Your favorite collection tips and tricks

Justice

Justice

for Starhawk!
Joined
Apr 2, 2025
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Location
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So apparently some of you hadn't heard of thermal label printers when I mentioned mine the other day. I've just kind of taken their convenience for granted.

It made me think of other cool tips and tricks (hacks if you're hip with the lingo) we may all be missing out on with collecting.

One thing that is invaluable to me fighting the war on dust is this thing:

https://a.co/d/a5DD47g

No more buying canned air and it'll quickly do the same job over and over again.

Anyone got anything else to add?
 
I bought one about five years ago. Unfortunately the battery totally died and it only works plugged in now, but it's still lightyears ahead of canned air.

I'll add the same advice I always do:
  • Keep a spreadsheet. Mine is all-encompassing:
    • Pre-orders (what, when, where, how much)
    • Owned figures (how much I paid, a link to the receipt, a link to the item's initial solicitation)
    • Spending (what, how much, receipt)
    • Sold (what, how much it sold for, how much I originally paid)
    • Rumored/upcoming (Jada's Invincible would qualify here)
    • Top 10 figures of the year dating back to 2014
    • Top 10 most wanted Marvel Legends (with 26 runners-up)
  • Purge regularly. It's much easier to sell five or 10 figures at a time than 100. If it's too late for that, start in small batches. Selling stuff is laborious enough. The spreadsheet I mentioned above is key here, too. I can easily open a link to the item's initial solicitation to see which accessories I need to gather up. It's also helpful in knowing what I have. I just sold an old MAFEX Darth Vader. I never would've known whether it was from 2016, 2018, or 2021 without the spreadsheet. I wouldn't have known what movie it was from, either.
  • Focus your collection. Have an idea of what you want to collect. This is the best way I know to curb impulse buys. If you just set out to buy cool toys, you won't have trouble finding them. You might instead end up with budget problems or too much to appreciate.
 
PanchaMaestro said:
I have one of those for my computer. does it not blow figures over?
Click to expand...
I don't dust them directly on the shelf except for the big guys like Galactus or Hulks. I will also aim it down at the shelf to blow dust off the shelf itself and then pick up the figures and give them a good dusting with it.
 
TheSameIdiot said:
I bought one about five years ago. Unfortunately the battery totally died and it only works plugged in now, but it's still lightyears ahead of canned air.

I'll add the same advice I always do:
  • Keep a spreadsheet. Mine is all-encompassing:
    • Pre-orders (what, when, where, how much)
    • Owned figures (how much I paid, a link to the receipt, a link to the item's initial solicitation)
    • Spending (what, how much, receipt)
    • Sold (what, how much it sold for, how much I originally paid)
    • Rumored/upcoming (Jada's Invincible would qualify here)
    • Top 10 figures of the year dating back to 2014
    • Top 10 most wanted Marvel Legends (with 26 runners-up)
  • Purge regularly. It's much easier to sell five or 10 figures at a time than 100. If it's too late for that, start in small batches. Selling stuff is laborious enough. The spreadsheet I mentioned above is key here, too. I can easily open a link to the item's initial solicitation to see which accessories I need to gather up. It's also helpful in knowing what I have. I just sold an old MAFEX Darth Vader. I never would've known whether it was from 2016, 2018, or 2021 without the spreadsheet. I wouldn't have known what movie it was from, either.
  • Focus your collection. Have an idea of what you want to collect. This is the best way I know to curb impulse buys. If you just set out to buy cool toys, you won't have trouble finding them. You might instead end up with budget problems or too much to appreciate.
Click to expand...
Your tips sound great for a rational, controlled person so I'll probably ignore all of them.
 
Help! Spreadsheet lovers - I messed up my spreadsheet!!!

I was adding stuff to it today and somehow managed to turn every horizontal cell into two - but the main cell on the side didn't split.

Screen-Shot-2025-10-14-at-12-15-02-PM.jpg


I have no idea what I hit - this file is in Numbers and it's done this to me before but this time I can't undo! Anyone have any suggestions? The Help button was absolutely no use. Which makes sense because this error makes no sense!
 
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A major thing that's been helpful for me the past few years is joining a local collectors group on Facebook. Folks regularly post store findings, you can ask them to keep an eye out for certain things you might be looking for, keep up on local toy shows, and it makes selling things much easier IMO. I'd rather meet up with someone at a park or whatever and sell some figures at a lower price than have to deal with eBay and the post office.
 
Schizm said:
Help! Spreadsheet lovers - I messed up my spreadsheet!!!

I was adding stuff to it today and somehow managed to turn every horizontal cell into two - but the main cell on the side didn't split.

Screen-Shot-2025-10-14-at-12-15-02-PM.jpg


I have no idea what I hit - this file is in Numbers and it's done this to me before but this time I can't undo! Anyone have any suggestions? The Help button was absolutely no use. Which makes sense because this error makes no sense!
Click to expand...
Can you restore the file from a previous version? I believe excel has a version history feature.
 
THANK YOU!!! That worked - I was able to get back to Sunday's update.

I have no idea how that error happens. Panic subsiding - PFEW. :)
 
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