Collecting for Investment

[CryptoDave]

Hi,

I'm new to both ths forum and collecting action figures.

I have a question and don't intend to offend anyone so please understand.

I am starting to collect action figures and I love the Hot Toys with the great attention to detail etc... I come to ths hobby as a Comic Book collector and my interest in certain characters is what has sparked my interest in collecting action figures.

So, my question is: Will the Hot Toys appreciate in value over time from an investment perspective? Yes, I collect/invest in what I like, but I always try to o do so with an eye towards increased value over time. It seems that with the exception of a few figures the Hot Toys don't really appreciate significantly as compared to less expensive figures like the DC Direct Line. I understand that they are completely different scales etc.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[JacktheRipper]

You're not going to retire with this hobby. You'll most likely break even.

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Hi,

I'm new to both ths forum and collecting action figures.

I have a question and don't intend to offend anyone so please understand.

I am starting to collect action figures and I love the Hot Toys with the great attention to detail etc... I come to ths hobby as a Comic Book collector and my interest in certain characters is what has sparked my interest in collecting action figures.

So, my question is: Will the Hot Toys appreciate in value over time from an investment perspective? Yes, I collect/invest in what I like, but I always try to o do so with an eye towards increased value over time. It seems that with the exception of a few figures the Hot Toys don't really appreciate significantly as compared to less expensive figures like the DC Direct Line. I understand that they are completely different scales etc.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Dave

As a comic book collector, you should know that basically collecting anything but the most rare or significant of anything will never make a good investment. If you're comic collector, you collect low print run, historically significant key issues or issues of significance to a certain artist or writer, if you want to "invest" in collecting. With Figures, you'd want the rare and significant figures, not something they made 50,000 of like hot toys. You'd probably do better in vintage figures.

 

[jkno]

Do you want to invest your money? Buy gold and silver.

 

[SAB]

Collecting with eye on profit has sort of finished in this hobby.

They used to do runs of 2000 to 5000 knowing that 10,000+ people would buy and it would make purchasing the figures desirable.

Business model changed a few years ago when they decided to just make 10,000+ themselves and ensure they maximize profit for themselves up front. Not a criticism and there is nothing wrong with doing that.
But now-a-days its only really possible to make a decent profit if Hot Toys/Sideshow/Enterbay miscalculate how many the market place want. ...or its a rarer exclusive edition with some bonus feature that people will pay extra for.

 

[Lejuan]

Hot Toys are a great investment, but you have to play your cards right.

I made over seven hundred dollars on the Godfather figure, which at the time nobody was especially interested in. I picked up 12 sets of Harvey Dent when they were languishing in the bargain bin for around a hundred bucks, and sold them all for over four bills each.

I sold DX01 before DX11 was announced, sold Iron Man Mk1 before the 2.0 was announced, sold MMS67 OC Batman before the Toyfair Exclusive was available, and sold off all of my Sideshow Star Wars ANH figures before HT announced they had the license.

I have taken all of that profit (around ten grand) and I'm going to invest the lot in TFA Finn. This one will be slow to sell out, but when it does it will skyrocket and I'll see you off the coast of Barbados sipping mai tais from my yacht beeyatches!

 

[CryptoDave]

Gold and Silver as an investment? You've got to be joking?

https://www.monex.com/images/charts/GBX_LINE_365DAY_BIG.PNG

Not to go off topic

 

[SnakeDoctor]

Collectibles are a lousy investment vehicle. They're volatile, unpredictable, breakable, difficult to liquidate, and easily made irrelevant or obsolete. You'd be lucky to break even. Even if you get some growth, it won't be very good. Aiming for 10%-12% annual growth is fairly reasonable for an investment. That would mean a $200 figure would need to be worth $555 in ten years, $1723 in 20-years just to match a normal investment vehicle.

The vast majority of collectibles won't even be around in 10- or 20-years (breakable long-term investments are not a good idea ... there's a reason old collectibles are rare). Of those that are around, many will be forgotten toys from largely forgotten movies. Of those that are remembered ... most will be obsolete, passed-up by the newer, better thing. A scant few will be worth more than you paid. Almost none will have gained a substantial return year-over-year.

Nevermind that liquidating the 'investment' would be a royal pain in the ass. Ideally, you wouldn't be waiting on Ebay auctions to end for your retirement income check to come.

Add that to the fact that, if you're only investing what you spend on toys ... you're going to retire broke anyway. $200 is not an investment. It's play money. For a reasonable retirement number, you'd need, say, 500 figures -- bought at $200 each (so $100K worth) -- all of which average 10-12% average annual growth. That's both impossible ... and really stupid.

If you want to collect toys, collect toys. If you want to invest money for growth, invest money for growth. But, don't confuse the two.

SnakeDoc

 

[jkno]

Gold and Silver as an investment? You've got to be joking?

https://www.monex.com/images/charts/GBX_LINE_365DAY_BIG.PNG

Not to go off topic

Gold and silver have value for thousands of years, it can be easily stored, hard to damage, has value everywhere in the world, no matter if peace or war, crisis or economic boom, even if sometimes price drops it will still hold value. But you should stick to toys, I'm sure you'll have a lot more success LOL

 

[XDUCKETTX]

Collectibles are a lousy investment vehicle. They're volatile, unpredictable, breakable, difficult to liquidate, and easily made irrelevant or obsolete. You'd be lucky to break even. Even if you get some growth, it won't be very good. Aiming for 10%-12% annual growth is fairly reasonable for an investment. That would mean a $200 figure would need to be worth $555 in ten years, $1723 in 20-years just to match a normal investment vehicle.

The vast majority of collectibles won't even be around in 10- or 20-years (breakable long-term investments are not a good idea ... there's a reason old collectibles are rare). Of those that are around, many will be forgotten toys from largely forgotten movies. Of those that are remembered ... most will be obsolete, passed-up by the newer, better thing. A scant few will be worth more than you paid. Almost none will have gained a substantial return year-over-year.

Nevermind that liquidating the 'investment' would be a royal pain in the ass. Ideally, you wouldn't be waiting on Ebay auctions to end for your retirement income check to come.

Add that to the fact that, if you're only investing what you spend on toys ... you're going to retire broke anyway. $200 is not an investment. It's play money. For a reasonable retirement number, you'd need, say, 500 figures -- bought at $200 each (so $100K worth) -- all of which average 10-12% average annual growth. That's both impossible ... and really stupid.

If you want to collect toys, collect toys. If you want to invest money for growth, invest money for growth. But, don't confuse the two.

SnakeDoc

Yes! +1

 

[Underworld54]

Buy gold, silver, or guns.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

Collecting these figures are an “ok” short term investment, as in 2-5 years maybe. Prices do go up for a while after whatever figure sells out. But wait too long and either interest in the figure wanes, or a new version will be introduced and therefore will render your "investment" worthless. When that happens, the best you can hope for is breaking even. This is still a very young hobby. Who knows how it will evolve in the next 5, 10, 20 years. Prices are already insane, so the hobby is ripe for a bubble burst and the whole thing will end up like baseball cards and comic book collecting in the 90s.

My wife’s grandmother had “collected” Hummels and Madame Alexander dolls. She died a few years ago and now we have a stockpile of these things that we can’t get rid of. They are now worthless because anyone who would possibly want them are/were my wife’s grandmother’s age and are therefore extremely old or dead. That is bound to happen with these figures. We’re all going to try and pawn these off to our grand children or great grand children, telling them, “these were worth a fortune! I paid $250 for that Han Solo! You’re sitting on a gold mine!” and they will want nothing to do with them.

Everyone is right—there are much better things to invest in.

 

[kiwiatlarge]

One problem with high price selling with hobbies is you can price yourself to a point where nobody will buy them. There is a seller on ebay has been regularly listing the (limited to 200 copies) version of the second Uncharted PS3 game for years now. The seller wants several thousand dollars for it. I don't know whether it is a scam, or they just don't think they have anything to lose, but nobody outside of a lottery winner with a Nathan Drake obsession will ever pay that.

I only see the hobby as being investment worthy in so much that you may be able to sell duplicates (bought for the purpose) or older items you no longer want for short/mid term profit. It must work to some degree, or people just wouldn't bulk buy hobby items and list them on ebay before they are even released. But as a reliable, long term investment, then no. In a worst case scenario, if you die your next of kin would wind up selling them for nothing at a garage sale, or putting them into landfill.

 

[Lejuan]

People who aren't making upwards of 20% profit out of this hobby aren't trying hard enough. The slow preorder sales of Finn prove it. He's a goldmine waiting to happen.

check my sales thread: Hot Toys Suckerpunch Amber, Hot Toys Casual Bruce Lee, Hot Toys Sleepy Hollow Ichabod Crane, Hot Toys Avatar Jake Sully

 

[EVILFACE]

That's because nobody wants a figure of Tracy Morgan.

 

[Otomofan]

I just read an article that said LEGO sets appreciate in value BETTER than gold actually. Buy all the LEGO sets. Keep them mint and sealed. Wait ten years. Sell them for huge profits.

 

[jespernicolaj]

This is not an investment. It's a hobby. Hobbies are expensive. Sure, once in a while, someone finds a copy of Action Comics 1 in the attic, in mint condition, but 99.99% of the time, people loose money. But as long as it makes you happy... Forget about the money and just enjoy

 

[Koloss]

Stocks. Western Digital and ranges resources.

Thank me later

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

These aren't made for investments

 

[Apone]

I buy to collect the figures but I tell my wife its an investment.. lol