It seems to me some sellers are driving the prices of laserdiscs to be artificially high.

It is normal for there to be an incremental price increase in the value of a rare title over time particularly as supplies start to dwindle but recently it seems we have gone from a title selling for say $200 to the next copy being listed for $2000+ and that is a conservative example! Am I missing something? There seems to be no logical reason for such a massive hike in price other than greed.

I cannot help but think the laserdisc market is heading for one of the most spectacular boom - bust cycles ever witnessed.
People could end up spending tens of thousands for a few platters of acrylic only to find they are worth diddly squat!

Am I alone in this thinking?

Yes and no. The rare discs where there werent a lot of pressings will always be in high demand. If there are 500 people that want it and only 250 inexistence you will have people that want the disc for the next decade or two until people start dying off, lol. It would be the same analogy as superman 1, there will always be a market for the thing. As to real estate it was a suckers market. People were getting loans that had no reason getting one. As to the yes part, some discs are not as rare as people think and if they push those up then it could correct itself.

crazy

I consider myself a die-hard laserdisc collector yet even I would draw the line at some of the recent pricing I have seen.
The discrepancy in pricing between some sellers is massive - as much as 10 times.
I picked up a disc for $29 USD the other day that was listed on Ebay and also LDDB for $350.

Possibly a good time for folks to list any duplicates of these crazy titles at more realistic prices and they will sell super fast.
You will get far more than the price you thought you were going to get originally and you will not have to wait 10 years to sell it....likely 10 mins if LDDB.com is anything to go by!

i recently picked up a collection of records from an old man i met at a thrift store, he may have been old, and he didn't know much about ebay, but he wanted his money's worth! He kept showing me listings for his records on ebay and it took me 10 minutes to explain to him the difference between auctions and buy it nows!

Nope,
This is a collectible item out of production.
It is not about whether it is out on other formats, it is the fact that we are taking about late release LaserDiscs that are out of production until further notice.
People currently like to collect these plastic and aluminium platters whether for $1.00 or for over $500.00........
Price is not an object if one feels strongly enough about what is being purchased.
VALUE IS SUBJECTIVE TO EVERYONE.
I will eat crow if late Japanese Releases start being passed by at 0.99 at auction with no bidders.......
If people have an issue with dealers asking high prices, then ignore them.
Just wait till they are offered in a lot or in a sleeper auction that does not go above $ 4.00 or so.
Would not hold my breath on that score though......
Titan A.E. Thread indirectly addresses this query as well if inclined to check it out......
More of a concern to me is that gas is nearly $4.00 a gallon and summers not even here.
Seems like we are getting greased to get stuck with up to $5.00 a gallon if not more......
Property market was an artificial bubble created by lenders greedy practices preying on people that could not afford the loans they were granted..........
LaserDisc market is in no way a parallel ......
Thanks for the thread everyone !

Well Said

I accept the points about out of production late releases being more collectible and value being subjective etc.
Believe me I want them to retain their value as I have a large collection myself and if those prices are anything to go I am already a millionaire!!

The bit no one has given any explanation for is why the sudden overnight rise for a title from say $200 to $2000 or from $450 to $2000.
Nothing goes up in price that sharply - least of all something obscure like a laserdisc where you could count the number of people still collecting the discs worldwide by listing all the members on this forum!

I agree with you. I think everyone understands that there is a limited supply, value is subjective, etc. That doesn't mean that all of the sudden any asking price is justified, especially when out of the blue it is quadruple what the previous selling prices were.

However I can't think of too many other examples where there might literally only be 1 product for sale at a given moment and likely for the next X months to years. That's a seller's dream and I think they're taking advantage of that.

I have many music laserdisc titles which appear to be the only ones listed for sale in the world and music lovers have noticed that.
Yet that doesn't mean I stick the price up to $4000 per disc.
In fact I was considering reducing the prices on my entire stock as I believe the whole laserdisc market is overpriced.

I look at certain dealers for prices, Laugh a little, usually cut the price in half, check to see if it is still a silly price, and add best offer to it. Usually works out good, you would not believe how many discs sell from between 9 and 15 dollars. They are my bread and butter as well as cake and frosting. Now if I can keep them from getting rained on. Moved to a new house, didnt know where the wet spot was, conveniently set a box of laserdiscs right under it and poof, 100 or so discs gone from the world. Made me cry.

That is a perfectly valid strategy if you can buy locally or in big lots on Ebay. I know the media shipping in the US is great value for bulky parcels. In the UK there really is no chance of me getting discs so cheaply. Since most of the music titles I am after come from the US or Japan the shipping adds another $20 USD per disc even if the disc was $1! It is not helped by some US Ebay sellers charging $27 for shipping 1 LD when the actual cost on the parcel says $14! There are frequently handling fees, commission fees and import duty to pay as well which really adds to the total cost.

So any idea of selling a $1 music title at $9 when it probably cost $40 to buy makes it uneconomic to deal with.
I therefore only stock the more valuable ones which are highly sought after since I would be operating at a permanent loss selling $10 LDs. It would be commercial suicide!

I read you ucfmatt, however depending on how bad a dealer wishes to sell, they may list at any price they can imagine.
Sometimes economics bring a buyers market or sometimes a dealers.
As far as I can ascertain we have both considering the mentioned examples of high tag and myriad low tag listings.

Maybe we are turning the corner on the good ole' days of lots and rock bottom prices.
Not there yet mind you but the LaserDisc bumper harvest will dwindle over time when,and if,demand for common titles goes away.
Now this is pure speculation, we are 10 + years out from format termination,so it is anyone's guess as to how long we will enjoy the flooding of LD's we see now.
One thing is for certain, if you want any late 1999,2000,or 2001 listings be prepared to dig deep unless you find someone who is not in the "know" about what they are selling.

I have seen collectors in the antique realm ask way over the reasonable price because they are not ready to part with an item unless some one really lights their fire by paying the high asking price.
Most were quite happy with their "museum" if no takers bit at the inflated prices.....

Nothing new under the sun here kids.

It is likely that when there is pressure to sell,for whatever reason,that prices come more down to earth.
So I see no reason to get excited or overly concerned about a few higher then normal title listings.
"This too shall Pass".
The market always corrects itself, the world of LaserDiscs is no exception....

Thanks again for this thread everyone !!!

Ironically, I charge at 2lbs because my discs come in at right around 1lb 7 or 8 ounces which is 16.75 or so. I get paid like 18 dollars for the 2lbs, but then I insure everything leaving the US regardless of price and that is another 79 cents, I usually just throw that in. I can however ship 2 single discs for the same price as 1 disc usually, which is pretty funny. Confused yet, lol. Oh, my personal supplies at maybe another 80 cents. I have it down to an artform!