There comes a time when you have to let go of that cherished cosplay you worked on. Maybe it’s taking up too much space in your closet and you’d like to sell it on, using that money to work on your next costume. Or maybe you’re a newbie to the world of cosplay and you’re looking for a costume or additional props to complete your cosplay. If so, then CosTrader might be what you’re looking for.
“Since our website is solely focused on cosplays, we are a one-stop shop for all cosplaying needs,” said Bryce, the owner of CosTrader. “Buyers can make custom order requests from cosplay makers, and sellers can also offer their own commission services on the website.”
Upon visiting the site it would be very easy to label CosTrader as eBay for cosplay. Items are placed into categories, be it costumes, props and accessories; even wigs have their own category. However, CosTrader is not an auction site. Items are given a fixed price, so remain on the site till they are sold. “For sellers, we provide much lower selling fees than other popular marketplaces,” said Bryce. “It is completely free to list your items and free to be featured on the front page. The only fee is 3% when your item sells, compared to eBay’s 10%.”
Another factor that makes CosTrader stand out is that they “only sell handcrafted, unique products.” So buyers are likely to come across a full costume that’s essentially one of a kind which you would have great difficulty finding anywhere else. The quality of some of the costumes and props are also reflected in their price.
 This cosplay of Sakura from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle is one of many items being sold by CosTrader seller narcissa. It includes real orchids and LEDs. Cost? $250 (about £150). |
 This cosplay of Mitsunari Ishida from Sengoku Basara is from the seller Jii and includes 15 pieces of armour. If you’re interested, it will cost you $670 (around £407). |
From reading some listings you’ll notice that some sellers are willing to negotiate on price, especially if you intend to purchase more than one item.
There are also some interesting props. If you’re cosplaying Sailor Moon then you might want to consider the Crescent Wand from the seller Sorhain. At $56.99 (about £34), you may find it a good alternative, especially if the price for the official item is a little out of your reach. If you’re cosplaying Link from The Legend of Zelda and are low on health then look into this Fairy in a Bottle from the seller Brenda. At just $20 (around £12), it could be a lifesaver.
“I wanted to provide some kind of solution to one of the problems in the cosplay community,” said Bryce, on how the site came to fruition. “I thought, ‘Why not let the cosplayers and cosplay makers pick for us?’ Luckily I found a thread on a cosplay forum full of people complaining about cosplay, and I went through the thread and wrote down all the problems they were facing, along with a respective website solution. Then we reached out to cosplayers and asked them what they thought about each of the solutions we proposed. We received feedback, and built the website on the grounds of the feedback from the cosplay community.”
Feedback seems to be important to Bryce and the future of CosTrader. There’s a section at the bottom of each page of the site labelled “Tell us how we can make our site better.” Clicking it will open up a little message box where you can submit your feedback.
Bryce revealed that he has already taken on some advice from users. This includes adding “favourite buttons” so you can keep track of your current favourites. Sellers taking on commissions now have a section in their profile allowing them to select which categories they specialise in (be it full costumes, props, armour, etc). Also, once a large number of cosplay is being sold on the site, the plan is to place them under more specific categories depending on if it is from a video game, movie, anime and so on. “As far as future plans for CosTrader, we will continue to refine what we do, add more useful features to the website, and grow the community,” said Bryce.
CosTrader is US based, but there are sellers from across the globe and some of them do ship their costumes and props worldwide. So if there is something cosplay related you’re after then you might want to make CosTrader your first port of call.
You can also follow CosTrader on Twitter and their Facebook page.
Originally published on MCM Buzz on 2 January 2014.
