CCL Messageboard

A source has a storage building full of X-men and Star Wars Action Figures. I know nothing. I brought 20 home as a sample to see if I can figure this out before considering the rest of the shed. All 20 he sent of the X-men one's listed out under X-Men 5" Action Figures, X-men (X-Force) and X-men Steel Mutants (2 Packs).

There's no indicia or anything I can see to tell which printing these things are. I matched up all but one pretty exactly to the pictures in the database but it's still a guess. How do you tell which or does it mater if it looks like the image scanned into the database?

Are there any sites or guides listing honest values for these things to go by instead of guessing?

Grading, how are unopened packs graded? Is that an NM or are you trying to grade dents in the bubbles, corner dings to the cardboard or dust and soiling to the wrapping?

I couldn't find anything listed here on CCL under the letter X other than a few X-File figures. No sales figures to go by for the one's I've checked so why no activity on these here?

Any shipping tips?

Not sure if it will help but you could try Tomart's.

http://tomart.com/webstore/

or

http://www.swfigures.com/swf/Archive-Home.htm

Thank you for the links. I have no idea who the toy/action figure expert is around here. I think the one time I asked about it I was told the store just listed figures on E-Bay since they said CCL was dead in terms of toy/ action figure sales and interest. It's kinda crazy. You want to help a guy out and keep these things out of the flea market but I have no desire to go start dealing with e-Bay. I know I've got to get a camera or something to take pictures since the scanners about worthless for these.

That's the Wolverine one I think is different from the A Variant since it has the A variant's green cables but has orange things on it's side and a yellow starburst looking thing on the bubble. I have no idea where to look on it to figure out if it's a different printing or whatever CCL's calling it. I'm going to replace the image as soon as I get a camera cheap or figure out how to get pictures out of this phone.

I think he said he had Aliens, Star Wars and some others along with all the X-Men ones. I'm operating under the assumption that like the trading cards they're allowed here as long as they're not sports themed.

I'm still not sure about the shipping. They're bulky with the bubbles but most of them seem light weight except the metal ones. If they're light I'm hoping they ship cheaper than the Flat Rate Priority mail options.

Back to loading comics.

I saw your CR and I'm inclined to agree that this fig is a valid variant based on the coloring of his cute little panties and the sticker on the package...
but action figures aren't like comics - you don't need an action figure expert so much as you need a Toy Biz X-Men expert.

Shipping is horrible for action figures. Ive sold a few of the Marvel legends ones (after carefully removing my spiderman comics) and it is never ever cheap.

I found that it runs about $8-10 to ship one and that cuts into any profit. I would never want to sell tons online unless they were package deals with multiple figures.

Was curious so just looked them up and selling for $10-15 shipped on ebay so better hope he has some Marvel Legends in that shed, lol.

Thank you for the replies.

I found a few minutes to read some on the first links and it looks like they're grading the packaging at action figure sites instead of the contents. I'm not sure what CCL's grading structure is for yet but I'm assuming for now it's an attempt to use comic book grading for action figure packaging even though they seem to have their own scale/terms/codes or whatever they go by. Sounds like it's going to require VGing everything unopened and taking pictures to post along with them at the same time. Mom said she'd lend me her digital camera so it might be doable. Meeting at noon to see what we can fit in the car and haul back.



Here I was thinking CCL had one on staff since they include this stuff on the site or at least a volunteer moderator for the forum and submissions.

If the figure is in it's original packaging then the grading is USUALLY on the package - however, if the package isn't still factory sealed then the figure is also graded.
In some special situations, even if the package is still factory sealed, the figure is still graded separately. Factory defects is the first example that comes to mind, but there are other situations as well.
For figues without packaging, obviously it's just the fig that's graded.

See if that image works better. Clearence priced camera from Walmart which made me buy batterys and some card thing to stick in the side also but I think I've got it figured out now and the photobucket's starting to fill with toy pictures from the stuffed carload. Even better, I found 3 more boxes of comics hiding under the toy boxes and got to bring them home as well. Now if I could just figure out how to triplicate myself so I could have a shot of getting everything done.

What line of Star Wars figures did you get? If you wanted to bulk some of them out I would be interested in seeing what you have. I live in downtown Richmond and am friends with Brett Carerras and Mark Overby. PM me if you are interested.

For my Star Wars research I use:

http://www.rebelscum.com/actionfigures.asp

They're pretty comprehensive although there's not really a price guide.

As far as shipping goes, depending on the size and weight obviously, a lot of figures can ship First Class. I send GI Joe & Star Wars MOC figures for just under $3. For larger items I charge my normal shipping rate but add a couple of bucks to the price to recoup S&H. With the new Standard option from USPS it costs anywhere from 6-8 bucks to send some of the heavier or bulkier ones.

I've never seen a grading guide for packaged toys but I can tell you through experience that things to look for are: flatness of the card, damage to the edges and corners, plastic bubble clarity (i.e. scratches, dents, smudges) and if it has a j-hook that should be not bent.

Plus, I would listen to anything Xylob, Shadowdodger or CCComics have to say. They are all toy experts and have helped me immensely, thanks guys!

I should have pictures of everything in the photobucket now even the stuff I'm waiting for variants and titles to get approved on. No Star Wars surfaced so far. No room in the car so we left a bunch of those Skeleton Warriors behind we may get later once the title's approved. They even seem to have a mini comic included in the packs with them. He's got a huge assortment of Hot Wheels cars and such also we didn't get if you know anyone wanting cars. I don't have time to figure cars out on top of everything else. I just barely got half last weekends comics uploaded just now and the conventions tomorrow.

Just like comics, there are guides, kinda like Overstreet (but more reliable/current).
There's even a service like CGC, which for life of me I can't get my brain to remember the name of right now.
Jim could probably tell you - he's a big GI Joe guy and The Valiant One is a MOTU expert.

AFA - Action Figure Authority. Toygrader.com is their site.

So far shipping's been running on the cheap side compared to what you had me expecting. I sent a 10" and three 5" Priority in a small comic box with two lids for right at $10 and was able to quote another box with 5 of the 5" figures yesterday shipping non flat rate Priority for less than $6. All 5 and the box weighed in at only 2 pounds.