Collecting die-cast cars is an exciting hobby for car enthusiasts who can’t afford the real thing. But if you’ve been in this hobby in Malaysia for quite some time, you’ll realize this hobby isn’t as easy as it seems.
Now if you’re wondering what this has to do with the prices of a much real used Proton Saga, please forgive the clickbait title. This author wants to highlight a glaring problem among car enthusiasts – scalpers among die-cast car collectors.
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See, a mainline, metal-on-plastic casting off the pegs of convenience stores and toy shops costs around RM10 based on the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MRSP).
However, you’ll only find cartoon and fantasy castings on the pegs. Where have the castings of the real cars gone? In the hands of scalpers, they are swiftly marked up to three times and more of their worth.
There’s this image going around yesterday that the much-hyped mainline casting of a first-generation Proton Saga priced at RM10 MSRP and has been resold to a whopping RM249.90 on Shopee!
For those who do not collect Hot Wheels, allow me to explain the frustration here – in a box of Hot Wheels, you would get an assortment of four types of cars. First, you have fantasy/cartoon-ish designed castings as commonly seen on shelves.
Next, you got the likes of muscle cars and supercars, followed by the much-desirable JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) castings. Basically, any Japanese-branded model.
Fantasy castings are always present on pegs, while muscle and supercars are, while uncommon, also slowly disappearing in the wild.
For prospecting hobbyists looking to expand their collection, you can forget about seeing these on the shelves anymore. The only way to get a hold of one is to visit the nearest flea market or e-commerce site and pay cutthroat prices to scalpers.
“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy”. – Obi Wan Kenobi, Star Wars, 1997
Enough is enough! Don’t give me the “demo kenal bare” or “ni JDM, ni rare, bang” excuse as told by a seller to me during one of my visits to Amcorp Mall. With these scalpers running amok, what we ordinary collectors have left are scraps.
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How many times does a hobby have to be ruined by scalpers all for the sake of their pockets? This is precisely why I gave up this hobby and I believe many collectors too are tired of paying atrocious prices to them.
For every cent a scalper profits, you’re enabling them to further ruin the collectors market for everyone. Please think with your heads, not with your pockets. Ask yourself, would you pay a real Ferrari’s price tag for a Proton Saga? Please, just like concert tickets, stop engaging with scalpers.
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Get a Used Proton Saga at Market Price with CARSOME
However, at CARSOME, prices of our very much real used Proton Sagas are not scalped and priced fairly in the market. Our used Proton Sagas are all hand-picked after a 175-point inspection process to ensure they are accident and flood-free before being sent for professional refurbishment.
Unlike die-cast Hot Wheels Proton Sagas, our real Sagas are also stacked with a one-year warranty and a five-day money-back guarantee too!
*Disclaimer: The opinions and contents in this article are those of the author and do not represent CARSOME as a whole.*
