How to Sell a Sixth-Scale Figure

Begin with the record. Find the figure in the Archive by its product code and edition, and compare your box against its listed contents. A Deluxe is not a Standard with a nicer name, and a Special Edition’s extra piece is the difference between two prices. Hot Toys codes tell the buyer most of this before you type a word.

Then write down what the record cannot know: which hands and accessories are present, which are missing, what has been repaired, repainted or swapped, whether the figure was posed and displayed or kept boxed, and whether the home was free of smoke and sun. The art box and the plain shipper it came in both matter to collectors; say which you have.

If a buyer asks how they can be sure it is genuine, you should be able to answer. The guide to spotting a fake lists what collectors look for; photograph those details before anyone asks.

The Bazaar is Kollectorium’s own board: collectors listing to collectors, with photographs, an asking price and room for trades, at no listing fee. It is a noticeboard, not a shop. The Bazaar is not a payment processor or escrow service; you and the buyer agree on payment and shipping between yourselves, and the Terms say so plainly.

Marketplaces such as eBay give the widest reach and run their own buyer and seller protection programmes, in exchange for fees and rules about shipping on time with tracking. Forums and collector groups usually charge no platform fee and offer no platform protection; the trade runs on reputation and on the payment method you both choose. Consignment shops and auction houses sell the figure for you for a commission, with less work and a slower payout, on terms that differ from house to house.

There is no best road. A common figure in a popular market may sell quickly on a marketplace; a rare piece may do better where collectors who know it gather; a whole collection may be a consignment conversation. Decide by the figure, by where the likely buyer lives, and by how much work you are willing to do.

Marketplace fees come in types rather than one number. A final value fee or commission is taken as a share of the whole amount the buyer pays, usually including shipping, and it varies by category, by country and by whether you hold a store subscription. Some sites add a fixed fee per order. Optional listing upgrades cost extra. Cross-border sales can carry an international fee, and currency conversion is charged when the site converts your funds. A dispute you lose may carry its own fee.

Payment carries its own cost. Where a platform or a payment processor charges the seller for receiving money, that charge sits on top of the marketplace fee. Consignment commissions are a share of the final sale price on the shop’s own terms, sometimes with a listing or photography charge. An auction house has its own fee model, usually a seller’s commission and sometimes a buyer’s premium, so read its terms separately.

The figures change, by country and by year, so this guide quotes none. Read the platform’s own current fees page on the day you list, note the date, and work the fee into your asking price rather than discovering it on the payout. The Bazaar charges nothing to list; what you agree with a buyer about payment is between you.

What other sellers are asking is a wish list. What collectors actually paid is the evidence. Read recent completed sales for the same edition in the same condition, and keep the three numbers apart: the original retail price, what you paid, and what it sells for today. The guide to collection value and the Valuation Standard explain how the Archive reads those numbers.

Condition and completeness move the price more than sellers expect. A missing hand, a torn insert or a yellowed body is a lower price, and saying so in the listing is cheaper than a return. A figure still sealed in its shipper is a different market from one that stood on a shelf for three years; describe which it is and price accordingly.

When a sale closes, record it. Sellers on the Bazaar can mark a listing as sold and note the price, and that honest record is what makes the next collector’s valuation better than a guess.

Photograph the figure out of the box, front and back; the head sculpt close; every hand and accessory laid out; the art box from each side; the inserts; the shipper if you have it; and every flaw, closer than you would like. Daylight, a plain background and no filter. Clear photographs help prevent misunderstandings, and they are your evidence if a dispute occurs.

Write the description the way you would want to read it: code and edition first, then contents, then condition, then what is missing and what was repaired, then how it was stored, then shipping and who pays import charges. Use the maker’s own names for the parts. Leave out adjectives that promise something the photographs do not show.

If you do not know something, say that you do not know it. “I bought it secondhand and cannot confirm the hands are original” is a sentence that protects you.

Use a payment method whose protection you have actually read, on both sides. Marketplace and processor protections have conditions: shipping within the stated time, uploading tracking from an approved carrier, describing the item accurately. Meet the conditions and keep the evidence. Miss them and the protection may not apply, however reasonable your case.

Keep the conversation on the platform where the sale was made, ship only after the payment has cleared, and photograph the figure as you pack it and the parcel as it leaves. If a dispute comes, those photographs, the tracking history and the written description are what settles it.

Outside a platform, on a forum or in a group, the protection is reputation and the payment method you both chose. Trade with people whose history you can see, and never let a price persuade you to skip the step that protects you.

Put the figure in its inner tray, the tray in its art box, and the art box in the shipper. Without a shipper, use a sturdy outer box with a hand’s width of space on every side and fill it until nothing moves when you shake it. Wrap loose hands and accessories so they cannot rattle against the figure. Tape the outer box on every seam.

Ship tracked, with a signature where the value justifies it, and insure what you could not afford to replace. On a cross-border sale, declare the contents and value accurately on the customs form. Who pays import duties and tax depends on the destination country, the platform and the carrier: some marketplaces collect import charges at checkout, some carriers bill the buyer at the door, sometimes with a handling fee, and a seller can choose to ship with duties paid. Check the destination and platform terms, agree with the buyer who bears the charges, and write it in the listing before anyone is surprised.

Then update your own Vault: the figure leaves, the sale is recorded, and your shelf is honest again. If a loose part remains behind, the guide to parts, bodies and spares knows what to do with it.