There have been a lot of collectables that have seen their value raised in the last couple of years. In part thanks to the pandemic, scalpers and streamers. This ebb and flow happens. Recently market manipulation has become more aggressive with artificial prices of items being jacked up to dictate the market in the case of VHS.
The market has fluctuated especially in card games like Pokemon because of streamers dishing out millions to buy cards. It has made that market skyrocket, that is until the popularity goes down again, and stabilises that market cap. Due to mass production of newer card sets the value of the cards has come down dramatically because they just aren’t as rare as they once were.
Don’t get me wrong, but physical media is great and of value in most sectors. VHS however could not be more dated. VHS was met with so many detrimental values from its release. The tape shows deterioration the more the tape is played, tapes easily build up mould if not kept right. VHS are completely obsolete to DVD, Blu-rays and digital streaming in quality. I can see why there could be a market for Laser Discs since they were an in-between of VHS and DVD, besides they looked like vinyl records.
Red Letter Media has made a sincerely funny statement exposing what has become a joke with VHS prices of late in their newest video.
Red Letter Media took a terrible film they collected, destroying all but one, and putting it on auction with a starting price of $500. Not only has Red Letter Media made a joke out of this experiment. The VHS Nukie is currently sitting at $77,900 at auction with five more days to go. Already it is the highest selling VHS, and that certainly has to be more than the production costs for that terrible movie. The final sale will be donated to two charities, showing some good can come from this preposterous VHS market.
Overall nothing will come of this marketplace, yet it’s interesting to watch. I wouldn’t jump into buying and selling collectables in such a fragile market. Even Lego resellers get burned holding onto products for too long as Lego sometimes resells a similar set later that is even better making the old one irrelevant.
It’s fascinating to watch, don’t you think?
UPDATE: Nukie sold for $80,600 (WOW)
Robert Ring
KissTheGames 