How to calculate the value of old action figures and toys

To calculate the value of action figures and older toys, the best place to start is by figuring out what research other people have other done. And the best place for that is Ebay! You would be hard pressed NOT to find your item already up for auction there. Chances are, there will be ten or more auctions going on with your same item and those will give you a great basis for comparison. Simply do an Ebay search and look at what's selling.

If there are ten items for sale just like yours, find the ones that are in similar condition to yours. Then watch the auctions on that item. Is the item selling? If not, is it because the item is priced higher than others, or are none of the auctions for that item doing well? Just because something is valued high does not mean there are a lot of people out there who want to buy it--then again, there may be many people out there who want it.

My mother-in-law gave me several vintage toys (dolls, action figures, etc.) to sell. For the dolls, I was able to find some of them on Ebay, but I was also able to find a ton of information on their current value by doing Google searches. There is probably a website out there on the information superhighway for every toy you want to sell.

Once I calculated prices, I sold the items on Craigslist. I'm not a big Ebay seller because frankly I don't like dealing with shipping. I was able to sell many vintage toys on Cragslist once I did the legwork to determine their value (which didn't take long on the internet).

You can also find antique collectors and appraisers to help you--but unless you suspect that your item is extremely valuable, that may not be worth the money you would have to pay.