Let's keep this civil!

Rebojazz asked a quesiton in another thread about an Uzay Vader I have. Its currently graded but has no saber. The question was what I'd do if I found one. My answer was that I'd simply have it recased.

I wanted to kind of give my opinion on AFA's value to me and see what people thought and of course give their 2 cents. For me , I dont see value in the grading of the figures quality. One mans 80 is anothers 85 is anothers 75 and so on. I do however think the authentication service is great for a couple of reasons:

1) Obviously to authenticate if you buy from someone you don't know
2) Protect your purchase
3)Make re-selling easier

Does anyone else feel they serve a purpose on this front? With a few exceptions every AFA item I have verifies one of the following things:

Figure is legit
Baggie is truely sealed
MOC is authentic
Item is sealed

If I ever need to sell something, especially off the boards, I think it gives people a sense of security so i can have sellers bidding with confidence.


Love to hear opinions !!!

"I do however think the authentication service is great for a couple of reasons:

1) Obviously to authenticate if you buy from someone you don't know
2) Protect your purchase
3)Make re-selling easier"

totally agree.
Protect your purchase = stops housemaids vacuuming up loose weapons

Unless they make a mistake in the authentification as has happened before but generally they seem to be right.

I can see some Ledy appearing as wrongly identified considering the work were having with identifying some and possibly other obscure figures from various "brands".

It does help selling of course and the figure should stay in relatively the same condition if looked after correctly.


Downside:

Cant handle the damn thing
Larger item to post
Dearer to buy

This is one area where I certainly see a great service of AFA, but it still doesn't mean the collector shouldn't do their homework.

I can't say from personal experience, but have read of cases where repro weapons ended up graded. Also, in the Transformers market there are a lot of Knock Off/Fake G1 toys that are almost 1:1 identical where some were accidentally graded.

Those two examples are items that would not have gone to Tom(CIB) though. If I ever get around to getting a loose VC Jawa I would look for the signs myself of authenticity and would also send it in for authentication for extra reassurance.


Just saying that is is great to get the 2nd opinion from a trusted source and not simply rely on the fact it is graded to mean it is authentic.

I have to say that John covers it pretty well for me above. A VC Jawa, Uzay Bluestars etc. would feel a little better if it came from someone I didn't really know.

And on another note. If I were to buy an AFA graded item I'd only buy if it were not at the fake inflated AFA price. I'm not buying the sticker I'm buying the figure inside the case. And if I were to buy a U graded figure (can't see it happening) it would be "rescued" as fast as I could get it home.

straight up i like AFA.
this for authentication,protection,resell and sorry but the value too but i dont aprove the sick prices of some pieces.

on the other hand when you scout ebay or sales in the classifields AFA sometimes missed the ball by grading repro or making errors on the label origin or make and even spelling errors.

for me mocs arrent meant to be handeld and many put them in cases of some sort anyway why not spend some more to get a score on it?

Thats about the only way I would use AFA, to authenticate an item and to have the extra protection for it. But an acrylic would do the job, but for rarer items like Uzay or Hungarian items, I would want a second opinion on it if it didnt come from a known source like JoeY. Spidey Seth, Rebojazz, or other bootleg collectors. For production wise, any of the harder to obtain ones would get the seal. As for grading it, no. Like John said, one mans 80 is anothers 85. So grading is out the window. It would make it easier for re-sale value, but I think in time, even graded figures wont sell for that high of a price. Look at the U graded figures, those are starting to drop down to normal prices and some aren't even selling.

I see very few people using AFA grading for more than a tool to make more money on Ebay or other selling spots. I personally don’t care for AFA other than to use them for Authentication . Their prices are kind of steep, they’ve turned into EBAY in the sense of “do you want to add this for just a few dollars more?” , “do you want to add that for just a feeewww dollars more”...”But wait…Now we offer this as well for just a few extra dollars”.

As much as it seems I complaining about it, I am going to send in that Tri-logo 4 pack I picked up but only for the case and the authentication and… in the end when I finished filling out the form it was going cost me over $100 for the grading. Really…..a $100+??

Plus I personally like to be able to touch and handle items in my collection. Sealing up an item in a case to me takes away from the full collecting experience. Maybe today Luke WANTS to wear his Stormtrooper helmet, where as tomorrow he won’t feel like it.

Darthberizing wrote:

............ I do however think the authentication service is great for a couple of reasons:

1) Obviously to authenticate if you buy from someone you don't know
2) Protect your purchase
3)Make re-selling easier

Does anyone else feel they serve a purpose on this front? With a few exceptions every AFA item I have verifies one of the following things:

Figure is legit
Baggie is truely sealed
MOC is authentic
Item is sealed

If I ever need to sell something, especially off the boards, I think it gives people a sense of security so i can have sellers bidding with confidence.......

I agree with you !! .... I think the authentication service is worth when we talk about rare pieces , or very specific items, like items from Lucas film archives...

Good conversation, John! I've always been a quiet "non-fan" of AFA but mainly for the reasons you're NOT talking about. I do agree with Paul and others regarding certain figures being authenticicated (VC Jawa). Honestly, if I were to buy a VC Jawa, I would probably but him AFA as well.... just because of the simple fact that there are more fakes out there than there are real ones, and that scares me. 10 years ago you didn't have to worry about that much. Another figure I'd definately get graded (if I had the money) would be the RF Fett.

The main thing I don't like about AFA (speaking of RF Fetts) is when a hord of people send all their new Hasbro Rocket Fetts to AFA then jack up the price to $200 on Ebay because of a "fad". Can't say I blame the company... supply/demand. But, people back in October have spent tons of money for Fetts that are now worth less than half of that. AND, the same is going to happen when the white prototype Fett comes out. This is just an example......

aussiejames wrote:

"I do however think the authentication service is great for a couple of reasons:

1) Obviously to authenticate if you buy from someone you don't know
2) Protect your purchase
3)Make re-selling easier"

totally agree.
Protect your purchase = stops housemaids vacuuming up loose weapons

I agree. Housemaids. WOW!

I like AFA graded figures. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I would rather pay more for a figure that has been inspected by the AFA than an uncased figure. This is especially true for newer vintage collectors like myself. One, because I'm newer, and still have tons to learn to feel remotely comfortable purchasing vintage items. And two, because vintage items carry a higher price tag, so the possible downside of buying fakes or reseals or undamaged figures is greater.

I've been a Star Wars collector since 1995, but until recently it was all modern. I feel incredibly comfortable buying and selling modern items as they are what I know. But right now vintage is a whole other ball of wax. And if I'm shelling out the money for vintage, I'd rather get the peace of mind that AFA affords.

Also, I realize that grading is completely subjective, but the variation of one AFA 85 to another AFA 85 is far less than "Seller A's" C-9 and "Seller B's C-9.

As far as being unable to handle AFA loose figures, that doesn't really bother me. I have plenty of lesser condition, incomplete vintage figures to touch and check out. If it's a higher grade loose, like an 85, I'd rather have it protected, and probably wouldn't e handling it too much anyway.

Lastly, I flat out love the way they look. I'm kind of anal, and like the uniformity of graded pieces.

That's not to say I only buy AFA items, far from it. I have plenty of MOC in star cases, some in acrylic cases, and some AFA graded. But if money were no object, I would certainly want all AFA items.

This is an interesting discussion, and I honestly see both sides. I think it will always come down just to personal preference, how you collect/display, the reasons you collect, etc.

DarthTad

Why doesnt the AFA authenticate figures without having to grade them in the process? In sports cards the BGS and PSA will authenticate cards without having to grade them.

Agree about AFA being useful. My only real serious gripe is hating U grades... won't buy them... unless it is a baggied figure still in the baggie after grading, like the wind up R2s just sold on RS.

An intersting debate and I agree with the authentication part.

It was a relief to get those CIB certs for my VC Jawa, DT Luke and Blue Snag and I have decided to keep all three in the AFA cases for now - Just incase shit hits the fan and I need to liquidate some of my collection. But my plan is to remove the cases at some stage in the future as I only wanted to find out if my figures were 100% OK.

In fairness though, I probally wouldn't be interested lin AFA loose figures. Even if the weopons were legit, I would always have the uncertainty in my head that AFA had not done its research and correctly identified that the weopon is at least the correct type that would of been released from the same factory the figure it cased with. I often see many Luke Jedi AFA-80, -85, & -90 being sold for crazy prices and the figure inside is from one factory and the weopens are from another. Popular ones are Moulded face Lukes with Blue Light Sabes. The Moulded Face Luke came from Tiawan only and the Blue Sabre was only made Hong Kong. A bit of a piss take really as people are paying over the odds for a figure combo that never existed. If this is happening with Luke then I am pretty certain that the same is true for all the other characters.

Whilst I may not be intersted in AFA'ing all my losse figures, I have to admit that some of the display cases - epecially the custom ones for my Mailers and Boxed items are really quite nice and I think it does help to enhance the Boxes and in the case of the mailers help display the mailer and contents neatly.