...AKA Another Wasted Trip To The DC Big Flea!
You would think from my last trip to the DC Big Flea I would have learned my lesson that there is nothing at this $10.00 admission waste of time that I want to buy. But, nope.
The DC Big Flea rolled back into town this weekend, and with a couple hours to spare I made my way over to the Dulles Expo to subject myself to another round of throwing away $20.00 in admission (for two people), followed by walking around a crowded room to find nadda.
What made it all the more depressing was that the same toy vendors were there with what looked like the exact same stock they'd been schlepping and not selling from the past shows. Why keep bringing the same garbage people aren't buying? Mix it up?
I stopped by my favorite table, Overpriced Old Guy, and proceeded to thumb through the mini records / story books from the 70's and 80's. As I found a couple I was interested in I asked the guy, "How much?" A question I knew would soon result in me laughing and walking away. "$10.00 each for most of them. Others are more." This guy....This [insert choice word] guy with his overpriced stock which is always two to three times more than buying online. Needless to say I laughed and walked away.
As I was walking around trying to find my counterpart I stumbled upon everyone's hometown hero, Local Scalper. His table was filled to the brim with current Funko Pops and the latest Star Wars toys...Guess someone didn't get the memo. I glanced at his table, but didn't linger long enough to grab his attention or make note of any prices. It was literally a drive by.
As I rounded the corner on my way back towards Overpriced Old Guy's table, I came across Random Old Lady. She was planted firmly in her seat flipping through the local newspaper and ignoring everyone rummaging through her tubs and bags of loose / incomplete / overpriced figures. I got a massive internal laugh at her vintage yellowed and damaged (and let's not forget incomplete) twelve inch Stormtrooper which she had priced to go at $225.00 (average price $75.00) and then proceeded to the same conclusion I came to the last time I saw her - If she had any sense she'd ask ten dollars per bin full of toys and not ten dollars per figure.
Now I was getting angry. It was becoming very apparent the DC Big Flea had bamboozled me again....AGAIN! "Oh no. Not this time," I said to myself. I wasn't going to walk out empty handed. Not again. I spent good money on getting into this wasted space. I wasn't going away empty handed.
As I went up and down each isle searching vainly for something worth coming home with I finally spotted these...
McDonald's Happy Meal Changables.
Okay, I'll admit it. These are pretty cool - Especially in their McDonald's forms. I've actually had my eye on them for quite some time, but never bothered since many people were asking upwards of $35.00 to $40.00 for a complete set of six. At $2.50 for 2/3 the set I swooped them up, paid the guy, threw them in my pocket and walked out with at least some sense of accomplishment.
Seriously though, and I mean it this time, this is the last time I am going to the DC Big Flea.
Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.
Damn that sucks bro :( The Mc D's transformers are awesome ,though so It wasn't a total loss.You're probably better off ebaying it,just make sure to ask lots of question before you purchase as you're not always 100 % sure about the condition of something just by looking at pictures.Also,you save gas money and the price of admission ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah. I'm still going to hit the Timonium shows (cause they're really awesome). However, for the most part I'm just going to stick with ebay.
DeleteI used to take m mother to a doll show at the Agri-Center in Memphis back in the day and it was always exactly as you described. Its like these people are all rip-off artists preying on the unsuspecting... Its like they don't realize we actually know what fair prices for this stuff is...
ReplyDeleteEven the most amateur of collectors should and would be armed with a smart phone to check ebay on the spot for what a reasonable value is.
DeleteDon't get me wrong, I'm willing to pay a few bucks more for the convenience of instant gratification. However, don't try and scam me.
Oh, nice! A friend hooked me up with some a while back, but I'm eager to hopefully someday get the entire run.
ReplyDeleteThere are about twenty-two of them over three series. Just looked them all up the other day since I am going to a toy show tomorrow. Definitely on my list of things to hunt for.
Delete