Desirability of steelbook collecting

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creasey275

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Sep 20, 2012
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The year 2012 has seen a massive surge in steelbook releases, and collectors. Of the 35 pages of threads on HDN steelbook forum, 24 have been started this year. Back catalogue films, new releases and multiple releases in different countries has, I imagine, lead collectors to become more choosy about which to buy and where to buy it. "Limited" releases to 4,000, shop exclusives and steelbook treatment(debossing...) are now crucial deciding factors whether customers buy, and judging by the posts on numerous thread here and elsewhere reporting that a lot are keeping steelbooks sealed, over-riding the film itself.

Now for the statement.

In 2012 the huge increase in steelbook releases has lead to the decline in desirability of steelbooks. Discuss.
 
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digitalbabe said:
I think it depends what it is and when it is sold . The lower print items and those with WEA and or special slips or stickers appreciate over time. It's when folks buy and then try to turn around a bunch of Steels that are available in multiple countries and or same covers shortly after release that most of these dips occur, imo.


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I just think some of the older not grails but slightly higher value steels have suffered as they were not exactly pretty in the first place and there was less to collect a year ago, so with all these great new releases around the world theres steels that are less desirable than they were so have dropped in value, so if your in the uk for me anyway, i see a lot of steels decreasing, i collect all sorts but for someone that only collects uk steels they would be thinking steel values are decreasing. i cant think of a better way to say it. still just my way of thinking :scat:

---------- Post added at 06:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 PM ----------

I thought Titanic was a great steel but that went down too, sorry i couldnt help myself.
 
Well it is possible that values could go back up again. Economic climate could have an impact on price, after all some might have less disposable income to spend which could depress prices on the secondary market.

Retailers aren't one to miss a trick and they know doubt realise they can charge a premium for steelbooks for minimal extra cost. Of course some will increase in value, but perhaps one advantage is that the rest will hold their value more than a standard case.

With on-demand services, the studios and retailers need to d seomthing to entice us to buy it, rather than stream it. Steelbooks, collectors editions etc.. are one way to do that.

Perhaps in some regions steelbooks are once moving from the more niche market towards the more main-stream market.
 
the trick to selling steelbooks is fixed pricing. Amazon is the place to sell steels. It is on Amazon where I was able to sell copies of the The Raid UK, Terminator UK, & T2 Kimchi all for $100+.

It might take longer than you want for them to sell, but eventually, if it's a sought after edition. Someone will purchase it for your asking price because they don't want to deal with ebay.
 
MENTAL MAGPIE said:
I just think some of the older not grails but slightly higher value steels have suffered as they were not exactly pretty in the first place and there was less to collect a year ago, so with all these great new releases around the world theres steels that are less desirable than they were so have dropped in value, so if your in the uk for me anyway, i see a lot of steels decreasing, i collect all sorts but for someone that only collects uk steels they would be thinking steel values are decreasing. i cant think of a better way to say it. still just my way of thinking :scat:

---------- Post added at 06:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 PM ----------

I thought Titanic was a great steel but that went down too, sorry i couldnt help myself.
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Values definitely are going down. Apart from a handful of "grail" titles they no longer hold their value particularly well.

Modern titles while often costing more to buy on release are not increasing very much in value. The fact some people can sell for ridiculous sums is luck rather than a sign of how the market is going. You only have to look at eBay to gage what is available. The place is flooded with Korean T2's which up until about 2 months ago were all around the £60 "or higher" mark. Now you can get one very easily for less than £40. Same goes with many other so called "expensive titles".

Basically if you can sell it within the space of 5 days at an inflated price then chances are others will sell at that price making it a sought after title. Placing them on fixed prices on either eBay or Amazon and waiting months for some poor sap to pay way over the odds isn't a good indicator of market value, more a case of someone's stupidity and very deep pockets. Prices are continuing to drop on a vast majority of titles now. Even some of the exclusive titles by the likes of Kimchi are surfacing on eBay for only a tenner more than the original asking price.

I don't believe in amazing luck, I've bought many "so called" expensive steels for half what some of the collectors on here and other forums think they are worth and they weren't one off's, time and again I see them going on eBay for roughly the same price. The price might skyrocket for a short time after release, but more often than not months later they are now falling back down.

Pricing is all relative. Learn to play the eBay bidding game well and you will more often than not get the steels you want at a price far less than what they are often "thought" to be worth. You can't count on someone coming in though and bidding a ridiculous amount at the last minute as a sign of market worth, more a case of they REALLY want that title at any cost, those peope are a small minority.
 
I sold The Raid, Terminator, & T2 Kimchi all within 2 weeks of posting on Amazon. The "poor sap" who was willing to pay a premium price is what selling on Amazon is all about. eBay is where people go to get good deals. Amazon is where people go to buy things.
 
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blumaster said:
I sold The Raid, Terminator, & T2 Kimchi all within 2 weeks of posting on Amazon. The "poor sap" who was willing to pay a premium price is what selling on Amazon is all about. eBay is where people go to get good deals. Amazon is where people go to buy things.
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3 steels at high prices is again a very poor indicator of market worth though. 30 of them at that price sets a sustainable value. Selling T2 at a very high price can't set a market value for it when 20 of them are going for half that on eBay.

The "Collectors market" plays a much more important role in the value of items than what can be sold on Amazon/Play. :)
 
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psychoscot said:
Values definitely are going down. Apart from a handful of "grail" titles they no longer hold their value particularly well.

Modern titles while often costing more to buy on release are not increasing very much in value. The fact some people can sell for ridiculous sums is luck rather than a sign of how the market is going. You only have to look at eBay to gage what is available. The place is flooded with Korean T2's which up until about 2 months ago were all around the £60 "or higher" mark. Now you can get one very easily for less than £40. Same goes with many other so called "expensive titles".

Basically if you can sell it within the space of 5 days at an inflated price then chances are others will sell at that price making it a sought after title. Placing them on fixed prices on either eBay or Amazon and waiting months for some poor sap to pay way over the odds isn't a good indicator of market value, more a case of someone's stupidity and very deep pockets. Prices are continuing to drop on a vast majority of titles now. Even some of the exclusive titles by the likes of Kimchi are surfacing on eBay for only a tenner more than the original asking price.

I don't believe in amazing luck, I've bought many "so called" expensive steels for half what some of the collectors on here and other forums think they are worth and they weren't one off's, time and again I see them going on eBay for roughly the same price. The price might skyrocket for a short time after release, but more often than not months later they are now falling back down.

Pricing is all relative. Learn to play the eBay bidding game well and you will more often than not get the steels you want at a price far less than what they are often "thought" to be worth. You can't count on someone coming in though and bidding a ridiculous amount at the last minute as a sign of market worth, more a case of they REALLY want that title at any cost, those peope are a small minority.
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Now if had gone to school a bit more thats what i would of put. I agree 100% thats why i find it so funny when some asks for a steel and says not ebay prices, they obviously havent looked lately :hilarious:
 
Staind said:
Hmm...it's sad but, someone need to say it...Steelbooks are loosing their Value very bad...imho even the Grails are decreasing
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It is supply and demand. Now there's much more supply them ever. The flooded market hurts current releases. No one can really buy all of them, so most of them sit around. The lack of sales on current release hurts the overall market as less people get interested in the hobby, lose interest, etc... And if there' less buyers, then less demand. even on older, rarer titles.

From an investment standpoint, its not good. From a movie standpoint, it is good.
 
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Jericho said:
It is supply and demand. Now there's much more supply them ever. The flooded market hurts current releases. No one can really buy all of them, so most of them sit around. The lack of sales on current release hurts the overall market as less people get interested in the hobby, lose interest, etc... And if there' less buyers, then less demand. even on older, rarer titles.

From an investment standpoint, its not good. From a movie standpoint, it is good.
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100% agree. As movie titles that mean something to us they are priceless, but as actual commodities they are slowly loosing value.
 
psychoscot said:
3 steels at high prices is again a very poor indicator of market worth though. 30 of them at that price sets a sustainable value. Selling T2 at a very high price can't set a market value for it when 20 of them are going for half that on eBay.

The "Collectors market" plays a much more important role in the value of items than what can be sold on Amazon/Play. :)
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those 3 were just examples. I have sold many more like those. I used to have a pretty nice side business selling steels on Amazon until steels became meh to me.
 
Peak prices have come and gone for the older grails. There are new grails now that are way up over the price I paid a few months ago. Even the retail prices have gone way up. This is going to be a never ending debate. To say that as an investment standpoint it is bad, well I beg do differ. I have way more value now than I did last year. The less auctions I do the more people come to buy it now.
 
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chipvideo said:
To say that as an investment standpoint it is bad, well I beg do differ.
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Will you still beg to differ when in 2 years your prized collection is basically worthless and only of value to a very small group of people because blu ray has been replaced? The replacement is already on the way.

As a long term commodity they are a seriously terrible investment. All visual formats are! I have several hundred laserdiscs including some "at the time grails" which 10 years ago were worth upwards of £500, now they are utterly worthless. Same with DVD's. Steelbooks will go the same way in less than 5 years. Yes they are nice, yes they may personally mean a lot to a collector, but in the end the ass will fall out the market and you will be left with a nice collection but value wise .... non existent.

On a business level they are a short term commodity with a shelf life of less than a decade when they are of value. That said I enjoy collecting them and will continue to collect them, but they aren't comic books or vinyl that continue to be loved, they are a throw away format and in a few years will be replaced by something new with it's own special formats and grails, and we will start all over again. When that happens those expensive "grails" will be dirt cheap! :)
 
psychoscot said:
Will you still beg to differ when in 2 years your prized collection is basically worthless and only of value to a very small group of people because blu ray has been replaced? The replacement is already on the way.

As a long term commodity they are a seriously terrible investment. All visual formats are! I have several hundred laserdiscs including some "at the time grails" which 10 years ago were worth upwards of £500, now they are utterly worthless. Same with DVD's. Steelbooks will go the same way in less than 5 years. Yes they are nice, yes they may personally mean a lot to a collector, but in the end the ass will fall out the market and you will be left with a nice collection but value wise .... non existent.

On a business level they are a short term commodity with a shelf life of less than a decade when they are of value. That said I enjoy collecting them and will continue to collect them, but they aren't comic books or vinyl that continue to be loved, they are a throw away format and in a few years will be replaced by something new with it's own special formats and grails, and we will start all over again. When that happens those expensive "grails" will be dirt cheap! :)
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I don't consider it my collection. I sell over $XXK per month of steels.

To add something that hasn't been said. The Xbox One and the PS4 are being released this week and next week respectively. If you haven't noticed they are both using Blu-ray sized steelbook cases for both of them. I don't see the G2 sized steelbook case being dethrowned anytime in the next 5-10 years.
 
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There will always be people who buy the steelbooks because they like it and not as an investment or for business. They couldn't care less if the value have gone up or down. For business, it is a case of demand and supply. Investment - not sure about that as one would have to find a buyer if you want to sell them down the road. It is not like you can take them to the grocery store and tell them that this is worth $$$ and I want the same in food.

How many people here have a Laserdisc collection that consist of Star Wars, Aliens, Jurassic Park, Looney Tunes Vol 1 to 4? Are they considered worthless because you can't sell them for what you paid for them? You can always sell them but not for what you want.

Same thing can be said for comic books, sport cards (Ken Griffey rookie Upper Deck card - what is the value of that card nowadays? )
 
In my opinion it will eventually die one day. I started collecting like 4 months ago and that's why I'm not going after earlier grails. In the near future when new technology comes out the price will be dropping drastically. It is same for DVDs, VCDs and earlier technologies. When something new comes out and demand is gone it starts to get cheaper.

4K technology is on its way. It will double the visual quality. I won't be buying 4K releases of the bluray steelbooks I have but after it is released I will be buying 4Ks only as probably most of us will do the same. Today, I'm not buying anymore DVDs but I have a collection that have around 700 DVD movies. In the pat I spent lots for them, today they are nearly worthless.

For investment it is really not a wise thing to do in my opinion. Not sure what future will show us but it is obvious that as "chipvideo" told above G2 size will live on shelves around 5-10 more years. After that we will see what will come out.
 

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