Hey, I'm sorry, I usually like to keep comments to myself but I have to say something about the AFA that I have been meaning to say.
Now, I haven't taken the time to completely read about what exactly they offer but by what I have read, it is to my understanding that you pay them to have them tell you how good your toy is. Wait, you pay someone a fee + shipping just so that they can explain what condition it is in?
It's understandable that an item like a FF Weequay, an autographed item or something equivalent would need some sort of appraising. I mean, I wouldn't want to pay $300 for a fake. But, I noticed after looking at their site that they advertise very strongly that the value of your figures will rise. Do they mean any figure?
To me, all the AFA appraisal represents is something equivalent to a popular icon like...a Nike swoosh, the Tommy Hilfiger name, heck even the ears of everybody's favorite MOUSE...something slapped on to a product to increase sells. That's fine and dandy when it involves clothing or shoes but action figures? The Star Tours figs are bad enough...even though I have a near complete set. But at least to date, they only charge $5.00 more than regular figs.
One of the only reasons I felt I should bring this up is because in my 2 1/2 years of trading over the internet, I've run across many a collector who despise scalping. I will not go and say that people who use the AFA are scalpers but what the AFA offers seems, to me, something that would be considered a tool for scalping. Not in all cases, of course, but maybe in some.
My questions to you, the collector, is...Do you beleive in this system? Do you feel comfortable knowing that maybe some of your collector buddies do?
I just hope that kind of business stays away from our forums and in ebay where it would probably belong. I know that AFA says they help prevent types of figure fraud but I rather trust the integrity of the collectors. Sure, we've seen some bad apples but for the most part we've all come out ahead.
If I am wrong about the AFA, please point it out to me. I have no problem with being wrong but as of now, the AFA, TO ME, is just a scam, a middle man, a shark. To top it off Toyfare runs it, I couldn't trust anything with their name on it! LMK what you think, thanks!
Now, I haven't taken the time to completely read about what exactly they offer but by what I have read, it is to my understanding that you pay them to have them tell you how good your toy is. Wait, you pay someone a fee + shipping just so that they can explain what condition it is in?
It's understandable that an item like a FF Weequay, an autographed item or something equivalent would need some sort of appraising. I mean, I wouldn't want to pay $300 for a fake. But, I noticed after looking at their site that they advertise very strongly that the value of your figures will rise. Do they mean any figure?
To me, all the AFA appraisal represents is something equivalent to a popular icon like...a Nike swoosh, the Tommy Hilfiger name, heck even the ears of everybody's favorite MOUSE...something slapped on to a product to increase sells. That's fine and dandy when it involves clothing or shoes but action figures? The Star Tours figs are bad enough...even though I have a near complete set. But at least to date, they only charge $5.00 more than regular figs.
One of the only reasons I felt I should bring this up is because in my 2 1/2 years of trading over the internet, I've run across many a collector who despise scalping. I will not go and say that people who use the AFA are scalpers but what the AFA offers seems, to me, something that would be considered a tool for scalping. Not in all cases, of course, but maybe in some.
My questions to you, the collector, is...Do you beleive in this system? Do you feel comfortable knowing that maybe some of your collector buddies do?
I just hope that kind of business stays away from our forums and in ebay where it would probably belong. I know that AFA says they help prevent types of figure fraud but I rather trust the integrity of the collectors. Sure, we've seen some bad apples but for the most part we've all come out ahead.
If I am wrong about the AFA, please point it out to me. I have no problem with being wrong but as of now, the AFA, TO ME, is just a scam, a middle man, a shark. To top it off Toyfare runs it, I couldn't trust anything with their name on it! LMK what you think, thanks!