An Observation and Opinion on Resale of Repros.

[442RCT]

This is an unscientific observation over the last few months of watching eBay sales for A2 jackets that I was interested in buying.

1.) Good repros (Goodwear, Eastman, Aero, etc.) get 30-50% lower bids when they are painted or patched. Seems that jacket art and patches are highly personal for a buyer and can make or break the price.

2.) Resale values of pre-owned quality reproduction jackets with no art or patches:

Goodwears - 85 to 110 %
Eastmans - 50-75 %
Aeros - 45 -70 %
Lost Worlds - 40-70 %

Any other opinions ?

 

[John Lever]

Painted jackets are like customised cars. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The other prices are probably based on supply and demand, but also on general awareness.
e.g. The Few maybe the most expensive when new but almost no-one outside of Japan has heard of them so they get little attention.
Then there are nutters like me who prefer a well worn or really old unworn quality repro who will pay more than the price of a new one.
BTW has anyone noticed how much keyword spamming there is that goes unchallenged these days? I see mall jackets on ebay tagged with Aero and Goodwear in the title.

 

[zoomer]

The principle probably applies to any mods at all, certainly those done outside the maker's shop.
This indicates we're dealing with a collectible first, and only then an article of clothing.

This matters if you, say, break a zipper and need a replacement. To keep the value, it had better be done to spec.

It's a shame if they're getting too valuable to customize, but you can't fight the market.

 

[greyhound52]

I agree once you add a patch or do sometype of mod it can reduce the value unless you find someone who just really likes the patch you put on it. I have been lucky to sell a couple of A2s with patch and painting fairly quickly. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as it is said.

 

[tgd31968]

I am in the camp that won't wear a jacket with markings. If I didn't earn it or belong to it, I don't wear it.
So, a patched, painted, or otherwise marked jacket I pass on. I have passed up some I really liked because of it, so I am sure that it has an affect on the value to other potential buyers.

For the record, I don't care what others do. I don't apply my personal feelings to anyone else on this matter.

 

[handworn]

The cleverest keyword-spamming I've noticed is by including the keyword in the description and setting the print color to the same as the background color, so it's invisible to humans but not to search engines. It can only be read by highlighting text you don't know is there. (Found this out only by wondering why such-and-such an auction came up as a hit on a seemingly unrelated search, and doing Control-F for the searched-for term.) Pretty devious.

BTW has anyone noticed how much keyword spamming there is that goes unchallenged these days? I see mall jackets on ebay tagged with Aero and Goodwear in the title.