I do think that prices on pins are crazy right now, so I agree with everyone who seems to keep posting about the issue. It’s been beat to death around here, BUT.......Why do you really care? (Just trying to put a positive spin on the crazy market.)
Think about it, if you have been in the hobby for a while chances are you have pins already. Didn't these pins also rise in price/value? For example something like a TZ a few years ago, 5 maybe was about 3k or so, now 5-6k right? Well let’s say you sell that pin and make a decent amount of money on it, you can afford to turn around and pick up whatever other pin you want in place of it. A good comparison is the housing market. Obviously pricing has traveled in the opposite direction, and people complain they have lost their ass on their house. On the other hand if they sell the house and take a loss chances are they can go ahead and buy another house, hopefully. When they purchase the new home they will enjoy a depressed price on the new house. It’s a wash really. I can go on and on about the housing market and people who purchased beyond their means, but I won’t.
Now back to pins, one thing that does suck about current pricing is adding to your collection without reducing/selling part of your collection. It can be bit difficult to deal with crazy pricing. I am currently looking to add to the collection and never thought I would be paying 5k and up for any pin, let alone ones I sold years ago for much less. (kicking myself as I am sure many of you are)
Personally I am happy that I have picked a hobby that can help support itself (through sales and trades) and it’s a good thing it does because as well all know this is a very expensive hobby to have. Eventually prices will either come down or level out, but as many have already mentioned, the people that grew up with these games are starting to make serious cash and can afford to just say 5-7k, no problem.
I think we should all be happy that we have a hobby that allows us to purchase games, enjoy them for years and generally get back what we have into them or even make a few bucks. To that I say, EMBRACE the market, enjoy the market and be happy more and more people are getting into the hobby. The larger the market the more that Stern, JJP and others will continue to stay in business as well as the possibility of companies such as Marco, Mad amusements, etc. continuing to supply the market with parts. Maybe if the demand was there back in 98-99 we all would still have Bally.