To buy or not to buy...

As I browse around stores, both online and physical, I'm often encountering the difficult question of should I buy something or not (in this context, speaking mainly of collectibles/games/toys). From time to time in this blog I'll post some analysis of random items that I thought long and hard about. For starters, I'm going to use this basic criteria for making a decision, each on a 0-10 scale:

Investment Value: 0-Expect to not resell for much, 5- could resell near cost, 10-could double money or more
Affordablility Factor: 0 - Very expensive, 5 - fair price, 10 - real cheap
Playability/Fun Factor: 0 - Can't do anything but look at it, 5 - fun at times, 10 - lots of use
Sentimental Value: 0 - None, 5 - Some, 10 - Big Time!
Size Factor: 0 - Takes up a LOT of space, 5 - Takes some space, 10 - virtual, takes up no space

Time will tell what the 'breakpoint' would be for making a buy/no-buy decision, but my guess is an item would have to tally up 25+ points and not have any 0's. Perhaps Affordablity should be weighted heavier, but for now we'll leave as is.

Item #1: Lego Imperial Destroyer
This is an impressive sized lego set, with roughly 1300 pieces. At retail of $99, it isn't an outrageous price but not cheap, either. My ratings on it are:

Investment value: 4 - Once opened it would lose some value, but not drastic
Affordability factor: 3.5 - Not bad, but for me I rarely dump over $50 on new toys
Fun factor: 3 - Sort of fun to build, can maybe play with a bit with the kids, but probably too fragile to use much
Sentimental value: 7 - Anything relating to old-school Star Wars or TF's would probably rate at least a 5 for me. Cool looking ship, that I wish had a regular toy version!
Size factor: 3 - Big enough that I don't know where I would be able to display it assembled
TOTAL: 20.5

Not quite a good enough score where I would drop the money for it, but close enough where I check to see if it is on sale every once in a while! Speaking of which, Toys R Us had on clearance a couple of these where the figures were stolen. After clearance and sale pricing, it was $56 + tax. Perhaps if I had more cash in hand, I would pull the trigger, but the rating is quite over the mark yet:

Investment value: 4.5 - Could probably resell near purchase price, no figs hurts value some
Affordability factor: 6 - Again, I rarely dump over $50 on new toys, but not a bad deal
Fun factor: 2.5 - Missing mini-figs hurts the fun a touch, though I have some of them already
Sentimental value: 6.5 - I liked the little mouse robot!
Size factor: 3 - Still is big
TOTAL: 22.5 - close, but not close enough yet

Item #2: Transformers CCG
I've played Magic: TG card game off and on since about the time it came out, and enjoy it quite a bit. The trouble is usually how to find enough time to play it. So now comes out the Transformers collectible card game, which has of course caught my eye. Here is the breakdown on my thoughts on it:
Investment value: 2 - Too early to determine, but it seems like opened singles don't have much value.
Affordability factor: 4 - Okay, but $4 per pack seems a bit high
Fun factor: 2 - I like the concept, but without playing I don't know for sure. Also would have to find the time and people to play, which would not be easy.
Sentimental value: 3 - It gets some marks for being Transformers, but since it isn't G1 then
it doesn't get as high of a score for me
Size factor: 8 - Not much space at all, just another box in the closet
TOTAL: 19

The size factor inflated the score even, but still not high enough for me to drop the coin on it. Perhaps if I found some cheap singles I'd buy a few to give it a look, but otherwise I'll pass for now!

Feel free to post your own scores for items you've thought about buying -- whether from FortMax.com or elsewhere! In a few days I'll post a couple items that I did decide to buy.