I have two separate versions of the Arms & Equipment Guide.  One appears to be a first printing (or thereabouts) and the other is a fifth printing.  The early printing is distinguished with DMGR3 Accessory in the upper left hand corner of the front; the TSR-in-a-box logo on the front; different back cover information ($15.00 vs. $20.00/CAN $26.00 for the later printing).

Anyone know if there's any particular value to the different printings with these?

Forgive my naivete -- what does CGR mean?

Ah.  Strange, I swear I've seen the Shai'ir's Handbook go for almost nothing at times -- Al-Qadim seems to be, by far, the least popular of all the campaign settings they produced.  Although I'd argue that Ravenloft has the most glut of good condition material (the sheer # of ravenloft lots with EX+ or SW items are proof of that).

Got my Sha'ir's Handbook recently for $7 BIN. I know of some collectors who collect 2E print runs. I am not one of them, but I am interested in 2E print runs.

darkseraphim wrote:Each gameworld has its own rares and commons, but overall I would rate the financial (and thus collector) prospects of each gameworld as follows:

1        Greyhawk
2        Planescape
3        Forgotten Realms (below this point, things get ugly)
4        Mystara
5        Dragonlance
6        Dark Sun
7        Oriental Adventures
8        Al-Qadim
9        Lankhmar
10        Conan
11        Ravenloft
12        Spelljammer
13        Birthright
14        Red Steel

But keep in mind that some Greyhawk modules (such as I1) don't sell well, and even Birthright has a rare or two.  That's just a general (and personal) overview of the campaign worlds overall.

This is my list of top AD&D 2E items, considering value:

- Forgotten Realms: Secrets of the Sages newsletter
- Planescape: Planes of Conflict
- Forgotten Realms: The Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas
- Silver Anniversary Collectors Box
- Forgotten Realms: LC6 Procampur Packet
- Forgotten Realms: Kara-Tur Boxed Setting
- Birthright: Hogunmark
- Planescape: Hellbound The Blood War
- DMGR8 The Complete Book of Necromancers
- Core Rules CD-ROM 2.0
- Greyhawk: From the Ashes
- Greyhawk: Iuz the Evil
- Ral Partha miniature boxes for Planescape, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, and others
- the Gold Promo items

Did I forget anything?

darkseraphim wrote:A few additions off the top of my head, I'm sure I'm missing some:

Dark and Hidden Ways
Wild Things

Ah, yes. I always consider it 1E, because I think, only the shrinkwrapped pack with the DSG/WSG is collectable, but they've got the 2E logo.

darkseraphim wrote:The Planescape Sketchbook

Most definitely!

darkseraphim wrote:WGR1
Most Planescape non-adventure releases

Nearly top 2e items  

beyondthebreach wrote:- Complete sets of Encyclopedia Magica or the Wizard/Priest Spell Compendium sells for a good amount (though, to keep it in perspective, it is still far less than it would have cost to buy them NEW when they were released!!)

And, according to Ryan Dancey, it did cost TSR even more to make them.  

Paradoxically, the more money you spend, the more you'll make.  There are two major ways to make money at selling.  Both involve having a fairly large and interesting inventory, because buyers want to consolidate shipping costs to save money, they want the convenience of using/trusting a single seller when possible, and the more people you have bidding on your items, the more chance you have of getting higher end prices as they compete.  You can improve your odds by starting your auctions extremely low ($0.01, no reserve), which attracts even more bidders; but that's a gamble if your inventory is small.

Anyway ...


I don't know what you're selling, but if they're all commons and your eBay reputation is small, you're not going to get much.  If you buy a couple cheap lots and piece them out with your current inventory, you'll have better results.

The two processes I've had luck with are:

[1]  Hunting.  This involves digging up poorly-worded auctions, auctions without pictures, items from questionable/unknown sellers, and items in the wrong category.  Snipes at the last minute keep these finds "secret."  Profit tends to run around 50%-100%, depending on what you find, but your overall volume is low and you need to spend a lot of time performing deep searches.  I do this when I'm broke.

[2]  Power buying.  This involves creating a list of search words and saving the searches, and performing them every week or so.  Your focus is on lots and collections.  Place a fair but cheap bid on every decent lot you find, via snipe.  I usually bid on about 100-150 auctions at a time and win 10-30, but those wins give me hundreds of modules and books at a low price each.  Then, twice a month or so, sort everything you've acquired, and sell one item (A1, A2, etc.) of each type that you have.  Don't sell duplicates simultaneously or you'll compete with yourself and minimize your profit potential.  Profit tends to run around 10%-100%, and is very hard to predict, but volume is high and your time-profit ratio is fairly efficient.  I do this when I have deep pockets.

If you don't want to resell, you can dump a dozen items or so, but you'll lose out on most of the factors that cause high bids (steady inventory and good services causing repeat customers, acquisition of rares, wide variety of items increasing bids, ability to offer low starting bids due to high volume increasing end auction prices).

Probably more information than you wanted, but there it is.

Good luck!

BaconTastesGood wrote:Sadly, shipping materials are the hidden costs that kills me. I REFUSE to ship stuff in cobbled together boxes with poor packing, and bubble protected mailers can cost $1.00 each unless you buy in volume (I may run down to Staples right now and load up on bubble protected mailers in fact, just for this reason -- in lots of 100 I think it's about $0.60 each).

Bubble mailers are absolutely worthless for protecting books/comics/RPG items, IMO.  And they cost a freakin' fortune. . . Nothing fills me with dread like seeing my "non-regular" mailman driving away down the street. . . I just know that it will be the day someone mailed me something in a "bubble-envelope" and the postal carrier will "bend/shove/cram" it into my box.  I guess it's not their fault, DO NOT BEND must loose all meaning to a mail carrier's eyes after years of delivering.

The only sure way to protect these kinds of items are to pack them between two stiff pieces of cardboard.  Then tape the cardboard pieces together so the item can't "slip" out.

Then just stick it in a manilla envelope (or a Priority Envelope)  - make sure you bag the item in a plastic sleeve (or a plastic grocery bag if you don't have a sleeve available).  REINFORCE the envelope with packing tape at the edges and you are all set.   All you need is a utility knife and left over boxes. . .