I’ve been seeing more and more ads for Action Figure Authority, a business that rates toys and action figures and assigns them scores based on their condition (though apparently it has been around since 2000). There is a similar service for comic books that has been wildly successful, but I’m a bit surprised that it’s working for toys as well.
The idea is that you have an independent entity establishing an indicator for what the condition of the toy is to reduce the subjectivity that sellers may introducing in rating a toy in fine, good, very good, etc. condition. With toys, of course, not only is the toy itself being graded but also the packaging since so many toy collectors want their toys in mint in box condition (though AFA does rate loose figures as well).
Personally, I’m the sort of person who spends $100 on a mint in box Super Powers figure so I can rip open the packaging and display the figure, but others are really into the packaging.
Anyway, I was curious just how effective using a service like AFA was. It turns out that Australian business professor Michael Kind authored a paper on the effect of product grading on eBay pricing that looked specifically at AFA grading’s affects on auction prices,
This paper reports on a case study of a U.S. organisation called Action Figure Authority (AFA) that grade and case action figures, playsets and other collectable toys. The study conveys that grading items through AFA significantly increases items auction value when traded on eBay and the confidence of potential buyers. In fact depending on the grading of the items, some have been auctioned off for as much as ten times their expected secondary market value. This study finds product grading is an alternative mechanism to creating trust and inducing higher auction prices.