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Re: Reds!!
As several have noted, yes, pricing has spiraled upward to where essentially there is a direct purchasing premium on all but the few items that eBay resellers still buy to re-market in hopes that a some schmuck will perceive it to be uniquely scarce or will have a special connection to it.
I think the collecting community is insightful enough that we are capable of considering the cause of the pricing change… the abuses and greed of a few in our midst.
Direct prices went upward dramatically in reaction to a pattern of small-scale entrepreneurs purchasing things from the Reds not to cherish them themselves, but to pursue re-marketing efforts. Affordable Reds prices weren’t serving to keep items attainable by normal folks, rather re-marketers emerged and the wealth generated by re-marketing benefited the abusers rather than the Reds Community Fund.
My point here is that Reds collectors as a whole are seeing the result of the abuses from some in our own hobby. And, it continues still today. The buy-to-resell contingent of our hobby has been the impetus to what many Reds collectors have noticed (and complained about) in the primary (direct) market.
Sure, there are other teams which have taken alternate courses to address similar challenges. Those are decisions the team’s to make, not ours. Regardless, let’s not pretend to be ignorant of our collective failure to police ourselves. One guy still today begins his re-marketing efforts by showcasing his buys in our monthly “pickups†thread righ here on GUU. Then, he puts the same items on eBay.
As several have noted, yes, pricing has spiraled upward to where essentially there is a direct purchasing premium on all but the few items that eBay resellers still buy to re-market in hopes that a some schmuck will perceive it to be uniquely scarce or will have a special connection to it.
I think the collecting community is insightful enough that we are capable of considering the cause of the pricing change… the abuses and greed of a few in our midst.
Direct prices went upward dramatically in reaction to a pattern of small-scale entrepreneurs purchasing things from the Reds not to cherish them themselves, but to pursue re-marketing efforts. Affordable Reds prices weren’t serving to keep items attainable by normal folks, rather re-marketers emerged and the wealth generated by re-marketing benefited the abusers rather than the Reds Community Fund.
My point here is that Reds collectors as a whole are seeing the result of the abuses from some in our own hobby. And, it continues still today. The buy-to-resell contingent of our hobby has been the impetus to what many Reds collectors have noticed (and complained about) in the primary (direct) market.
Sure, there are other teams which have taken alternate courses to address similar challenges. Those are decisions the team’s to make, not ours. Regardless, let’s not pretend to be ignorant of our collective failure to police ourselves. One guy still today begins his re-marketing efforts by showcasing his buys in our monthly “pickups†thread righ here on GUU. Then, he puts the same items on eBay.
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