The Energon Pub

I’ve been reading the site off and on for several years now and I finally decided to create an account.

Have a couple questions, besides the toy stores in the US where are some reputable websites to buy transformers? I noticed bigbadtoystore as a site sponsor.

If I’m looking for resale value in the future, which transformers tend to hold there value? Masterpiece, Binalteck or some other one.

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bouncer wrote:I’ve been reading the site off and on for several years now and I finally decided to create an account.

Have a couple questions, besides the toy stores in the US where are some reputable websites to buy transformers? I noticed bigbadtoystore as a site sponsor.

If I’m looking for resale value in the future, which transformers tend to hold there value? Masterpiece, Binalteck or some other one.

Greetings, welcome to the site!

If you're looking for one-off purchases, then I would suggest CapturedPrey. It's a small company with low overhead, which means lower prices than many of the other sites. But there isn't an option to save up your purchases and ship them all at once. If you're looking to buy many figures and want to save on shipping, check out BigBadToyStore and their Pile of Loot feature. They are a very large company and have a larger overhead, so individually their prices are higher, but if using the Loot feature, you make up for it in shipping costs.

If you're purchasing Transformers for the idea of resale; I'd recommend against it. It's a gambler's market so you'd be better off to investing your money. Besides, if you do that then you're just holding a figure from some collector who would derive actual joy from the figure itself.

Welcome to the boards!

bouncer wrote:I’ve been reading the site off and on for several years now and I finally decided to create an account.

Have a couple questions, besides the toy stores in the US where are some reputable websites to buy transformers? I noticed bigbadtoystore as a site sponsor.

If I’m looking for resale value in the future, which transformers tend to hold there value? Masterpiece, Binalteck or some other one.

BBTS has been my go-to for years, but there are other good options. If you're into Import or 3rd Party, check out Captured Prey or Robot Kingdom (RK has some pretty crazy shipping on occasion, be warned).

If you're looking for G1, check out www.transformerland.com, they often have good prices and good selection on vintage.

Finally, if you're only looking at future resale value, you're gonna have a bad time. There is absolutely no way to predict what will or won't hold value or gain it. Buy what you like, and just have fun with it

I too would recommend against buying figures just for monetary value or with the prospect of reselling. Look at the people in Pawn Stars.

Thing is, the older stuff do hold some value, but they're either easily trumped by better figures (though that's in the eye of the beholder) or re-released which drops their collective value more often than not. Compare Binaltech with Masterpiece for the former, and G1 and the Classics Seekers for the latter.

I'm going to argue against resale value as well. With more market data in the form of user feedback via twitter, facebook, et al. and forums such as these; Hasbro can look at figures with a demand to them and include more of the figure in future case packs. Hell, even Sideswipe and Soundwave are seeing reissues in Japan. It won't be long until OP sees a second US release as well if sales of the MP figures keep up.

You want cash? Hold back 10% of each and every paycheck and invest what you make at the end of the year into something that will make money over time (bonds, stocks with dividends) and do this every year. Cash it all out when you're 65 and you should be okay.

TF Source is pretty decent too. They've been good with me. I'm not US based, but I refuse to have a BBTS account because they sell too many other things. TFSource are good for me because they only sell TFs (and 3rd party ones) so I don't get distracted by other stuff. I understand that US customers get free shipping on a Stack (same as BBTS Pile O Loot feature I think) over £150 and every purchase can earn you points towards free figures and stuff.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions on some sites to check out.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions on some sites to check out.

If you are in it just for the money then I'd advise you not to........collect because you like/love the hobby.

Nothing against you but pseudo investor wannabes are the reason why the "Comic book" industry imploded. That and all sorts of gimmicks the publishers pulled off (not to mention the high calorie no nutrient content of their story lines). Does this apply to the toy collecting industry, maybe not...........but this might.

Once upon a time it was fun collecting. The figures could easily be procured, if they do become scarce, it was because oft he natural flow of market forces (manufacturing and demand) and not due to artificial shortages.........now, its just all gotta catch 'em all and hope the price shoots up the roof.

bouncer wrote:
Have a couple questions, besides the toy stores in the US where are some reputable websites to buy transformers? I noticed bigbadtoystore as a site sponsor.

BBTS is great, I don't think you'll find any complaints about them. Reputable, trustworthy, great selection, fair prices, etc. TFsource is good too.

bouncer wrote:If I’m looking for resale value in the future, which transformers tend to hold there value? Masterpiece, Binalteck or some other one.

"HOLD their value" is the key phrase. Transformers are NOT a good investment. Only rare and expensive figures increase significantly in value. In general, the best you can hope for is that they retain their value, so one day you can sell them for about the price you paid (after adjusting for inflation).

It's a hobby, not an investment. Have fun, and don't try to make money off it.

it'd actually be really easy to make money off of TFs. All you'd need would be a time machine, and go back to the early-mid 80s and bring loads of MISB stuff back with you.

craggy wrote:it'd actually be really easy to make money off of TFs. All you'd need would be a time machine, and go back to the early-mid 80s and bring loads of MISB stuff back with you.

You'd still end up with a loss, considering the cost of a Time Machine, or at the very least converting a DeLorean.