Selling action figures is a relatively simple process. You just need some packaging materials, a box to ship the figure in, the figure itself, and basic understanding of eBay (provided you’re selling on eBay). It’s pretty straight forward; but what if you want to sell an entire collection of possibly hundreds of figures? What is the best way to go about doing that? Should all the figures be sold at once, or should you sell them one at a time? Where would you even sell an entire collection? I’ll try to cover all of this here in this post.

What Matters Most to You: Profit or Time?

When selling an entire collection, there are a few different ways you can go about doing it, and the option you choose is going to depend on how much time you have to invest into selling your figures versus how much of a profit you want to make off of them.

Do you want to make the maximum amount of money on your collection? Well, then you had better be ready to put the time in. If you’re selling a very large collection, and you want to get your money’s worth for each figure in that collection, then that is going to be time-consuming. Alternatively, if you’ve determined that the time you would have invest into getting the most out of each individual action figure is just is not worth it, then you’re probably best-off selling in bulk or selling the entire collection at once and not worrying too much about missing out on some profit here and there.

This is something you’ll need to figure out for yourself. Once you have that figured out, then deciding on your plan of attack will be much easier.

With that out of way, let’s discuss some of your options.

1. Selling the Entire Collection At Once

This is probably the most drastic option available to you. If you choose to sell your entire collection all at once, you probably don’t want to be bothered with the hassle of researching each toy that you have and selling them individually or in small lots. Maybe you need the money fast. Whatever the reason, you’re looking to get these things off your hands.

If you’re going to sell your entire collection all at once, then the best way to do that is by contacting a local company or reseller that buys action figures or collectibles for the purpose of reselling. You may be able to do a Google search for “Local Collectibles Stores near me”, and find some places near you.

The Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist may also be good places for finding someone local who is interested in purchasing you figures.

I would not recommend eBay if you’re planning on selling over one hundred figures or so all at once. The reason for this is because of the time that is going to go into preparing those figures to be sold and the amount of packaging material you will need. If you’re fine with bubble wrapping every single figure individually and taking the necessary precautions to ensure that the figures are safe during transit, then go for it. In my personal opinion, if you’re trying to get rid of those figures fast and get paid quickly for them, eBay probably isn’t the best option.

The most important thing to be aware of if you’re selling your whole collecting at once is that you will not make nearly the amount of money you would if you were to sell the figures individually or even a few at a time. According to Uncanny Collectibles (a site that purchases action figure collections), you may only make 1/3 of your collection’s worth if you choose to sell the whole thing at once.

Luckily, there are other options for you.

2. Selling Individual Figures on eBay (or some other marketplace)

There’s no rule saying that selling your whole collection means you have to sell it all at once or even in bulk for that matter. If you want to sell individual figures on eBay, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, if you’re selling figures that have never been opened and/or are highly valuable, then this is probably one of the best ways to make a profit.

Think about it, when people buy in bulk, they expect to get a deal. If someone is buying five figures in a lot listing on eBay, chances are, they expect to pay less for those figures than they would pay if they were to purchase each one individually. With that said, it goes without saying that selling those figures individually is probably going to make you more money as the seller.

Now, when it comes to eBay, you do have to factor in the cost of shipping and shipping supplies along with additional fees. If you plan on selling each individual figure from your action figure collection separately, then you’ll likely be paying a hefty price for shipping supplies. Keep that in mind, though, like I said, if those individual figures are highly valuable, this might be the most profitable way to get those figures off your hands.

You could always go to the Facebook Marketplace and/or sell to someone local if you want to avoid shipping costs and eBay fees, but there is probably going to be more price negotiation involved. If you don’t want to deal with negotiating prices, maybe stick with eBay, and set the listing so that there is no option to make an offer. If you allow the buyers to make offer, they are almost certain to try to talk you into lower the price.

3. Selling Figures in Bulk (or lots as they say on eBay)

If selling individual figures seems like too much of a hassle, you can always sell figures in bulk. On eBay this is often called a “lot”. You might have seen some eBay listings titled something like “Lot of 10 Marvel Legends Figures” or “Transformers Lot of 7 – Optimus Prime, Megatron, Red Alert, etc.”

Get pictures of the group of figures you plan on selling, make sure to properly list all the figures in the description, and post the listing to eBay.

From what I’ve observed, if you have a lot of figures that are loose (opened), and/or just not very valuable; then this is probably a good way to sell them. Will you miss out on some money selling your figures this way? Possibly. But you might also miss out on some money if you were to try to sell each of them individually when you factor in fees and shipping.

Selling figures in bulk this way will get them out of your hair quicker, but its not quite as drastic as selling the whole collection at once, so it won’t nearly be as much of a loss from a monetary standpoint.

As I’ve mentioned in this post already, you don’t need to sell your figures on eBay if you don’t want to. The Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or even Amazon may be options for you.

4. Mystery Box Method

So, this seems to be a popular way to sell Funko Pops on eBay. I don’t see many mystery box listings on eBay related to Transformers, Marvel Legends, WWE, or Star Wars figures; but there are a couple that pop up here and there, and there is nothing saying that you can’t sell your figures this way if you choose to.

Basically, the idea behind this is the buyer buys a set number of figures from you. The figures come in a box (of course), and the figures within that box are somewhat random. In other words, the buyer has some idea of the types figures they’re getting, but not the specific figures.

If you were to do this, you would want to make sure that every mystery box you put together has enough variety and value to keep the buyer’s satisfied so that no one feels like they’re getting ripped off. Let’s say you’re selling Transformers figures in the mystery box. You could do something like this: every mystery box could contain three deluxe class figures and one voyager class figure, making a total of 4 figures per box. You can mix and match the figures however you like, as long as every mystery box has similar value.

The major benefit to using this method is that you don’t need to worry about taking pictures of each individual figure. You could get away with taking one big group shot of everything that you have and using that for the eBay or Facebook listing. You don’t even need to write up a long list of all the potential figures that could end up in the box, you just need to give a general idea of what the buyer can expect to get. Doing something like this can really save you a lot of time.

The downside to this method is that you end up losing money in the long-run. If you’re selling hundreds of figures this way, the chances that you’re going to sell certain figures for way less than their value are pretty high. But, like I said, this method is really about saving yourself some time.

Why Sell Your Action Figure Collection

Ultimately, the reason why we collect things is because we have a passion for the thing we’re collecting. For action figure collectors, its, of course, action figures that we’re passionate about. Whatever figures they may be—Transformers, Figma, Marvel Legends, DC, Star Wars, etc. We collect action figures because we have a genuine interest and passion for those products.

Probably the number one reason for selling an action figure collection would be a loss of passion for the hobby. If you no longer feel the same excitement for collecting that you once did, then maybe its time to stop, possibly sell the collection, and move on to something else.

Other reasons for possibly selling your collection could be: financial reasons, space management, or maybe its becoming an addiction and you need to quit collecting for mental health reasons. You may just have gotten to the point where you’re buying things for no reason—in other words you’ve been collecting for so long that you no longer remember why you’re collecting action figures, its just become something that you do.

Whatever the reason, if you feel its time to sell your collection and move on, hopefully this post will serve as a starting point for you. No, I didn’t really dig into the weeds with this topic. If you really want more information on how to package action figures before selling them, I have a post on that here.

Not sure how to use eBay? Here’s a video that might help you.

Facebook marketplace? This should help you out.

Heck, I’ll throw in Craigslist too, though its not really an option I’d personally go with.

Anyways, hope this helps.

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