Horseshoe Sample Discussion. Good investment? (1 Viewer)

[GoStumpy]

I see this, except with high end chips:

 

[BGinGA]

But by buying at a good price that I know I can sell for profit later, I get to enjoy, clean, and play with chips I would not ordinarily have.

Your reasoning above is flawed. You don't have to sell chips for a profit in order to enjoy high-end chips, you just have to be able to commit to the initial cash outlay. So long as you can sell them for close to what you paid, you are essentially renting the chips for free. There is no profit margin required at all.

 

[GoStumpy]

True, the profit I speak is essentially to cover the cost of shipping the chips.. I rarely if ever actually 'profit', moreso just break even which i am more than happy with

 

[BNM]

$6.50/chip for a sample set was just a bit too much for me. That, and I knew time would be short and the competition cutthroat, so I focused on maxing out a secondary tourney set and some of the nicer primaries. I still missed out on the $5000 secondaries.

I would love to have a complete sample set, but it was more important for me to get the tourney sets and, ultimately, the price of the sample sets were just too high for me.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

$6.50/chip for a sample set was just a bit too much for me. That, and I knew time would be short and the competition cutthroat, so I focused on maxing out a secondary tourney set and some of the nicer primaries. I still missed out on the $5000 secondaries.

I would love to have a complete sample set, but it was more important for me to get the tourney sets and, ultimately, the price of the sample sets were just too high for me.

Basically all the chips are regular price and the two T25k chips are 25 bucks each which is still a steal compared to what 1K and the rare and elusive 5K chips go for on eBay.

 

[Trihonda]

Kind of a pointless thread then. Enjoy them.

I respectfully disagree. There's nothing wrong with collecting something, and wanting confirmation that they got a good deal, or simply to find out their item's value...

There are two values imho. Collectibility/sentimental and monetary market value. They have enough collectable value for me to make it a worthy purchase, but I still am curious.

 

[GoStumpy]

It's the only way I can collect without a divorce, knowing the 'market value' of the chips I currently own... That way it doesn't look like 'money spent' and looks more like 'money invested'... There's that word again lol

 

[David O]

We all know they are out there!!! Oh well, here is what I see every time this topic comes up.

 

[Psypher1000]

I think we're all playing nice on this thread, and I hope we continue to, but I'd like to hear people's thoughts. My thoughts are that outside of the blatant extremes, this is a big gray area, and I'll be careful not to make broad, sweeping statements against flipping, since I feel like pretty much everybody here engages in some level of flipping, from time to time, unless they sell everything for exactly what they paid for it.

It's very situational. I very much agree w/what Dave said - I hate the parasites here that view chippers as marks to be exploited, or their sales as opportunities to flip; and I hate the folks that buy big at low prices with the intent to flip in such a manner that denies others the opportunity to buy at that same low price when all they wanted to do is use them. I understand the capitalistic side, but that's just low in a community like this.

That being said, there are definitely ways to make profit and help the community at the same time. When I sell my sets, I try to sell for no higher than 15-20% more than what I bought them for, and many times sell at cost+shipping or less, particularly if I enjoyed the chips a while. I know a number of other chippers follow this general rule as well.

Besides all that, I've greatly benefited from folks making things available to me at some very favorable prices. I try to do the same things for others in return, particularly for newer chippers.

There's nothing inherently wrong with profit, and large profits at that. I just disagree when folks view our community as marks vs. members.

 

[luckbox]

There's nothing wrong with collecting something, and wanting confirmation that they got a good deal, or simply to find out their item's value...

you got a deal....every one of jims sales are a "deal" thats why there is a feeding frenzy every time

eBay prices are your best bet of what you can expect in the future ...

 

[GoStumpy]

Someone is going to be 'first' selling a 25k on eBay, interested to see what happens

 

[BNM]

Basically all the chips are regular price and the two T25k chips are 25 bucks each which is still a steal compared to what 1K and the rare and elusive 5K chips go for on eBay.

Yeah, I guess I'm not at the addiction level (yet?) so $25 for one chip is too high for me. Particularly when I can pay that amount for a complete sample set of someone's CPCs that often includes a 25k. But, to each their own, for sure!

 

[CHP TD]

It would be nice if this were true, but reality is far from it.

One of my biggest peeves is people who buy hoards of chips merely to sell at a profit (nothing wrong with that) but by doing so, deprive other people an opportunity to buy ANY of those chips for personal use (not cool in my book).

If done under the guise of being a community member or because of opportunities presented by being a community member, I consider them parasites --- not really members of the community at all, but rather people who look at the community members as a feeding opportunity, and a way to make cash at the expense of the members here. Those people know who they are..... and so do most of the more active members here.

Nothing that anyone can really do to stop it, other than via chip karma..... but there are lots of folks here who keep a mental list of who deserves favors and who doesn't. The back channels in this community are pretty transparent.

Couldnt have said it better myself. In my opinion this forum is to help each other out. there is a network of Aussies doing exactly that.

there is a bit of me that feels a bit sick if they think im here to pay for someone elses chips because they buy up what i may have missed to hold onto then sell to me as a profit.

Sounds like a drug dealer really but at tleast they are more honest. You know they are ripping you off.

Very dissapointing really.

Thanks but no

 

[ovo]

If I was going to buy more than one set, it would have been to use the 25k chips in the playable set, still gonna use the two in my playable set anyway

 

[bivey]

I wanted a set for the novelty, but was a little cranky about the price. It was the only thing that was sold out when I checked out.

 

[ssanel54]

I respectfully disagree. There's nothing wrong with collecting something, and wanting confirmation that they got a good deal, or simply to find out their item's value...

There are two values imho. Collectibility/sentimental and monetary market value. They have enough collectable value for me to make it a worthy purchase, but I still am curious.

I think the term investment implies you hope to gain from the transaction, and throws sentimentality out the window.

Inevitably someone will want to build a tournament set with 25K chips, so there will most likely be an opportunity for you to flip them for a profit (or at least flip them for the same price and keep some of the other denominations). I would also anticipate a spike in price for the 1000-5000 chips, as they are more playable denominations, and would clearly be needed in bulk for any set that would require a 25K chip.

I can't imagine that as a sample set, that the collection will appreciate in value and become more desirable for display purposes. There are plenty of sample sets that can be found in the collectible section of Spinnettis or Apache's websites for probably less money, yet no one is currently clamoring for them. I assume the Horseshoe chips will fall into the category of Too Many out there to really be collectible, but not enough to build many playable sets....Something like the Casablanca $1s or High denom Crystal Parks

 

[bivey]

I personally have no problem with someone buying chips for investment. It's a free country. Once the parameters (like 1750 chip limit) are in place, it's within each individual's responsibility to take care of business.

Personally, I do not buy chips purely to make money. I do however purchase chips that I believe will hold resale value. In that regard I consider the horseshoe chips a good investment. As long as I like the chips, then I move onto my second requirement of investment value. None of this means I am looking to make money, but if I can use a set of chips for 5 years and then sell it for a profit or break even, that is smart money. Unless there is a pre-existing agreement in place, no one should criticize another persons motives to purchase chips. Sure it sucks, especially when there are more collectors than there are playable Paulson sets.

If you strongly feel that it is unfair to have some one buy chips for resale, then give up your chips for someone who missed out. If you got a set, then you made the investment in time and planned to jump in at low prices. Call it what you want, but you bought chips because of the investment value in addition to the love of clay.

@Trihonda asked a perfectly valid question

 

[atomiktoaster]

Sort of a side question, but I wonder if there's more interest from the singles market for the Primary or Secondary $25,000. No idea what gets those chipboard guys going more.

 

[k9dr]

I decided to skip the sample set. I am focusing more on custom samples.