Within the last few days, the incredible Squad has added the 900,000th item to the database. That’s hundreds of thousands of your favorite collectibles including 46,000 Funko products.

We’re also thrilled to announce that we’ve eclipsed more than 6,000,000 in price points for those 900,000 items! And that we now support 82 different sources for Prices.  This makes us the largest price guides on the web run by real collectors, rather than robots.

Over the past few years, a lot of things have changed when it comes to how we populate the Pop Price Guide.

We know that these changes have had a somewhat negative result when it comes to keeping the price guide as up-to-date as possible. Some of our Estimated Values are not as good as they once were, so we just have to fix it!  

And here is our plan

• Our Shopify Integration is almost complete. This will allow auto-assigning sales from Shopify Stores (and we have about 20 Funko stores in the pipeline, including some that sell a wide variety of older Pops).
  
• We will explore using the API for StockX and other ways to make it easier to add eBay and Mercari Price Points.
  
• Continue our discussions with Whatnot that could lead to us developing a Whatnot-related Chrome Extension. This will allow a screenshot and a price capture that we can assign from a Whatnot auction – we will continue to only do that for high visibility channels
  
• Adding more auction houses as price sources like we do with Pristine Auctions (for example adding Zobi prices).
  
• Build more tools to make it easier for our volunteers to see Funko products that have not had a Price Point for 3 months or longer.
  
• Most importantly in the short term  –  work with Isaac AKA Pops Galore & More (one of the volunteers, lead investor in our current Crowdfunding and frequent advisor to the hobbyDB team) to catch up with a lot of that list (special thanks here also for Darius from ToyCabal for his suggestions).

With all of these solutions in place, we expect the Price Guide to be in much better shape by the end of July. 

In order to do this and everything else we do we need your help. 

Our vision is to get to 100,000 Squad Members (we stand at 2,409). The Squad is our life source and we couldn’t build hobbyDB without them. Interested in getting involved? Email us at support@hobbydb.com and we’ll get you set up.

We also have multiple supporters who believe in us so much that they have become investors in PPG and hobbyDB.  

• Anthony Castro | Pop Fiend
• Chris Gast | Gastlecast
• Dah Veed | Toyzilla
• Isaac Thomas  |   Pops Galore & More
• John Hamm  |  Founder, PPG
• Lee Biars  |  7 Bucks a Pop
• Paul Scardino |  The POPthusiast
• Ryan Hilbert  |  Mystery Pop

With the power of the community behind us, we know that we can continue to be the number one resource for Funko collectors. 

It has always been our mission to be able to offer both our Squad members and community supporters an opportunity to benefit from the site they love. We wanted the business to be owned by collectors and this is why we do Crowdfunding, so that if PPG does well, so will you. 

We purposely kept the minimum investment to the lowest number our crowdfunding platform WeFunder allows. That way, Members can invest $100, $1,000 or however much they like. The last day to invest is this Friday, June 21.  

We would like to encourage you to own as much of hobbyDB as you can afford (keeping in mind that owning shares in a private business is risky). And if you have already invested, we want to say again a sincere thank you for believing in PPG.

– Alexandra, Chris, Christian, Isaac, Timo and the rest of the hobbyDB Team

The post Our Plan to Improve the Accuracy of the Price Guide appeared first on Pop Price Guide.

Greetings from Fan Expo Denver! Pop Price Guide decided to let its fandom fly at this year’s event which ran June 30 – July 2 at the Colorado Convention Center.

We roamed the aisles of the country’s third most attended comic con in search of great collectibles, wonderful artists and so much more. And Fan Expo Denver did not disappoint.

Check out some of the images from this year’s convention. Did you attend? Share your photos with us at support@hobbydb.com and we’ll share them on our blog!

Funko Pop!s!! So many Funko Pop!s!!

And even more Pop!s!!

Can’t have a convention without Droids!

“Everyone say ‘Alderaan!!'”

Lego Armies!!

Everyone’s welcome on Main Street

Doodle Bob!

What’s a comic con without tons of comics?

Graham Crackers Comics with the impressive collection!

What’s in the box!?!? We bet it’s something awesome!

Watched in awe as David Sanchez worked his magic in front of us.

Her Cosplay was amazing! And it’s always nice to have a little help getting your helmet on…

Can you find it on Pop Price Guide?

The post Pop Price Guide Drops in on Fan Expo Denver! appeared first on Pop Price Guide.

But the One Piece star didn’t arrive in our collections without a bit of chaos. What more do you expect from a character who goes by the epithet of the “Surgeon of Death?”

Traditionally speaking, Funko divides its con figures between Convention (found at the show) and Shared Exclusives (Pop!s found in stores such as Target, Walmart and Hot Topic). These are the same Pop! figures, but are delineated by the sticker on the front of the box.

Pop!s with Convention Stickers normally fetch a higher estimated value on PPG, mainly because of their increased difficulty to get and lower production runs.

The fans packing the Anaheim Convention Center in late March for WonderCon ’23 found Conventions Stickers on their favorite Pop!s at the Funko booth, including Tawaret, Gelatinous Cube (Blue) and lots more.

Simultaneously, Funko hunters in the stores were finding the same Pop!s, only with the Shared Exclusive Sticker.

And all was right with the world.

All except Trafalgar Law, that is. Its Convention and Funko-Shop Exclusive feature the same Convention Sticker – despite images online of Trafalgar with the Shared Sticker.

We here at PPG initially added both versions to the guide.

And chaos reigned for days. Families were torn against one another, cats and dogs teamed up to fight birds, the Earth’s magnetic poles… err… ok.. maybe that’s a bit of an over- dramatization.

Once we figured out what the kerfuffle was, we eliminated the superfluous one and merged its price points into the real one.

And order was restored to the Pop Price Guide Universe.

Today Trafalgar Law with Polar Tang has an estimated PPG value of $120!

All of this has us thinking about Stickers. After all, Funko Box Stickers can be a sticky topic, for some.

So we want to know your thoughts on Stickers –

• Are you among the 1,087 PPG members who own Trafalgar Law with Polar Tang?
• How important are Box Stickers to you and what direction do you envision Funko going in with them?
• Would you be in favor of buying Convention Stickers?
• Think we’ll see more of the same with upcoming conventions such as San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic Con and beyond?
• What other concerns, likes or dislikes do you have when it comes to Funko Box Stickers?

Tell us below!

The post Pop! Rides Trafalgar Law with Polar Tang: What’s Up with the Convention Sticker? appeared first on Pop Price Guide.

All those years collecting him. The jerseys. Trading cards. And, of course, the Funko Pop! — that harsh reminder of the good ole days.

What’s your next move? Do you continue rooting for the player? Or do you go all nuclear and burn all of his collectibles? We highly recommend the former over the latter.

When it comes to Funko, Pop! Sports figures are a rare commodity, in that much of their value depends upon their success (or lack thereof) on the field.

But what happens to a Pop! after a player is traded?

Take Anthony Rizzo, for example. The venerable first baseman was a fan favorite on the North Side of Chicago, before the Cubs shipped him to the New York Yankees. See if you can tell when the Cubs traded Rizzo to the Yanks using his history chart on PPG –

Then there’s Rizzo’s teammate Kris Bryant, who was traded the same week –

What about when a player decides to hang ’em up? Lots of people were thrilled to see Tom Brady retire…including his Funko Pop! owners! Check out those spikes in value for BOTH of his retirements –

What happens when a player gets suspended? See that drop in value during August of 2022 for Fernando Tatis Jr.? That’s when the San Diego Padres star shortstop was suspended for PED use –

Then there’s the rare case of Antonio Brown. Brown forced his way out of the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room, eschewing black-and-gold for the black-and-silver of the (then) Oakland Raiders. Turns out, Brown was even less popular in Oakland and was released before ever playing a snap.

We want to know, sports fans, can you think of any other examples where a player’s performance has affected the value of their Funko Pop!? Tell us below!

The post What Happens to the Value of Funko Pop! Sports Figures After They’re Traded appeared first on Pop Price Guide.

Funko knew that roaming scores of pirates, scavengers and ne’er-do-wells would be after the bounty, so they kept the landfill’s location a top secret.

Until now. We here at Pop Price Guide are happy to announce that we’ve found the landfill!

Using money generated from our latest Crowdfunding campaign (see how you can invest!), we employed a daring team utilizing NASA-based technology to lead a worldwide expedition.

Turns out, the Funko Pop!s were discarded in an abandoned park located on a remote island found about 80 miles west of Nicaragua in the Pacific Ocean.

Our team traversed the Funko pile that stretches for three miles and made some eye-opening and nose pinching discoveries, chief among them…no Oscar the Grouch Pop!s were found in the rubble.

We did find lots of Sonny Corleones with Trash Can Lid, WALL-E with Trash Compacted Cube and lots of Trash Bandicoots. So many Trash Bandicoots.

Also plucked from the pile was Moira Rose in Garbage Bag Dress, Flocked Sulley with Garbage Can Lid and a host of Star Wars’ Trash Compactor Escapes.

That’s in addition to a slew of Garbage Pail Kids Pop!s, obviously.

We’ll be organizing another trip to Isla Funko. Would you like to be a part of this top secret mission? Let us know at aprilfools@poppriceguide.com!

The post Pop Price Guide: We Found the Funko Landfill! appeared first on Pop Price Guide.

We decided to take a peek in on the first day of the weekend of fun that runs March 24-26 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Among the winners of the first day was Gelatinous Cube (Glow in the Dark) and Freddy Funko as Clown.

Did you attend? We’d love to see your images! Share them with us at support@hobbydb.com and we’ll post them on our blog.

Now! Over to the fans!

Funko Pop Exhibit!#FunkoPops #Funko #WonderCon #WonderCon23 pic.twitter.com/A3GXnMBaL0

— Jackie Daytona. Hootie Tootie Disco Cutie (@evil_toast916) March 24, 2023

Look for the @7BucksAPop booth at @WonderCon. Myself and a bunch of cool VO peeps are all signing. Funko Pops and prints available.

— KYᄂΣ ΉΣBΣЯƬ (@kylehebert) March 24, 2023

Looks like Bugs Bunny as Superman is going to be the first soda you will need to assemble! Instructions included!

Photo Credit Unknown#FunkoSoda #FunkoSodaChase #Wondercon #Funko #FunkoSodaSaturday #funkosodafigures pic.twitter.com/VA26VRCO9r

— Josh Murdock (@professorjosh) March 24, 2023

I am a professional. #funko #wondercon pic.twitter.com/ipvCLEsWsh

— Jason Bischoff (@shadowpiper) March 24, 2023

Finally got through!!! Ahhhh!! The only 3 I needed from the site drop! #WonderCon #wondercon2023 #Funko pic.twitter.com/C30GXzv2oF

— AJ Salazar (TheFootballGuy) (@PrideOfAtlantis) March 24, 2023

@OriginalFunko Happy #FunkoFashionFriday and Happy #WonderCon23 #FunkoPop hunting #Funko #FunkoPops #WonderCon #DungeonAndDragons pic.twitter.com/TI6Qp7CFGr

— Dustmans1138 (@dustmans1138) March 24, 2023

I funko’d my last pop and i got the new law funko pop after fighting in line for it at wondercon (fighting for my life)

— VONNABEEE (@vonnabeee) March 24, 2023

WonderCon booth has the shared sticker for the Glow Gelatinous Cube.
.
Credit Ray P.#Funko #FunkoPop #FunkoPopVinyl #Pop #PopVinyl #Collectibles #Collectible #DisTrackers pic.twitter.com/Zh5BXrVo9V

— DisTrackers (@DisTrackers) March 24, 2023

WonderCon 2023 Funko Soda Table over at Funko HQ courtesy of IG user funko_hq_fanatics. Decent stock of Snagglepuss. #Funko #FunkoSODA #FunkoPOP #FunkoPops #WonderCon23 #WonderCon pic.twitter.com/4aXmsABG3y

— SodaScape (@speed1187) March 24, 2023

In hand look @wondercon Funko Pop Rides T. Law with Polar Tang and Eustass Kid.#onepiece #wondercon #nerdculture702 #funkopops pic.twitter.com/90g4zejHIX

— Las Vegas Funkoholics (@LVFunkoholics) March 24, 2023

Dare to roll the dice and you may find yourself at the mercy of the most formidable opponent! The 2023 WonderCon exclusive Pop! Gelatinous Cube is ready to join your party. Collect this glow-in-the-dark variant for your Dungeons & Dragons collection! #Funko #FunkoPOP #DandD pic.twitter.com/MxpB8prRyT

— Funko (@OriginalFunko) March 24, 2023

It’s a WONDERFUL day at #WonderCon

@OriginalFunko
#MyFunkoStory
#FunkoFunatic pic.twitter.com/zwCRA1HiM2

— Jason Gutierrez (@JPG_Rising) March 24, 2023

The post Pop Price Guide Visits WonderCon 2023…via Funko Twitter appeared first on Pop Price Guide.

And Autographed replaced the Lobbycard as the best way of getting autographs.  They were also more versatile as they also work for sports stars, magicians, politicians, and anybody else somebody’s signature is desirable.

And now we have Graded Funko POPS, initially, only PSA and only for autographed items (and only verifying the signature) new companies joined (first the VVGS, followed a year or so later by PGS). Now PSA has started to grade all single POPs and CGC is staffing up to do the same. It is only a question of time until they offer to grade for 6 Inch, Double Packs, and some other Funko sizes.  That raises a ton of questions.  How will we at PPG measure values (see our post from yesterday)? And how much of the market will become graded POPs?

We learned from other segments such as Comics and Trading Cards that it is really only worth grading collectibles that will come back with high Grades, say 9s and 10s.  For very early or rare items lower Grades will also work. Most POPs in collectors’ hands were never played with (say different to early Hot Wheels), so a high percentage could potentially be graded that high, maybe 10% a 9 and 1% a 10?  We heard early reports of only 0.35% making it to a 10 but that is on a super small sample size.

We thought we stick our neck out there with a forecast for what this market could look like in 18-24 months  –

Please note that this chart represents units, not value.  Graded items will naturally become a much larger percentage of the value of all POPs out there.  We already see an influx of collectors and money from sneakers, comics, trading cards, and NFTs to POPs and many of those are very familiar with Grading. We forecast the current trend of ungraded high-quality, low-production-run Funko POPs to rapidly increase in value to last for maybe another 8-12 months.  Further, we believe that there will be a specialist emerging for grading Prototypes – here the grade will not be so important but authentication will be! While it is hard to verify the authenticity of a production POP in its box it is sooo much harder to do this for a Proto (some collectors only buy Protos where all owners from Day 1 are known).

And now we love to hear your thoughts!

Do you hate all of that (it will make it harder to buy certain rare POPs)? Do you think this is great? Do you disagree with our theories?

Please tell us in the comments.

The post Grading & The Future of POP Collecting appeared first on Pop Price Guide.

“What will happen to my collection when I’m gone?”

For some, it’s not an issue. We enjoy our collection; we enjoy the hobby and what happens afterward doesn’t really matter. For others, we’ve put a lot of effort into amassing this precious hoard of you-fill-in-the-blanks. It has real value and can be either a source of enjoyment or, at the least, a financial resource for those we leave behind. For even others of us, our passion has run its course and we’re ready to liquidate and move on to something else…”

John Kuvakas, an expert when it comes to model cars, shares his thoughts, precautions and tips when it comes to protecting your loved ones and your collection after you’ve passed on. Give it a read via our partner site hobbyDB by clicking the button below.

The post What Will Happen to My Collection After I’m Gone? appeared first on Pop Price Guide.

It has us wondering…is 2022 the year of Funko?

We’ve been examining trends of estimated values between now and a year ago and have noticed a stark uptick in valuations of higher end items.

We’re talking about collectibles with limited editions of fewer than 1,000 items. We know these items have historically risen in value, but the last 12 months have been especially favorable for the higher end Funko collector.

All told, the Top-10 most valuable Funko Pop! figures on PPG saw a median increase in estimated value of an eye-popping 382 percent!

Boom Go the Pop!s

We can’t say for certain what caused the influx of higher end sales.

We know other markets, such as trading cards and sneaker collecting, have experienced similar booms but have recently been in decline – possibly bringing in new collectors and traders.

Perhaps the pandemic played a role. A new generation of collectors could also be entering the market. Or our advanced age of social media, etc., is allowing these sales to be more public.

It’s possible higher end items began garnering more attention after the 100K purchase of the Golden Ticket (2-pack) by PPG shareholder GrailMonster in the Spring. Or it was us highlighting that historic sale and other high end transactions.

The true reason is likely a confluence of all of the above or a result of something we don’t even know to look for, yet.

Whatever the cause, the numbers don’t lie.

Save for one Pop! (Freddy Funko as V), the rest of the Top-10 saw their estimated values raise anywhere from 75 to 1,088 percent within the last year alone.

PPG Verification Squad

We’re looking to do our due diligence when it comes to documenting higher end sales. That’s courtesy of our Verification Squad, our trusted team of a dozen experts that thoroughly vet each sale over $1,000.

It’s a lot of work, but the result is a reliable feature for chronicling higher end sales that we have lacked until now.

The issue with tracking high end values on PPG is that sales of this magnitude traditionally take place in private and away from the likes of eBay and Mercari, et al. Not to mention that most of these sales happened years ago.

That is because there are just too many fakes out there and, as we all know, condition is so super important (hold your horses, we are also working on a scheme to make these sales safer).

For example, prior to GrailMonster’s $100K Willy Wonka purchase, the last documented sale of the Golden Ticket 2-pack was $15,000 and took place a half decade ago.

Calculations of Estimated Values are conservative and utilize all data, and take more than just the last Price Point into account (hence why the Golden Ticket is not just $100K).

Our Verification Team also added a pair of values this summer for Freddy Funko as Tony Stark (Metallic) at $43,000 and $37,000. Before then, our last documented sale of the Pop! with a limited edition of just 12 was $3,500 and occurred in May of 2016.

The Team operates discreetly and as safely as possible in a very private space to protect both buyer and seller. We never disclose private info.

It’s thanks to this team that we’re able to stay current and accurate. But there’s lots of work to be done.

What’s Coming Next?

The Team is currently examining other high end items and expects more, especially as we enter a new affiliation with the grading service PSA. Read about that new partnership here.

Will we see it spill over to the next tier of Pop!s? Particularly as services such authentication, encapsulation and grading are skyrocketing in popularity? Has that already begun to happen?

Sounds like we have some homework to do.

What do you think think the first Pop! with an estimated value of more than $100,000K will be?

Do you have a purchase of a high end grail that you’d like to submit to be vetted by our Verification Squad? Message us at support@hobbydb.com and we’ll start the process.

Same goes for any questions, concerns you might have. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Tell us in the comments below!

Top-10 Most Valuable Funko Pop! figures on PPG and their Estimated Value percent increase from 2021 to 2022

10. Freddy Funko as The Joker (Glow in the Dark)

Was (2021): $3,500

Now (2022): $13,190

Percent Increase: 276.9%

9. Freddy Funko as Venom

Was: $7,750

Now: $18,780

Percent Increase: 129.4%

8. Freddy Funko as Jaime Lannister (Bloody)

Was: $11,000

Now: $19,330

Percent Increase: 75.8%

7. Freddy Funko as Buzz Lightyear (Metallic)

Was: $4,000

Now: $23,110

Percent Increase: 477.8%

6. V (Metallic)

Was: $24,000

Now: $24,000

Percent Increase: None

5. Freddy Funko as Buzz Lightyear (Glow in the Dark)

Was: $6,000

Now: $24,250

Percent Increase: 304.2%

4. Clockwork Orange (Glow in the Dark)

Was: $13,800

Now: $26,060

Percent Increase: 88.8%

3. Clockwork Orange

Was: $2,580

Now: $30,650

Percent Increase: 1,088%

2. Freddy Funko as Tony Stark (Metallic)

Was: $3,500

Now: $38,660

Percent Increase: 1,004.6%

1. Willy Wonka Golden Ticket (2-pack)

Was: $15,000

Now: $71,670

Percent Increase: 377.8%

The post Top-10 Most Valuable Funko Pop! Figures, Skyrocketing Values and the Year of the Funko appeared first on Pop Price Guide.

• Re (1) Life is too short for rudeness and we know from experience that once we tolerate it here on the Blog or on our Facebook Group Page it becomes worse and worse, just use your manners and if in doubt don’t post.
  —-
• Re (2) if you had a bad transaction and think that we can help (we often cannot) then contact our Customer Service team via the green button on the Help pages.  If you had a bad experience outside PPG or hobbyDB that we cannot help, period. We don’t have the manpower or mandate for that.

I used to try to explain that to the poster of the comment and am now finally sick and tired of being accused of censorship and supporting bad forces in the hobby. Berin Szóka, the president of the nonprofit TechFreedom covers the censorship point well when he says “When Facebook bans somebody, that’s not censorship. Censorship is when the government makes a private company take something down — period, end of story”.

A good case in point was Joe Car (apparently that is his name) who said a retailer we mentioned in passing and have not ever had a commercial relationship with did not send him something he bought (not on our marketplace, a purchase made on their website). Maybe, how would we know?  When I explained that we would not publish his accusation that had nothing to do with the article he argued:

“I know your going to do what you want and you censor bad publicity got it. Very cool. Whether it was serious or not you could inquire but that doesn’t matter. I left a comment on something they are associated with. Now you’ve allowed them to get away with it. As if this comment would take away from your story. Please… looks worse that you sensor it. Should have just ignored it let them see it. Again I’ll just be sharing all this on social media. Let the followers see your true colors and morality. You know people love sensorship! Good luck” (sic)

I am sorry, but I had explained that I cannot get involved in others’ issues.  Call the Better Business Bureau for that (BTW, they charge for their services).  Then of course always the thread that the poster now published everywhere about us to “kill” PPG.  In this case, this was even followed by this:

“People have the responsibility to be whistle blowers when there is wrong doing.” (sic)

What a lot of bullshit. Now Mr. Car is a whistleblower that feels he saves Funkodom while this is really only about a purchase made and that somehow got wrong (and again one that we had absolutely nothing to do with).  Joe, I know it sucks when a transaction does not work out.  But that does not make you Socrates or Euripides with what you are doing here, it just makes you come across as an entitled internet user that is wrong.

We will now just delete these comments and not reply anymore as we should spend all of our time making PPG a better place for those that enjoy it.  Rant over…

The post The PPG Censorship explained (or about the BS we get way too often) appeared first on Pop Price Guide.