The AW #233 auctions may have been fun to talk about last week, but they aren’t as much fun to review this week.
The first auction did not sell. I’m not shocked. The figures are nice enough, but it doesn’t look like anybody wants to pay about $15 for those painted figures.
The second auction also did not sell. It seems like even the seller decided $300 wasn’t a great price, because he dropped the BIN price to $240. That didn’t make a difference, but I can admit I was surprised to see it. I’m even more surprised that the listing wasn’t automatically relisted. I’m sure it will be back soon.
The “Nate” lot did sell for $9.99. I don’t know if Nate bought it, but I’ll always imagine that he did buy it. (Nate, or anybody else, please don’t tell me otherwise.) I do want to share something that Nate said on Instagram, “Maybe they put in the dinosaur skull for scale.”
I have to admit that made me laugh out loud. I imagined a guy looking around his house thinking, “What can I used for scale? Ruler? No. Playing card? No. Dollar bill? No. I’ve got it! I’ll use my Nanuqsaurus hoglundi skull.”
The first new auction, 1985 Mattel M.U.S.C.L.E. Nintindo Bandai HARD KNOCKIN’ ROCKIN’ RING 9 figures, was selected because I was excited to see this throwback lot. Someone might be able to point out a lot as varied as this one, but I can’t remember one like this for quite a long time.
After my nostalgia subsided I started to think about the price. The $100 BIN is laughable, but the $30 opening bid seems fair enough.
Admittedly, I think the $30 is closer to a final sale price. The ring, given its condition, seems reasonable around $20. I would argue that at $20 it should include the figures, but clamps without excessive stress damage seem to appear less often. The NES game could be $5 to $8, and the seven Flesh figures (at $0.50 per figure) tack on another $3.50. I don’t know about the Weird Ball Wrestlers price. Let’s say $1 for the pair of figures.
That puts the final price, for me, at around $30. If a few collectors needs a ring and/or game, then I can see a few bids pushing the price a little higher. Anything past $40 seems like a total waste of money to me.
The shipping also seems a bit too high.
It also made me crazy that Nintendo was spelled incorrectly. I’ll let it slide. I think that’s more about me being a weirdo.
The second auction, 1985 Mattel M.U.S.C.L.E. HARD KNOCKIN’ ROCKIN’ RING Wrestling Muscle +3 Figures, pissed all over the hope and enthusiasm the first auction provided me.
How do you ask $20 for a completely broken ring?
I get it. The lot does include the ring figures (and an extra Flesh #152) but that isn’t worth $20. It isn’t worth $10. It isn’t worth $5.
There’s also a pretty beat-up box. Maybe it is worth $5?
The price wasn’t the main reason I was disappointed by this listing. The main reason was that this type of listing used to be the exception and the first auction was the norm. The second auction is over-priced junk. Today most M.U.S.C.L.E. eBay listings are over-priced junk.
I know the “glory days” of eBay are gone, but a small injection of sanity and fun wouldn’t hurt anybody.
