Many people would agree that securing a license to produce Star Wars collectibles is akin to having a license to print money, so long as the license is respected and handled properly. For more than thirty years virtually every company to produce collectibles based in the Star Wars Universe have seen a solid return on their investment. The biggest example of doing it wrong was Applause's massive overproduction and over distribution of Episode I figural banks, keychains, vinyl figures, et al... It has been suggested that their mishandling of the Star Wars license left the company in ruins, and was a key factor in their bankruptcy and company purchase by their major competitor, Russ Berrie.
When surfing eBay, eagle-eyed collectors will notice that many times sellers are under the impression that they too are holding gold, and run auctions with overly inflated prices for common and or undesirable pieces. Each of these cases ends either with zero bids at the end of the auction or a series of joke bids making the price skyrocket. As you can imagine, in the latter, the transaction is never completed.
A very good example of the "Star Wars Equals Gold" mentality is this auction linked below. Granted, in this case it is a one of a kind piece of industrial art, it certainly isn't going to be sold for the $21,000,000.00 asking price the seller is hoping for. Even though the seller has stated the Buy It Now price is too high, one has to wonder what he's thinking.
Star Wars Darth Vader Metal Action Figure Lightsaber NR1049
