I've been looking around for a few titles this year and everything seams to be going up. Tenchi Universe box sets that used to go for $15 or $20 seam to be going for $20 - $25 and Babylon 5 discs that I used to buy for $5 a pop are impossible to get for less than $10 now. I've also been selling a big lot of discs that I picked up and the titles are going for more than I thought they would. There seams to be less of everything I want right now too. Will prices keep going up? I think I should finish collecting my choices in anime and sci fi before it's too late!

I agree with you on pricing. There is a upward trend for most of the rarer titles and since oil prices have also soared shipping is also more expensive.

I'm just glad I bought most of the titles I really wanted as early as possible because:
a) many rarely turn up now
b) if they do turn up they are far more expensive than they were back in 2006

I doubt if I could afford to assemble the collection I have now if I was to start all over again and I know many of the titles are literally impossible to find even at any price.

I will play the devil's advocate. Maybe there is less LD's selling or demand so the market has fallen off. In reaction many sellers have left the marketplace due to the fact that they don't have pricing power and lack of demand.
Hence, since the pullback of sellers, these sellers are more patient in asking a higher price to move their merchandise, unwilling to allow bidders to control the price.

On another note, as rare as it is to find a title I am willing to buy, when it does come to the market at a minimal price, I am noticing no competition in bidding and often score the title dirt cheap. You just have to be patient.

i sort of agree with both.
many titles are are rare that i don't have, when they do come up there are very few bidders and i get it for the
starting price.

but then again some of the rare titles that i do own are almost impossible to find now in any condition.
i think one of the factors is that the format is older now that back in 2004-2007 and people don't
look for them as much to sell on the secondary market.

i know i don't, i used to sell discs but now only have a few for sale or i'll sell ones in my collection but have
to watch them first and want high prices for them.

I think were also starting to come to a point in which many discs have now reached people who are not going to let go of them anytime soon. The "Die hards" such as the people on this website have acquired collections that they have decided to keep no matter what else gets invented. I think that in the last 10 years alot of people where unsure whether or not they wanted to keep their collections, due to the rises and falls of the collectors market, the ressurection of Vinyl, and of course the creation of blue ray. I think that we've just gotten to the point now in which discs arn't changing hands as much.

The other possibility is that values were insanely low a few years ago, lower than they ever should have been.

I think it all depends on exactly what titles you are talking about. There are all sorts of different kinds of LD collectors. Sometimes when a long time LD-only title hits DVD the value drops because now people can see it. This only effects the people who actually WATCH stuff though. Then you have this wave of people who only started collecting LD a decade after it went extinct. Those people have their own idea of what makes a disc "must have".

And then there is eBay, which is basically an inflation machine. Ever since they got rid of insertion fees people have been posting auctions/BINs at prices that are outright stupid just because there is no reason for them not to.

All valid points made.

I think speculators who may have bought up the last big supplies of rare titles before they vanished completely have probably sold their most prized titles by now.
I remember Ebay was flooded with copies of certain music titles 5 years ago and now not one anywhere.
Also I remember asking key sellers in Japan to provide certain titles back in 2006 none of which are now available. So availability is a major factor.
I'm sure some of those speculators are probably kicking themselves for selling too early as titles that would have fetched $50-100+ are now going for $500-1000+

It is definitely a seller's market at the moment for anyone who held onto their most prized discs as there isn't as much seller competition.
Also for 'die hard' collectors who want to plug those last few remaining gaps in their collection price may not even be a factor.
I've been offered vast sums beyond my imagination for some titles in my collection by a few very keen collectors but as I had only 1 copy I turned
those offers down as I am a collector myself first and foremost.

I think it depends alot what you collect. With movies when DVD and Blue-ray were out people were selling their LD's cheap to jump to the new format. Those that waited to see first, finding out some are cut/altered from the LD edition, are now hanging on to their LD's to have the original.

With the Scenery discs I collect, most of them were only released Japan some maybe limited quanities, (especially the ones from Hi-Vision sources) and no chance of a DVD or Blue-ray of them. So when you see one you pay the price and hang on to the LD. I have some I wouldn't sell for any price, because finding another one would be next to impossible.