Lau-3 rocket pod value?

[LE LOUP DES MERS]

I was wondering, how much is a Vietnam era lau-3 rocket pod worth? I found one at a gun show dated 69 and was actually in pretty nice shape. The seller wanted $2,000 and I was tempted to buy it but I honestly don't know what something like this is worth so I decided to back out. I can't imagine there's much of these laying around at least in the condition this one was in but I could be wrong. I didn't take any pictures of the one I found so I'm going to use the photos of ima. The lau-3 pod that was for sale on ima is basically what the condition of the one I saw was in. I can't remember what ima priced theirs at when it was still for sale. The only other one I have seen for sale was on ima, but I understand a lot of collectors think ima is a joke (which honestly I do have to agree with) so not sure if the one off ima is even legit or just a movie prop. 

[USMC_COLLECTOR]

How much is it on IMA?

[LE LOUP DES MERS]

2 minutes ago, USMC_COLLECTOR said:

How much is it on IMA?

Once something sells on ima they no longer show what it sold for, so I have no way of knowing. I'd like to say if I remember right it was around $1,700 however that was 2 years ago when they first posted it. 

[manayunkman]

Once an item has sold on IMA they hide the price so we don’t know.

 

 

[USMC_COLLECTOR]

Ok. That's dumb. I was gonna say take IMA's price and then half it and subtract 900 and you've got yourself a fair price!

[lilfry14]

For IMA, they had a redeye  listed at $5000 as "new arrival". A few hours later I checked and it said it was "sold out." A month later I contacted them to see if they wanted to buy my redeye launcher and I said I was looking for $2500-3000 for it. I said they had one sell for 5k, factor in $200 for shipping each way, maybe someone used a 10% off coupon. I'd take $2500-3000 which would leave them a healthy profit of $1000-1500 profit. Anyways, their response was "we didn't sell it for $5000, max we'll give is $1500." So something is fishy with their prices if it was listed for $5000, marked as sold, then they claim they didn't sell it for that...or they're being pedantic because they sold it for $4300 after coupon and free shipping.

Anyways, there was one on GB for $2250 a few months ago, not sure if it sold, and cdvs.us has one for $4000. Shipping is a big thing, like even if you found for $1000, it could be across the country, so you'll spend $400 to ship it, or the seller may not want to go to the hassle of shipping it. To get mine, I flew to the seller's location, rented a car one way and drove it back over 12 hours + gas. So maybe it only cost $1000, but if I spent 15 hours travelling, and pay myself $30 an hour, that's $500 in time.

[Kaptainssurplus]

IMA isn't a joke as a business, the joke is their prices, always sky high. But they can get away with it because of their network and following. Also some of their items that are listed are sold off the website privately, to "preferred buyers" those who have a working/buying relationship with IMA. As a business, I have to say they get some badass stuff, even if pricey, stuff that most people would have a hard time finding. Sometime their descriptions are off too, that is another issue but they are a legit retailer. 

 

I have to argee with what lilfry14 said. The pod itself is a hard sell unless local, so those asking over $2000 will have a hard time selling it. I think the $2000 price is retail, less than that would be an ok deal if it was local and you didn't have to hassle with shipping. Like lilfry14 was talking about shipping, it can kill a deal, also you have to worry about a lost/damaged pod, it happens all to often now a days. 

[LE LOUP DES MERS]

So $2,000 is retail, yeah if it was $1,000 or maybe even $1,200 I'd by it right away. The problem is finding room to display it/if you ever wanted to sell it I imagine it would be a pain. 

[Kaptainssurplus]

54 minutes ago, LE LOUP DES MERS said:

So $2,000 is retail, yeah if it was $1,000 or maybe even $1,200 I'd by it right away. The problem is finding room to display it/if you ever wanted to sell it I imagine it would be a pain. 

I think $2000 is fair, many will probably ask more and may or may not ever sell. I know a lot of collectors, not many have spent much more than 2k on them. But I will add, they are not very common and you have valid concerns, big items are a hard sell and hard to display. Then after you buy it you have to fill it up with rockers! LOL that's even more money.