What is with the prices on the prize support tokens/dice/alt-art cards? I just don't get it. An alt-art card plays exactly the same as a factory one. 3rd party companies make all sorts of acrylic tokens. I especially don't get using the templates, etc. that imply that you won a store/regional tournament when you didn't.

I saw a set of templates for sale on Facebook for $500 because they were once owned by Paul Heaver! Whaaaaa?!

I don't get it either... But there is a point in which you have to consider what people will actually pay for something and what someone will ask for it.

I mean I could pull a quarter out of my pocket and put it up for sale on ebay for 1,000,000,000... Doesn't mean anyone is actually going to pay that much for it.

For many players, it's a "gotta catch 'em all" thing - alt arts are collectibles. It doesn't matter if you're actually going to play with the card or not to these people. And for the prizes that are only handed out at higher tier tournaments (Regionals, Nationals, Worlds), supply is extremely limited.

Some people don't have the skill to earn them properly but want to brag about how good they are to people that don't know better.

Anything offered in limited quantity gains value if there is a demand on it. Sometimes the demand is created from just being rare. People like to own rare things.

“Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people that they don't like.”
― Will Rogers

A lot of the highest priced items are the items with the most rarity from low quantity being produced and given away, like Regionals dice, the items from the earliest OP or tourney kits, or cards given away or won at Worlds.

I only really ever want some of the alt-art cards that I think look cooler and most are affordable IMO but there are some that are a bummer because they are so much. Like the Imperial Raider alt-art from Worlds. It looks really cool but is expensive. But they didn't make many and I wasn't there to win won, so the only way to get one is to pay out the nose (so I won't ever be getting one).

I don't get it either... But there is a point in which you have to consider what people will actually pay for something and what someone will ask for it.

I mean I could pull a quarter out of my pocket and put it up for sale on ebay for 1,000,000,000... Doesn't mean anyone is actually going to pay that much for it.

Depends, is that the buy it now price?

We're talking about 2 basic marketing principles: Value and Exclusivity

Value is not how much something costs, it's what people are willing to pay. You can't honestly tell me that a Louis Vuitton handbag costs $3000. But people are willing to pay for it. I think they're idiots as I don't see the product to have value anywhere near that .. others clearly perceive the value differently though.

Exclusivity is limiting the number of products. How often do you see "while stocks last!", "Only 3 left" or the number of unique builds of motor vehicles. This can also be achieved through placement, etc. "Exclusive to Walmart!" or pricing. Eg. Luxury sports cars are so high priced that only a small percentage of the population can own one.

Anything offered in limited quantity gains value if there is a demand on it. Sometimes the demand is created from just being rare. People like to own rare things.

What the OP suggest that this craving for rare stuff is irrational and silly. And I agree on that. Nonetheless this irrational craving exist and is super common, so the prices are indeed rightfully high.

Oh and btw, Luxury sport cars are prices low enough that everyone with a job can afford one. They have stuff that starts at around 60,000 to 80,000€. The thing is, most people do not consider this amount of money worth for a luxury sports car when so many other interesting things could be bought from that disposable money. Makes the whole things a niche for people who like that kind of car and have either enough money to spend on that and tons of other stuff or really, really want that car. Small niche.

Ironically the niche is even small for 30,000€ sports cars like the Ariel Atom which offer a much better performance than 99.9% of the competition, but is without any status value and even more impractical than a Porsche.

It's not really about having or not having the money, it is about priorities on your spending. Some people seem to really, really like to own stuff with status. Does not matter if Louis Vuitton handbags, Porsche or Paul Heaver range rulers. The mechanic can be the same.

We're talking about 2 basic marketing principles: Value and Exclusivity

Value is not how much something costs, it's what people are willing to pay. You can't honestly tell me that a Louis Vuitton handbag costs $3000. But people are willing to pay for it. I think they're idiots as I don't see the product to have value anywhere near that .. others clearly perceive the value differently though.

Exclusivity is limiting the number of products. How often do you see "while stocks last!", "Only 3 left" or the number of unique builds of motor vehicles. This can also be achieved through placement, etc. "Exclusive to Walmart!" or pricing. Eg. Luxury sports cars are so high priced that only a small percentage of the population can own one.

More money than common sense. There's a point where some people's discretionary funds are unlimited for all practical purposes and they buy extravagant things. There are others without the unlimited funds that go bat-crap-crazy and buy something extravagant because they'll "just die" without it. The rest of us play with little plastic spaceships. I'm ok with that.

It's not just the alt art cards. I got into X wing a couple of years back. There was shortage of X and B wings as the restock hadn't arrived. One of the UK gaming shops was selling them at £28, the standard price at time was around £11. Same time the Falcon, Amazon.....around £55. None of these are rare items they just happened to be out of stock in most UK shops.

It's what people think they can get away with selling them for.

I've never shopped at the £28 shop again, I don't even hit their stall at the conventions anymore.

I've never bought one myself but I've been tempted. £5 for a card is cheaper than tournament entry cost, travel etc plus a whole day of time and if your rubbish like me odds are you'll finish outside the top16 and get nothing. I love the cards in this game and to have alternatives is just cool.

Just wish they'd release an alternative card for Juno Eclipse. That art work is so ugly.

The craziest thing I saw on eBay was empty boxes . Completely empty boxes.

same reason people sold the BOX of the PS3 on Ebay for 2-3 hundred bucks.

Fishing for idiots. And the idiots swim in numbers.

Some people seriously hold such things in high value, even though they literally have no additional value. Only such thing i would ever consider to be actually valuable is stuff like the fancy "3D" or Shiny Pokemon cards, which while yes they play the same they are physically different and legitimately rare for a reason, not rare because "paul owned it"

That being said i dont own any pokemon cards lol. Never got into that part of the franchise.

I was looking at X Wing cards on ebay, some of them are going for nearly as much individually as the cost of just buying the expansion pack they came from. I want some autothrusters but have no really use for the starvipper but they are £7 plus P&P!

Yeah ive done the same for a few scum ship cards. The ones i actually want are like ~10USD, when the ship itself is 15USD and comes with either multiples of said card (autothrustors) or comes with other goodies i'd also not mind having but not exactly after.