How hobbyDB decided on the best Setup for Data-Seeking Collectors

Here at hobbyDB, we’re all collectors. And when we started work on the site, one of the main things we knew we wanted was to make it a great place for collectors to research their interests. So we knew better than almost anyone how much time collectors like to spend reading about whatever it is that’s their own particular passion – something our research bore out when we talked to the 10,000 collectors we interviewed before starting the site to see what they wanted.

Eric Marcoullier, a poster collector and great supporter – we talked to 10,000 collectors just like him…

Those interviews also resulted in some fascinating conclusions about collectors. Whatever their subject area of interest, from chairs to teddy bears to corkscrews to vintage shoes, they all approached research in exactly the same way – and for exactly the same reasons. Newbie collectors read to learn about their area of interest to find things to collect. Veteran collectors read over copious amounts of information they likely already knew to try and find more things to collect; stuff they’d overlooked or perhaps just never heard of.

All collectors thirst for more stuff! We wanted to make sure that hobbyDB would slake that thirst like nothing ever before!

We had wondered whether it made sense for hobbyDB to be one platform for ALL kinds of collectibles. But then we realized that not only would a site that covered everything provide a far more robust platform to preserve information about collectibles than the homespun sites that already existed, it would be a huge boon to all those collectors searching for the things they’d missed.

That’s why we made the site a full-on inter-relational database in the mold of sites like IMdB.

Consider, if you will, the plight of the PEZ collector. He needs an encyclopedic resource of all the PEZ dispensers ever made. hobbyDB can easily give him that on it’s PEZ subject page (or through a simple search). But there are dozens of other PEZ items that’ll interest him too. Items that he might never know exist because they’re a different type of thing; for example, a model delivery truck with the PEZ logo on the side. Or a PEZ tie-in Beanie Baby. A PEZ pin. Or a PEZ promotional pen.

1940 Ford Pezmobile. A must-have for the PEZ completist.

On hobbyDB, he doesn’t have to rely on running a search for “PEZ” and seeing what shows up to find those things. He could do that on eBay, but there, he’s limited to seeing what’s on sale, or the limited view of what’s already sold. On hobbyDB, he can see everything that’s ever existed, regardless of whether it’s for sale or been sold recently or not.

And if you’re a collector who collects by theme to start with – for example, one who collects Simpsons-related items, there’ll be an even wider spread of item types that’ll include things you need to own. And they’ll all be there right on one page for you to view, whether they’re a doll, an action figure, a diecast car, a slot car or anything else.

Hot Wheels’ Homer Simpson’s Nuclear Waste Van; of interest to collectors of Simpsons-alia, Hot Wheels, van models and Nuclear-themed-items…

So not only can hobbyDB flex to accommodate ANY type of collectible by all its most important data points, it can also flex to accommodate any type of collector and give them exactly what they want to see! And as many users have told us – once you start going on hobbyDB, you can just click on and on forever!