D&D General Collecting older version material.

[Gorg]

I was going through my shelves of classic D&D material, looking for something interesting to read. Prompted by all the discussion here about 1E/2E etc. I have stuff from way back when I first began I'd forgotten all about! Inc characters on the old green D&D sheets, the old AD&D yellow sheets, and plenty of handwritten ones, too.

That's when IT happened: I discovered that 2 of my favoritest ever suppliments were missing: 3E FR The Silver Marches; and FR Magic of Faerun. I have darn near everything else for that setting EXCEPT the ones I was looking for... No idea where they may have gone. I moved 2 yrs back, and I'm afraid they might have not made the trip, or something. GRRR, I hate when that happens!

So I decided to give luck a little kick in the pants.

I went to EBay, just to see if anyone had them for sale. I also checked Craigslist. And I found em! Both with reasonable buy it now! prices. Pulled the trigger on both! NOW we'll see. Anyone care to take bets on whether or not I find my original copies as soon as these arrive?? That would definitely be my luck... While I was there, I also found an auction for Races of Faerun starting at $0.99. So I bid on it. Ended up in a bidding war with another guy over it, as he'd put in a max bid JUST a smidge higher than mine. After a couple of counterbids, I decided to just let him have it, as the $ was getting too rich for my blood. Here's where Murphy stepped in: I found another sale for the same book- sale, not auction- for half the current auction price... So, I went ahead and got it- figuring I'd lost the auction. (the price was EXACTLY my highest bid, with lots of time to go.)

An hour ago, I got an e-mail saying that I was still the top bidder- with time running out. Darnit- I outsmarted myself again...

Well, at least that seller got a decent price for the book. And I doubt I'll be able to lose BOTH copies, too easily, lol. I even bid on a bundle of 5E core books for my buddy, trying to get them at a decent price- but too many others had the same idea. I did NOT take the bait, when I got that outbidded notice!

I really should just stay far away from E-Bay, but you can get all sorts of neat out of print items there... ( I like physical copies, not PDF's) I'm avoiding looking through my stash of 1E and B/X modules- lest I be tempted to further expand it.

Anyone else love to peruse places like this, looking for "deals" on out of print stuff? 15-16 years ago, I greatly expanded my collection- and got rid of a few duplicates- doing this. Bundles of 1E and 2E books and adventures were cheap, then!

 

[cbwjm]

You might find that when they arrive, they are your original books!

 

[ccs]

Anyone care to take bets on whether or not I find my original copies as soon as these arrive??

Well that is how it works.

 

[MNblockhead]

I used to love looking through eBay and craigslist for minis. Too many people with the same idea, however. Hard to find a great deal.

Now that I'm pretty much only running games on a VTT, my weakness is Kickstarter. I've had to stop myself from going there and browsing because I'll ALWAYS find something interesting.

 

[teitan]

There was a time when I bought all the hardbacks for 1e on EBay for like a nickel a piece from the same guy and he got mad and charged me $50 for shipping. I disputed it with EBay because the auction said he would combine shipping. His Buy It Now was $30 for each book. Argued that it would weigh too much to send and would cost him more than that to even ship. EBay settled it as $25 for shipping and then the guy shipped it in the flat rate box for $6 or whatever it is. EBay gave me a refund.

I used to love using EBay for old stuff but with 5e so popular and partly designed to allow for ease of conversion of older material it has caused even common stuff like the OGB to sky rocket in price.

 

[R_J_K75]

I used to love using EBay for old stuff but with 5e so popular and partly designed to allow for ease of conversion of older material it has caused even common stuff like the OGB to sky rocket in price.

That and the fact that as time goes on there are just less and less of the older stuff still around let alone available for sale. As the OP stated lot of things go missing out of peoples collections; I know I've lost, misplaced or had books "walk away" from mine. I've sold off good portions of my collection at various times over the years, and I'm sure there are always going to be that but fewer and far between. It's funny I've sold and then re-bought the same book more than a couple times.

I'm really surprised that WotC hasn't tested the waters for re-issuing printed books from older editions more than just a set of core books. Whether that's in store, online or print on demand, albeit probably small, clearly there is a market. I think leveraged the correct way I'd be willing to bet there's money to be made without charging the customer an over inflated price. I know DMs Guild fills this niche somewhat but I just looked and alot of the older TSR/WotC books are only available in pdf, so not quite the same for those who want the physical book.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Noble Knight Game's "New Arrivals" section is my friend. I tend to rely more on them as opposed to eBay for gaming stuff. I know that their prices and grading are accurate, and that they are reliable and prompt. When I do shop on eBay, I tend to rely more on the Buy It Now options rather than bidding.

I've had gaming stuff disappear during moves. Though, what grieves me the most is that I can't find the folder with some of my favorite characters from back in the day. It's got to be somewhere (I hope), I just haven't been able to track it down in this box or on that shelf.

 

[Deset Gled]

I used to love using EBay for old stuff but with 5e so popular and partly designed to allow for ease of conversion of older material it has caused even common stuff like the OGB to sky rocket in price.

eBay has a terrible effect on pricing any collectors item. Regardless of the currently popularity, it can be easily manipulated. Rather than go into the full process of how this works, I'm going to let a Youtuber do it for me:
Edit: Some NSFW language in the video


This video is from 2015. I am certain that the COVID quarantine has made things even worse. Also, you can find a lot of good info online about how eBay has effected prices of Magic cards (but I play video games, not MtG).

 

[el-remmen]

eBay has a terrible effect on pricing any collectors item.

As someone who trawls eBay for comics and issues of dungeon (and who has sold MtG cards on there for hundreds of dollars), I concur. I have more luck with Half-Price Books and other (non-ebay/amazon) online book and comic sellers (who often have some limited gaming stuff available as well)