Vendor Spotlight: Orbit Collectibles, “Bringing the joy.”

When you walk into any Fanboys location you can be guaranteed one thing for certain: there will be Funko Pops to peruse. Lots of Funko Pops! So, as a vendor, how do you set yourself apart? When Reuben and I spoke about his booth, Orbit Collectibles, he told me it’s all about pricing and knowing his audience.

Orbit Collectibles began in a closet in Houston, Texas. He started selling Funko Pops on Ebay, next it was via their website, and then on to swap meets and other events. This year Orbit has started taking on the larger events such as Comic Palooza and even Collect-A-Con that’s happening this weekend! Such growth can be expected when collecting and helping people add to their collections is one of your core passions.

“Bringing people that special moment when they’ve been looking everywhere, searching places for the one item that they’re missing; or something that connects them to a memory… Seeing that reaction from people is really rewarding for me and it’s really what drives me,” he said. Reuben knows the feeling being a collector himself. He started out with 500 Funko Pops in his personal collection. He had to downsize in order to move into a new home and had to sell a lot of the Funkos that were in his personal collection. That sparked the idea that just maybe he could have his own Funko store and help other people build their own collections. Out of curiosity I asked him which Funkos made the cut from the downsize? He said he held onto his Simpsons Funkos, as well as some sports Funko Pops and the ones which were autographed. Big Simpsons fan!

So what does set his booth apart? Reuben says he tries to focus on fairness in his pricing. He understands how rare items can drive the value up, but mainly he’s in the business help build a bridge between the collector and a reasonable price point. Focusing on more popular items such as Disney characters, anime shows, Marvel and DC help him to do this. It’s the average collector that’s just looking for that final piece to finish their Avengers collection or Naruto collection that Orbit Collectibles is looking to serve.

He also wants his booth to be a place for the new collector as well. For those of us who would like to start collecting, but really don’t know where to start. Orbit is the perfect place because of their selection of popular figures set at reasonable prices. Fifteen or $25 is a comfortable price point for the beginning collector who may be turned away from a more rare item that starts at $50.

Again, it’s all about bringing the joy, Reuben says, it makes all the hard work worth it.

You can find Orbit Collectibles at two Fanboys Marketplace locations, the one in Denton and in Fort Worth on Camp Bowie. Or you can shop online at their website: www.orbitcollectibles.com. PRO TIP! If you visit their website, they have a prize wheel for you to spin that offers the possibility of discounts on your online order! You can also find them on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.