How do us as collectors grade figures?

[kup]

I made my self a policy, All screws and pins intact with no rust. Not a repaired figure, Clean and crispy condition, no paint chips and overall C8.5+.

I am sure that will eventually change just like no reprolabels and must have paperwork.

Dude, if you are going to collect loose vintage toys you have to learn to compromise and be flexible about it by balancing out acceptable level of condition, rarity or level of completeness. If you don't then you will constantly find yourself breaking your self imposed rules unless you are only buying MISB or MISC toys.

Example: A Dreadwind and Darkwing set complete and loose costs a large amount of money or a freaking fortune if in box with all paperwork and flawless stickers. What I did: I bought Darkwing and Dreadwind with powermasters but no weapons for very cheap. Later on I secured the set weapons because I knew that it was possible to do so as I did my research and had foresight.

Overall I paid like less than half of the usual going price of a complete Dreadwind and Darkwing set by being flexible, knowing how to compromise and be smart about it otherwise I would have passed on a great opportunities and ended up paying $200-$250 for a set.

Another example of a good compromise I made is Horri-bull, the bastard goes for like US$150 for a complete piece. I got mine for $30. Why? It had a repaired Bull neck which is hardly noticeable. I also got Bumblejumper for like $30 (typical cost over $100) because he had rusted wheels which I was able to fix.

You have to learn to be flexible about collecting loose figures based on rarity and market cost otherwise you will miss out on a lot of opportunities in your collecting. Don't make predefined rules to judge all figures you get but judge each individual piece by its own merits based on the factors mentioned. Another thing to take into consideration is that realistically, second hand toys are not going to be flawless unless they are sealed in box/card.

Personally, the condition of a figure only affects me if there is something broken off or missing. I can deal with repaired, cracked, rusted or discolored as that you can work with since the figure is otherwise intact.