Most toys and models made in the past 20 years generally don't have much resale value. However some items in certain genres have a following all over the world and someone in Australia paid a hefty price for this piece
We love selling old obsolete pieces like this. Great man-cave / garage decor!
My son got a new game system for Christmas so we went to trade our old system and games in for a store credit. The clerk pointed out to me that this game was of special value and I'd be much better off trying to sell it on eBay. Sure enough I sold it in a day for ten times the trade value. Of all people you would think I would know enough to check my own stuff. Sometimes the work to make that extra money isn't worth the effort and that's why we're here to help.
The market for antique furniture is not so good, Years ago pieces like this would easily sell for $1500 or more - in this day and age, we were happy this one found a good home and sold for $700
Even a common household item still in the box from 50 years ago is almost always going to sell for a good price.
Like I've said, some old pieces are still in demand but it can take time to find a buyer so with some things we really have to know where to be on pricing. Measure twice and cut once!
If you think about it, a mail order toy from the back of a comic book ad from fifty years ago is not something that was meant to last which is exactly why it has good value.
Good old stuff like this is still in demand, but prices have gone down in recent years and the audience is much smaller which is why modern antique dealers like us rely on eBay to find the buyers.
Anything from the Native American culture will be of some value with the exception of stuff made in the latter half of the 20th century as newer pieces are regarded by collectors as being 'commercial' quality.
Toys and games always have a strong following and people from all over the world collect them. Some forgotten titles can be worth a pirate's treasure :)
Can you believe at one time people would pay a parking ticket by putting money in a curb-side box? Anything old related to transportation is always of interest.
We never underestimate anything as silly as it may seem. An old brand like Steiff still has a good following of collectors.
Anything vintage pertaining to emergency public services can be collectible.
Old toys are always in demand and having the original box is a huge plus to value
Old pottery has declined in value over the years but obscure pieces like this are still somewhat in demand
Such a killer piece. We had initially found the petal shades at a customer house but the fixture was buried among hundreds of boxes which we didn't have time to look through. The owner promised to bring it in when found but I had very little hope she actually would. Months later she did and we made a nice sale! Funny thing is I saw an identical lamp sell for $375 and was tempted to put mine up at the same price but my instinct told me to 'let it auction' and I was pleasantly surprised!
This little group was pretty cool and fairly priced but it took months to sell. Sometimes we just have to be prepared to wait which is the difference between $50 and the $5 these would have sold for at an auction or yard sale.
If you put the words 'mid century' in your title, you can sell almost anything for good money these days
Old metalware and Americana always makes for a nice sale
More killer lighting we passed on to a good home. Shipping these shades was a total chore
Old cast iron pieces with good subject matter always make for a nice sale
Yet another light we sold. When selling things on eBay, we are held accountable to the Nth degree which can be very frustrating. I gave the buyer a discount on this piece but then he complained about a blemish and wanted an additional discount. Over the years we've had a number of people abuse our accountability and at a certain point, I just have to ask myself: Is it worth $dollars to ruin my flawless reputation and will usually just give someone a credit or refund even if it's really not fair.
Vintage pottery - especially decorator plates - can be a really hard sell as the market has dried up. Shipping fragile stuff is a lot of work and risk too but we're here for just such a task.
Another old light we sold. This sat on my shelf for months before I got around to posting it as I wasn't sure if it would sell and shipping stuff like this is a pain. Again, anything old Chinese right now seems to be pretty hot. It pays to visit museums and learn fancy terms like 'famille verte' to help get items seen by the educated buyers.
Most old books are a dime a dozen but we do try to look at everything we find. This book, originally published in 1898, told a flawless prediction of the Titanic disaster of 1912 - 14 years later. The work was re-issued at that time and is still worth $100 but a first printing would sell for $500 or more.