Book Description

This essay sheds light on how to build an action figure collection, demystifies the best way to build an action figure collection, reveals the best type of action figures for action figure collectors to collect for building an action figure collection, and delineates the benefits of building an action figure collection. The advent of the internet has rendered it a seamless process for an action figure collector to be able to expeditiously build an action figure collection. Prior to the advent of the internet, an action figure collector was pigeonholed into buying actions figures via brick-and-mortar retail stores. It however can be cumbersome to find action figures to purchase at the locales of garage sales, the locales of flea markets, and the locales of estate sales since they are uncommon items at most garage sales, flea markets, and estate sales. Even though the locales of garage sales, the locales of flea markets, and the locales of estate sales are often devoid of action figures, action figure collectors still nonetheless often visit these locales for the prospect of stumbling upon action figures for sale at these locales. Buying action figures at the venues of comic book conventions from vendors at comic book conventions is also not a viable way to build an action figure collection since it is expensive to attend comic books conventions. Furthermore, the vendors at comic books conventions sell their actions figures at steep premium prices that often exceed their secondhand market values. If you purchase action figures via comic book conventions, then you can expect to concede to paying the highest possible secondhand market prices for actions figures since the vendors at comic conventions are resellers who buy action figures solely with the intention of reselling them at top dollar. Vendors at comic book conventions sell their action figures at enormous markups that are often significantly above their retail prices and secondhand market values. If you are keen on building an action figure collection, then buying action figures at retail stores is often an inefficacious way to build an action figure collection, especially if you are highly selective about the action figures that you purchase. Retail stores are typically sold out of highly desirable action figures. Retailers often never restock most of the highly desirable action figures that they are sold out of. When retailers receive shipments of highly desirable action figures, then they not only arrive at retail stores in egregiously low quantities, but also immediately get sold out by scalpers post being stocked onto store shelves. Once the scalpers have purchased all of the highly desirable action figures from the retail stores, they will then often subsequently proceed to resell them at lofty markups that are at least 50%-1000% above their retail prices. It can be ineffably cumbersome to find any highly desirable action figures at retail stores since they are purchased by scalpers immediately after they are stocked onto store shelves in egregiously low quantities. Retailers will often never restock most of the highly desirable action figures that get immediately sold out by scalpers shortly after they are stocked onto store shelves in egregiously low quantities even though there is tremendous pent-up customer demand for these highly desirable action figures that remains eminently unsatisfied. It can be a highly time-consuming and expensive pursuit to drive to ample distant brick-and-mortar retail stores just to not be able to find a single desirable action figure that you have been eager to purchase. Frequenting distant brick-and-mortar retail stores is often deemed to be a sheer and utter depletion of precious time for most action figures collectors since they are often sold out of all of the desirable action figures that they have been eager to purchase. Being able to buy highly desirable action figures from the retail stores at the “manufacturer’s suggested retail price” is not an option for most action figure collectors since the highly desirable action figures immediately get sold out by scalpers post being stocked onto store shelves in egregiously low quantities. Scalpers are able to immensely benefit from supply shortages of highly desirable action figures since it allows them to be able to have full purview over the pricing of highly desirable action figures on the secondhand market. Scalpers have full purview over the pricing of highly desirable action figures on the secondhand market.