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'Lights, Camera, Action Figures!'
by Lynn Dralle, The Queen of Auctions

I was at a garage sale last Saturday where I saw a huge box of action figures still in the original packages. I asked, "How much?" The lady said, "$3.00 each, please count them." I counted them--there were fourteen.

I quickly did the calculations and figured it was $52.00. She asked me for $50.00 and I said, "Sold!" I just now realized that I multiplied incorrectly. Darn it! If ONLY Indy (my 5th grade math whiz) would have been there SHE would have multiplied correctly! By the way, I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader.

Great, so I am starting out $10.00 in the hole. Here is a photo of all of those action figures.

Before we get into action figures, let's talk about toys and hobbies. Toys and Hobbies is a top level eBay category with sales of $2.5 billion in 2006. This category encompasses both new and used/vintage. When I searched with new in the title, 1,147,693 items came up for the past two weeks and when I typed in vintage 105,375 items came up. There is a high percentage of vintage being sold in this category—almost 10%. Remember, that people are trying to buy their childhoods and this is what is happening in the Toys and Hobbies category.

I took a look at listings under the Toys and Hobbies category on 4/6/10. The number of listings by each sub-category is very interesting. Notice how Action Figures is the #2 category with 14.8%.

Looking at my data table for toys, we see that Trading Card Games, Action Figures, Diecast and Radio Controlled toys are the largest sub-categories.

Trading card games is the largest sub-category with over 15% of the listings. These games include Yuh-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and Magic the Gathering. By far the biggest of these games is Magic the Gathering with over 300,000 listings. WOW!

Magic the Gathering is a collectible card game that was invented by Mathematician Richard Garfield in 1993. There are currently over six million players in 70 countries. Amazing.

The second largest sub-category, and what prompted me to write this article, is Action Figures. An action figure is a poseable plastic figurine of an action hero, superhero or a character from a movie or television program.

I bought a bag of action figures about a year ago for 50 cents each. None of them were in the box/package and I have sold almost all of them for at least $9.99 each. I try to remember to look for actions figures and I suggest you do the same.

Here is one of the more recent action figures that I have listed on eBay from my $50 (should have been $40) box!

See the listing here.

Die cast toys are formed from molten metal in a die (mold). Die cast toys run the gamut from antique to current. This is the third largest sub-head category with almost 14%. Die cast to watch for are NASCAR, Star Wars and vintage Dinky and Ertl.

Let's skip down to the TV, movie and character toy sub-category with 6%. This tells us that these are also in demand. Think back to your childhood and once again we see that vintage is selling. Disney, Popeye, Smurfs and the Flintstones are selling well.

For more recent items, we see Disney again, Thomas the Tank Engine, Harry Potter, My Little Pony and the Simpsons selling well.

Judy/Trudy (Live Boot Camper extraordinaire and Queen's Court member) had a score recently with some stuffed Smurfs.

Here is her email:

At a recent garage sale, I decided to show off and buy four baggies full of Smurfs for $30. I was sure that I spent too much but after doing a fair amount of research I was able to come up with their names. It didn't look like I had anything special but I had a hunch about a few of them.  Anyway, I sold four lots for over $175.00! Check out this one that sold for the most.

Judy

See Judy's listing here.

Visit Judy/Trudy's auctions here.

I met a woman at eBay Live several years ago who is making a living just doing the toy store route looking for hot new items. She is always at Toys R Us and other chains when the doors open. I asked her how she knew what to buy and she does her research. She reads magazines and watches the front pages of eBay to see what is hot. If you are interested in the new side of this category, get to know your local toy shops and see if they will sell you their overstocks and slow turning inventory at a bargain price.

Vintage toys are everywhere, especially considering that vintage can be as recent as the 1980s and 1990s. I see toys, games and trading cards at every garage sale. This isn't my area of expertise so I don't check the items over that well. However, if you decide to specialize in this area, you can do very well. Buy as many books as you can and subscribe to trade publications. I subscribe to the Antique Trader for general information about antiques and collectibles and it is super.

There are four abbreviations used on eBay for toys still in the original packaging. Next to each abbreviation I have listed the number of completed auctions for the last two weeks that used each abbreviation in the Toys & Hobbies category. Make up your own mind which one to use. Personally, I am confused! I used a few different ones in each of my action figure auctions. Overall, it looks like box and new are the way to go--so NIB is probably what I should have used! Yikes.

MIB (Mint in box) 29,116

NIB (New in box) 51,098

MIP (Mint in package) 8,247

NIP (New in package) 11,522

Back to action figures! I did some completed auction research on eBay several years ago and found an Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars) Boba Fett action figure in the original package from Italy that sold for $11,000.

The seller used the term "Unpunched" in his title. He told me that unpunched means that this item never found its way onto a rack in a toy store. The hole was never punched out to hang it up and this makes it even more rare. I want to find some action figures like that!

Well, we will see how my 14 different auctions do in the next ezine. I will give you an update. Wish me luck, I have to make back that extra $10!

Here is another one of my action figures.

Check it out here.

Oh yeah, before I end this article, don't forget about plush stuffed animals. They make up 3% of the toy category and sell really well. Check out this darling Baby Gap Teddy Bear that I just sold out of my eBay store for a lot of money! And it is going to Europe. You gotta love plush. To learn more, check out these teleseminars with Debbie Ybarra (plush expert). These informative teleseminars are available for purchase and immediate download here: Teleseminar 1 and Teleseminar 2.

Here is my Baby Gap Teddy Bear listing.

Happy eBaying!

Lynn