Hello from a new collector!

Thought I'd stop in and say hello! I just started collecting, tho I've worked in the movie industry years (yes, I'm late to the party). I started with 2 (Batman Armory and T-800) to use as reference for modeling, but I have a feeling it's not going to stop there. Any tips for a newbie?


Thanks!

Save money

Spend all your money...

Resistance is futile

to the show

only collect the things that truly make you happy and to not just buy stuff because they have curb appeal.

WellCQCaboutthat said:

only collect the things that truly make you happy and to not just buy stuff because they have curb appeal.

Click to expand...

Collect based on your interest and you'll save yourself a lot of money.

And by the way, welcome to SSF, ljaat!

Pay no attention to either BOBAFATTY lol, love that name) or Collectorcol as they're both talking absolute gibberish.

The best thing you can do with your money is send it all to Unky Morgul Matt & he'll invest it all very wisely for you.

And to the boards.

normally I would say pace yourself and be disciplined with your purchases but I'm not doing that myself so **** it. Buy everything you see so you don't miss out on something that you'll end up paying more for later.

to SSF Ljaat! My tip - have FUN!!!

Other than that (and my overly dramatic display of emoticons), here are a few tips:

1. Always save the boxes, instructions, etc in new shape - that way if you buy something and decide later on you want to ebay it because you've found you overdid and ordered more than you have room for, you can often get all your money back and sometimes even make a few extra bucks - or at the very least hopefully not take much of a loss.

2. It always pays to shop around, and order stuff as early as possible for the best price. If there's figures you missed that you want, patience is your friend - you can usually find stuff but will usually pay more (but sometimes you'll pay less!). Depending what it is, you may get a better deal here from fellow collectors than on eBay, but I've added figures I'm looking for on eBay to my interests and sometimes after a few patient months of watching have found good prices there too.

3. Never feed your collectibles after midnight. Oh wait, never mind, that was only for Gremlins.

Cheers,
Ken

Thanks for the tips! Yeah, after first looking at the HT site I was kinda kicking myself for not really getting into (knowing) about this before.. as some of my favs are no longer sold by SS. For those of you who have done a lot of buying/selling/trading here.. are your experiences mostly good? Just trying to get a feel of the land before I start..

All the deals I've completed on here went fine, I think the vast majority of people here are decent folk - down right friendly even!

I'm a little more careful on eBay and follow the guidelines about checking the usual stuff (which you probably know already, but never hurts to refresh) - how long they've been a member, how much feedback they have and if it's all positive or if any neutral or negative feedback seems like it came from a legit source or not... and also doesn't hurt to check feedback the seller has left for others too but this might apply more for if you're selling something and see a pattern of negative feedback left from a potential buyer - scams can work both ways.

I never buy a pre-order through eBay, it seems to me it's usually a bad situation waiting to happen because if the release is over eBay's limits of filing a claim, then if the person is dishonest and the pre-order finally comes out and you don't get it, you could end up stuck.

The premium membership here opens the sales and trade forums too, so you might consider doing that - especially if you ever want to get into selling and trading here - and you can see what other people are selling here with the Premium membership. But you can still inquire about where to get a figure here in the appropriate place (like if you're looking for a Predator Dutch figure, I think they allow you to make an inquiry in the Predator thread, you just can't sell there. Sometimes people will refer you to someone or a person selling what you're looking for will contact you directly).

And just so you know, I don't get any kickback if you buy a Premium membership (unless you want to reward recommendations, DarkLordDave? ) - I have honestly just found it very useful in my circumstances, since I do both buying and selling, and I'm not opposed to trading either.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Ken

Hello

New here myself, but from what I've seen this is a great forum to be on.

Depends what you're wanting to do. Are you collecting in the hope to make money from selling your pieces later? If so, I'd do something else as that's a bit risky when you are new to this.

What I hope is you want to collect because you see something and say "wow! I love that!" That's a good reason to collect.

Set a budget what you're happy to spend and then stick to that. Some people spend way to much and can't afford it.

The forums here are full of interesting threads about many pieces. So first off have a search for whatever model you're thinking of and see what other people think of it. If there is no thread, put up a post in the appropriate section and see what people think.

Depending on how you want to display you may want to settle on a scale. Most popular is 1/6, but lots of people seem to be upsizing to 1/4 scale or even bigger. Or some people mix their display with different sizes. Personally I like the bigger models as you can see more on them. But that's just me. Others will say 1/6 because there is a bigger range, they are easier to sell on and they need less display space.

So to buy new or old? Depends what you want. Focus on what characters or movies you really love and then see what is around for those. New has the advantage of a guarantee and that your piece might increase in value over time (might fall too though!), old is good for certain pieces no longer made. Old will often come from individuals, so check feedback on eBay or on here and buy carefully.

But stick to buying stuff that you love the look of. And if you fill up with stuff and want something else then consider selling something before adding more.

Hope that helps. And hope you have fun with your new and potentially hugely expensive hobby

12in: Yeah, I'm pretty careful about stuff on ebay. Sounds good.. probably will look into that once I start wanting to sell/trade, since I won't be wanting to let anything go anytime soon. Oh, and nice backdrops! I might be looking you up one day!

MF: I'm not one who would think about trying to make a lot of money out of a hobby like this. True, it would be nice to recoup some of the cost possibly at a later date, but I'm not gonna leave them in the shippers just b/c of it.

Problem I have is that after working in hollywood for 10+ yrs.. there isn't a lot that I don't like heheh. I will say that between youtube and SSF.. there is so much good info.

Thanks for all the help!