How To: Get a Real Time Value for Your Collectible Doll

How To: Get a Real Time Value for Your Collectible Doll

Hello everyone and welcome back! Today I will tell you how to get an accurate value of your collectible doll!
QUOTE:

Dear Collectible Guru,

I have a doll from 19XX and I would like to know how to get a real estimate for the value of my doll without breaking the bank! I have had so many people tell me so many different things, I don’t know who to believe any more! Can you please help me out?

Your Friend,

Jane Doe

I have been asked this question so many times I figured I would just write the answers down for all of you to see! This is also how I give the big guys at Collectors DreamHouse recommendations on how to price their dolls so their customer gets the best deal available. Are you ready? I sure am. Here we go!!

First, Write down everything you know about your doll. Package condition, doll condition, what it is made of, what year it was made, how many people loved it then, special edition, etc… Now, when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. No matter how stupid it may seem to be writing it down, just do it. (You can thank me later!)

After you are postitive you have written down everything, take pictures of your doll. These will be used as reference points as you are looking your doll up. If the picture you find doesn’t match the picture you took, it is probably not the same doll!

Upload your pictures and go to an auction site. This can be any number of sites from Yahoo! auctions to E-Bay. Pretty much anywhere that will give you information on closed auctions will work but the most popular sites are the best avenues for this project.

After you are there, do not select a category! Simply type in the exact name of your doll. Click on search. (ummm… too easy?)

I will now tell you how to Get closed listings. I am going to use E-Bay for this example because I use them for a LOT of searches and comparisons. On the left hand side of the screen, there is a check box for “show completed listings” click the box next to it, to populate a check mark, and hit GO. Now the site will ask you to log in. If you do not have an E-Bay account, just take the time to sign up. It is FREE and you may use it more than you think! If you already have an E-Bay account, simply sign in and hit the LOGIN button. Now you should be presented with a list of items. Go to the next step.

Look for the items with prices in GREEN. These are the ones that sold. That is ALL you care about. Ignore the others.

After you have located your item and found the green numbers, pull up your computer’s calculator and add ALL of the amounts together that appear in GREEN. Count them as you go. Remember to only use the items that are directly identical to yours.

WAIT!! Don't close that calculator! Divide the number you now have. Take the number that you got from adding all those prices together and divide it by the number of items you got prices from. Example: item 1 = $20, item 2 = $24.88, item 3 = $55 Total of these three items = $94.88 When we divide by 3 (which is the number of priced items we added together) we get $31.62.

This is the average price that someone would pay for your doll! And thereby, it is the Real Time Value. (pretty dang simple!)

I know what you are thinking… “If this is so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it?” Well, the simple answer to that is that not everyone knows an accurate value can be found in this way. Hey, if they subscribe to this blog, then they can find out easily can’t they? (Be a friend! Let them know about this blog!)

If you still don’t trust yourself, or you are just at your wits end because you can't find your item, try choosing a good, inexpensive appraisal site to do your digging for you.
As usual, I have included a list for your convenience:

http://www.whatsitworthtoyou.com (VERY reasonably priced CDH has used them quite a few times)

http://www.metiques.com/marketplace (ONE FREE)

http://www.antique-appraise.com/getappraisal.html (at the time of this post, 12/05/2006, appraisals were $18.95)

It has been wonderful and I will see you all next time!! Happy appraising!

Thanks for reading!

The Collectible Guru
http://www.collectorsdreamhouse.com

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