Beyond the Price Tag

In the ‘90s, when the Beanie Baby craze was in full swing, we all fought to grab the rare ones before we couldn’t get them anymore. Some folks were buying them up hoping they would be worth a lot of money in the future. Those collectors may not be sitting on bags of Beanie Baby money now, but many people still hold love for the Beanie Babies they’ve collected over the years. 

Collectors range in passion from the casual Funko Pop! buyer to the hardcore enthusiasts who keep spreadsheets of new and vintage collectibles and know exactly how much everything is worth. While collectibles often hold value beyond their monetary worth, it can be helpful to know what people are paying — or are willing to pay — for your favorite pieces. And thankfully, dedicated collectors now have many ways of finding out exactly what their stuff is worth.

Every product, from coins to action figures, has a manufacturer-suggested retail price (MSRP) when it gets placed on physical or digital retail shelves. But once the initial product run comes to an end, it gets a new resale value — for better or for worse.  

Popularity, scarcity, and personal value all impact a collectible’s resale value on sites like eBay and StockX. It’s a pretty simple supply-and-demand relationship, with items that are produced in limited runs reselling for higher prices than ones produced in mass quantities. While third-party marketplace sites are a great resource for collectors, some manufacturers are recognizing the importance of resale value.

Funko collectors can keep track of their collections through the Funko app, which features price valuations based on recent eBay sales. 

“With more than 1 million Funko collectors using the Funko app to manage their collections, providing informed valuation metrics for the fans is a top priority,” said Johanna Gepford, Funko’s senior vice president of revenue, in a press release. “eBay is our preferred partner for secondary marketplace sales, and we’re thrilled to provide Funko collectors with frictionless access to real marketplace data, so they can better understand the value of their collections.”

This program started at the tail-end of last year and gives each Funko collectible a price estimate based on recent, verified sales, so collectors know what each Pop! is worth or how much they might have to pay to get their hands on one that's missing from their collection. 

"As a top destination for collectibles connecting millions of sellers and buyers around the world, we’re always looking for new ways to deliver an amazing customer experience and help enthusiasts make informed decisions,” said Gene Cook, global vice president of collectibles for eBay, in a press release. “In 2022, ‘Funko’ was searched about 13,000 times per hour on eBay globally, reinforcing the popularity and high collectability of these items. We’re excited to work alongside Funko to bring more innovation and exciting new features to the collecting community.”  

These price estimates give collectors a starting point to determine the worth of their collections, but finding an exact number can often take more time and effort. 

HobbyDB is an online database in which thousands of collectors log everything from die-cast vehicles and coins to action figures and baseball cards. Collectors can use the site to find missing pieces in their collections, discover places where they can purchase them, and, in some cases, determine how much a piece is worth. 

Christian Braun, CEO of hobbyDB, says that the site uses 80 different pricing sources, including eBay, StockX, auction houses, and more. The site also stores a full history of prices for collectibles. 

“You can make your own judgment basically, which is the thing that doesn’t happen anymore,” Braun says. “Now you just see a price, but you don’t know where it comes from or what it is. I like to see the whole history. I like to see 50 transactions or even two transactions — that’s valuable.”

The value of a collectible is not only impacted by what fans are willing to pay for it, but also by what condition it’s in. Collectible grading services will examine collectibles of all sorts and give them a rating on a 10-point scale. There are many factors that influence a collectible’s final grade, including scratches on the packaging, curling price tags, and bent corners.

It is almost impossible for collectibles to have a perfect mint rating. Chad Thompson, president of Collectible Grading Authority (CGA), explains that even brand-new collectibles are rarely mint quality.

“Even a brand-new item like a brand-new toy or brand-new video game [may not be mint] because straight off the factory line, you’re going to have flaws,” Thompson says. “Whether it’s a dinging on the card or a box or an indent or scuffing or a pool on the cellophane.”

To get an item graded by CGA, a collector packs it up and ships it to the company, where a team of experts will examine and grade it. Once the grading process is through, CGA will put the collectible into an acrylic case for protection, and send it back to the collector.

According to Thompson, getting items graded, especially pricier adds to your shelves, can be an extremely important step in your collection process.

While graders aren’t looking at the monetary value of an item, they often have an idea of what they are worth based on years of experience working with collectibles.

“We’ve been doing this so long, we kind of know what things are worth,” Thompson says. “We don’t set a value on the item when it comes through us. We’re creating a base on the condition. Most collectors that send stuff to us, they know what they got.”

Having a collectible graded and knowing its monetary value can also be helpful when it comes to insuring your collection, especially if you have a sizable one that is worth a lot of money. We hope nothing ever happens to our collections, but it is important to be prepared for everything. 

“We’ve got a guy who has 25,000 pins in his collection,” hobbyDB’s Braun says. “They’re worth $600,000. He can use [hobbyDB] to insure his collection. When it comes time to pass it on — to sell it — it’s all there. It’s all documented. In fact, we had somebody in Florida selling a pin collection to a dealer in Spain, and the Spanish guy could see everything there was and made an offer.”

A collection can also be a gateway to a new community. CGC Grading, the division of Certified Collectibles Group (CCG) that grades cards, comics, and more, offers chat boards for fans who have graded some of their collection to discuss the hobby with fellow collectors. 

“Chat boards are a place where fans can discuss their hobbies and share knowledge with those who have similar interests,” says Max Spiegel, president of CCG. “Collecting is not a solitary activity. Its online resources are part of a broader effort to foster a fun, lively, and informed community for fans.”

The monetary, social, and physical value of a collectible are vital parts of the hobby to many collectors, but the emotional value your collection provides is just as important.

Jordan Hembrough, president of Hollywood Heroes and host of the Toy Hunter TV series that ran on the Travel Channel from 2012-2014, has been collecting since he was a teen. Throughout Hembrough’s life, the art of collecting has been a method of self-care for him.

The types of collectibles one finds emotional value in are often linked to what made us happy growing up. For Hembrough, his love of Star Wars launched his career. 

“I loved Star Wars when I was a child,” he says. “I didn’t have friends growing up. I didn’t have a lot of friends at all. I came home from school and my Star Wars toys were my friends. I made my own little adventures and everything like that ... That love for toys and that love for that franchise — that has kept
me going.” 

There is no wrong way to be a collector, whether you’re just dipping your toes into the world of collecting or have all of your collectibles logged in detail on hobbyDB. As long as you hold personal value on the things that you collect, they are priceless, but hey, having a collectible graded doesn’t hurt!