collectors.

[David]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

Duly not that the legality comes in extreme situations-- ala saying about the $10,000 item "Aw, it's worth zero. Give it to me and I'll throw it away for you." Normal haggling and flea market negotiations and low ball offers on eBay are not illegal.

[David]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

You can say "They are worth a good amount, but I'll pay only $3. Take it or leave it" but that's different than saying they have no value when your 5 hours late price tags proves you knew different. If you are an expert and advertising yourself as an expert, the latter might be considered fraud.

So just be careful when you tell someone his expensive item is worth nothing, when you know it's not and plan on profiting from your lie.

[David]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

What they did may have been illegal. As the expert in a situation where a newbie says he knows nothing asks for valuation help, you can get into trouble drastically lying about the value like that to gain a deal. Of course you don't have to give an exact value and can fudge your data some for negotiation purposes, but you can't say it has no value so you can get it for next to nothing so as to resale for a lot more. An expert from the Antiques Roadshow got into trouble for doing just that.

[frikativ54]

Re: Reality tv helped or hurt the hobby?

You know,

Those shows remind me of the one of the most blatant rip offs I've ever seen in person. Years ago, I walked into a card shop at a local mall and saw an old man asking the owner about the 2 autographed Pirate balls from the 60's (both had Clemente on them). The card shop owner told the man they weren't worth much at all (a real sign of character) so the old man just gave them to him and said they were just sitting in his closet.

He and his "colleague" were laughing about this and how much of a 'deal' they got from this 'idiot' right after the gentleman left. Even better, the owner puts the balls in cases with $2000 price tags on each.

I never did business there again and told a lot of people to stay away from that place after what I said. I can understand buying things to re-sell at a profit, but to out and out lie to someone just to get a good 'deal', I feel is wrong. Needless to say, those balls stayed on the shelf and the store eventually went out of business.

Guess karma caught up to them.

This story makes me nauseated. It's just like those dealers who make their living taking advantage of old men and young women who may not know much about the hobby. As for females, I've heard stories that many places jack up the prices around father's day and prey on women who don't know much about the hobby, but who are looking to get their husbands something special. As you alluded, it's one thing to get a good deal. It's quite another to use lies and half-truths to deceive others in the name of profits.

Good thing about the store's going out of business. I've found that with those who lie and cheat, they lose money in the end. Instead of cultivating good relationships, which in the end lead to more sales and more money made, people wake up to the fact they are being ripped off and leave the con artists behind. In the end, these dealers are left with no business, no friendships, and a bunch of material goods devoid of meaning. As they say, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Most of us get taken a few times in life, but we aren't so dumb that we allow ourselves to be deceived again.

-Frik