Quote:
Originally Posted by Duluth Eskimo
It is. What 90% of people don't understand is that the promoter sets all prices. If the promoter believes 150 people will pay the inflated rate, why should they set a fee that 600 would pay. If the athlete agrees to 800 autographs, the promoter makes his money on the 150 that pay the exorbitant amount and then they get to pocket 650 autographs for free. Or sell them to other dealers at a much lower rate. The good old days were when the promoter was hoping to break even on a guy like Mantle and divided the signing fee by 800 and that was your price. The last time I paid for Mantle at a show it was $20 and the promoter thought they were going to lose money the whole time. Only at the last minute were they able to go table to table and encourage dealers to buy more autographs. $20 and a six pack of beer went a long way back then. Jason
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I have been saying this for years!! The promoters screw over the retail customer and then hook up other dealers and promoters with the 'backroom' wholesale price. It used to be that everyone paid the same price. But the promoter realized that they make more money this way, and the average customer is will pay it. They used to say that you are paying for the experience of meeting the athlete. Unfortunately, these days only a handful of athletes are even worth meeting. Most are talking on the phone, listening to music, or want extra money for an 'interaction'. Just not worth it in my opinion. I say that getting an item signed at a show is like buying a new car. The minute you walk away from that table, the value of the autograph just depreciated by 25%. Just take the retail price for a signing and divide by 2. That is what the wholesale/backroom price usually will be.