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Investment Graded VHS ?!?
https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=10742		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  admin [ 24 Jan 2023, 08:39 ]
Post subject:  Investment Graded VHS ?!?
OK... I'm super confused as how people brains operate internally.

I got a email request asking me if there was "grading service" for sealed laserdiscs...

I had honestly no clue what it even meant. Had to google it and check eBay.

"VHS grading" seems to cost anywhere from $100 to $300.

Why would anyone in his/her right mind pay hundreds of $$$ to have a sealed VHS (the type that was mass-produced in the millions and must exist as old new stock all over the world) "graded", encased and slapped with various stickers?

Are people crazy?

I would think the smart guy is the company providing the grading... that costs real money.
But hoping to sell your "graded" T2 or Goonies VHS for $1,000? Unlikely.

This guy has the same understanding => https://digitalconverters.co.uk/blog/should-i-grade-my-vhs-tapes

Julien
Author:  rcarlson [ 24 Jan 2023, 14:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
You only need to find one crazy person per tape (assuming you're not just laundrering money) to cash in, so the good news is that this doesn't mean people at large are crazy. The other side to this isn't craziness but old-fashioned speculation: "The price of [thing] is going up, so I'll buy it and sell it again before the price falls." The thing can be literally anything. All you need are a few hucksters to get in bid wars with their own alt accounts to make the illusion of a collectable on the rise to get some suckers in on the game.

So we've got a few crazy people, a few frauds, and a few more speculator suckers but still not many. In general, people don't go in for this nonsense.

And anyway, most of us here understand that a sealed disc or tape is less desirable than one that's been verified in a player.
Author:  teddanson [ 24 Jan 2023, 15:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
Pay a premium for a sealed (technically perishable) item that's been laying dormant for 10 to 40+ years and may be broken, moldy, rotten or just plain not working? No thanks.

As for 'grading' physical media. What are they grading? The box? The cover condition? Shelf wear?

Pricing an item based on rarity, but which is also tested and 100% proven to be working is a different matter. 'Grading' an unopened item that could be in bits is just lunacy. People want their heads checking.
Author:  rein-o [ 24 Jan 2023, 16:14 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
Why would anyone in his/her right mind pay hundreds of $$$ to own a LD that is on DVD or bluray.

Why would anyone pay 300+ for any late release title when its on bluray now for 12 bucks.
Author:  substance [ 24 Jan 2023, 19:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
It probably is a lie. That grading company probably bought that tape for marketing propaganda. They probably paid that website to feature this sale or that website indirectly belongs to them. It is so easy to create a hype with the internet.

It is a stupid idea. First of, grading should cost much more than $300. It would only get you about 2 labor hours to perform all grading work. That’s barely watching the tape from finish to end. The cost should be more like $1,500 for it to be feasible. Who is going to pay that for a VHS?
Author:  admin [ 25 Jan 2023, 02:15 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
substance wrote:
It probably is a lie. That grading company probably bought that tape for marketing propaganda. They probably paid that website to feature this sale or that website indirectly belongs to them. It is so easy to create a hype with the internet.


Read the website article first :-)

The author also thinks it's probably of a scam/fraud with impossible to confirm eBay sales and screenshots of prices he can't confirm.

While he acknowledges that some VHS tapes can be rare and expensive (obscure horror movies, first batch with errors, etc.), "grading" them looks more like pump'n'dump from the grading service companies.

Julien
Author:  admin [ 25 Jan 2023, 02:38 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
rein-o wrote:
Why would anyone in his/her right mind pay hundreds of $$$ to own a LD that is on DVD or bluray.


We're talking thousands $$$ level of insanity here, exponentially more than the most expensive LDs... check eBay listings!

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=vhs+graded&_sop=16

(that's the asking price)
The Goonies - $75,000
The Natural - $50,000
UFC1 the beginning - $50,000
Rookie of the year - $25,000
Ferris Bueller's Day Off - $25,000
Rocky - $23,000
Karate Kid - $22,000
GI Joe - $22,000
Last Starfighter - $22,000
Stand by Me - $20,000

Of course they won't sell but each "grading case" made the grading service at least $100 richer.

("Sold" removing best offers because we don't know what the final price was)

Jaws - $6,100
Jaws - $5,600
Jaws - $4,638
First Blood - $2,250
The Super Bowl Shuffle - $1,450
Akira - $1,350
Rocky - $1,325
Karate Kid - $1,225
Star Wars - $980
The Goonies - $888
Street Fighter - $799
Big - $548
Jurassic Park - $500

Now watch this (rather funny) video analysis:



=> They sold their "for fun" copy for charity at $80,600?

"Graded Laserdisc" doesn't find anything, there is still hope in humanity :-)

Julien
Author:  therussian [ 25 Jan 2023, 13:25 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
This is the same crap as grading video games. If I am buying one to eventually play it not look at the damn box incased in plastic.
Author:  fullspectrum2000 [ 17 Feb 2023, 12:11 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
I would put money on a sealed VHS working, not a sealed LD tho.
Author:  confederate [ 25 Feb 2023, 11:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
I was watching a documentary on Japanese trading cards on NHK World today. Crazy what some of these cards go for. Some are worth millions. Crazy. And the grading
business most certainly contributed to it.
Author:  takeshi666 [ 25 Feb 2023, 14:28 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
I saw this link posted someplace else and I thought about making a thread about it, but I guess it'll fit right in this one.

https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/east-amherst-mans-forty-year-old-time-capsule-reaping-big-rewards

You expect me to believe that out of all the things you could've put in your time capsule, you decided that for some reason Rocky III would be the movie that somehow becomes unavailable in 50 years??? I mean it's not an impossible scenario, but I do find this whole story the guy puts forth rather sketchy.

The sad reality is that there is no organized crime element to any of this, like money laundering; it's merely by the book pump and dump scheme. You get something that is of low value, buy it in bulk, then start artificially hyping it as being valuable through fradulent auction sales - a lot of those insane prices people have paid have, in fact, been paid by the person selling them, meaning no money actually changed hands - just to create the impression of these items going for absurd amounts of money, and outlandish story pitches to newspaper who will of course carry these stories because it's not like any of them know any better.

All to lure suckers hoping to get rich quick buying their literally overpriced crap.
Author:  gypsy [ 25 Feb 2023, 17:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
admin wrote:
I would think the smart guy is the company providing the grading... that costs real money.


Yes.

I don't know how much of this has been fabricated but we saw the whole video game situation with WATA and Heritage auctions awhile back. There was some shady stuff there but certainly there were some actual speculator investors involved that have now lost their lunch (the market crashed hard, for anyone that hasn't been following).

What a lot of people don't realize is WATA made a ton of money by getting regular people to believe that game grading is a valuable service. The same company that recently graded one of the most common bootlegs of all time as authentic. They finally released population reports awhile back. 895 people have graded a copy of GTA: San Andreas for PS2. If you properly declare the value of the game at the lowest amount ($0-99 tier), are okay with a 2 month turn around (which they won't meet but that's another discussion) and have ZERO add-on services (of which there are many) this will run you $50. Prices start going up when you declare games above $1,000 in value (hence trying to inflate the market with speculation being valuable to them).

I haven't looked into the VHS stuff as much because it's not something I am interested in but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some malevolent forces at work.

Edit: The linked article is rather interesting. He's right in that there is basically no actual proof that people bought any of these. I get that plenty of buyers would want to be private but to not find anything at all? Very interesting.
Author:  elahrairrah [ 25 Feb 2023, 18:50 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
So it begins . . .

Image
Author:  substance [ 25 Feb 2023, 19:42 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
How can I get my digital copies graded? I want them to certify the bits.
Author:  therussian [ 25 Feb 2023, 21:20 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
elahrairrah wrote:
So it begins . . .

Image


Oh hell no.
Author:  rein-o [ 25 Feb 2023, 23:19 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
Well at least its something rare to start with like Diehard, wonder if Heritage will get in on this now.
Author:  admin [ 26 Feb 2023, 05:35 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
elahrairrah wrote:
So it begins . . .


:crazy:

Julien
Author:  takeshi666 [ 27 Feb 2023, 10:51 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
Where's the facepalm emoji when you need it?
Author:  teddanson [ 27 Feb 2023, 19:21 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
No thanks.
Author:  takeshi666 [ 02 Mar 2023, 05:05 ]
Post subject:  Re: Investment Graded VHS ?!?
Here's another one. The fact that it used to be owned by a cast member makes it at least a little bit more palatable, but come on, couldn't you at least sign the f'ing thing first??

https://hypebeast.com/2022/6/sealed-vhs ... bttf-video
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