What's Going On?

     So. What's going on? Absolutely nothing. Monday nights have been really slow the past two weeks and there hasn't been anything to write about. The thought crossed my mind, maybe too many people from the auction house I attend read this blog and are watching us. I put that thought to bed as we haven't really been bidding on much. Don't get me wrong, we have been bidding on, and winning items, just nothing to really write about. You must also know that I wouldn't keep anything from you either. If I lost money on an item I would definitely let you know about it. Why? Because this blog is supposed to be informative and educational. You are to learn from my successes as well as my failures.

     Well, what should I talk to you about? How about one of the best scores I have ever had. This is the story of the best action figure boxlot I have ever won.

     Don had a double booth on a Monday Night that would still make me drool to this day. Boxlots of still on the card action figures. I wanted just about every box in the booth. As you already know, toys are my specialty, however, action figures, they are my outright favorite thing to deal in. I can honestly say that I know just about everything I need to know when it comes to action figures, especially figures from the 1980's. If I let you win a boxlot of GI Joes or He-Man figures, it is because it is no longer worth my time and effort to try and resell them for a profit.

     The boxlots in this booth ranged all over the board. There were Star Wars figures, X-Men figures, Alien figures, McFarlane figures, and Star Trek figures, all from the 1990's. Then there was my box. What was in it you ask? Slow down, we'll get there.

      Don, being a smart auctioneer, decided to choice out all of the boxes of action figures. This tactic would surely net the highest price for each box. And so it began. Bids were flying in from all areas surrounding the booth. People that I have never seen bid on toys before were throwing up their hands. I silently cursed as the first round of bidding was over. $95 for first choice. Wave good-bye to the box with about twenty-eight X-Men figures. I valued that box at around $115(meaning once all was said and done, I thought I could sell the contents for $115), so I figured my night was over because everyone was going to overpay. Bidding starts again, there goes the $45 Star Wars lot for $50, see you later $30 Star Trek box for $27.50.  Frustrated and a little put off, I finally win a box for $10 and laugh at everyone around me and say "thanks for letting me have the best one for $10." I was joking, partly. I thought I could off the box for $40, so in fact it was still the best potential for profit margin at the prices I saw everything else sell for.

     When I got home I started sorting my new box of action figures. There were about fifteen total. They were less mainstream as the other boxes so that is why I got them so cheap. There were some Cadillacs and Dinosaurs figures, there were some BOTS Masters figures, and some VR Troopers figures. Nothing big right? Well at the bottom laid these two guys:

     Don't be fooled by the price tag. I actually love the fact that the price tag is still on them, it actually tells part of their history. Remember Mighty Morphin Power Rangers? Of course you do, they are still on TV. Well, VR Troopers, also made by Saban, piggybacked on the success of MMPR. It was basically the same show. Cheesy fights with the same enemies where JB Reese, Ryan Steele, and Kaitlin Star always won by the end. It was popular enough to launch a toy line. First came the regular action figures. They did so well that they released Deluxe Editions. Then, right at the time of the Virtual Armor release, the popularity of both the show and the action figures fizzled out. You guessed it! Clearance those figures out of the store. In conjunction with all of the circumstances, not many of the Virtual Armor figures were even made. What you see pictured above are two of the RAREST action figures of the 1990's.

     I sold each figure for $150 a piece. $300 for just two of my figures. Once all was said and done, the VR Troopers figures sold for around $400 because this guy was hanging around in there too.

     Air Striker was the rarest of the villains and was produced in a limited run.

     The Cadillacs and Dinosaurs figures ended at about $40 and to this day I still own the BOTS Masters figures. Not because they are good or anything. I just have never sold them.

     I ended up being right. It was a poor attempt at a joke but it rang true. I did buy the best box of action figures. It was probably the best box of action figures to ever go through the Harris Brothers Auction House on a Monday Night.

     I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope even more that the next few Monday nights are eventful to say the least. Keep Your Eyes Open!

Annoucements

     The New Year is always supposed to bring change. Well, this blog will be no stranger to that theme. I have decided to make a few changes.

     First off, I will no longer be writing a 'this is what we bought, lets see what it sells for' type of post. From here on out, it will be more like my last article Six Million Dollar Monday where I tell you what I bought and what I think it will sell for, kind of like American Pickers, or, the item may have already sold. I will tell you the history behind the item and provide a link so you can see what it sold for. Why am I doing this? Well, the update articles are boring, and really, based on views, no one cares about them. The positive feedback that I have received has been all about the first post, never the follow up. I will always provide a link to my eBay store though so you can see for yourself how I am doing.

     Second, without writing a single post, I am scrapping the Auction Experiment. This was going to be an ongoing experiment throughout the year where I initially would spend $10 and see where I would end up by Decemeber 31st. The reasoning behind this was quite simple actually. This whole idea would compete with myself. Did I buy enough for the experiment? Did I buy this for me? And by March, say I was at $200, I wouldn't even buy that much on a Monday Night. So, instead of this I decided to keep a running tally. At the end of each post, I will have this for the items bought in 2013 only. Money Invested: $X. Money Received: $Y. This will kind of be the same idea so I hope you aren't dissapointed.

     That is actually it for the changes. But since I have been wanting to do this for a while and never really had a good place to do it, here I go. Meet your Harris Brothers Auctioneers!

     This is where 99.9% of all auctions I attend take place so why not put a face to the auctioneer. This way from here on out I can call them by name instead of 'the auctioneer.'

    
  This is Don, owner of the Harris Brothers Auction House. A bunch of my purchases come from Don's row on Monday Night as he usually has the best 'stuff.'

     This is Gary. His specialty is Glass, Pottery, and Postcards. Very entertaining to watch!

     This is Brent, or Redbeard. He is a really good auctioneer and he does his absolute best for his consigners. He also operates his own collectible shop in Flushing, Michigan.

     There, now you can picture faces from here on out and I can type Don, Brent, or Gary instead of the auctioneer. I hope everyone that has been reading likes my plans and the changes I am making. Until next time, Keep Your Eyes Open.

Six Million Dollar Monday

     Now this does not happen every Monday. If you have been reading this blog, you know this to be true. 'What is it?' you say. Your answer, finding something so awesome you want to keep it for yourself. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You are thinking that it is very possible to find things every week, that if you were a collector, you would be happy to add to your collection. Not so, especially when you see the amount of 'stuff' I see. You are also wondering if I am ever going to get to the point. I am.

     This last Monday, January 7th, Andrea and I bid on, and won an entire collection of The Six Million Dollar Man action figures. In all honesty, this line of action figures shows up at least once a month, and by that I mean Steve Austin with his bionic eye. NOT what you are about to see however. This post will be picture heavy, and a little different in the fact that I will not be listing these pieces auction style on eBay, but rather a fixed price in my "store." That way you will see a projected profit and not have to look for an update. You can actually just click teen_titan_fan and look at 'sold listings' if you'd like to.

     When Andrea and I walked into the Auction House on Monday, we did what we always do, go right to Don's booth number one. Sitting underneath a table was a giant box of Six Million Dollar Man stuff. I was drawn to it immediately but then kind of passed it off as it looked like the normal stuff I see, Steve Austin and his outfit and what looked like pieces and parts of a playset. After looking around the rest of the booths Andrea came up to me. She simply said 'did you see the gold mine in booth one?' I answered correctly mentioning the Six Million Dollar Man box. She said 'I have a real good feeling about it, did you see everything?' I replied saying that I didn't really go over it with a fine tooth comb but I have learned to trust her gut and we simply agreed that it was a very good box and to take a chance on it. We agreed on a price and decided she would be the bidder, which is best, because when I get excited about bidding on something I get a nervous stomach.

     I was off at another booth trying to win a different item when I looked down the aisle and saw Andrea walking toward me. She was coming right at me empty handed with a look of indifference on her face. I was deflated. When she got right next to me she didn't say a word, she didn't have to, I knew the outcome, someone else wanted it more. So finally I asked 'didn't get it eh?' She sheepishly replied 'Are you kidding me? Of course I won. That box is too heavy!' I was happy. I asked what she ended up having to pay and she told me -----. You'll have to wait to the end for that.

     The Six Million Dollar Man was a television series that aired on ABC from 1974 to 1978. It turned Lee Majors into a 1970's icon as he played Astronaut Steve Austin. Steve Austin suffered injuries in an accident and had limbs and an eye replaced with cybernetic implants in a surgery that would supposedly cost six million dollars, hence the title. These robot replacements gave Steve Austin superhuman strength as he worked for the goverment agency that performed the surgery, the OSI or Office of Scientific Itelligence.

      In 1975, Kenner released the Six Million Dollar Man toy line featuring Steve Austin, his boss Oscar Goldman, and his arch-nemesis Maskatron. This line of toys ended up being a huge success for Kenner competing quite nicely with Hasbro's GI Joe Adventure Team.

     The Six Million Dollar Man himself, Steve Austin. This is the second edition version of him complete with outfit, shoes, and engine block. The way you can tell this is a second edition figure is because his left arm is detachable. Estimated Value $39.99.

     This is Oscar Goldman, the boss of Steve Austin. The only thing he is missing is one or two small files from his folder. Estimated Value $69.99.

     This action figure is the arch-nemisis of Steve Austin, Maskatron. As you can see from the picture he is only missing socks, however, he has a TON of extra pieces. There is a whole extra set of faces, bionic arms, head, arm, and leg. Estimated Value(including the extras) $110.

     This is the Mission to Mars outfit for Steve Austin. Not much to say except for it is complete! Estimated Value $21.99.

     This is the Test Flight at 75,000 Feet outfit for Steve Austin. It is 100% complete with the very hard to find goggles. Yes, all of this was in one big box and I am not even close to being done. Estimated Value $21.99.

     This is the OSI Undercover outfit for Steve Austin. It is probably the outfit with the less flare. It is complete. Estimated Value $21.99.

     This is the Mission Control Center. It has a vinyl playmat that you set the cardboard control center on top of. You then put the blow up dome over top of that. It is a pretty lame toy with huge design flaws. Still, this example you see is 100% complete and still desired by collectors. Estimated Value $39.99.

     This playset is the Bionic Transport and Repair Station. You could use it as a rocket to transport Steve Austin around or fold it out and use it to 'repair' Steve Austin. Estimated Value $24.99.

     You are now looking at the OSI Headquarters playset. It is complete except for two black clips that you place at the edge of the cardboard. I was a kid once, as I hope we all were, and I just can't believe cardboard playsets survived the wear and tear kids put on thier toys. Estimated Value $49.99.

     I hope you are still with me. This is the Bionic Mission Vehicle. It is actually 100% complete minus the lid of the depleted uranium case(not pictured). Estimated Value $29.99.

     Yes, once again, that was all in one giant box. I hope you looked at everything because you could quite literally use this blog entry as a guide to most items made for the Six Million Dollar Man toy line. If you added everything up that came to a total of $430.91. Keep in mind, this is still not everything that was in the box. I already felt like this post was too long and to add anymore I think everyone would have lost interest.

     Oh yes, you are all now wondering how much we paid for this box. I actually estimated that it would sell on Monday Night for $80 to $100. Remember that it was all jumbled up and no one there, including me, knew that almost everything was complete. Well, we set our limit at $80. We won it for $75.

     Remember to check my eBay store to see this wonderful collection that I would love to keep. This is just one more instance to remember that, when you're looking at what looks like a jumbled mess of toys, you need to Keep Your Eyes Open!

    

Update - Other Things!

     Well, it's that time again, that time where we find out if Andrea and I were on our game or fell flat on our faces. Overall, I would say we did a decent job. There were no out of the park home runs but we made money on a very limited time constraint due to my blunder.

     If you have been following along you know that Andrea bought both items that night. Her first purchase was a near mint Skipper Doll. She paid $10 for the doll and it finished at a very nice $35. Any time you can finish at three and a half times your money means you made a GREAT buy.

     Next was the XBox 360 game, Final Fantasy XI. I took a gamble letting Laura get the first choice and then scooping up the game for $5. Well, Final Fantasy ended at a very strong $33.79. Almost seven and a half times the purchase price.

     We spent $15 and had to leave the Auction early. We still came out ahead at a profit margin of $53.79. Not bad at all in my book.

     The next thing I need to update is the Motorola Walkie Talkies. We purchased the boxlot that contained them for $16. The two walkie talkies sold for a total of $46.50. That is a $30.50 profit from just two things from the box!

     If you have been following this blog since the beginning I bought a boxlot just for the Monster High Dolls that was in it. I paid $15 for the box. I promised an update on that purchase when I relisted them in the correct category. Well, they did sell the week before Christmas. One sold for $27 and the other for $9.99. Not what I expected but a profit nonetheless.

     For everyone's information, today, Monday, January 7th was the first purchase for the 2013 Auction Experiment. What was it? You'll have to keep checking back to find out.

     

Other Things!

     First and foremost, Happy New Year to everyone and I hope your holiday season went well.

    Monday, December 17th, was a very slow day for Andrea and I. We had to leave the auction earlier due to an oversight that was completely my fault. If you must know, and I know deep down you really want to, plus I could never leave you wondering 'what on Earth did he do?!?!', I forgot to pack diapers for my son. Anyway, we walked out after being there about an hour with two items, both of which were Andrea's purchases.

     The first thing she bought was a doll. I mean, it wasn't just any doll, it was Barbie's kid sister, Skipper.

     Skipper was released in 1964 as Barbie's little sister. Mattel introduced her so that Barbie would 'have kids' without ever being pregnant. It was the 1960's, so having a child without being married would have sent the wrong message to little girls. It truly is fun learning about this kind of stuff. Just seeing the effect that society has on the release of certain toys is amazing.
     I always like when there is a good story to go along with how we win our items. Unfortunately, there is no story here. Andrea bid $10 and won her. Follow her on eBay:
Skipper

     This next item is a little out of our realm of expertise. One booth had a stack of about a dozen XBox 360 games. We are not out of the loop by any means and we know about all the popular titles of games.  In this stack was Call of Duty, Lego Batman, and Final Fantasy XI. Well, while Andrea was bidding on Skipper I ended up winning:

     I really don't have a wonderful history lesson for you here except that Final Fantasy has been a major title in gaming since I was a kid.

     Now I actually have a small story here. As I figured, the consigner decided to choice out the games. The bid started at $5 which is a decent opener for games like this on a Monday night. The bid stalled at $8 and I had to roll my eyes as I saw the high bidder. Laura. I bump heads with this woman ALL the time. Here's the deal though, she HATES losing, and she hates losing to me even more. Well, I ran her up to $14 and let her take first choice. She ended up taking Call of Duty and Lego Batman. My gamble had payed off. While she took two titles of note she still payed almost what they sell for online AND left me the gem. The best title there! When bidding started again I won the bid at $5. So, to recap, not only did I pick up what I think is the best game on the table, I pay way less than what I was willing to. Well, lets see if my gamble truly did pay off:
Final Fantasy

     I told everyone in my last post that Andrea and I attended a special Thursday night auction on December 20th. While I haven't caught completely up due to the holidays, I did list three items from that auction, two of which are the same thing. This right here:

     What? Who uses walkie talkies anymore? We have smart phones and texting. This is why it pays to have a secret weapon. Andrea(once again) said these were good. I mean, when I visit my dad on Drummond Island, my cellphone is worthless. I believed her, and we bought a boxlot that contained these two two-way radios for $16. There was a lot of other stuff with them so I can't wait to see what the grand total will be, but you can follow these here and here.

     Every week I learn that you have to branch out. You have to be open to other things. If you stick with only one product, such as toys, you limit yourself. In other words, you have to Keep Your Eyes Open!