Everybody needs a little support now and again, and the manufacturers who make our favorite models are no exception. Margins are getting smaller, raw materials, production costs and labor more expensive, even in China. The cost of designing, tooling, manufacturing and marketing new models have never been higher.

Like all you other collectors out there, we at hobbyDB want to make sure that these companies are around to keep making great product for a very long time yet. So we sat down to think about how we could do our part to help make sure that was the case. And we came up with the idea of Brand Partnerships.

Brand Partnerships with hobbyDB help us to help brands. Here’s how it works: manufacturers provide us with as much data as they can about their back catalog, current and future production. Ideally, they give us details and images of every single thing they’ve ever produced, including prototypes, pre-production models, tie-in merchandise… everything! We then use that to create their official archive on hobbyDB, processing and uploading the data. They then link to that official archive from their own official sites and promote it on their social media.

In return, whenever one of their products is sold on the hobbyDB marketplace (or on our sister site Scoomer), they get a cut of our fee on the sale, giving them a new income stream to generate revenue that they can plow back into making more great collectibles! We do want to make sure that everyone is clear that this doesn’t mean you’ll be paying more for anything you buy. As you know, hobbyDB takes a fee on every transaction. That’s the money we use to keep the site running and keep improving it (and it’s less than eBay takes!). We’re giving the the brands a slice of the cut we already take, not adding anything else on top.

We think this will be particularly helpful to smaller manufacturers but it’s by no means limited to them. We’ve already partnered with brands like Automodello, Kess and Kidrobot, as well as customizers like Brew City, Chris Stangler and Liberty Promotions. There are a lot more in the pipeline too, including some much bigger brands.

So if you’re a brand, artist or customizer of any size and you’re interested, get in touch!