Tips for Selling Vintage Barbie Dolls

To collectors of vintage Barbie dolls, hunting down these elusive 1960's era toys can be half the fun of collecting. However, if you find yourself in the position of trying to sell vintage Barbie dolls, Ken dolls, or any of the other vintage dolls from Mattel's Barbie line such as Midge, Francie, Skipper, and Skooter, there are several important things you should take note of before you begin. If you have vintage Barbie dolls that you would like to sell, the following tips may prove very useful to you.

Know what you have - The most important thing to do before attempting to sell any vintage dolls from Mattel's Barbie line is to learn exactly what you have. Learn the names of the different female dolls, as well as the male dolls. There are quite a lot of dolls from the Barbie line that were produced in the 1960's, and to an inexperienced eye, some can seem very similar. If you look closely though, you will see that there are distinct and important differences among the dolls. Learning what these differences are can mean the difference between receiving an appropriate amount for your doll, or losing out because you didn't realize what you had.

Fortunately, the Internet is a fantastic place to quickly learn the characteristics of the different vintage dolls from the Barbie line. There are Barbie identification and price guides for sale in bookstores and online, but it is possible to learn enough on Ebay and Barbie collector sites to identify your vintage Barbie dolls fairly quickly. Additionally, these are the same places which can help you decide on an appropriate price at which to offer your vintage Barbie dolls.

Learn the lingo - When listing your vintage Barbie dolls on Ebay, or even your own website, you will likely make your selling experience more efficient if you are familiar with the terms that Barbie collectors use. For example, familiarize yourself with terms like "rub", and "flocked hair". Also learn the terms used for the different color shades of vintage Barbie hair, lipstick, and nail polish.

Learn what to pay attention to - Knowing what characteristics of your vintage Barbie dolls to focus on will not only make your listing adequate, but it will also help you in determining the value of your dolls. Collectors want to know the percentage of nail polish that is intact, whether your dolls have solid or hollow torsos, and whether or not a Bubble Cut Barbie has her hair parted on the right.

Use Ebay to your advantage - Ebay can be not only a good place to sell your vintage Barbie dolls, but also a good place to learn what you have and how to price what you have. You may find that your particular Barbie or Ken doll doesn't really sell very well, but that you can probably get a fair amount for all of those vintage accessories you have.

Unfortunately, many vintage Barbie dolls are not worth nearly as much as you may think, so educating yourself thoroughly will leave you in a much better position of pricing your dolls accurately for selling.