Are toys a good investment, and is there any way to tell which

>>5800880
No and no.

Go buy stocks.

>>5800880
Beanie babies, funko pops, amiibos, dc multiverse suicide squad line and ghostbusters 2016 toys especially patty

Not really as a major source of income, or even a secondary one, but you can get some decent returns. that said, given the amount of space and time that you have to factor in, you have to question if its truly that worth it. generally its best if you parlay it as a side thing you're interested in..say you collect toys,a nd buy a few extras of your favorite to keep in box, and you end up reselling them down the road. That's probably more satisfying than sitting on something that may or may not turn a profit.

Very few things from the last 20 years will turn a profit, especially not Western toys. There's two major reason's I'd say; one, everyone caught up on the idea of hoarding things sealed back in the early 90's, so anything from that point onward has a considerable amount of pristine copies available. Before then, people would toss boxes, let figures get scuffed, etc, which is why a lot of those toys became rare and hard to find. second,a lot of the more popular characters get frequent updates and new versions, which eclipses older releases a lot of the time. Both Western and Japanese toys are susceptible to this.With toys past the late 90's, the "retro" appeal isn't really there any more, as it holds with toys from before then.
Basically, people will buy a crappy Han Solo figure from the 70's for big money because it was among the first, or has a place in history due to rarity. But a crappy Han solo figure from 1999 is just another statistic.

anyway, if you want to hedge your bets, pic franchises or characters that are decently popular, but don't get a lot of merchandise toywise, or at least not a lot of merchandise in a given style of toy. For example, Pit from the Nintendoseries Kid Icarus got a single articulated toy a few years back, which now goes for four times the original price. Its very unlikely he'll ever get a new toy anytime soon, so the price will hold.

>>5800880
>Are toys a good investment

No.

Plastic deteriorates, packaging deteriorates, also toy engineering, paint and technology keeps improving. Just look at Figuarts vs. the early 70s Star Wars toys.

Add to this that the popularity of every IP in the long term declines. Just think of Batman Forever, or Starship Troopers, or whaterver flavor of the month anime there is.

Finally, consider the amount of storage necessary, and the cost of said storage to hoard plastic for years to come until the value rise. Well there's a good foolproof investment: land. Human population keeps rising and the vast majority of property value rises with it.

>>5800880
Most toys are too widely manufactured and distributed to acrue much value over a long period of time. You'd probably have a better time focusing on toys made specifically for the collector market as those are more scarce and have a higher level of quality that entice buyers.

Alternatively, you could also look into buying boxed LEGO sets. It's been recorded that on average the value of unopened sets sold after the year 2000 rose more than gold investments in the past 16 years.

>>5800926
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/investing/shares/lego-a-better-investment-than-shares-and-gold/

>>5800880
Not really
The bigger issue isn't finding one that's "valuable" so much as finding a seller
I can have a carded ultra rare man worth 3k but if the last purchase was a year ago for 100.00 it ain't really worth what they claim

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>>5800880
they made a lot of books about this

>>5800898
Well said. But to add it's all really a gamble. Just do it to enjoy collecting but otherwise just get a stable job and save your doe ray me.

Maybe if the economy improves and all the NEETs here crying that $20 is rape find jobs.

>>5800898
>pic franchises or characters that are decently popular, but don't get a lot of merchandise toywise, or at least not a lot of merchandise in a given style of toy.
This is generally good advice, although it only takes a new version being announced for your stock to plummet. For example, I've wanted a Ted Kord action figure for a while now, but there aren't many options. I was considering getting one of the DCU ones, although they sell for far too much. However, since they just announced an Icons version, there is no way I'd pay that much for the DCU version now and I'm sure I'm not the only thinking this.

>>5800880
No, absolutely not.

There is absolutely no way to tell what is going to be worth money in the collector's market 20 years from now.

Example: The most expensive NES game is currently Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur peak because it saw such a limited release, and it passed under most players radar cause it came out after the SNES.

This makes it VERY VERY rare. Back then there wasn't even a market for collecting games. It's worth money now because NOW people want it, and there are so few of them.

The only time a toy MIGHT be worth investing in is if it's already worth a lot of money and the fanbase is large enough to show no signs of shrinking in the indefinite future. Like a Boba Fett that was converted to shoot the missile out of his back or an old MIB Gen 1 Prime or Fort Max.

Are you investing for a blackout that'll last 2 to 3 days?

the only thing close to a secure investment would be the higher end lego sets

>>5800880
troll or just freaking stupid. can't decide and don't care.

>>5800880
You have to find something that is very popular but everyone throws away. It's not an easy task. I'd pay a shitload for a McDonald's happy meal box from Christmas 1990 but it's not going to happen.

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>>5800880

>>5800880
only things that get expensive are toys that people randomly come back too down the road.

like ferbies a few yrs back.

Im sure old TMNT figures saw a small ebay boom these last few yrs. But nothing to run to the pawn shop demanding auction house pricing for....

really collecting shouldnt be "it will be worth something some day, you'll see!!" it should be a hobby. And if one day people flock to it and want a piece of their childhood, and u happen to own it, congrats. If not, its still your treasure.

>>5800880

Go back in time 5 years, buy lego sets, leave them sealed, the value is better than gold.

Otherwise no, it's a hobby not an investment.

>>5800880
The new ghostbusters toys are flying off shelves. I predict they'll be worth a ton once the current generation of feminists grows up.

>>5800880
Absolutely not. Buying and selling toys is a hobby at best. If you are fortunate you can break even, but you will never make substantial profit.

As a form of entertainment? Yes. There are very few mass produced entertainment related items that can consistently hold value or turn a profit. Depending on the lines you buy chances are you'll at least break even or get close to it. Certain releases will hold (or gain) more value than others.

As a way just to make money? No. There are much better investments. Buy toys primarily because it's fun to own them and pose them. It's nice to know they hold value better than most things but do not count on turning a profit.

>>5800880

Things have changed a little recently but figuarts dbz figures were predictably tripling in price by the time they were 2-3 years old.

>>5808651

Or find something with artificial availability windows like weeb exclusives. Another good thing to watch out for are characters likely to become more popular but whose toys came out too early like you still see with some weeb stuff and a few marvel legends.