Monday Markets: Jun 23 2025

Wow - here we are at the 23rd of June! As you can probably tell, I am deep in my Breyerfest prep and I haven't been online nearly as much - but I'm still here, getting ready. I am so excited that it is nearly here!! The BCC and diorama reveals are in full swing and it's one of my favorite times of year to see everybody's creativity. I am bummed that CT was on the excluded list this year, but I love seeing what everybody else has done, especially the dioramas.

Since Mondays are the days we talk about values and pricing, one little bit of Breyerfest prep I recommend is putting a general target price next to the models on your want list. It is obvious if you spot a bargain or something that is very overpriced, but sometimes I find myself standing in someone's room thinking "shoot, is that what they go for now?" It is easy to get O V E R W H E L M E D with all the models and offerings. It's better to do a few minutes of research ahead of time instead of trying to search it on your phone in the middle of the hotel chaos.

I have my target want list in Notes on my phone and I have done a quick eBay search for each one in the Product Research section to get an average price over the past few years. If you haven't used this feature yet I definitely recommend it! It's one of my favorite tools. Once your logged in to eBay, click on "Sell" in the upper right hand corner. Across the top under Seller Hub you will see some drop down menus and one is called Research. Click on that and choose Product Research. Then type in "Breyer" (or whichever make) and the name of the model you are looking for. You can set a timeframe up to three years from the drop down next to the search bar. I like to always use the full 3 years since some models on my wish list don't sell that often, but if you're looking for something more common you might set it to something more recent to get a better idea of current value. Or you can always sort once you run the search to see the most recent sales (I like to do this on all my searches).

Once you search you get a nice little chart and all of the sold listings. One of the models I am hoping to get is Oak and you can see by the chart above he has been all over the place recently! The most recent sale on June 4th was for $250 but in April he sold for $88 and $105! You can see that was a bit low based on the longer term chart, but still I put my "target price" $100-$150 because I love a bargain and that has been generally the low average. This is exactly the sort of model that you might see all over the place in room sales. Some people may be ambitiously pricing him at $300 and others may just want him gone and have him around $100 (I'm hoping, haha). This is exactly why I like to have my reference prices ready so I can shop around and if I don't find the models I'm looking for at my target prices I know there's always a good chance on eBay later if I keep an eye out.

This is of course also a great tool if you are planning on selling. For models you'd really like to clear out you might price them under the going rate. On the flip side, if it's a model you're not sure you're ready to part with, but would at the right price, you might put the tag a little higher than they usually go for. That is generally my strategy with sales and this year, with the exception of a couple of rare special pieces, most of my models are going to be priced to move because I need the space!

Without fail, every year at least one person will walk in to my room and exclaim "Oh! I just bought this in someone else's room/at the Horsepark for $XX more!" so I always recommend being an informed consumer! That transitions well in to my next piece of advice. If you are shopping for regular runs or recent special runs, particularly Breyerfest special runs, you will find much better prices at the Clarion than at the Horsepark. Many of us room sellers have purchased things like grab bags and Collectors Club Appreciation lots not to mention lots of duplicate BF SRs from years past and we are looking to sell them on for cost or less just to recoup some value. Of course if you're like me and hand-picking is your priority then don't wait if you find a really nice one you know you want - you can't be sure you'll match it. But if you're looking for a shelf model and aren't picky, the best prices will be in room sales.

Avg new model price with '25 releases in orange, '24 and older in blue

And speaking of RR prices, they are back down a bit again this week, especially the 2025 models. The anniversary pattern models are on sale this week, led by the Western Horse who is the lowest at $46.70. The bargain of the week is Spinabbey who is down to $34.32.

I haven't been keeping up with eBay and I'm super annoyed with myself for not bidding on this Florentine Running Foal! He is so nice with shiny gold and great pinking and one of the few I still need. He went for a pretty low $520 and I have a feeling he's about to get flipped on Facebook for probably double. Argh! This is why I need to stay paying attention all year, LOL

This Mauvelous also sold for the surprisingly low $1675. If I didn't already have one I would also be kicking myself about this guy. He was oddly listed as a tent special of 1200 made - but also pretty clearly a Mauvelous. I guess I am not the only one who is not paying attention and the few weeks before Breyerfest are a great time to be a buyer but not so great to be a seller! I do always notice that every year while I'm thinking to myself "I need to save" but then I don't find them this cheap at Breyerfest and all the prices spike for the rest of July through September while the excitement still lingers. The last one to sell was last August for $3500!

This guy is cool - The photos are a little dark so you can't see it too well but he has the full body spotting even up on to his neck a little bit. You don't see that variation too often and he also looks to be in excellent shape with nice pinking. A lovely example!

This Spring Has Spring sold for $1450 - these early web specials are getting harder and harder to find, especially since so few were made by today's standards. This is one of my favorites from the period and I wish I had held on to mine.