Hello friends,

Here today with what I believe is a REALLY good episode of the ‘Toys R Gold’ roundtable I did with my friend Steve French.

We kick things off with some Prime Week tips and dive into some leads that we avoided as well as shared some leads that we bought (and are still actively buying!). We provide full in-depth analysis for each.

I’ve already spent close to 20k and we’re only two days into Prime Week!

After discussing Prime Week, Steve led the way with some serious inspiration. If his speech about where he started with Amazon and where he is now doesn’t fire you up, I don’t know what will (multiple million dollar homes?! Are you kidding me?!).

All from reselling. Mostly from reselling toys.

We answer questions throughout from members of Toys R Gold, and of course cover some general toy investing and reselling topics.

For the uninitiated, Toys R Gold is a private, 100-member, toy-focused group led by Steve French. The group is currently at capacity with a waitlist, but you can join the waitlist by emailing steve@toysrgold.com

Enjoy the 1-hour video below…

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Here today with an “emergency” LEGO update.

Lots of things shifting in the space and some opportunities are quickly evaporating.

Tune in for the 15-minute video to bring yourself up to speed on what’s happening in the marketplace.

Enjoy!

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By popular demand, here is a niche Pokemon market update. I know most of my audience is Amazon/Walmart sellers, but it’s hard to ignore what is happening in the TCG world.

If you’ve been following me, you know I have a habit of going left when everyone else goes right… So todays update will focus on some stuff I’ve been buying that I think is still a bit under the radar.

The gap is closing on some of this stuff, but tune in to the 20-minute video and let me know if you agree with my thesis on some of these categories within the Pokemon ecosystem.

Enjoy!

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Pokemon.

Marvel.

Godzilla.

LEGO.

Horror.

I touch on each of these in this market update. I talk a bit about strategy, toss out a couple leads you can buy right now, as well as some basic analysis on some upcoming stuff.

Hope you find it useful, enjoy…

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Here today with a video geared towards those who are currently selling on just eBay, but are considering adding Amazon and/or Walmart into their marketplaces.

I provide an overview of the ‘big three’ platforms, a quick look at their pros and cons, and then explain how I would begin my transition.

Overall, it will all depend on your personal goals.

Looking to make $500-$1k / mo as a side hustle? eBay will be just fine.

Looking to replace your full-time income? Retire early? Get rich? You’ll likely need all three platforms.

If you are interested in beginner content to get started on these platforms, I highly recommend ‘Clear the Shelf’ on YouTube. Chris’ channel was a goldmine for me when I first started seven years ago, and is just as active today with tons of free content to help you get up and running. I am not affiliated with him, I don’t get any kickback, he’s just one of the few people in the space you can actually trust.

Enjoy the overview!

If you are already an Amazon/Walmart seller, this video is not a necessary watch.

I do not provide personal investment advice and I am not a qualified licensed investment advisor.

All information found here, including any ideas, opinions, views, predictions, forecasts, commentaries, or suggestions, expressed or implied herein, are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only and should not be construed as personal investment advice. While the information provided is believed to be accurate, it may include errors or inaccuracies.

I will not and cannot be held liable for any actions you take as a result of anything you read here.

Conduct your own due diligence, or consult a licensed financial advisor or broker before making any and all investment decisions. Any investments, speculations, or decisions made on the basis of any information found on this site, expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise.

I know I posted a long video yesterday, but wanted to get this one out ASAP.

Here is a 10-minute video with what I think is the best way to fully absorb my newsletter and set yourself up to take advantage of it.

I explain why I structure the newsletter the way I do and provide examples of how you should be approaching the articles and videos.

Ultimately, you’re going to get out of it what you put in. As I always say, I prefer to focus on how to fish, rather than what to fish, and I truly believe that is beneficial to everyone.

I apologize for not thinking to make this video years ago when launching the newsletter, enjoy!

I do not provide personal investment advice and I am not a qualified licensed investment advisor.

All information found here, including any ideas, opinions, views, predictions, forecasts, commentaries, or suggestions, expressed or implied herein, are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only and should not be construed as personal investment advice. While the information provided is believed to be accurate, it may include errors or inaccuracies.

I will not and cannot be held liable for any actions you take as a result of anything you read here.

Conduct your own due diligence, or consult a licensed financial advisor or broker before making any and all investment decisions. Any investments, speculations, or decisions made on the basis of any information found on this site, expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise.

Here today with a 30-minute overview of McFarlane Toys. I typically shy away from doing brand specific overviews, but due to multiple requests I figured this was a good one to make an exception for.

The reason I tend to not do brand specific overviews is that I never want to persuade or dissuade someone from investing in a specific toy line. If I say “McFarlane Toys is great”, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s great for you.

As always, I preach that you should focus on intellectual properties that you care about - it makes the job a lot more profitable.

On the flip side, I also don’t want to discourage people from certain brands. You all know I despise investing in most Star Wars stuff… but there is profit to be made if you’re passionate about the IP and understand the fandom.

But despite that, I figured that McFarlane Toys is something I talk about a lot, and is a brand that encapsulates a lot of interesting things that can be applied to researching other toy lines, so here we go!

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Here today with a 30-minute video of toy analysis! I take a look at some older/recent toys and figure out why they are performing the way they are, as well as some potential leads for the future.

There is one toy line I cover in here that absolutely blew me away to the point where I felt sick that I didn’t fully capitalize on it. Especially because I had been talking about it for the past year!

I even touch specifically on some toys I am buying, plan to buy, and will continue buying for the foreseeable future.

If getting into ‘buy and hold’ toys is something you’ve been on the fence about, the stuff I’m talking about in this video can very likely cover your subscription costs for the year.

Let me know if you have any questions, and enjoy…

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Just got back from vacation, my apologies for the delays in responses.

Today is just a quick rant/PSA about some stuff happening in the “other” collectibles market.

If you have been selling on Amazon and/or Walmart and are considering dabbling in collectibles outside this space, such as graded cards, sports memorabilia, or other various co…

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Here today with five toys that lost me money (anywhere from a few hundred bucks to $5,000!), and why they lost me money.

The most important thing to remember is that what we are doing is a lot of speculation and educated guesses with the information we have available to us. Because of that, things don’t always pan out, even if you made the best decision possible with the data available.

Don’t let that get you down, every loss is a learning experience and over time will accumulate in your own personal data set of what to avoid and pay attention to.

I hope you find this video useful and pick up some tips to help with your own analysis.

Enjoy!

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Here today to ramble for 15 minutes about the #1 most important metric to be paying attention to when it comes to toy investing.

Good looking action figure? Doesn’t matter.

Most fun LEGO set ever created? Doesn’t matter.

Sells 20,000 times a month? Doesn’t matter.

Well, these things do matter, but not until you have an idea of this very important metric.

In this video I discuss said metric, as well as discuss a couple different sourcing strategies I’ve been using, and I reveal a lead that has <500 units available that I think is going to crush this year. No, it’s not some filler lead, I already have over $7500 invested into it myself.

If you aren’t a paid subscriber, now is the time to hop in and start learning the game.

Subscribe now

Enjoy!

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Here today with some LEGO leads I’ve been buying as well as some that are worth monitoring very closely over the coming months. I share the specific items as well as how many I’ve been purchasing and why, as well as my analysis for the ones I’m very close to purchasing.

As always, do your own research as you may come to your own conclusions and we may have different hold times we are comfortable with.

Quick shameless plug…

If you are not a paid subscriber, now is the perfect time to join. In this video alone, there is a single LEGO SKU that is capable of covering the entire year subscription fee. You will receive access to the last 1.5 years of content I’ve posted, and by the time you’re done watching/reading it, you’ll be in a very strong position for this coming Q4. Yes, Q4 prep started months ago, if you aren’t thinking about it, you’re already late.

Click the subscribe button so you can view this video and start buying!

Subscribe now

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Here today with another business-oriented video to expand on something I touched on last week - my next phase of growth.

After a lot of personal assessment, I’ve decided to increase the stretch goal for my business to 1m / yr profit in the next few years.

In this 20-minute video, I do a recap of my current setup and why it’s time to take the next step outside of it. I talk about how I analyzed my business to determine if it was time and what the next step looks like.

Right now, I’m in the negotiation phase for a warehouse and I talk a bit about how I started my hunt, some tips I picked up on, and a bit about my specific strategy for how I’m going to scale.

This video is available for paid subscribers only, but if you would like a free trial to the newsletter where you can watch this video and all other content I’ve posted, shoot me a message on Twitter (@thetoyinvestor) with your email and I can set you up for a free 7-day trial.

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I’ve been getting a lot of questions over the last few weeks that all seem to share the same essence, questions like:

• What were the most important changes you made to your business to grow?

• What mindset shifts did you have to adopt to improve your sourcing?

• How do you know when it’s time to ‘take the leap’ into Amazon full time?

Stuff like that.

So today’s video is less about toy investing, and more of a podcast-esque 40-minute rambling of what I think were the most important mindset changes and decisions I’ve made in my business since starting almost 7 years ago.

I understand this type of content isn’t for everyone, so if you’d rather just read the cliff notes, there’s a summary below the video.

Lastly, before diving in, please understand that my journey and your journey are two completely different things. We don’t share the same goals. We don’t share the same responsibilities or life experience. Use this as a springboard for your own decision making, but don’t take it as gospel.

Enjoy!

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Here today with an April LEGO update. Primarily looking at some of the sets from 2025 to see how they’re performing and seeing if we can pick up any clues for what to lean towards this year.

Definitely some intriguing stuff from 2025 I hope we can replicate this year.

Enjoy the video below:

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Was going to do some personal research on Marvel Legends and their corresponding movies to prepare for the upcoming Spider-Man and Avengers movies and decided to bring you guys along.

Nothing mind-blowing, just wanted to double check and make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

I anticipate Brand New Day pre-orders opening at some point soon and…

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Last night I was invited to have a conversation with my good friend Steve French for his private ‘Toys R Gold’ group. Toys R Gold is a quarterly membership-based group focused on toys, with daily leads, ongoing community discussion, and other educational topics similar to this newsletter.

We talked for about 1.5 hours, touching on all sorts of topics ranging from upcoming movie catalysts, how to prepare for these catalysts along with specific leads, frequently asked questions, the changing collectible space, Q4 prep, July LEGO retirees, and more.

Oh, and if you’re interested in Steve’s Toys R Gold group, it’s currently waitlisted, but you can request a spot on the waitlist by emailing him at steve@toysrgold.com.

You can check out the conversation below, enjoy!

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There is a lot of chatter right now about the July LEGO retirement list that is fast approaching (found here).

I’m seeing people in various groups talk about how they’re going to stock up on a ton of sets before July, but before you join them on a spending spree: hear me out for a few minutes.

Here is the general approach I will be taking to…

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Here today to chat a bit about the pros and cons of the various methods of sourcing toys as well as some differences in the types of toy investments we can be making. I receive questions about this all the time, so I hope I can cover a wide range of questions here.

There are more types of toys than those listed below, such as die cast vehicles, model kits, roleplay items, etc., but I am only going to speak on the niches I am knowledgeable on.

Lastly, an important thing to understand is that these sourcing models are not mutually exclusive. Most experienced sellers operate a hybrid model. For example, someone might primarily source wholesale, but still deploy capital into LEGO retirements, Pokemon sealed product, or occasional retail arbitrage opportunities.

Think of these as different tools in the toolbox, each with their own risk profiles, capital requirements, and learning curves. Ultimately, pick the ones you enjoy the most, and you will find success.

Retail Arbitrage

Retail arbitrage is arguably the ‘best’ sourcing method when it comes to separating yourself from the herd of competitors. Your local stores that you have access to are going to be a completely different ecosystem than the ones across the country.

Pros:

• Localized inventory and deals that can give you competitive advantages via supply and price others don’t have access to. Because of this, this model often has higher margins than other models.

• Can network with store managers in person and build personal relationships that enable even more unique deals

• Takes more ‘real’ work than any other model, which scares off a lot of competitors

• Often able to stack online deals with in-store deals so you can ‘double dip’ on savings. For example, price matching an online price on the retailer’s website while taking advantage of another deal.

• Access to inventory that is not available online via discount stores like Ross, TJ Maxx, Ollie’s, etc.

• ‘Cook groups’ typically don’t focus on this model, also resulting in less competition

Cons:

• Have to physically drive around and shop. If you want to optimize, involves leaving your local area to find ‘honey holes’ but results in really strong margins.

• Bit of a ramp up period to ‘learn’ your region and how to optimize your sourcing routes, but no different than other models that also have a learning curve.

• Vehicle/fuel costs

• Depending on where you source, prep can take longer if you need to remove stickers

• Harder to track receipts/invoices than just searching your email

Ultimately, this is the model I recommend for anyone just getting started. It’s a great way to get ‘in the field’ and in front of thousands of different products right away. When you hit a home run, the margins are typically a great way to grow your bank roll quick, especially if you’re new and operating with limited capital.

At a higher level, you can begin to outsource retail arbitrage to shoppers or outsource your prep so you can shop more.

For me personally, these days I’m typically just doing RA during clearance season and when there is a killer deal at Target where the product isn’t available online (like LEGO clearance or Black Friday deals which are limited).

Most of my retail arbitrage for the last few years has been LEGO from Target and LEGO from the LEGO store (to stack more GWPs), but plenty of people are absolutely crushing at discount stores like Ollie’s and Dollar General, I just don’t have those in my region.

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Here today with a quick video on some important things I’m noticing about Funko lately.

If you’ve been following me, you know I pretty much swore the brand off for the last year. Not that there weren’t solid Funko to invest in or flip, it just became a chore to research the product line and stay up to date on every release when only one in like every fifty was actually good.

Well, Funko seems to be changing some things behind the scenes that make the brand more appealing again, making me want to pay more attention to it.

Check out the latest here:

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