Toy Hunter TV Show

[Paulbot]

I'm watching it at the moment. I can see why looking at the collections would be interesting, but the actual "Toy Hunter" is annoying and condescending to the collector. I mean "Remember Chewbacca, Chewbacca was a wookie." Really?

Edit: Wait, they just did a wrap up and I see that the point of this show is for the host to buying toys from collectors cheap, sell them for more and make a profit for himself?

Is the audience supposed to cheer for this guy making money from the "loser" toy collectors he's ripping off? Really?

[Mythirax]

It's the collectors choice to sell it at whole sale? price if they choose to do so though. They're not forced into it, and a lot of the time wont close a deal on it. And in some cases when a toy is worth $2500 etc, Jordan will buy it for $2000. So while he's still making a profit, at least he's not buying it for $1250.

[griffin]

His profit margin isn't as bad as those other shows, which are a minimum doubling of their money... and he doesn't haggle as much as the guys on "Hardcore Pawn".

It is a negative element to the show, but gives the show more depth than just travelling around the country-side, looking at toys and valuing them, making it necessary to interest non-toy-collectors. (which could be a paid service in itself, like those British antique valuation shows)

Besides, the other positive element to the show (aside from the brief look at collections), is seeing rare and pre-production prototypes that you'd never know existed otherwise.... and then seeing how much someone was willing to pay for them. (I'm sure they would have gone a lot higher if auctioned off to a global audience)


The show appears to have moved to Sunday nights now, but even if you miss it (or its two repeats), there is always those Authorised online sources that were linked further up the topic, that play like youtube, so you don't have to download anything that could be a risk to your computer.

[Gofigure]

I'm watching it at the moment. I can see why looking at the collections would be interesting, but the actual "Toy Hunter" is annoying and condescending to the collector. I mean "Remember Chewbacca, Chewbacca was a wookie." Really?

Edit: Wait, they just did a wrap up and I see that the point of this show is for the host to buying toys from collectors cheap, sell them for more and make a profit for himself?

Is the audience supposed to cheer for this guy making money from the "loser" toy collectors he's ripping off? Really?

Really? I actually thought he was generally pretty reasonable and had actually been quite upfront on a few occasions when a collector was selling BELOW value. The mego lot he could have got for a steal but informed the eccentric collector of this and need to sell for a higher amount

I like him and his manner. A lot more than the 'sellers' from the other bargain pawn related shows.

[Bidoofdude]

I remember with the signed Batman figure, that he said collectors seem to see signatures as a devalue to the packaging. Is this the case with everyone, or just select people? What do you guys see a signature as?

[Gofigure]

I remember with the signed Batman figure, that he said collectors seem to see signatures as a devalue to the packaging. Is this the case with everyone, or just select people? What do you guys see a signature as?

I would say it depends on the celebrity

David Prowse will sign everything and anything. He loves the fans and attends a lot of cons. But don't let him anywhere near anything Star Wars vintage; he will drop the value of a 12 back moc Darth in an instant hehe

However if the celebrity is a recluse or known to not auto much at all surely this could increase value?

[griffin]

You would also need some sort of proof of authenticity too, which can be difficult and expensive to do (unless you film the actual signing of the item).
Value shouldn't increase by much, and mostly only to those who value autographs... and usually those who got the autograph (for the sentimental value of the occasion meeting the person). For the rest of us, unless it is a big name celebrity and they haven't flooded the market with their autograph, it would devalue the toy (as it would be little more than graffiti)... especially on toys that are so rare and expensive, that an autograph would definitely devalue it.

[Bidoofdude]

You would also need some sort of proof of authenticity too, which can be difficult and expensive to do (unless you film the actual signing of the item).
Value shouldn't increase by much, and mostly only to those who value autographs... and usually those who got the autograph (for the sentimental value of the occasion meeting the person). For the rest of us, unless it is a big name celebrity and they haven't flooded the market with their autograph, it would devalue the toy (as it would be little more than graffiti)... especially on toys that are so rare and expensive, that an autograph would definitely devalue it.

Thanks, for the others as well. I only have 1 signature, which I plan to keep as my own personal memento of meeting them.

[DELTAprime]

Jordan is quite reasonable, as far as toy dealers go I think his prices to the seller and what he sells them for are good.

If you watch Pawn Stars on 7mate they often talk about "appraised value" vs "sale value". They always get stuff on the show that Rick, Hoss and The Old Man don't know much about so they call in the experts.

Most, but not all of the experts give a price of what the item is worth. For example a recent episode there was a piece of American Civil War printed fabric with a guy's face on it. It wasn't in great condition but the appraised value was $300, but Rick bought the item for below $100.

Why the difference? Because the appraised value is what the store will put on it. Then the customer that wants the item in the pawn shop negotiates a lower price for the item. If you walk into an American pawn shop chances are you can negotiate a price lower than the sticker price.

So the shop may pay $50 for an item, they then put $100 on it hoping to double their money. But then the end consumer negotiates it down to $75, the shop only makes $25 in the end.

[Paulbot]

The finale episode felt a little tasteless, showing people haggling for his items and then he puts up on screen how much extra money he made them pay for those items by listing his purchase prices. How would you feel, watching that show and seeing how much money he made off you.
Don't get me wrong - his business NEEDS to make a profit, but who does it benefit to publicly boast about it? It doesn't benefit the people who buy his stuff, and could loose business from people knowing that they can't get a bargain from him. And it doesn't benefit the rest of us collectors, as it will inspire more people to make money from toys... charging more than they are really worth, thinking that all toys are worth money now.
I like learning about toys I didn't know about, and would love the show to focus more on the finds and values than the reselling, but the reselling element spoils it for looking like one person just bragging... and for the aforementioned negative impact on pushing up prices for us toy collectors.

This was my complaint when I watched it for the first time.

Wait, they just did a wrap up and I see that the point of this show is for the host to buying toys from collectors cheap, sell them for more and make a profit for himself?

Is the audience supposed to cheer for this guy making money from the "loser" toy collectors he's ripping off? Really?

And everytime I've caught some of it since. I haven't seem him actually sell items, but at the end of each segment with a collector I've seen him do the "I bought this from [person on show] for $X and I will sell it for [$Y] and make [$Y - $X]"

I also get that's how he makes his money as a business, but it always seems to prove that the collector should just sell the item him/herself.