Toy Hunter TV Show

[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.

[Sky Shadow]

Season 3 Episode 6 - he finds a lucky draw Ultra Beast Wars Megatron in the attic of a former Hasbro employee. Intriguingly, the wife guesses it's worth $500 - he tells her it's worth $2500 and offers $2000. So he's not entirely out to rip people off.

He also buys a carded Hulk Hogan toy from Hulk Hogan - interestingly, he doesn't get him to sign it, which makes one wonder about the relative merits of an unblemished mint toy vs. signing by the 'character'.

[griffin]

Last week's episode (Boston Toy Party) had a collector near Rhode Island (the home state of Hasbro) claim to have a prototype Gen1 Slag... which would be hard to prove with all the KOs of the Dinobots out there.
It was also interesting to see a lot of 80s TFs boxed figures lining his walls, including a Grand Maximus. He found some big GIJoe toys from the 80s and was going on about one being worth about $3000... he should have just turned around and looked at the Grand Max, which can be worth about $5000 if sealed.

[Initial_G]

Found out about this show when it first came on GO, having TFs feature early on just hooked me in.

I managed to find all the older eps and watched them on and off over a few weeks leave. Although I don't agree with all the prices, some of them are very surprising.

Jordan seems to have very good knowledge on lots of toys, releases etc. I think I like the show for the nostalgia. So many toys from childhood. Seriously can't believe some of the stuff that ppl in the US have hoarder/ collected over the past few decades, it's all quite impressive.

The 3rd season is about to finish up, not sure if there will be a 4th yet.

[Bidoofdude]

Last week's episode had a collector near Rhode Island (the home state of Hasbro) claim to have a prototype Gen1 Slag... which would be hard to prove with all the KOs of the Dinobots out there.
It was also interesting to see a lot of 80s TFs boxed figures lining his walls, including a Grand Maximus. He found some big GIJoe toys from the 80s and was going on about one being worth about $3000... he should have just turned around and looked at the Grand Max, which can be worth about $5000 if sealed.

That was pretty cool. "And Grimlock, 'cause I like Grimlock." I'm pretty envious, that guy had random G1 figures in plentiful amounts sitting around in crates.

[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.

[griffin]

That's the other thing I'm not too keen about with this guy... picking over the 100s or even 1000s of items people have obviously contacted him to come and buy from them, to only leave with a handful of the valuable items, leaving the rest for the collector to then sell on ebay or collectors fairs anyway (which would be where they would have got the bigger bucks on the items Jordan scavenged from them).
It's like in that NYCC episode, he wants "head turner" items to get people into his booth, but those original collectors could be using those premium items to help sell the (bulk) rest of their collections that they now have to sell in other ways.

[griffin]

Now I see why the first episode was repeated yesterday afternoon instead of the last episode... they are replaying them weekdays at 6pm on channel 99.
And it looks like they are following the same order as the first run, as today's was episode 7 (Chiller Time).
So if you missed any, just check out my list on post #86 for the order and work out the day it should be on.