From Apply Now,
Your Guide to Action Figures.
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Action figures are highly desirable, and many times, collectors are willing to pay a lot of money to complete their collections or own something that’s hard to find. Even though something could be found in a store for five or ten dollars, collectors might pay double or triple the price rather than diligently check stores that might carry the item. And there are plenty of people out there who are willing to provide these action figures to collectors…for a price. The nice term for obtaining these figures outside their traditional means is “secondary market.” The more commonly used term is “scalping.”

What are scalpers?

Scalpers are nothing new. They’re typically associated with ticket sales. Scalpers buy up tickets to sold out events and sell them to patrons at an inflated price. There’s nothing to really discourage scalping except for companies to limit the number of tickets purchased. Scalpers can also be discouraged if people refuse to buy them at inflated prices.

Action figure collectors have had to contend with scalpers for quite a while. These people usually hit retail stores right when they open when the shelves are freshly stocked. They typically buy multiples of particularly hard-to-find figures or the latest figures. Since newer figures are most desirable when they first hit stores, scalpers tend to sell these for a quick profit either through local conventions or online auctions.

Why do scalpers sell action figures?

Tickets have a higher profit margin, but action figures are relatively cheap to buy. Scalping was in its “hey day” in the mid-1990’s, when new Star Wars figures like Princess Leia and Lando Calrissian could be bought new in a store for five dollars and sold to desperate collectors for fifty dollars. This was before the internet became the useful tool to collectors it has become and there wasn’t the level of communication among collectors that exists today.

Despite the internet and better, stronger collecting networks, scalping persists today. Online auctions are relatively easy and online payment options keep the money flowing consistently. There are also more serious action figure collectors, and the trend of action figure companies to release limited edition or variant action figures makes for very high profit margins on cheap purchases.

How does it help and hurt the hobby?

Many action figure collectors don’t think that scalping helps the hobby at all. But the reason scalping is successful is because collectors are willing to pay high prices to own these action figures in the first place. It’s important to think of how important your collection is to you and how much you would be willing to pay for something that, despite all of your best efforts, you simply cannot find.

Overall, scalping does hurt action figures. For one, it makes certain action figures that much harder for children to find, therefore discouraging future generations of collectors. But it does make the hobby that much more difficult for current collectors to follow. If collectors of a particular line have constant difficulty in finding the figures they’re looking for, they may abandon collecting altogether.

How do you discourage a scalper?

The best thing you can do is to not pay a scalper for a figure you’re looking for. Establish connections among collectors, who almost always do fair trades or sell items at cost to other collectors. You can also get to know employees at retail stores to know when shipments are coming in. You might be able to beat scalpers at their own game.

Toy companies are getting better about helping out collectors and discouraging scalpers. Many companies place limits on how many toys can be ordered online at a time. Sideshow Collectibles, for example, has a strict limit of one-per-customer on their exclusive items. Convention exclusives, which are particularly notorious scalper-prey, can usually be pre-ordered ahead of time for attendees. In other words, toy companies know that the key to their success is making long-term collectors happy instead of appeasing those looking for a quick profit.