The "big business" hidden in young people's niche hobbies

Collecting vintage cards and "pain packs" may seem like a niche hobby, but isn't it a blue ocean market that has not been fully explored? The author of this article talks about the commercial value hidden in niche hobbies, come and have a look.

Compared with popular hobbies such as antiques, jade, and trendy shoes, niche hobbies do not seem to be taken seriously by more people. In fact, although niche hobbies seem small, the business involved is not small.

For example, there has been a trend of collecting retro cards in the card circle recently. These retro cards are the Water Margin character cards and Three Kingdoms character cards that the post-90s generation often ate in the Little Raccoon instant noodles when they were young, as well as Kitori's city circle cards. Since these cards are old, scarce, and difficult to preserve, many card players will spend a lot of money to collect these nostalgic cards, and refer to the rating system in the antique circle to rate these nostalgic cards.

The better the quality of the card, the higher the price. A card with good quality and high rarity can be sold for more than ten thousand yuan, which can be called the domestic version of "star card".

In addition, some girls like "pain bags", which are bags covered with anime character badges and dolls. Because such bags make people feel "strange and exaggerated", some girls will spend a lot of money to buy them or ask others to make them. In addition, there are many businesses hidden in the meteorite circle and cosmetics sample circle.

Although these hobbies seem niche, they are indeed a blue ocean market that has not been fully explored and their commercial value is now being developed by young people.

01 Becoming a "meteorite hunter" is fun and profitable

Narrator: Li Hongsheng, sophomore

I have a great interest in meteorites because when I was a child living in the countryside, I would look up at the starry sky every summer, looking at the starry sky and the meteors streaking across the night. I was fascinated by the objects in the sky.

After entering university, I saw some classmates collecting meteorites in an orderly manner. This aroused my interest, so I followed them and started my journey of meteorite collection.

In the circle, we who play with meteorites are called "star pickers" or "meteorite hunters". Playing with meteorites is similar to jade, but it requires more professional identification knowledge. There are two ways to get meteorites now. One is to receive them from others, and the other is to pick them up in the mountains yourself.

Picking up meteorites in the mountains really requires vision, luck and professional knowledge. Generally speaking, the probability of picking up meteorites is the highest in places with many meteor showers. In the meteorite collection group, someone will report this kind of weather. I was lucky enough to pick up a small piece of iron meteorite, which was very beautiful. Of course, this requires one to have identification knowledge, such as being familiar with the melting, shape, texture, air print and other appearances of meteorites, otherwise it may be regarded as an inconspicuous stone, thus missing a beautiful encounter.

Of course, personal collections of meteorites are mainly purchased through platforms, such as Tieba, related websites, and Xianyu. Like antiques, there are also many counterfeit and shoddy products in the meteorite market, so when buying, you need to choose a credible seller. You can judge the seller's credibility by checking the seller's reputation, reviews, and other information. It is best to buy meteorites that have been certified by a large platform.

The price of meteorites will be affected by many factors, such as the type, weight, and preservation status of the meteorite. Generally speaking, sky-high priced meteorites are really expensive, worth more than 10 million yuan. Of course, ordinary collectors still choose moderately priced meteorites. According to classification, there are mainly three types: stony meteorites, iron meteorites, and stony-iron meteorites.

Stone meteorites are generally cheaper and can be bought for tens of yuan. Iron meteorites are more expensive, and stony-iron meteorites are the most expensive. It is difficult to buy complete stony-iron meteorites now. In order to make money, merchants will cut complete stony-iron meteorites into slices, which are now worth about 35-60 yuan per gram. The specific price depends on the texture, appearance, etc.

Now, in addition to collecting, I am also a middleman. I usually buy good stony-iron meteorites, then make them into slices and sell them on Xianyu. A 500-gram stony-iron meteorite slice in good condition can be priced at about 15,000 yuan, and can be sold in a month. Generally speaking, excluding costs, it is not a problem to make 10,000 yuan a month.

At present, this is still a niche market, but there are many people joining this circle. For example, the interest group I set up myself has exceeded a thousand people in three months.

The meteorite market among the people is treated as a rare "strange stone". As more people like it, there will naturally be a market for it.

02 Paying for the nostalgia, the childhood Three Kingdoms and Water Margin cards cost tens of thousands of yuan a set

Narrator: He Qing, a junior student

I believe many people have come into contact with the Water Margin and Three Kingdoms cards that came with the Little Raccoon instant noodles in their childhood. Each character card was very finely portrayed. In order to get some powerful and rare characters, I would buy a bunch of Uni-President instant noodles when I was a child, just like opening a blind box, hoping to get a powerful character card from these instant noodles. In order to collect a set of Three Kingdoms cards, Water Margin cards, and Magical Soldiers cards, I spent a lot of money at the time.

Now that I am in college, I am still obsessed with collecting this kind of cards. Later, I found like-minded card friends who play these nostalgic cards on the Internet. Now I have not only collected the entire album of cards again, but also slowly turned this interest into a business.

At present, most of the cards on the market are counterfeit works, and a set costs dozens or hundreds of yuan. For people with sentimental feelings, this kind of cards is easy to sell because of their cheap prices. I have opened such a nostalgic card store on Taobao before, and I can sell more than 400 sets a month, and I can still make several thousand yuan.

Moreover, nowadays there are some studios that specialize in this kind of counterfeit business, specializing in printing rare flash cards and selling them on the market. I heard that a year ago, someone made nearly 100,000 yuan in half a year by doing this, but later, as more people made counterfeit cards, the price dropped.

Although this kind of counterfeit card is very popular among novices, it is definitely not purchased by experienced card players. Their goal is to collect the real original Three Kingdoms and Water Margin cards, and the price of this kind of card is not cheap. On the one hand, it is very old and not easy to preserve, and the official will not reprint it, which makes it scarce.

For example, a pair of Zhu Fu and Li Li character cards from the Little Raccoon Water Margin flash cards, which are in 99% mint condition, can be sold for more than 3,000 yuan. The prices of popular flash cards from Water Margin are even higher, such as Hua Rong's flash card, which can be sold for more than 2,000 yuan each, and Lu Zhishen's character card can be sold for more than 10,000 yuan.

Of course, the specific price will also be determined by the quality of the card.

For wealthy senior cardholders, it is not uncommon to spend tens of thousands of yuan to collect a set of original nostalgic cards, because such cards are still appreciating in value. Some people also become dealers, who have special channels to buy original cards at low prices and then sell them on Xianyu, making considerable profits, ranging from several thousand yuan to tens of thousands of yuan a month.

In general, nostalgic cards are memories of childhood, and they are also a way to make up for the regret of not being able to collect a complete series of cards when one was a child. It is not surprising to pay for sentimentality.

03 The "pain bag" business in the "Valley Circle", the badges and dolls tied to the bags cost tens of thousands of yuan

Narrator: Wei Li, one year after graduating from university

Many people may not have heard of the term "Guquan". This circle mainly consists of people who collect ACG peripheral products, such as dolls and badges of comics, animation games.

I also hang out in the "goods circle", especially the "goods" such as "pain bag" (note: the transliteration of the word "goods"). "Pain bag" can be understood as a bag full of anime character badges and dolls, so it is necessary to have such a bag because walking on the street will make people feel "weird and exaggerated", so it is very popular with girls.

In order to make the bag look good, we will hang cute dolls and badges on it. Since the badges and dolls fixed on the bag look like they are pierced with needles, this behavior is also called "binding".

The slightly better "pain bags" I have seen so far are priced at around 100 to 200 yuan. If it is your first time to make a bag, that is, you want to make it better, you can try a star-shaped, heart-shaped or cat-shaped "pain bag", because the area of ​​this type of bag is relatively small, you can make it look good with less money, and this way of playing is also suitable for beginners.

But as a senior lover of bag, you will definitely try more tricks. After all, what matters when you go out is your image. In order to make your bag more beautiful and tangible, it is not only necessary to arrange the badges and dolls on the bag in a nice way, but more importantly, it is necessary to choose good-looking badges and dolls. After all, the essence of bag lies in the badges and dolls.

As the saying goes, "Buddha relies on gold ornaments, and people rely on clothes." Personal dressing is also important, so we usually don’t choose to tie cheap badges and dolls on bags. We mainly go to Japan’s Amazon website to buy some good-looking badges and dolls online, which usually cost around 100 yuan. If it is a famous brand badge or doll, the price will be more expensive, and tens of thousands of yuan is not a problem.

Of course, the workmanship of this kind of badges and dolls is also very good. If you put this kind of badges and dolls on the bag, it will look very good. It instantly improves the quality of the bag, just like Nike's AJ "reverse hook" style sneakers in the trendy shoe circle.

Not only that, I will also make some good-looking pain bags myself and sell them to enthusiasts in the circle. Generally, they are divided into finished products for direct sale, with prices ranging from several hundred to thousands of yuan. At the same time, I also accept private customization, which is more expensive. After all, badges and dolls may not be available in China, and sometimes you have to go shopping overseas, which will charge a labor fee of 100-200 yuan. If you encounter delicate work, it may take half a month to make it, and a labor fee of 1,000 yuan is generally charged.

There is more free time in college, so it is still easy to get work making pain bags in the circle. You can earn more than 2,000 yuan in labor fees in half a month. When the workload is large, you can earn several thousand yuan. If the pain bag is made by a professional designer, the price will be more expensive.

Although it is a niche market, people are still willing to spend money on this kind of hobby.

04 The cosmetics sample business spawned by the love of beauty, with small profits but quick turnover and a monthly income of 10,000 yuan

Narrator: Xiao Ke, a white-collar worker

Loving beauty is human nature, especially for us girls. In order to dress up beautifully, we sometimes have to buy good cosmetics. However, the big-name cosmetics on the market are generally more expensive. In order to enjoy cosmetics of the same quality, cosmetic "samples" have become a hot topic among girls.

Samples are more cost-effective. For example, a 50ml serum from a certain brand costs 900 yuan, while a 10ml sample costs only a few dozen yuan. However, the quality of the sample is the same as the regular product, but the price is much cheaper. Sometimes, because too many regular products are purchased, they are not used up until they expire, which is a waste. Therefore, "samples" have become the purchase and collection of many young people. This has also spawned a business.

The main purpose of buying and selling "samples" is to make a profit from the price difference. We buy back the samples bought by retail investors and then sell them to those who need them at a higher price. The profit of a "sample" ranges from a few yuan to dozens of yuan. Generally, we buy from official channels, mainly official flagship stores or official websites that will give out samples for promotions, or we join the cosmetics membership to get the opportunity to buy samples or at a low price.

Generally speaking, the cost price of official cosmetic samples ranges from free to more than ten yuan. I will publish a recycling list on Xianyu and other platforms, listing the types and prices of recycled samples. Some people will buy samples from official channels based on this recycling list. Why don't I place an order myself? Because these brands basically limit the collection. One person can only place one order. I don't have so many identities to place orders and collect, so I can only recycle samples purchased from retail investors.

For example, retail investors pay 6 yuan per order for the sample, and I recycle it at 8.5 yuan per order. Retail investors can earn 2.5 yuan. Although they earn little, they also have their own ways to get more accounts to buy official samples. If they encounter a zero-yuan trial activity, they can directly earn 8.5 yuan.

After receiving these official samples, I will sell them to some companies as gifts in gift boxes, or directly sell them to beauty-loving college students at a higher price. This kind of business really makes small profits but quick turnover. As long as there are channels, it is easy to earn more than 10,000 yuan a month.

05 Model lovers are willing to spend money and make 30,000 yuan a month by making replica models

Narrator: Chen Xuyang, junior student

Many boys like toy models, and I am no exception. But unlike most people, they like to collect models such as Gundam and Transformers, which are still popular. But I like models that are out of print in my childhood, such as the model toys derived from animations such as "Trailer", "Magic King", and "Dragon Ball".

This kind of model toys really cannot be bought with money. After all, these animations have been around for more than 20 years, and the model toys produced are the same as the animations, all of which are products from 20 years ago. Therefore, it is not easy to preserve such model toys to this day, which makes them difficult to collect and expensive. And this does not take into account factors such as the origin and quality of the goods. If all these are taken into account, the cost of collecting all the model toys in an animation will not be less than five figures.

For example, on Xianyu, a limited model of the "Iron Man Train" named "East China Sea" can easily sell for 1,000 yuan, while other ordinary "Iron Man Train" models, if they are Japanese versions, are almost several hundred yuan each. If they are domestic Longchang versions, the price is half of that. Twenty years ago, the price of such toys was 5-10 yuan, but now it has increased dozens of times. But as I said, these toys have a history of 20 years after all, and it is not easy to preserve them until now, so there is a certain scarcity, which also determines the commonality of high prices for such models.

Because of the high price, many people have discovered ways to make money. For this type of nostalgic model toys, many ways to make money have been developed. One is to make imitations, making models that are exactly the same as the originals. For novices, this type of imitation model toys is cheap and easy to make, and is very popular. I have met a person in the circle before. He can make more than 30,000 yuan a month by making imitation models by himself, because he not only buys imitations in China, but also sells them on Amazon overseas.

There is another type of people who do repair and refurbishment. Because nostalgic models can easily be missing parts, many people will ask them to repair and replace them, or even "modify the model". The price ranges from about 100 to 500 yuan, depending on the rarity of the model. At least they can earn about 500 yuan in a week. I have done this kind of business before, and quite a few people came to me. One person even offered 1,000 yuan to let me equip his model with a weapon similar to the original one. So people who play with models are really willing to spend money.

In addition to this kind of counterfeiting and repair business, some people also do purchasing on behalf of others, specifically going to Amazon and second-hand stores overseas to buy or auction overseas nostalgic models, and then act as middlemen to add a markup to the prices and sell them domestically.

There is a diverse business based on nostalgic models. After all, everyone wants to relive their childhood, and this demand is constantly expanding.

(Note: The narrators in this article are all pseudonyms)

Author: Chen Qiaohui

Source public account: Tech Planet (ID: tech618); focusing on cutting-edge Internet technology and new business.