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Collectibles => Vintage Kenner => Topic started by: solrac on April 27, 2007, 04:43 PM

Title: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: solrac on April 27, 2007, 04:43 PM
 do any of you buy or submit their figures to AFA. I have a small collection and i like the idea that the figure is encased and will display nicely. hopefully get a return on the investment when and if i sell them. but mostly i like the grading they use, my father is a big coin collector and when i show him my best graded figures he enjoys them as much as he would a rare coin. what do most collectors think.
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: john todd on April 27, 2007, 05:12 PM
you can buy the cases without paying the extra for grading.  if i was going to sell, i would absolutely get my figures graded 1st, but otherwise, i don't really need AFA's validation.
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: DSJ™ on April 28, 2007, 12:39 AM
I would just get cases from Oscar (http://www.oscarscases.com/). AFA sucks!
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: solrac on April 28, 2007, 01:06 AM
is it that people don't like the results they get from AFA, they don't agree with the grading they get back. the casing wasn't that expensive before and the figures looks nice. i guess growing up with a collector that gets things graded has influenced me in a way but I'm proud to show some of my AFA 90 figures and say that there is very few in this condition in the world.
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: john todd on April 29, 2007, 03:40 PM
i have never sent anything to AFA, and i would prefer not to ever buy anything that has been graded by AFA.

my personal complaint about AFA is that it makes it difficult to collect vintage without having a big budget.  nice figures cost at least double if they are graded, and lesser carded figures are being ripped off cards to get uncirculated loose grades. 

grading nice figures if you are gonna sell them is just smart business, but if AFA had a soul they would not open figures on cards that didn't grade 20 or lower.

i have not ever collected cards or coins, so maybe i just don't know the feeling of having someone else deem my collectible the very best.  maybe until i get that satisfaction, i will be happy with my own personal appraisal.
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: JesseVader08 on April 29, 2007, 10:02 PM
my personal complaint about AFA is that it makes it difficult to collect vintage without having a big budget.  nice figures cost at least double if they are graded, and lesser carded figures are being ripped off cards to get uncirculated loose grades. 

Exactly my thoughts.  AFA makes it more expensive to collect vintage, simple as that.  :-\
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: solrac on April 30, 2007, 01:45 AM
there are plenty of none graded figures out. If you trust the person selling them there is no problem. the problem is the people selling these figures, i agree that it sucks to take a figure out and grade it but AFA is not the problem. its the people who buy them. no demand on product. AFA goes out of business period. but every one knows that people are going to grade there items so don't hate the player hate the game. I have bought things on ebay that the seller say it a C-9 just to get it home to see they played with the lighting or angle of the shot and get a C-7 C-8 figure and try to fight it on paypal and loose. well you know what you are getting with AFA. who wouldn't pay more for a car that has a guaranty that it got an inspection and it runs perfect. i also collect '68 Mustangs and i get upset when i go to someones house to buy a part and see that they scraped a car for two fenders and a hood. but that is life and i want good parts so i an the reason these people do that. i myself have never sold a vintage figure and an not saying if i would but i hope whoever buys it isn't getting it to make money...
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: blimpyboy on April 30, 2007, 10:16 AM
i have not ever collected cards or coins, so maybe i just don't know the feeling of having someone else deem my collectible the very best.  maybe until i get that satisfaction, i will be happy with my own personal appraisal.

I agree with everything you said above, and I am anti-AFA for almost all intents and purposes except their authentication of things like DT sabers and vinyl cape Jawas.  It does indeed force collectors with a smaller budget to either a.) have a much smaller pool of nice, affordable, ungraded carded figures to choose from, or b.) quit the hobby out of frustration.  Thankfully with eBay, it's still possible to find nice dispayable carded figures, but if you're looking for pretty much flawless MOC figs, you're gonna pay out the ass.  There are people over at Rebelscum who admit and indeed boast the fact that they paid 4-5 times over the usual going rate for a carded figure just with the hopes of sending it to AFA to get that elusive "90" grade. 

As far as the comparison to coins though, there are literally trillions of coins out there, so the main graders like PCGS and NGC, while being popular among collectors of rare dates and gold coins, haven't drastically effected the market.  There are plenty of coins out there turning up in estates all the time, ensuring a continuous supply.  This isn't true with vintage MOC figures.  What's out there now is pretty much what's always going to be out there, which is why I'm just as dismayed as you about people ripping open figures (and not always from trashed cards) to dash them off to AFA.

To summarize my thoughts concisely: **** AFA.
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: john todd on April 30, 2007, 05:54 PM
there are plenty of none graded figures out. If you trust the person selling them there is no problem. the problem is the people selling these figures, i agree that it sucks to take a figure out and grade it but AFA is not the problem. its the people who buy them. no demand on product. AFA goes out of business period. but every one knows that people are going to grade there items so don't hate the player hate the game. I have bought things on ebay that the seller say it a C-9 just to get it home to see they played with the lighting or angle of the shot and get a C-7 C-8 figure and try to fight it on paypal and loose. well you know what you are getting with AFA. who wouldn't pay more for a car that has a guaranty that it got an inspection and it runs perfect. i also collect '68 Mustangs and i get upset when i go to someones house to buy a part and see that they scraped a car for two fenders and a hood. but that is life and i want good parts so i an the reason these people do that. i myself have never sold a vintage figure and an not saying if i would but i hope whoever buys it isn't getting it to make money...

i don't really hate AFA, i just wish people would be smarter about it.  people are paying 10 times what they used to for the same figure.  i know they get a guarantee, but all you ever had to do before was insist on good pictures.
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: Matt_Fury on April 30, 2007, 06:42 PM
I don't mind it so much for vintage items...of course the only vintage Items I have are things I got when I was a kid nearly 30 years ago.  I don't think you should have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for something that is AFA graded though.

I also would never buy any modern item that was AFA graded....there's way too much mint modern stuff that isn't AFA graded.
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: solrac on June 29, 2007, 11:23 PM
nobody forces people to collect something they cant afford. its after all, just plastic.if people are willing to pay 3 or 4 times the amount for a perfect figure than to bad for them. there are plenty of figures out there and MOST people aren't opening them .if I'm going to spend a hundred dollars plus on something then thirty isn't going to kill me to protect it. for what its worth i will always send my best figures out to AFA and thats on me, hopefully my one and a have year old son will appreciate them when i give them to him in the future like i did when my father gave me some of his coins. in perfect condition and completely protected.
Title: Re: To AFA or not to AFA that is the question.
Post by: GrandMoffNick on December 15, 2007, 03:42 PM
I think AFA is one of the biggest scams ever!!!!!!!