Mr. Gold on eBay

skeet318

Forget Mr. Gold....I want Phoenix! If I find Gold, I'm cashing out and bringing Jeanie home to me...

LegoMom1

Trenth said:

I think it is sad that people are doing the whole "Medusa or Mr. Gold thing" on Ebay. There is no way they aren't checking the bags. It is even sadder that people are falling for it.

Modern day snake oil salesmen.

samiam391

TyoSolo said:

^ Agreed, I think that considering S11 is due in September, and not even 1/5th of the Mr. Golds have been registered yet, interest will wane for all but the serious collectors.

Unfortunately, the number of Mr. Golds registered doesn't even come close to reflecting the number of Mr. Golds found.

If I found one, I wouldn't register the code, but would rather hold onto it in the hopes that it would increase the value of the item later on (which it would). Even if I had no plans to sell within the next 5 years, I wouldn't register it.

Lots of people are cashing in now (most who have no interest in LEGO I've discovered), but I'm also willing to bet that lots of LEGO collectors aren't registering their Mr. Gold either and are merely betting on a riper selling time.

CCC

I guess price will depend on how long the registration page remains live. If it disappears after two years, no-one will know if it has been registered.

Pacific493

Perhaps it is just me, but I have to say that this whole Mr. Gold frenzy is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen with Lego. A single minifig selling for $1000+ is crazy.

LegoRocco

If I found one, I wouldn't be able to sell it with my kiss marks on it. I need to get a life, seriously

Pitfall69

My interest is slowing already. Between @samiam391 and myself, we have felt over 1,500 packs and no Mr. Gold.

kwkw

@Pitfall69 try over 2,500 packs and nothing....(completionist in me says to keep looking, common sense comes over and slaps completionist in the face and calls him an idiot for wasting our time)

Pitfall69

^Geez. I guess you are like me and won't consider the CMF collection complete withoutMr. Gold or to a lesser degree, the Toy SSoldier.

Brick_Obsession

I bought my Mr. Gold, at below current Ebay prices. I will not be registering him. I do not see the point. More than likely will not sell him, but as @samiam391 mentioned, there are people out there who like to be able to do those things so it will appeal to them knowing they have a "virgin" in their hands.

Pitfall69

^oh boy ;)

BoiseState

Is the Toy soldier hard to find? I haven't seen the book in my town.

Pitfall69

No. I just mentioned him because there are people that don't consider him part of a complete CMF collection.

TheLoneTensor

BoiseState said:

Is the Toy soldier hard to find? I haven't seen the book in my town.

Amazon has it and it fluctuates between $10-$14. Given that it does come with the toy soldier*, it's very worth it.

I agree, he's not part of the official series, I guess, but he is still a fantastic fig. He's so beautiful in his simplicity.

Deadareus

Built the Toy Soldier last night. He indeed is awesome. Found the book @ Costco for $9.99. I may get another one to have 2 Toy Soldiers standing outsite of the Winter Village Toy Shop.

Pitfall69

^That is a great idea.

davee123

So... uh... huh. Another 2 weeks of data, and there's a sudden surge in value? What's going on here?


DaveE

TheLoneTensor

When stocks go South, gold goes high :)

piratemania7

I wonder what effect we have as forum members on the fluctuation in prices from time to time? Like everyone all of a sudden feels the need to go bid? I don't know, just a thought.

jdylak

I'd like one of those people who said the price would drop to like $100 once they were out there to buy me one now.

piratemania7

jdylak said:

I'd like one of those people who said the price would drop to like $100 once they were out there to buy me one now.

Classic. And I agree, alternatively we just keep clicking refresh refresh to see if there are new Mr. Gold's posted.

davee123

jdylak said:

I'd like one of those people who said the price would drop to like $100 once they were out there to buy me one now.

Now, now, let's be reasonable. I'll put in the promised $100, and they can pay the difference.

DaveE

BoiseState

If I can get one for $400 I'll pick one up.

samiam391

I've been watching the market, and there's been less and less added to eBay recently.

Simple supply/demand effect.

The 150 listings for Medusa/Mr.Gold hot packs (hate those with a passion), aren't helping either. Makes people 2X as excited when the real item is listed, and not some bogus hot pack.

cardgenius

Doesn't look like prices will drop all that much. I had really thought they would be half of where they are now, which makes me think that they won't really drop at all. And once Series 10 is retired for 11, I think Mr. Gold is gonna go even higher.

I've been lazy/burn out from feeling so many packs so I haven't been searching all that much the last 2-3 weeks. Looks like I'm gonna have to force myself to do it if I want to have a Mr. Gold in the collection.

DoubleD

I wonder how many people were buying and reposting them at a higher price. It would be interesting to know if the same one has been sold more then once.

tom4086

It may only be me, but I'd only buy a Mr Gold if it was sealed.

LegoMom1

@tom4086 said:

tom4086 said:

It may only be me, but I'd only buy a Mr Gold if it was sealed.

That does make sense seeing that it would be more valuable 'MISB', but it would be too risky for both buyer and seller if done on-line. The only way to buy/ sell a completely sealed Mr. Gold would be a face to face deal. If done on eBay, the outer bag would have to be opened to ascertain the contents and also to show the number out of 5000. This would be protection for both parties involved to help prevent any claims of a scam from either side. After all, the seller could always claim that he thought he felt the top hat so he thought it was a Mr. Gold, or the buyer could say he received a skydiver or mechanic when he opened the previously sealed package. My theory is that Lego put Mr. Gold in the sealed, clear, inner bag just for this reason. They know very well that highly sought after Lego figures are sold on Ebay, so by having the sealed inner bag that is clear, the contents can be verified but it is still untouched by anyone after leaving the factory. Another safeguard Lego added was the registration number. The number not only adds to the fun of registering your Mr. Gold and keeping track of where they have been found, but also adds to protect a secondary buyer from purchasing a really good fake. If there is no registration number leaflet, he ain't real! Just my opinion, but doesn't it make sense?

BoiseState

samiam391 said:

I've been watching the market, and there's been less and less added to eBay recently.

Simple supply/demand effect.

The 150 listings for Medusa/Mr.Gold hot packs (hate those with a passion), aren't helping either. Makes people 2X as excited when the real item is listed, and not some bogus hot pack.

That person needs a smack in the mouth.

TheLoneTensor

Wow, Medusa is really going for about $20 huh?

BoiseState

Can't believe people fall for that..

LegoFanTexas

^ Sucker born every minute...

A fool and his money...

And so on...

LegoMom1

^+^+^ Modern day snake oil salesmen. Yes, pun definitely intended.

Hardrada

Can't believe this. It's stupid on so many levels.

1. From what I see the Medusa goes for about 4-8 USD on eBay. This hot bag, 100% to contain Medusa on the other hand goes for 10-30 USD.

2. If the seller can tell that it's 100% sure to be either Medusa or Mr. Gold then he can tell for sure which of the two. So thinking that you have a chance for Mr. Gold this way is a logic fail (or extreme naivety) worthy of a double facepalm, too.

3. To make this even more stupid a sealed bag containing the Medusa can be identified from miles by simply looking. So you just have to look at the picture of the listing and sure enough you can see a heavily bulging bag at every such listing.

Too bad it's not worth it to ship a single figure to the US. Maybe I should try with a listing of '6 hot bags, all containing either Medusa or Mr. Gold'. I wonder if someone were stupid enough to fall for that, too. 5 more 'chances' at Mr. Gold after all. :D

davee123

So, looking at the sale data, it seems to be getting more erratic and more sparse, but the trend of rising value seems to be continuing!



Who would've thought that the time to get in on Mr. Gold would be back when it was selling for $500?

DaveE

jdylak

$1600??

samiam391

jdylak said:

$1600??

Actually, that one was a scam.

The seller even put the listing as a charity auction, which is even more disgusting.

Brick_Obsession

Do we have a number of Mr. Gold's registered to date? I am one of those guilty of not registering mine.

ACWWGal2011

TyoSolo said:

^ Agreed, I think that considering S11 is due in September, and not even 1/5th of the Mr. Golds have been registered yet, interest will wane for all but the serious collectors.

Actually if series 10 is any indication of things, it could be as early as very early august.

ACWWGal2011

Brick_Obsession said:

Do we have a number of Mr. Gold's registered to date? I am one of those guilty of not registering mine.

http://minifigures.lego.com/en-us/GoldenMinifigure/Map.aspx

Lego

Brick_Obsession said:

Do we have a number of Mr. Gold's registered to date? I am one of those guilty of not registering mine.

Lego.com/minifigures

Hardrada

My favourite is the one found on Guernsey. Someone was probably feeling funny when entering hers/his.:)

Brick_Obsession

Thanks for the link, but that Lego Site is Mickey Mouse. I like how all "68" found in Canada appear to only be found in Toronto, possibly Ottawa. It's like they ran out of money when building that map. Started South and worked their way up.

CCC

Hardrada said:

My favourite is the one found on Guernsey. Someone was probably feeling funny when entering hers/his.:)

Why? People play with lego in Guernsey and Jersey.

Just as they do in Guam, Saint Helena, Mozambique, Kazakstan, ... all of which have Mr Golds.

Some of the stats are interesting though ...

UK 203
Netherlands 10
Germany 39
Italy 37
France 45
Spain 7
Portugal 5


Germany and Spain in particular. Germany seems very low, given the number of lego fans there, as does Spain.

Italy, France, Spain, UK all relatively similar sized countries in terms of population (OK, Spain slightly smaller) - so CMFs are clearly more popular in the UK to have so many Mr Golds here. Or are people in Spain finding them and selling them? Germany seems really low, given the population, wealth and number of lego fans.

khmellymel

Makes me feel a bit better that I didn't find a Mr. Gold while in China... only two there!

legomatt

Interesting, but with distribution data being insufficient, it's difficult to draw conclusions. Though I imagine it probably does somewhat reflect CMF popularity/distribution. UK probably is a larger market than Portugal for example - but I might be wrong.

Of course, the numbers could equally mean people in the UK are more happy to register their fig, whilst other countries don't bother so much, if at all. OR figs in the UK have mostly been found now, while in other countries they're still out there... Or the UK public is just very good at feeling up packs... hey, it's cold here, so we get a lot of practice at feeling through clothes! LOL :oP

Too many variable to contemplate. In the end it's still just a matter of take your chances with your local supply, and hope for the best. :o)

Still, good stats there @CCC :o)

piratemania7

For what it's worth, my two cents would be that I am just waiting for and am interested in series 11 and 12 and so forth to come out and see what impact that has on the general value and demand of this figure. I think Mr. Gold has been solidified long term in our hearts and minds and people will always yearn for and crave this minifigure. But I also think with time TLG will come out with other new and exciting promotions and sets/figures we will all want. So at some point the laws of business dictate this price will settle...where? Only time can tell.

TheOneVeyronian

I've resisted posting any comment to do with Mr. Gold for a while now, but I can't hold it any longer. Ever since it came out I've been looking for the annoying little thing to give my family a little financial breather really. I've never found one. Now I'm at the point that I actually DESPISE the whole concept of an ultra-rare chase figure clad in chrome gold whereas he looks better in pearl gold imo. My heart sinks a little every time one pops up for sale on eBay UK.
I've searched hundereds of boxes since May - and surely I must be the unluckiest AFOL on the planet? I just think of the time when S10 was just coming out. I saw a box of S10 CMF's in my local Argos. I counted the bags in the virgin box. Funnily enough, there were 59. Ever since then, I have believed that missing one was Mr. Gold. It was the second box I had ever looked in.

I reckon a sneaky employee must have picked it out to sell on eBay, knowing the nature of people in my town. If it was Mr. Gold, that is.

I've just given up on Mr. Gold completely. I wouldn't even spend £100 on one (unless it was guaranteed to increase in value after that). Just my 2 cents on the whole matter.

Nonetheless, while I despise Mr. Gold (I refuse to read the hunt thread), it's eBay sale patterns are certainly very interesting indeed. Should have maybe pulled the trigger on one a month ago, but it isn't really something I regret at the same time.

legomatt

To be honest, I just occasionally view these threads to see what the trend is, but I'm not actively looking for him. More chance of finding love in the toy aisle! LoL
:oP

Brick_Obsession

TheOneVeyronian said:

I've resisted posting any comment to do with Mr. Gold for a while now, but I can't hold it any longer. Ever since it came out I've been looking for the annoying little thing to give my family a little financial breather really. I've never found one. Now I'm at the point that I actually DESPISE the whole concept of an ultra-rare chase figure clad in chrome gold whereas he looks better in pearl gold imo. My heart sinks a little every time one pops up for sale on eBay UK.

Do you despise it because it so hard to find or because other people are doing what you wanted to do and profit from it?