Is EVERTHING desirable?

[arcyallen]

I've been watching these last few years in awe. The markets seem to be not only out of touch, but absolutely crazily irrationally insane. While I have a laundry list of things I could mention, one is that "everything is hot". And what I mean by that is nothing is cheap or undesirable. A couple examples:

-I just saw a 2019 Fiat Abarth auction for $31k. These are some of the fastest depreciating cars ever. This same car, under normal times, would have sold for -maybe- $10k.
-I'm very much into pinball and all prices have skyrocketed. Not just new pins. 30 year old machines are selling for 75% of what a new ($6700), fancier, more reliable one costs today. And accessories! People are paying $1k-2k just for a lit piece of plastic that sits on the top of their machine and moves around a little bit.

Things that categorically and historically have had minimal value suddenly are very valuable. I get people are flush with cash and are trying to spend it, but it seems many people are paying very high prices for low value items. Perhaps it's all based on a shortage of high value items, but I don't feel like that's the case.

What has been your experience recently? Have you noticed anything similar around you?

 

[freedomatlast]

It's the same everywhere. Many people are selling items they wouldn't normally consider selling, but if they can possibly get two, three or four times the price they would have received 2 years ago, why not try? And like you said, used car prices are just completely insane. Sky high prices for well worn junk. Contractors have jumped on the bandwagon too, raising labor rates to insane levels as well. Two grand for four hours of work? Really? As supply chains open up and stabilize, and interest rates rise, the insanity will slowly subside and stabilize.

 

[arcyallen]

As supply chains open up and stabilize, and interest rates rise, the insanity will slowly subside and stabilize.

I love trying to figure out "What's next", and I think there will be some unexpected outcomes from all of this. What if everyone is upside down by 30% on their car or home loans, for example? Or once markets stabilize will there be a glut of supply crashing against a lack of demand due to people overbuying? It's intriguing.

When the housing/financial crash of 2008 happened it was easy to see after the fact. It kills me to know the hints are out there now, we just have to piece them together!

 

[Car-Guy]

Over the years I've been involved with several collectable hobbies (specifically, guns, coins and cars)... Rarity, condition and desirability is everything in all of those collectables. In my experaince, timing is next. There's up's and down in the hobbies... Problem is, I tended to buy when desirability was up and sell when interest was waning. I made some money on a few cars and coins but not that many. But I enjoyed the hobbies. Guns OTOH have been money makers for me over the years. I'm sure I sold some for even money or at a loss, but I double or tripled my money on most of them and a few I made 10 times what I paid for them.

 

[disneysteve]

COVID has been great for the collectibles market. Lots of people stuck at home with nothing to do and nowhere to go and lots of disposable income. Instead of traveling and dining out, they shifted their spending to other things. The pandemic also made people reassess their lives and start focusing more on what brings them pleasure.

As a collectibles dealer, I’m all for it.

 

[Palmtree]

Large, wide walnut slab lumber. Years ago if it had big sections of rot it was considered scrap and cut up for firewood and burned. Then somebody discovered you could dig out the rot, fill it with black expoxy and us it to make big conference tables. Now it goes for up to $5000 a slab.

 

[Chuckanut]

Brand new jeans with holes in them that reveal the white cross threads that make up the denim pattern. I see gals wearing them all the time. Maybe I should pay for my new iPhone by selling my old warn jeans to 20-something females who want to look fashionable. In any case the jeans will look a lot better on them than on me.

 

[Pellice]

Oddly, the stuff that is no longer valuable, as has often been pointed out lately, are antiques and furniture and silver services, etc. The stuff that makes up estate sales. Many thrift stores will not accept furniture even if in good condition.

 

[ownyourfuture]

I sold a rare Randy Moss rookie card for $600 in 2020. Buyer backed out 16 days after he received the card. Since eBay is seemingly 100% behind the buyers, I had to refund his money and pay return postage. Was just thankful the card came back in the same condition.

About 2 months ago, someone on eBay reached out & asked if I still have the buyers info (Address) explained to him that I still had the card and that the price was $800. He agreed.

I had a feeling he might have the card graded, and/or try to flip it on eBay.
He's trying to flip it. Initially, he was asking $13,999.99, now he's at $9999.99
No idea what it might end up selling for, but I'm thinking I should've asked for a lot more.

Because, as the OP pointed out, everything is desirable in 2022
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185404311907?hash=item2b2af54963:g:8tkAAOSwp9Niae4Z

 

[disneysteve]

Oddly, the stuff that is no longer valuable, as has often been pointed out lately, are antiques and furniture and silver services, etc. The stuff that makes up estate sales. Many thrift stores will not accept furniture even if in good condition.

Antique furniture has been a tough sell for a long time. As people have become more mobile and styles have changed, selling big, dark, heavy furniture has been tough. It's well built and will last forever. It just doesn't fit most people's aesthetic.


Silver services actually sell fairly well right now, I think. It's not something I deal in personally but I think they bring decent money, though they probably aren't fast movers.


Estate sales are enormously popular these days. I go to them nearly every week. I just bought a bunch of stuff at one on Friday. Things that folks in their 70s-90s owned are now very hot collectibles. Mid-century modern, 50s, 60s, that stuff is super in demand. There are Pyrex pieces that sell for 4 figures, for example.

 

[disneysteve]

He's trying to flip it. Initially, he was asking $13,999.99, now he's at $9999.99
No idea what it might end up selling for, but I'm thinking I should've asked for a lot more.

What someone is asking and what they get (if it sells) are very different. If you want to know what it's worth, look up sold listings on ebay.

 

[ownyourfuture]

What someone is asking and what they get (if it sells) are very different. If you want to know what it's worth, look up sold listings on ebay.

Only 17 of these cards exist. Not something that shows up on the 'completed listings' very often.

 

[Out of Steam]

It's hardly been a profit center, but I've been going through my hiking gear to sell things at an outdoor consignment shop.

 

[Koolau]

Unfortunately, I would suggest that this phenomenon is the other side of the inflation 'coin.' IOW the country (and the world) is awash in cash. People have enough money to bid up almost everything. YMMV

 

[Pellice]

Estate sales are enormously popular these days. I go to them nearly every week. I just bought a bunch of stuff at one on Friday. Things that folks in their 70s-90s owned are now very hot collectibles. Mid-century modern, 50s, 60s, that stuff is super in demand. There are Pyrex pieces that sell for 4 figures, for example.

I have a plain clear glass pyrex covered 1.25 qt. bowl that it would be tough to part with. Of course, for Randy Moss money, I would, but that bowl may be the most used thing in my kitchen. I bought a second more recently, but it's not the same!

 

[Pellice]

Unfortunately, I would suggest that this phenomenon is the other side of the inflation 'coin.' IOW the country (and the world) is awash in cash. People have enough money to bid up almost everything. YMMV

It's true when you look at the impounded superyachts and the beginnings of space tourism costs. But the distribution is increasingly lopsided, though standards of living are generally rising aroudn the world.

 

[disneysteve]

I have a plain clear glass pyrex covered 1.25 qt. bowl that it would be tough to part with. Of course, for Randy Moss money, I would, but that bowl may be the most used thing in my kitchen. I bought a second more recently, but it's not the same!

Clear glass won’t get you high prices but if you come across this pattern at a yard or estate sale, grab it.

 

[GravitySucks]

I really thought toys would drop after March 2020. The items I was looking to buy (Collectable Car, vacation area condo, RV) all have sky rocketed. The opposite of 2008 when they all tanked in value.

 

[24601NoMore]

Slightly OT but since you mentioned really loving pinball - forget about the mechanical machines and go virtual. You can have hundreds of tables between Visual Pinball X, Zen FX3 and others and won't have to worry about maintenance and replacement of mechanical parts.

I bought a cabinet from a now defunct (unfortunately) company called Rec Room Masters a couple of years back and it was one of the best purchases I ever made. $800 or so for the cabinet (basically just MDF with fancy exterior), added a couple monitors and repurposed a halfway decent PC I had laying around and it's a blast. Was just playing one of the many tables I have running last night but absolutely love having dozens and dozens of tables to play vs. just one or two at $6-7K each..

Neighbor across the street from me had a classic, refurb pin machine. I never had the heart to tell him about mine as he was stuck playing one table over..and over..and over..

 

[freedomatlast]

I really thought toys would drop after March 2020. The items I was looking to buy (Collectable Car, vacation area condo, RV) all have sky rocketed. The opposite of 2008 when they all tanked in value.

Just give it some time. With more interest rate hikes coming, the plentiful money supply will slowly evaporate. I'm guessing all the huge trucks and SUVs with big V-8 engines and low MPG figures will start to lose serious value soon as interest rates spike and the average cost of fuel continues to climb way past historic levels.

 

[arcyallen]

Slightly OT but since you mentioned really loving pinball - forget about the mechanical machines and go virtual. You can have hundreds of tables between Visual Pinball X, Zen FX3 and others and won't have to worry about maintenance and replacement of mechanical parts.

I bought a cabinet from a now defunct (unfortunately) company called Rec Room Masters a couple of years back and it was one of the best purchases I ever made. $800 or so for the cabinet (basically just MDF with fancy exterior), added a couple monitors and repurposed a halfway decent PC I had laying around and it's a blast. Was just playing one of the many tables I have running last night but absolutely love having dozens and dozens of tables to play vs. just one or two at $6-7K each..

Neighbor across the street from me had a classic, refurb pin machine. I never had the heart to tell him about mine as he was stuck playing one table over..and over..and over..

I love the idea of a virtual pin, but playing one has always been a disappointing experience for me after playing real pins. If real pins didn't exist, I think virtual ones would be a blast. But it'd be very hard for me to go back and forth between real and virtual.

 

[John Galt III]

Based on having zero sales of this item for the last 2 years at the flea market, I would have to say gift wrapping paper is no longer desirable. Sold a lot of it 3 years ago, but since then no one even looks at it, ha ha.

 

[Chuckanut]

I remember when you couldn't give away old 33rpm vinyl records.

Now they are back. Young folks are buying them. Granted many of the new ones also come with a code to download a digital version, but still...... Maybe I should see if I can sell my old turntable?

 

[GravitySucks]

Even if I was a Warhol fan I'd still think the $195m for a painting is nuts.
https://www.axios.com/2022/05/10/warhol-marilyn-monroe-painting-auctioned-195-million

 

[Koolau]

I remember when you couldn't give away old 33rpm vinyl records.

Now they are back. Young folks are buying them. Granted many of the new ones also come with a code to download a digital version, but still...... Maybe I should see if I can sell my old turntable?

I wore out my good one and bought a cheapie. Have replaced a lot of vinyl with CDs at Goodwill or other resale shops. Yes, I know, the vinyl is supposed to sound better, but my ears are not as good as Neil Young who is a big proponent of vinyl. YMMV