Following on from yesterday’s post regarding a pair of 18 inch ALIEN action figures for sale, here’s another listing of similar items on eBay. There are some significant differences to be noted in this pair of Kenner and Super7. Yes. They are more or less different samples of the same items in my previous post but the differences in the asking price is around US$900. Why is that? Are they worth the asking price? Let’s check it out.
This pair of figures includes boxes for both and in the case of the Super7 ALIENS figure, it looks like it’s not been opened. That’s very welcome but as the figure can be purchased new for US$175 directly from the manufacturer, its value is somewhat limited. The 40 year old Kenner item has its fair share of degradation and that’s understandable albeit unfortunate. These boxes were intended to be ephemeral and not last for 4 decades. So wear & tear, creases sticky tape repairs, other deformations and other common problems present on this box are the norm. Is it worth US$1000, though? Not really.
The big problem with the Kenner item is its completeness. There’s a couple pieces of criteria this item needs to clear in order to breach that four figure threshold. Being opened isn’t a problem. Opened Kenner ALIEN toys often sell for more than US$1000. However, the red insert card that supports the figure is missing; as is the poster. We’ve recently seen how valuable the poster can be on eBay and its presence would boost the value of this figure by an easy US$100. At least because these old boxes are worth more than the sum of individual parts. The same can be said for the missing red insert support card. These cards are frequently missing from boxes, as this sample attests to. The value of the red card is hard to determine and can be worth anywhere between US$20-120. It’s a not often considered feature in the box but lacking one will devalue the overall package dramatically. Missing both the poster and insert card, this boxed ALIEN toy is worth around US$400-800. The combined value of this pair is closer to around US$600-900, a far cry from the listed price of US$1,320.
There’s another issue that will reduce the number of people interested in purchasing the pair of figures listed in this sale. This listing is made in Australia and it’s now been sitting unchanged for months on eBay. Our population here isn’t big enough to warrant such high prices despite everything here costing up to double what you would expect to pay in the US. There just simply isn’t that great an interest in Australia for these items and wearing a price tag of AU$1,900 is prohibitive. People in the US won’t be interested, either. They will be able to purchase similar items cheaper, in better condition, pay a lot less in postage for them and not worry about the fragile Kenner box and figure becoming damaged in overseas transport across the Pacific. These items just aren’t going to sell.
Like I said, this pair of items has been listed on eBay for some time now and without a drop in price, they’re just going to stay there.
-Windebieste.
