If you’ve got some dusty figurines, Funko Pop Vinyls or collector’s boxsets sitting in the back of your cupboard, EB Games may have the perfect solution for you. This September, the company quietly launched Zing Marketplace, a new resellers’ platform where Australian pop culture fans can buy rare collectibles or sell their own, directly to other fans.
It doesn’t appear Zing Marketplace has officially launched yet, but you can already browse a selection of listings ranging from Kingdom Hearts figures to rare Pikachu plushes. The retro gaming section will also be particularly interesting to Kotaku Australia readers — it’s currently boasting a range of iconic GameCube titles, as well as some nifty collector’s editions for StarCraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft.
Listings operate similarly to Gumtree: You’ll deal directly with private sellers, and it doesn’t appear you’ll be able to buy and sell directly from the Zing Marketplace interface. Instead, you’ll need to contact the seller with your email and mobile to register interest and work out payment.
Unlike eBay, you won’t be able to list items for free — Zing will take a small listing fee for every item — but there are no final value fees, so once your item is listed, you take the full cut of the profit. Then, it’s up to you to organise shipping and postage. Depending on your quoted listing fee, this actually may work out to be cheaper than selling your collectibles on eBay. As an added bonus, you’ll also know they’re going to a good home.
Zing Marketplace says you should question sellers and research before buying, though. While star ratings will eventually help differentiate bad actors on the site, buyers will have to rely on trust and communication for now.
As of writing, there’s only a handful of listings on the site but what is there is pretty enticing. Prices are fairly reasonable when you consider how rare some of the items are, and in future, there’ll likely be some real bargains waiting in the wings.
The service is likely to pick up steam as more sellers discover it (and as advertising for the platform begins), so keep an eye out for some real collector’s items in future.
Shout-out to Kotaku Australia reader Ivan for the tip.
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