A new website called CosTrader is essentially an eBay for cosplayers. Users can buy and sell anything from whole-body costumes to colored wigs to plastic-cast accessories, all from a number of animes and video games. Prices seem to vary widely but the majority of the products are hand made by the seller.
In some ways it’s better than buying online gold with real money, and in some ways it’s worse, but an online retailer trading in cosplay outfits is certainly an expedient path to the heart of the nerd kingdom. Like shooting through World of Warcraft on the back of a huge infusion of ill-gotten gold bought from Chinese farmers, buying a cosplay outfit seems to somewhat defeat the purpose of purpose of the whole activity. Still, with sometimes absurdly intricate character designs and a quest to emulate characters whose bodies and hairstyles exist beyond the touch of gravity, any leg up can certainly be helpful.