Buying Collections – how to price?

We often get approached to buy peoples collections of various items and then the sellers are horrified at the offered purchase pricing. Hopefully this explains a little behind how we price collections and our offers.

Let me start by saying that our mark ups are between 10% – 30% depending on the market trends. We also invest a many hours in the research, cataloguing, photography and product metadata before uploading to the page. Another factor to take into account is the cost of capital. We outlay large sums on collections and then sell the product, which could take a couple of years. This is cash out of our business in product that sits on the shelves. Our purchase price is based on current market pricing at the point of purchase. As you know in the collectors world, this could increase in value over time, and yet we hold our pricing as a benefit to the buyer. Just check out some of our pricing on Funko Pops! and you will see that this is around the 2019/2020 price point.

If you add all these nuances into the purchase price of the items put forward by the seller we usually peg our offers at between 40% – 50% of current market value. It is up to the seller to then decide on if this offer is within their expectations. If no, then we will often recommend the seller try through social media platforms or other online facilities to move the product.

An alternative is that we offer is consignment or a trade in credit whereby you can the select items from the store to swap out. This is sometimes more beneficial as you have the option to get into a hobby at a reduced price with no capital outlay on your side. Trade in value, we will offer up to 60% of market pricing.

Running a business like this is not easy and it take many hours and lots of resource to make it work, but I’m sure you all agree that collecting is a fantastic hobby and we wouldn’t trade it for the world… maybe for a 1st edition PSA10 Charizard 🙂