What do you think Harbour Lights would be worth today if it were not for ebay?

1. Do you think HL limited editions would be going for the same price as in 1998?

2. Do you think there would have been no significant change compared to where they are today?

3. Do you think HL collectables would be allot more valuable today. Maybe twice or even three times what they went for in 1998

4. Why?

I think that the limited editions would be holding at least their 1998 retail value if not for Ebay. This is in spite of the over production and GLOWS figuring in. The demise in lighthouse collecting and continued decline in lighthouse interests in general would have basically kept prices down even without Ebay playing a factor.

I think that not only Ebay, but overproduction and GLOWS, destroyed the value of Harbour Lights limited editions. I don't think that the values overall will ever return to even the suggested retail prices. The interest in lighthouses has come and gone except for the true collector. The buy-them-now and sell-them-later-for-a-profit concept went the way of Ebay while the overproduction and GLOWS went hand in hand with Ebay to destroy the collectible value of 80% to 90% of the limited editions.

Ebay is not the bad guy in this situation. Harbour lights, thier dealers and greedy collectors have more culpability in this than ebay does.

The over production by HL spurred on by it's dealers and fueled by those who bought up multiple numbers of each issue for pure speculation caused the downfall in the value of HL.

EBay is just a mirror and a barometer of what is out there. Yes, individual auctions can be out of whack but generally speaking the prices in a market a set by outside pressures not the physical market place itself.

The value went down because HL flooded the market at the wrong time and did not correct it's mistakes quickly enough. the amount of items out there on dealers shelves became untenable for them to hold onto and they dumped them en masse into the market- Ebay- whiach lowered their value.

An item can only go up in value if there are more people chasing less items- not the other way around.

Ebay is not the villian here.

Dennis

... hear hear ...

Ebay can only fascilitate what people want to do. So - if there is a villan - it is, like Dennis said, the greedy folk that always wanted more

1. Do you think HL limited editions would be going for the same price as in 1998?
No, they should have improved, had the market not been flooded with too many

2. Do you think there would have been no significant change compared to where they are today?
No, without the flooding the price would have improved

3. Do you think HL collectables would be allot more valuable today. Maybe twice or even three times what they went for in 1998
Yes, without the flooding

4. Why?
I think if Limited Editions would have been issued in smaller numbers, they would have and will improve their value in time. And that goes for each issue as well as for the number of issues.

Personally I think there could be room fdr a multi-pronged approach.

1 Limited Editions, few in number and high in price/value

2 GLOW like editions, lower in value and price to make them more affordable for the folks that can't keep up with the expensive ones

3 OF COURSE the LLOMs....

... just my opinion ...

1. Do you think HL limited editions would be going for the same price as in 1998?
No
2. Do you think there would have been no significant change compared to where they are today?
No
3. Do you think HL collectables would be allot more valuable today. Maybe twice or even three times what they went for in 1998
No
4. Why?
Ebay is not the problem, it's the economy since 2000. If the economy was better, Ebay would be a good thing. The whole collectable market is down, not just with Harbour Lights collecting. With money is short supply in our wallets and pocket books due to needing to spend it on living expenses first, we have less to spend on our favorite collectables.
Look at the last election results. I feel voters are most conserned with their current financial state then whats going on in Iraq. Not taken any conserns away from the Iraq situation, just putting a higher priority on our finances.

I think it is a combination of everything. I went to check out the value of my retired Hummels, LLadros and Norman Rockwell. Worthless. I think its Ebay and the fact that most people today dont collect like we did in the past. I collected plates and cant sell them for $2.00. I said before that if you collect you better love them because it is rare to make a profit years latter.

1. All collectibles have suffered as of late. Ebay makes the non-believers easier to do business with. The non-believers are those who feel they must sell their collectibles because the sky is falling. If all collectors refused to fall victim to the hard times the collectible industry is going through, the worth of their collection would be more.

2. The worth of a collectible is only what someone is willing to give you for it. It doesn't matter whether it's 1998 or 2006. Supply and demand effect pricing. I have it and you want it, then you will pay. On the other hand, I have it and really want to get rid of it so I would accept any reasonable offer. Then you must take into consideration the "loss of interest" factor. People lose their motivation to collect and just want whatever they can get for it, and then move on.

3. Once again, your collectibles are only worth what someone is willing to give you for them. Ebay has opened the door for former collectors to dump their collections in a buyer's lap with little effort on the buyers part. A world full of potential buyers is only a click away. In the old days it was a lot more difficult to advertise your collectibles to potential buyers. Ebay has made it easy for sellers to give their collections away, and that's just what many of them have done.

4. Why? Because that's just the way it is in the collectible industry.

:rolleyes: Bob :rolleyes: