How Much is to Much????

I suppose it all depends on your disposable income if you earn £5,000 a month you could in theory blow your monthly spare cash on it.
 
Ive paid almost £500 on a mixed lot in the past but made that back plus a bit more by being selective as to what to keep plus i had more disposable back then.
 
ive always wondered if there is the possibility of owning a complete carded collection or are the carded collectors chasing the impossible dream ?
 
In 5 years of collecting there are certain outfits ive only ever seen 1 boxed example of and others where im left wondering if any carded examples still exist.
 
Which has put me off collecting carded examples because part of the satisfaction is in being a completist,
 
Ive gained more pleasure in completing outfits or having rareity's pass through my hands.
 
Also ive wondered just how many vam collectors there are and if the same pieces are just moved between us ?
 
 

most I ever paid for a item was a boxed arygll, very good condition cost me £1000 and that was a few years ago, but on the flip-side I've had plenty of bargains in the past (boxed marine combat £350, treasure hunter £160, boxed missile assault £120, boxed Joe mountie around £300 - I could go on) - I agree its a lot of money for a single card and but is a rare one and its all relative aint it? - someone like say Mr Westham probably wouldnt think that was a great price to pay for a card that wasnt in his collection, to me that hasnt got a spare 2.5k its a lot of money, its like me at the minute, I must have at least 3 grands worth of spare bits/dolls etc that if I could list them and sell them overnight it would be ploughed back into boxed stuff, if 20 or 10 or 5 outfits it wouldnt matter, its just spare cash - I do know though that Parachute equipment card I got a few weeks back is just as rare as the spurs

The most I've paid for a single outfit was £400 for a very nice judo outfit complete with all the belts.  I was pleased with it.  It depends on what else you would rather spend the money on I guess.  Compared to some things (e.g. holidays) it doesn't seem unreasonable.  If you start to collect carded, prices really do start to escalate rapidly, and personally I prefer to see the outfits displayed on a figure, so it doesn't seem worth it.

wel said m8 .. cash flow is the key .. to the amount .. BUT as im skint all the time (due to action man ) .. but i feel i could not spent  £2,500 on a TOY  as baz says .. or anything that just say in my action man room   i just dont feel i could get the cash worth out of it .. like i have allways  had motorbike's since i left home as my mum would not let me have one when i lived their  .. (she did not feel i was safe on them things ) ..  so i love to have one now .. BUT  ok my wife could go on the back ..  but hat about the kids  i feel if i had one they would lose out   so i bought a mini moke . so we all go out in it with the top down  getting wet whan it rained LOL ..   so unless my famliy benifited from the spend .. no i do not spend that kind of cash .. thats why i dont buy any action men stuff over £150 .. thats my lot and due to lack of funds i dont spent that amount often ..  the cash i have for the action man show's i save that up over the months b4 the show ..
 so £20 for an outfit that  other's pay £2,500 .. is fine for me .. .

I suppose it all depends on your disposable income if you earn £5,000 a month you could in theory blow your monthly spare cash on it. Ive paid almost £500 on a mixed lot in the past but made that back plus a bit more by being selective as to what to keep plus i had more disposable back then. ive always wondered if there is the possibility of owning a complete carded collection or are the carded collectors chasing the impossible dream ? In 5 years of collecting there are certain outfits ive only ever seen 1 boxed example of and others where im left wondering if any carded examples still exist. Which has put me off collecting carded examples because part of the satisfaction is in being a completist, Ive gained more pleasure in completing outfits or having rareity's pass through my hands. Also ive wondered just how many vam collectors there are and if the same pieces are just moved between us ?  

-drunkenmonkey

your right there Chris, the same seller had a folder with pics of his boxed outfits in (a very, very nice collection btw) and I recognised a few of my old ones in there and while I was looking through it with another lad he was saying he had sold him a few pieces in the folder, so yes, would agree theres only so much carded stuff that gets moved around, then again theres always examples turning up at auctions/ebay etc

WOW, now that is a million dollar question.  Often wondered to what extent I would go money wise and I think it all depends at what stage I was at in my focus on Action Man collecting.  . Sometmes I have moments of mad buying and then I leave it for a while , all depends really on current circumstances money wise.  BUT if I really really felt I wanted somehting then I would buy it for my collection if I thought it was somehting that would not come round again for many years and I would bung it on the credit card and worry later .  I spent around £2000 at auction a couple of years ago on a lot  of carded stuff but recouped £1900 and painfully regretted not buying all of it at the time because  again it was rarer than hens teeth, It would have cost me £6000 if I;d bought all of it and I wish I had now  .  I do try to buy as cleverly as possible to limit the damage as it were on the wallet if that makes sense.

awwoooo . £6,000 thats a lot of cash m8 ,.. but i guess if you mr chunky (like few of you guys have said ) i bet £6,000 to him prob about £200 to us .. thats why i dont buy anything in clinton cards anymore im not paying for him to have a fab action man collection

Ah but if Id' bought all of it for aournd £6000 , what I would have sold it for would have almost paid for it , and allowed me to keep the bits I really wanted , namely carded Argyll, Dress Marine and Lancer - that;s my point about buying cleverly - wasn;t clever enough or brave enough that day though      as for Clinton Cards, nothing wrong with being good in business.      

Ah but if Id' bought all of it for aournd £6000 , what I would have sold it for would have almost paid for it , and allowed me to keep the bits I really wanted , namely carded Argyll, Dress Marine and Lancer - that;s my point about buying cleverly - wasn;t clever enough or brave enough that day though     [image] as for Clinton Cards, nothing wrong with being good in business.       [image]

-actiontrooper

I'm the same, thought by a bit of buying and selling I'd pay my credit card off but in the last couple of months I'm only thinking of what carded stuff I can buy

Dangerous  tactics                

Dangerous  tactics                 [image]

-actiontrooper

well the bankers started it in the first place

on a serious note though - I'll carry on selling my spares off and paying off the credit card but if something comes up I'll have the money/credit card to pay for it

 love credit cards too - great when you need them , evil when you don't

See, NOW we're getting into the aspect I HATE!!!!
Honestly, if you ARE planning on "investing" in VAM...........
Kill yourself.
I HATE "speculators".
NOW, admittedly, I HAVE bought AND sold VAM, but I would NEVER
think "fook this is gonna be worth X amount in 3 years"
I HAVE bought stuff cheap and sold it on pretty quickly.
In fact, it was THIS mindset that started the  fighting on the old site.
I'm gonna say it again, if you wanna invest, play the stock market.
If you want to collect VAM, collect what you LIKE and LOVE!!!
Not what you think SOMEONE ELSE is gonna pay a lot of
money for!!!
You will be unfulfilled.
I assure you.
Rant over.

dont think its a good idea to "invest" in vam.if your totally honest very rarely do you make any money selling unless you can buy off someone who is desperate for the cash.only sell when you improve your own collection.is that the right way ?.

I think I've spent around £100 on a few complete figures....

Green Beret
Israeli Para
LSO

Maybe close to that for my Annapolis and Air Cadets....

I think that's about as high as I'd go tbh....

And again, our budgets constrict and control our outlay.
This time last year I'd bid ANYTHING to get that Racing Car and Driver set.
But THIS year I have sort of realised there are more things to spend money on
that are more important just now.
Think keeping it below £100.00 is deffo my new motto!

The climate is definatly one for the buyer as more and more quality box,loose,and carded items become available due to the credit crunch or collectors just passing their fab collections on to others but that is were we can get caught and trapped by temptation to buy,buy,buy.On a personal level i have a small collection,mainly of what i had or played with as a child plus the odd figure or set of those i wish my parents could have afforded to buy me back in the day.My collection is of a very high quality standered and it has cost me a arm and a leg.The most i have spent in one go was £200 for a blues and royals which is a stunning example and my fav.As a rule of thumb id like to go no more than a £100 tops for items of quality that im looking for so long as the items are of that value or close to and im sometimes tempted to be drawn into auction fever when something rare turns up,but im sticking to my morals of what i want to collect before i start collecting everything then asking myself 'what for'.We all collect for different reasons so stick to what you like or really want.Action man is so addictive and so expensive yet great fun..

Going back to the original point (and yes it was me that bought the villa socks for, well lets just say quite a lot!!) I suppose it comes down to how much you want something (and whether you can afford it!!).  I look at the carded Spurs and think no way would I spend that sort of money on Action Man, but then I bought the villa socks at over the odds prices- why because it was the last footballer and I wanted to complete it.  It doesn't really make sense (certainly not financial) but I guess most collectors will understand what I mean.

Dave L