How to know if an old Toy is worth keeping?
 

I am in the process of cleaning out my parents attic and have some stuff from my childhood that I am not sure if it's worth keeping or not. I really don't want the stuff because of storage issues. I have both an original Teddy Ruxpin and his pal Grumby? (not sure on his name). A few bookos and tapes that go with them too. They are not in their original boxes and have been played with, but still in good shape. Any value? Also have an old original Lite Brite. Again, it's used and not in the box. I am not sure about these items, I figured someone on here might know more about it whether they're worth to hold onto or sell it on ebay. Do you think they would increase in value over the next 20-30 years? Thanks

I'm in the similar position of trying to cull my collection.

Start by doing some comparison shopping online (e.g., EBay). It's a way to gauge demand. What price are other people asking for similar stuff? Are there many similar listings from numerous different sellers, which tends to indicate that the price is a good one, or does the listing seem high and unique, suggesting that it belongs to a greedy pig or just somebody who isn't really interested in a quick sale?

Your asking price depends on your priorities as a seller. Look up "How to sell online." EBay has oodles of info. Beware of people who will try to take advantage of you. Seller AND buyer beware!

I prefer to sell things quickly, so rarely ask more than $20+shipping for a typical toy item. Example: I sold my entire Star Wars vintage collection (~50 figures, Death Star, Snowspeeder, Millennium Falcon) for $150.00. Everything was in very good condition, so I could probably have made more money, but my priority was to make the sale within a reasonably short time-frame. Let the next guy sit on his hands for weeks or months, hoping for top dollar...

That said, it's interesting how few ads there are for Teddy Ruxpin. There are a few gold-diggers, but most listings this week seem to range between $50-$100, enough to pay for a nice dinner. Lite Brite seems to be in a similar range. I don't try to predict market vagaries long term, especially considering mounting levels of consumer debt.

Good luck. And welcome to the Ark!

Search eBay for completed sales and see what these things actually sold for.

What you do is search what you're looking for, then click "refine", then select "completed items" and "sold items".