You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?



05-1-2018 15:33:19  #11


Re: Are prices going up?

SoucekFan wrote:

Prices have definitely gone up, both online and in stores. It is not always easy to score the bargains: one has to not only have patience and scour the earth on multiple venues, but out-hunt and have better luck than some very avid collectors. The amount of time, effort, and gasoline that it takes to pull this off should be considered. If you enjoy the hunt it can be very worthwhile. But if you factor in all the hidden costs, the bargains are not always as cheap as they seem. I should note, that although typewriter prices have risen, as far as objects, they are still cheap. Even the higher-end typewriter models (not counting rare antiques) are cheaper than the crappy guitars.
 

I agree -- this is a much, much cheaper hobby than collecting cameras.

 

05-1-2018 16:34:18  #12


Re: Are prices going up?

You guys have inspired me to research my own records regarding pricing and I have found that for over 250 typewriters over the last seven and a half years, the purchase prices as shown in an Excel trend line have been absolutely flat. I didn't separate the prices for standards vs portables but their graphs do not show an appreciable difference either. Northern New England.

I quite agree with SoucekFan regarding the hidden prices that we tend to overlook. In my case, though, I see yard saling as entertainment so I don't attribute gas cost to typewriters. Shipping costs I would assign to the machine but I rarely have anything shipped. If a tax is involved, I assign it. I believe there is a Tom Hanks effect and a hipster effect on online prices and there is an eBay effect on local prices, though this latter is not strong here.
 

 

05-1-2018 17:52:26  #13


Re: Are prices going up?

Fleetwing wrote:

Would we all agree, though, that office standard machines seem to go for less? Better-typing and fuller-featured machines than portables, as we all know, but not as cute or compact. So they're less desirable.

Yes, that is true, not only because of appeal and space constraints, but also because they are more costly and difficult to ship, and therefore don't sell as well on eBay, and eBay is used by many as a reference for price discovery on typewriters and other vintage items.
 

 

05-1-2018 18:21:57  #14


Re: Are prices going up?

Part of the recent accelerated spike is also Tom Hanks. There were people I sold typewriters to recently that specifically spoke of looking into typewriters after seeing one of the recent Tom Hanks interviews. This is also the reason for the massive jump in Smith-Corona prices, especially the Clipper. There is also a seasonal element with people buying typewriters as gifts. I think the growing appeal of typewriters, the Tom Hanks interviews, and the holiday shopping season created a notably sharper spike in the last few months. I think the overall price trend has been rising steadily, but it really jumped recently.

People will probably mark up their prices, both on and offline, because eBay had a lot of high realized listings; and the amount of listings, which had been rising for a while, dropped by about 25% due to demand, though it is slowly being replenished. Over months, unless there is some momentum, after they have been sitting a while, the prices should start dropping a bit; maybe not to years-ago pricing, but maybe August 2017 pricing.

 

05-1-2018 18:26:06  #15


Re: Are prices going up?

Fleetwing wrote:

Would we all agree, though, that office standard machines seem to go for less? Better-typing and fuller-featured machines than portables, as we all know, but not as cute or compact. So they're less desirable.

Using the data for those same 250+ sales, the office machines sold for 110% of the prices of the portables. Note that eBay and shipping were not involved except in a very few cases and that many of the office machines were free (some junk, some not) so the differential is even greater. Don't know why, though; need more research.

 

07-1-2018 17:30:33  #16


Re: Are prices going up?

Fleetwing wrote:

Would we all agree, though, that office standard machines seem to go for less? Better-typing and fuller-featured machines than portables, as we all know, but not as cute or compact. So they're less desirable.

​Fully agree, which is partly why I have so many of them. Truth be told, I'd probably only own standards if it wasn't for the amount of space they take up and that they can't be as easily stored as portables (that can be stacked in their travel cases).
 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

07-1-2018 17:37:36  #17


Re: Are prices going up?

M. Höhne wrote:

... research my own records regarding pricing and I have found that for over 250 typewriters over the last seven and a half years, the purchase prices as shown in an Excel trend line have been absolutely flat. ...
 

​I keep full data in an Excel sheet too, and I could say the same thing that the prices have been flat - based on that date. However, that data doesn't reflect trends in market prices, just what it is that I'm willing to pay for a typewriter, which incidentally is never influenced by a typewriter's colour or its perceived 'rarity'. I still buy them for around the same price as I always have, the big difference being that I pass on far more machines than I used because of the crazy asking prices (in my area at least). The spreadsheet also allows me to monitor the average price for the units in my collection, which is currently just over $33 CAD.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

07-1-2018 17:49:07  #18


Re: Are prices going up?

SoucekFan wrote:

...There is also a seasonal element with people buying typewriters as gifts. ...

Yes, good point. A fellow collector (Valiant - who unfortunately doesn't log in here as often as he used to) tends to wait until the Christmas shopping season to conduct mini purges of machines from his collection, in part because they sell quicker, but also because he can get more for them.

He's a very sensible buyer, and like me will rarely entertain a typewriter that's more than $50; conversely, I know of other collectors in my area (there are many so the competition is very stiff) who don't have any qualms about overspending. I sometimes have to bite my tongue when these guys tell me what they've paid for machines, models that I know could have been bought for a fraction of the cost had they just been more patient. Along those lines there are also the 'wealthy' collectors who amass huge collections of harder-to-find models almost overnight because they can afford to pay whatever the asking price is or they simply outbid the competition if it's something they want.


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

07-1-2018 18:14:17  #19


Re: Are prices going up?

Over here in England, prices on e-bay always ratchet up in the weeks before Christmas and then stay at that level until the same time the following year, when they go up again.  We are just talking about an average level of prices here.  There will always be both ridiculously cheap and stupidly expensive typewriters about.

 

11-1-2018 11:59:25  #20


Re: Are prices going up?

Christmas brings out the crazies (both sellers AND buyers), although I wouldn't necessarily agree that prices are maintained throughout the year at the seasonal high. I may be new to the scene, but I've spent many years buying & selling all kind of things and have never observed that to be true. Unless, of course, one counts those listings by the deluded, of which there are many.

My own, smallish collection has, thus far, cost me an average of £27.70 ($37.50) per machine, plus an additional average of £7.60 ($10.30) each for carriage, fuel & sundry other expenses. This doesn't include a couple of donor / parts machines which haven't cost a single penny. The highest, individual amount I've paid to date, was £57 for a '61 Rheinmetall KsT.



 

 

Board footera

 

Powered by Boardhost. Create a Free Forum