It's the beginning of the month so a lot of payments due and fewer people thinking about committing money to an action figure project, even if payment isn't due right away. I would have expected the slowest gains to occur this week. I don't think anyone is going to panic yet though, still a lot of time to go. And hey, if it doesn't fund then I guess there just weren't 10,000 people that wanted a two-foot tall Giant Man. That would be my only take-away if I were Hasbro. If you are someone thinking about backing it though and have yet to do so, I'd still recommend holding out for now. You never know, they could tweak it if they really don't want this one to fail. There's really no incentive to commit early, unless you're just worried you might forget.
My wife just did a full audit and told me to track October toy buying.
I'm out.
I wasn't collecting action figures until 2018 but met my significant other in 2011, but even back then I insisted on separate bank accounts. I've collected comic books since I was a pre-teen, so I knew from long experience I had no tolerance for someone micro-managing how I choose to spend my income. I've got my account, she's got hers, and we've got a joint that we both contribute to. She only knows I get stuff when she sees it come to the door, but two-thirds of the time she doesn't see something before I do.
If I hadn't realized all of that and we had shared accounts here's what I'd do--I'd start intentionally buying and selling something. Could be anything--action figures, comic books, Longaberger baskets, porcelain Santa statuary, or whatever. To support that buying and selling I would create a separate account that only I used. I would then start feeding money into that account somehow. Could be from the shared account, could be from selling something you own, could be from miscellaneous income outside of your paycheck. I'm sure most of us could come up with dozens of other ideas, but you start growing money in that account. It takes however long it takes based upon the ideas you come up with to fund it.
At that point you're more free to buy what you want. The added benefit here is that if you seed the account by selling action figures then she doesn't just look at buying figures as an expense. I do this even with separate accounts--I buy multiples of stuff all the time that I think I can sell in a year or three at a profit. I usually try to box it up and mail it out in a way that she notices me doing it. When she asks what I'm doing I tell her I sold something, tell her what I paid, and then tell her what I sold it for. Whatever I let her see me packaging up I make sure was something I sold at a profit, not a loss. So she's never sure how much I'm making, but she's at least generally aware that some of the things coming in or sitting around the house sometimes goes out and sometimes makes me a profit.
Having a separate account and making sure you're both buying AND selling things helps a lot with the kinds of audits you're currently going through.
I'm really starting to get the feeling that it's the stretch figures that drive these campaigns moreso than the offering itself.
I think they work in tandem for a successful project. If the GI Joe Dragonfly was just the helicopter and Wild Bill — and even if it had been $200 instead of $250 — I wouldn't have bought one and waited for Bill to be released as a single. But when you throw in the three exclusive figures (even if they are repaints — Night Force is great, IMO) it becomes a much more enticing package, even at $250. I'll worry what to do with a 3-foot helicopter later.
Had the Dragonfly's stretch goals been a tow basket and/or a different canopy with no exclusive figures, I would have stayed away.
As has already been pointed out, the ML team made bad choices with the stretch goal figures (or one really bad choice, maybe) with EOV — which was already on shaky ground due to its price — and took the wrong message away from it.
Another good example is the Rancor. Those SW team goofs made a lackluster project worse with the stretch choices there - stupid bones, previously released figures. And when it got too out of control they did what should have been a no-brainer from the start and added the Rancor Keeper ... and almost saved it.
My wife just did a full audit and told me to track October toy buying.
I'm out.
I wasn't collecting action figures until 2018 but met my significant other in 2011, but even back then I insisted on separate bank accounts. I've collected comic books since I was a pre-teen, so I knew from long experience I had no tolerance for someone micro-managing how I choose to spend my income. I've got my account, she's got hers, and we've got a joint that we both contribute to. She only knows I get stuff when she sees it come to the door, but two-thirds of the time she doesn't see something before I do.
If I hadn't realized all of that and we had shared accounts here's what I'd do--I'd start intentionally buying and selling something. Could be anything--action figures, comic books, Longaberger baskets, porcelain Santa statuary, or whatever. To support that buying and selling I would create a separate account that only I used. I would then start feeding money into that account somehow. Could be from the shared account, could be from selling something you own, could be from miscellaneous income outside of your paycheck. I'm sure most of us could come up with dozens of other ideas, but you start growing money in that account. It takes however long it takes based upon the ideas you come up with to fund it.
At that point you're more free to buy what you want. The added benefit here is that if you seed the account by selling action figures then she doesn't just look at buying figures as an expense. I do this even with separate accounts--I buy multiples of stuff all the time that I think I can sell in a year or three at a profit. I usually try to box it up and mail it out in a way that she notices me doing it. When she asks what I'm doing I tell her I sold something, tell her what I paid, and then tell her what I sold it for. Whatever I let her see me packaging up I make sure was something I sold at a profit, not a loss. So she's never sure how much I'm making, but she's at least generally aware that some of the things coming in or sitting around the house sometimes goes out and sometimes makes me a profit.
Having a separate account and making sure you're both buying AND selling things helps a lot with the kinds of audits you're currently going through.
My wife and I do have separate accounts and I love it. I pay mortgage and gas, she pays groceries and insurance.
This is 100% on me. I was writing the check for mortgage as I do every month and I made the comment that my checking was a bit lower than I wanted it to be. We're fine financially, the payment was not going to send me into the red by any means, and I have been trying to actively save money lately. Well, that comment that I could have easily kept to myself, got her worried to the point where she asked to see my statements to see where the money is going (she actually does this for clients daily, she's a financial counselor, it's built into her). It's all fine, I don't blame her. Her mind was put somewhat at ease because I make a little more than she thought I did, I spent more on gas than she thought I did (which can't be helped), and my toy buying was almost completely offset by my toy selling.
But yeah, I love separate accounts, it's the way to go.
My wife just did a full audit and told me to track October toy buying.
I'm out.
I wasn't collecting action figures until 2018 but met my significant other in 2011, but even back then I insisted on separate bank accounts. I've collected comic books since I was a pre-teen, so I knew from long experience I had no tolerance for someone micro-managing how I choose to spend my income. I've got my account, she's got hers, and we've got a joint that we both contribute to. She only knows I get stuff when she sees it come to the door, but two-thirds of the time she doesn't see something before I do.
If I hadn't realized all of that and we had shared accounts here's what I'd do--I'd start intentionally buying and selling something. Could be anything--action figures, comic books, Longaberger baskets, porcelain Santa statuary, or whatever. To support that buying and selling I would create a separate account that only I used. I would then start feeding money into that account somehow. Could be from the shared account, could be from selling something you own, could be from miscellaneous income outside of your paycheck. I'm sure most of us could come up with dozens of other ideas, but you start growing money in that account. It takes however long it takes based upon the ideas you come up with to fund it.
At that point you're more free to buy what you want. The added benefit here is that if you seed the account by selling action figures then she doesn't just look at buying figures as an expense. I do this even with separate accounts--I buy multiples of stuff all the time that I think I can sell in a year or three at a profit. I usually try to box it up and mail it out in a way that she notices me doing it. When she asks what I'm doing I tell her I sold something, tell her what I paid, and then tell her what I sold it for. Whatever I let her see me packaging up I make sure was something I sold at a profit, not a loss. So she's never sure how much I'm making, but she's at least generally aware that some of the things coming in or sitting around the house sometimes goes out and sometimes makes me a profit.
Having a separate account and making sure you're both buying AND selling things helps a lot with the kinds of audits you're currently going through.
You just described my collecting method. 99% of my selling is on ebay, so I just let the funds build up on ebay if there's at larger ticket item that I'm eye-balling, and I typically take smaller chunks out to feed my separate hobby checking account.
I also seed the account with a small "allowance" from my paycheck every week. It keeps the toy spending out of the joint account, and works very well for me and my marriage! lol
All of us need to be selling something at all times. Fight the clutter. The line between collector and hoarder is very thin.
I'd love to sell a bunch of stuff. But between how overwhelming it feels and the tedious nature of eBay I tend to just let it all sit uselessly in storage. But trust me, I'd be MORE than happy to ditch basically everything in storage in my garage right now and not even blink.
I'd love to sell a bunch of stuff. But between how overwhelming it feels and the tedious nature of eBay I tend to just let it all sit uselessly in storage. But trust me, I'd be MORE than happy to ditch basically everything in storage in my garage right now and not even blink.
There is no BEST option for selling, IMO. You're right about ebay.
The other option is sell online off FB groups, but after trying that this past summer I've dealt more with flakes and frauds than actual legitimate buyers who are interested in completing a purchase. Why, I just received a papal refund today from a guy who tried to steal $10 from me. TEN DOLLARS!
For me it's almost worth just dumping it on a reseller and take the loss than deal with all of the above.
But it's true, you gotta balance out the purchases with sales.
Yeah... Ebay is a grind - no buyer wants to pay reasonable, actual shipping costs because they are spoiled by Amazon and BBTS shipping things cheap, so you have to calculate in a loss on shipping to your final sale price most of the time. And now that you aren't allowed to leave negative feedback for buyers that never pay it's even worse. Of the 9 auctions I completed last week THREE of the winning bidders simply never sent payment and never responded to messages or communications... they just ghosted. And there's nothing I can do about that but list the item again and hope.
Still, it's the easiest way for me to clear out the backlog of extra junk I have and offset the spending on new releases. The best of some bad options.
All of us need to be selling something at all times. Fight the clutter. The line between collector and hoarder is very thin.
As long as you fight collector comes out on top, but that hoarder just keeps coming. The real problem is there is just too much stuff available, and aquiring new things is way easier than getting rid of old things. Amazon doesn't come and just pick up the stuff you don't want. 🤣
My philosophy is to have a constant eBay store going. Just selling loose toys for what they sell for not concerned making a profit. When you occasionally do that's great but the point is to get it in someone's hands and not landfill and recoup SOME of your investment. Buy it now pricing, no bartering, loose figures wrapped in bubble wrap (never pitch Amazon bubble packs; keep them for reuse). Just be selling 10-30 items at all time. Store them in a box to sell instead of a box to store. Just sell them as they go; don't think about it. Just process them as you get the sell email. Its a marathon not a race. Its about 15 minutes of work once a week and maybe 30 minutes 1 day every 2 month to list a few things.
Can I also suggest communicating with your SO? You may find them more accommodating if you're transparent about what you're buying and why.
As far as selling stuff goes, aside from eBay's insane fees (they take like, a third of what you make now), I've only had two major issues. (Knocking on wood, of course.) 1) I pre-ordered a Mezco figure through an eBay store. The item didn't release for another eight months and the seller never sent it to me. PayPal wouldn't do anything because it was beyond their refund window. 2) Before USPS provided tracking numbers on everything, I sold an ML figure for like $100. The guy claimed he never received it, but I'm like 95% sure he did. I refunded him and lost the figure.
@tsi I was thinking the same thing. Joint account here, I've never had any issues with my spouse and my collecting. She knows this is my hobby even if she'll never quite understand it and trusts me to not spend outside our means on it. And she really only knows about the cost of some of this stuff on the rare occasion she's the one making the purchase either as a gift or because she knows I'm looking for something at retail.
As for selling, if it doesn't bring you any joy then get rid of it. Admittedly, I don't sell much, but I also haven't run out of room. I'd rather sell something or donate it than stash it in a closet for all time.
Yeah... Ebay is a grind - no buyer wants to pay reasonable, actual shipping costs because they are spoiled by Amazon and BBTS shipping things cheap, so you have to calculate in a loss on shipping to your final sale price most of the time. And now that you aren't allowed to leave negative feedback for buyers that never pay it's even worse. Of the 9 auctions I completed last week THREE of the winning bidders simply never sent payment and never responded to messages or communications... they just ghosted. And there's nothing I can do about that but list the item again and hope.
Still, it's the easiest way for me to clear out the backlog of extra junk I have and offset the spending on new releases. The best of some bad options.
That stuff is extremely annoying about ebay, especially with how easy it is for winners to ghost sellers. They have recently started putting a thing in place where it confirms your payment method when you bid, and automatically charges the winner when the auction ends. I actually really like that a lot, but it doesn't give you an option to apply a gift card, so the process isn't perfect yet.
As a seller, I'm not sure on how to apply that to my listings. So I don't know, maybe it's in beta testing - but I definitely has popped up for me, and I won a lot of figures and it did automatically charge me, so it works for sure.
I used to get really upset when people would do that. I blew out a bunch of Marvel legends a few months back, and one guy won 9 figures then ghosted me. Was very annoying - but after selling on ebay for over 20 years, I think I'm getting numb to the annoyances. I just add the jerks to my blocked buyers list and relist and hope for the best!
Like you said, it's the easiest way to clear out the back log (especially since I don't do facebook). And really it's pretty convenient despite the few negatives.
Yeah... just be upfront with your SO. If your spending causes a problem then one of you has bigger issues.
Solid advice on buying/selling though. I used to do that to fund my video game collecting. I built a solid retro collection of over 1000 games with no money out of pocket (net). Of course that was before the higher fees and needing to supply a 1099. I could deal with the 15% fee but being taxed is a dealbreaker for me. Nowadays I try to do it through craigslist and Facebook but it's just too much hassle. I long for the days of just being able to throw up 20 things on ebay and watch them gradually sell over the next couple weeks.
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