The friction that decides your real return — platform fees, shipping, insurance, customs, and VAT.
Hangtabd Editorial·2026-07-15
Two collectors can agree on a game's value and still both lose money on the deal, because the price is only the start of the cost. Platform fees, shipping, insurance, customs, and taxes are the friction that sits between the sticker and the settled transaction — and they are large enough, often enough, to turn an apparent bargain into an overpay. Budgeting the friction is not accounting fussiness; it is how you actually collect at the prices you think you're paying.
The full cost stack
Every transaction carries a stack of costs beyond the price.
Platform & payment fees
Marketplace commissions and payment processing take a percentage from the seller and shape the price the buyer sees. Auction houses add a substantial buyer's premium on top of the hammer.
Shipping & insurance
Proper packing and insured shipping on fragile boxed items are non-trivial — and skimping on either is how condition and value get destroyed in transit.
Customs, duties & VAT
Cross-border, import taxes vary by destination and declared value and are the friction most often forgotten until the parcel is held.
Currency spread
Exchange and cross-border payment spreads shave a few percent off every international deal, quietly.
Budget the friction into the price
The discipline is to compute the landed cost — every fee, tax, and shipping charge included — before deciding whether a price is good. A copy that looks fairly priced can become an overpay once fees and cross-border costs are added, and a copy that looks dear can be a bargain once you realise the seller is absorbing the shipping and there's no import layer. The number that matters is the one you actually settle, not the one on the listing.
Friction shapes strategy
Over a collection, friction compounds into strategy. It favours buying well the first time over churning, buying locally where the cross-border layer is heavy, and consolidating shipments where possible. It also rewards the seller who packs and describes well enough to avoid returns and disputes, which are the most expensive friction of all. The collector who treats fees and shipping as a core part of value — not an afterthought — keeps more of what the collection earns.