Is the market such that they are able to sustain such outrageous prices?  One can only assume this is the truth, or else they would be taking constant losses at relisting?

Maybe I am just sour because they have so much I want, I just can't justify paying what they want      

Any chance of a link to their buy list?

Bottom line is if you can afford to sit on stock (as T&T can) then you can demand any price you wish. Someone will buy it at the price you set. And you just factor in the listing fees when you set your prices.

I ordered some magazines from them a few months ago and the shipment I received was missing The Space Gamer issues 9 and 10, for which I paid $90.  I told them I didn't receive them but I didn't get any restitution.  They didn't have it in stock and I signed for the shipment.  Since I ordered directly from their website to save a few dollars, I couldn't leave negative feedback.



I recently picked up #9 and #10 on ebay for less than half the price: #9 #10

I have to disagree there. Yeah, you may have to sit on stuff for a few years if you set your prices really high, but so long as you don't mind waiting, and you've done the maths, there's no reason why it won't sell.

Extreme case - Let's say you put up a woodgrain at $10,000. You might need to wait 20 years to get the price you want. You might need to wait until yours is the last surviving copy on the planet. But, so long as you've done the maths, you're prepared to wait, you can affort to continue to advertise it on eBay, and you're happy that when it sells you'll turn a profit even after all the fees are paid, there's no reason not to do it.

Not everyone needs to turn a profit over immediately on what they have in stock. Some people can afford to sit on stuff for a few years. And if you can afford to market it in the meantime, you stand a better chance all round.

I have to echo bclarkie's sentiment. I received a G1 & G2 of 'near mint' status a while back from T&T. The outside cover could possibly be called that, but the inside was a horror tale. The maps were marked up, one looked like some type of rubber stamp was used, dried condiment residue on a booklet cover, and heavy pencil markings on nearly every page which were so etched in there was no possibility of erasing them. T&T tried replacing them with Silver Anniversary issue at the same price.

Also got an S1 mono where the cover was again as described (VG+), but aside from a couple of pencil marks, was just short of NM otherwise. Does T&T even look at their stuff? Pretty much pot luck when buying. Might make out just fine, might be crap.

No more for me.

Rather than repeatedly quote, I'm going to echo everything that's been said here. Basically, if you are willing to do a little waiting and a little detective work, you will always be able to buy something cheaper than T&T has it listed for. When you are buying from T&T, you are paying a very large convenience price, which you can forgo merely by being a Ebay hound and keep your eyes (and wallet) open.

The stock photos for $1000+ items is what really drive me crazy. How hard is it to scan those items by themselves?  As Malc said I firmly believe T&T doesn't really intend to sell them, they are used as high price gee-gaws to get the rubes in the door and looking at the pretty objects.

Mike B.

Eruantien wrote:Yeah, and probably to help drive prices up themselves.  Thanks for the input all.

It's very hard for a single seller to drive prices up. Particularily if they are not actually selling the product. The market inevitably finds it's own equilibrium. I don't disagree that with Cougie buying up H1's there may over time have been a drift up in the value of that product, but he was buying them all up for years to achieve that, and that was his action as a buyer not a seller. Now if T&T were running around buying up all rare tourneys at $3K a pop, and maintained that for years, I have no doubt the percieved value of the product would go up. But their current actions as a seller have no bearing on the eBay market that I can see.