Collectors and parents feel they are slowly being priced out of the toy and collectible market.
Lego, in particular, said on its website that the price mostly includes the number of unique pieces and licensing costs for themes such as Star Wars or Marvel.
It also mentionsthat regional pricing for sets can include population, transportation and exchange rates.
Alison Rossi, a mother of three, says she usually only buys Lego for her children once a year.
“Mostly they get given Lego as gifts,” she said. “When I am looking for a birthday gift, I try to keep with the $20 to $30 price point, and it’s now hard to find Lego in that price point.”
Rossi has started looking into cheaper alternatives to Lego, such as Mega Bloks or entire sets on AliExpress.
“They’re knock-offs, but they fit with all the blocks,” she said.
Although parents like Rossi have expressed picking alternatives, Lego released a report saying that consumer sales have increased 13 per cent in the third quarter of 2025.
Company pricing on the product isn’t the only thing deterring buyers, however.
Mitchell Geraldes, a collector and online order processor, says that scalpers and fans who buy into scalper prices are the biggest problem in the collecting community.
Scalpers or scalping is the act of buying entire product stocks with the intention of reselling them for a much higher value and leaving none for the average consumer.
“If a product is $30, but it was initially $11, if we continue to sell it at $11, then our entire stock is going to get bought out. Even if we put limits, they’ll find a way to circumvent it,” Geraldes said.
“It’s not really the stores' fault, it’s kind of the fans' fault because people still buy this stuff at the scalped prices,” said Geraldes, referring to a discussion he had with a coworker.
Rawinder Singh, a shipping-receiving order processor, also has concerns about how scalpers and scalping are affecting the collectible market as a whole.
“I can’t justify buying a $200 video game collector's edition for $700,” he said. “As much as I really want these items, I can’t justify spending triple the market value.”
Geraldes and Singh occasionally buy trading cards and avoid scalper prices. For example, the Prismatic Evolutions Super Premium Collection, an expansion for Pokémon, is originally priced at $121.99 on Pokémon's website but goes for C$324.99 on eBay.
Individual cards can go up to $960,000 on eBay when PSA, a trading card grading company, grades a card at 10, the highest grade the grading system offers.
“I’m not spending $1,000 on a Charizard,” Singe said.
“It's a harsh truth, but peeps gotta vote with their wallet, ya know,” Geraldes said.
