Dave and the Cinemaster-profits

[wonka]

I know this is nothing new, but the fact that both transactions of the same title from Dave's end (both buying and selling) are so closely listed and accessible on ebay...well, its both interesting and entertaining.

I don't know what is crazier, that our man Dave can flip these at the price he does or that someone is either that lazy or paranoid about getting a real lock and stock original Casino Royale DS.  To be honest, I would argue the latter is a bit more inane for sure.

BUY  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310203916631

SELL http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350002402415

Dave you found a dream customer here...is he a repeat buyer?
Do you mind if I contact browserbret33 about how I have other styles of Watchmen, Casino Royale, and Batman Begins I would gladly sell him for, uh, less? Just kidding, I think we actually get money back on our taxes this year (!), so I won't steal your sunshine.  



Congrats on the Episode 2, must be a Star Wars fan hoping he was born with some Midi-chlorians he/she is confident will surface soon.
And to conclude my nosiness (sorry), any chance we can hear the Godfather 3 story?  Thanks, Dave.

[holiday]

That is pretty damned spectacular.

[eatbrie]

Why is Dave so difficult to deal with?

[50s]

I am impressed that within the space of 11 days, Dave:
- purchased it on Ebay Mar-08-10 13:26:29 PST
- received the poster, photographed & listed it, ran the auction, sold it, shipped it out to the buyer
- Buyer receives it, buyer provided feedback on Mar-19-10 22:38

Dave knows his business!

[ddilts399]

That is all generated by my lighting fast shipping and perfect packaging !

[kovacs01]

Yup, I was going to say, we are ignoring Dale who was the root of Dave's success.  Well done, both of you!

[50s]

Yes, definitely, big credit to you Dale to send it out so quick and package well enough to maintain its NM condition.

Daves fancy auction page certainly looks impressive, eye catching, nice colors, well designed. Even if he stretches the truth somewhat:
"A long time can go by without one of these coming up for sale."
How about 11 days!

Could also be auction timing or how long it ran... I don't know... Maybe it was up for 2 days max, not enough for 2nd thoughts, I don't know what happened. Possibly putting the condition in the auction title... Maybe it is time for some close analysis of the magic formula!!!

 

[Bruce]

The best analysis of this is to examine the words of P.T. Barnum.

But more power to Dave! There are jewelry stores and clothing stores that charge sky high prices for items that could be found elsewhere for much less, and they stay in business and many prosper. Dave has tapped into that magic customer base that says "price is not object".

Bruce

[wonka]

Daves fancy auction page certainly looks impressive, eye catching, nice colors, well designed. Even if he stretches the truth somewhat:
"A long time can go by without one of these coming up for sale."
How about 11 days!

Yes, thank you for mentioning this little sales tactic, I forgot to mention it.
"A long time", that is something...in this case it should read "There are dozens on ebay right now for 10-20 bucks but you want THIS one".

Bruce, that is a great metaphor in this case, Dave is PT Barnum for sure.  And like Barnum, Dave makes money selling sensationalism, but now via paper with imagery on it.  Clowns on a trapeze = posters now.

Another thing to consider is these people that buy material that they can get anywhere after literally one minute of research for over a hundered less.  Peace of mind on a Jaws insert, yes, but peace of mind on Watchmen? Scent of a Woman? Casino Royale?  People amaze me in this regard.
I wonder if this buyer read the feedback between the Dave/Dale connection on his poster and what he thinks...

[MoviePosterBid.com]

dammit.. you mean I could have bought that poste for $19.99 and saved $130.01???

jeez.. I need to do more research before I buy posters..

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

I can't find the exact quote but I recall an interview with one of the bazillionaire Google founders.  When asked about why he always flew first class, he said, "the price is irrelevant."

I guess the price is irrelevant to some buyers but finding bargains is half the fun of collecting....

[Carson]

Have to agree with David on this one as he famously says: "you people will never get it".

Mildly disgruntled collector on forum vents/sneers at seller for making a high profit without the foggiest as to the buyers logic for buying.

Seller keeps selling to people wanting to buy.

And the world keeps turning.

[CineMasterpieces]

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside

[brude]

There behind a glass
stands a real blade of grass...

and a long time can pass
before you see one of these...and in this condition...


Great work Dave. 

[wonka]

Have to agree with David on this one as he famously says: "you people will never get it".

Mildly disgruntled collector on forum vents/sneers at seller for making a high profit without the foggiest as to the buyers logic for buying.

Seller keeps selling to people wanting to buy.

And the world keeps turning.

The logic for buying doesn't matter, the subject is more about a common poster going for much more than it is (and probably ever will be) worth just because it is sold via Cinemasters.

Dave selling a Vertigo one sheet for thousands more than what most would spend isn't even worthy of forum discussion, but the scarcity mirage laced on top of an incredibly common and easily obtainable Casino Royale DS, and working in a resulting profit, is.

[Dr Hackenbush]

It's one thing if he was knowingly selling a counterfeit poster as authentic, but he wasn't.  At some point people have to start taking responsibility for their actions.  If the buyer(s) are dropping $100-200+ on posters, then they should research what they're spending their money on.  We're in the internet age.  It's not like someone can't go to Google and find links to forums, emovieposter's & HA's archives, or even eBay's auction results page.  Paying way more than FMV for movie paper, with the exception of when there isn't data available, is on the buyer and not the seller.   

[wonka]

I agree, Angelo.

It's a good discussion, both the buyer responsibility to an extent, but its amazing how Dave does this all day. 

Is there another seller/dealer who can get over $150 on Watchmen?

[ddilts399]

It is the mentality of the buyer. I had a Batman Begins advance listed quite sometime ago for 59 or 79 can't remember, but I got a mail stating a competitor had the title for 250 and thus implying there must be something wrong with mine. I told them I could raise my price if that would make them feel better!

[CSM]

It's one thing if he was knowingly selling a counterfeit poster as authentic, but he wasn't.  At some point people have to start taking responsibility for their actions.  If the buyer(s) are dropping $100-200+ on posters, then they should research what they're spending their money on.  We're in the internet age.  It's not like someone can't go to Google and find links to forums, emovieposter's & HA's archives, or even eBay's auction results page.  Paying way more than FMV for movie paper, with the exception of when there isn't data available, is on the buyer and not the seller.   

Bang on...

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Dave can do what Dave wants.. as long as he isn't stealing, perpetuating fraud or driving my car.. I don't care what he does.

concerning prices.

what do youthink is a fair dealer to dealer ratio?

if I go to Food 4 Less and but a bag of pistacios, it was $2.99
at Smiths it was $5.99 and at Vons it was $6.99
same pistacios. I wonder what they cost on Rodeo Drive..

are Smiths & Vons stealing??
nope.

but I bought my pistacios at Food 4 Less

everyone has the information at hand, if they choose to look for it
people can spend their own money as they wish

[Bruce]

But can it be a long time before those Von's pistachios come up for sale?

 laugh laugh laugh

Bruce

[CineMasterpieces]

just a quick note...

why do we keep that line "a long time can go by" in our listings?

a few reasons:

-it gives the extremely few irritable disgruntled collectors something to complain about (other than ebay).

-technically....its a true statement.....we are saying "CAN"........which means it is possible. We are not saying "HAS" or "WILL".

-its in our ebay auction template, and I usually don't even think about it anymore when I do a new listing.....and on the seldom occasion when I DO happen to think about it and possibly deleting it....I smile and remember the small percentage of collectors that it bothers so I leave it in there just to irritate them because they deserve to be irritated....(just a little).

-if anyone thinks that that sentence is the "tipping point" that convinces a buyer to buy something from us when they otherwise wouldn't have, they are crazy. There are a million other things we do that enable us to achieve our high prices. I guarantee you that even if I did remove that line we would still sell just as many posters at our higher than average prices. How do I know this? Because we sell more from CineMasterpieces.com than we do on ebay.....and we do not use that line at CineMasterpieces.com on 99.99% of the posters listed there.

Honestly, I probably would have removed it from the template long ago.....but now I keep it in there just because it amuses me.

 

[kovacs01]

haha, I had kind of figured as much dave.  I think next time I run an auction on ebay, I am going to say, "there exists a chance in the numeric region than zero but less than one hundred that an extended temporal duration may occur before you once again find this sample of cinematic ephemera available."

[Bruce]

Hey, exaggeration has ALWAYS been part of the American way of selling.

Remember when Ricardo Montalban told us that the 1976 Chrysler Cordoba had "rich Corinthian leather"? "Corinthian" did not actually indicate any relationship with the town of Corinth, nor any specific type of leather and was added simply to make the leather (and the car) sound better.

Did the American people care? Heck, no. Chrysler sold tons of those cars and went on to be one of the foremost American car dealers (although of course they eventually went bankrupt, because people finally chose substance over promise, but that took decades).

No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public (or over-estimating its gullibility), and Dave won't either. He has a very successful business model, and anyone who doesn't like it is probably just jealous!

Bruce

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Dave is a good friend.. But when it comes to that one line - he sucks. It's a term that should be reserved for situations WHEN IT IS PLAINLY AND NOT "EVER-SO-SLIGHTLY MATHEMATICALLY POSSIBLE"

In Texas Hold-em, it is possible to flop a Royal Flush if you are holding the AK of Hearts.
Math does support that statement. But a correct statement would be "When holding AK of Hearts, the probability of flopping a Royal Flush iis 65,000-1".

when Dave has such a line in any listing for a truly difficult item to locate, or to locate in THAT condition - I think it's fair and honest. But to be putting such a line in any other listing I think is misleading to at least some small portion of potential buyers and seeing as I have no wish to mislead anyone under any circumstances (excluding when great bodily harm or death looms), I would not put any such statement in my listings..

But I think it hurts Dave more than he thinks it helps, or is humorous to him. For instance, how many people won't buy from him because of the line? Or what it does to his online rep.

Dave should just remove it.. but he can do what he wishes. He is after all selling Casino Royal posters for $155 and I'm not!!