I'm new to this forum as well!
Unfortunately, I've only barely touched on collecting at all and have set up my Naruto collection a bit messily. Unlike a whole lot of you, I haven't touched any Limited Edition statues that are most likely going to shred my wallet.
As a beginner, I've started with a full set of Toynami's 6-7" PVC Figures Series 1-3, patiently waiting for Series 4. I've begun to delve into Figuarts Zero (although many factory errors can be identified per figure) starting with Kakashi Hatake. Besides statues, I like to collect unbranded props which are cheap off the net or local anime retailers and of course the occasional apparel.
Some of the apparel (notably the Mangekyo Chains) are easily seen as bootleg fakes (the Kakashi Mangekyo here is reversed Q__Q)
I tend to categorize these elsewhere.