Investing In Collectibles

[lerath666]

If you want to make a living off this hobby...
Get a business liscense, and open a store, becuase that's the only way.

 

[Taibhse]

This conversation pops up every couple of months without fail, but this is the very first time I've heard people suggest that statues and figures are not solid investments and should be collected just for enjoyment. I suspect people here are trying to influence the market for a run on figures and flip them for a huge profit. Very clever guys, very clever

..and I would have gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for those pesky kids!

 

[uscmhicks]

The majority of stuff I've purchased has actually raised in price on the secondary market. The problem is by the time I actually want to sell any of my stuff it'll probably be worth peanuts.

 

[jedi_don]

People forget that the cost for a statue includes: the statue + shipping + taxes. When your statue is worth more than that, then it has increased in value.

 

[Bluecn]

If you want to make a living off this hobby...
Get a business liscense, and open a store, becuase that's the only way.

And not even! Tons of businesses in the figures and collectibles departments are closing doors due to low sales and other higher costs.
Best way to do it, open a "home store". But then you will also have other issues such as online competition, lack of visitors, etc. Definitively a loose- loose situation, unless you are SSC or Hot Toys themselves at this point.
Imagine, look how there are bunch of items sitting at SSC stockroom.... Have you checked BBTS inventories? They have 70+ Luke's HT, 66 Iron Mongers and plenty of stock in more items. Now imagine having 66 IM worth almost $500 each (let's say you buy for $379 at wholesale), that is $25,000 worth of cash you invested sitting there in your shelf.

 

[cokebabies]

People forget that the cost for a statue includes: the statue + shipping + taxes. When your statue is worth more than that, then it has increased in value.

 

[batfan1991]

Don't go into the hobby expecting to make a profit, you can expect to get your money back and if you get a little extra your lucky. But these pieces will at least be worth the money that you put into them.

 

[Boba Ben]

I don't know about that. I think it's very possible that interest in these figures won't be there years from now and their value could drop below retail. The high end collectible market relies on the newest, best thing. When an improved version is released, the old one immediately drops in value. I don't see the same nostalgia being there for these a couple decades from now that you see now with people buying vintage Star Wars toys and other similar lines from their childhood.

 

[comicbookguy]

People forget that the cost for a statue includes: the statue + shipping + taxes. When your statue is worth more than that, then it has increased in value.

everyone forgets these other costs.

 

[Mr Walker]

lulz. Love these threads.

Opie... nope.

 

[gagaliya]

People forget that the cost for a statue includes: the statue + shipping + taxes. When your statue is worth more than that, then it has increased in value.

+ 9% ebay fee + 3% PayPal fee + risk of fraud and damaged returns

 

[budafett]

Invest everything you have in collectibles! Forget your 401k, IRA, pension, savings/checking accounts!

 

[comicbookguy]

+ 9% ebay fee + 3% PayPal fee + risk of fraud and damaged returns

Yep plus the much higher statue costs to begin with = 0 to so little profit which makes no sense. Don't forget your time to pack and trip to ship it. If breakage occurs then be prepare to spend months calling and dealing with the mess.

 

[Colossus]

Hello everyone,

I'm just stepping into the world of collectibles and just wondering, beside that they looking great in shelves, do you think if collectibles are worth in investment purposes?

Is there any noticeable increase in the value of some discontinued statues / figures? I know that for example some star wars collectible collectibles from 70s are worth a lot of money nowadays but what about say 1-5 old art from Sideshow?

I have tried to find posts or articles about this but havent succeeded.

Many thanks!

RUNNN!!!!

 

[Bezzerkerr]

yes, you can make a couple of bucks on buying and selling collectibles.

Not just any collectible. You must buy the "right" collectible, at the "right" price and sell it at the "right" time. It's pretty hard to get everything "right" but if you do, it's certaintly possible to make a few bucks...nothing crazy, maybe enough to fund another purchase.

 

[akihiko]

Yes you can make money from statues.. by recasting rare / valueable statues and conning people out of there hard earned cash Wouldent be worth the trouble or the guilty conciouse lol

 

[Pineapple]

You can definitely make some extra money buying certain collectibles (PF, HT's, etc) and selling them later on. I wouldn't quick your day job though.....

 

[SAB]

I can now breathe a sigh of relief because my big run of ebay sales the last few months is coming to an end.

20+ items altogether, everything arrived safely and happy buyers.

All in all I made around 75%+/- of original cost. I'm very happy with that as I never bought with the intention to make money.

 

[kloug]

I know that for example some star wars collectible collectibles from 70s are worth a lot of money nowadays but what about say 1-5 old art from Sideshow?

but those
-were toys, so they became rare because toys are broken/lost(/burnt)
-were thrown because no one expected them to get a value

If there's one thing not to collect, it's Star Wars stuff because everyone is - it will never have any value.

Ebay can also make it look like some stuff increased in value, but it's not because someone is selling it at a high price that it has a high value, it's only if someone *buys* it.

But sure, in 50 years, fragile statues may have a high value, if someone is looking for them.
If it's to make money, better be a reseller than a collector.

On a short range, your stuff immediately drops in value at the time it's opened (especially for PVCs, near-zero value once opened), + you'd also need to recover what you spent on shipping.

 

[A2G]

The sought after stuff with lowest edition sizes will generally hold value and continue to rise in the long run.

This is generally the older stuff. Unless the company decides to re-release the same item, you don't have to worry too much.

You can make profit from anything you buy, just need to be able to buy it for the right price and sell it at the right time. As mentioned before.