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- This guide is for users interested in trading vintage toys using a grading system to evaluate the condition for the item.
- There are two ways to evaluate the condition for a vintage toy listed at eBay. The first are the pictures included in the listing and the second is the description. Pictures of listed items may tell a lot about the condition but keep in mind that not everybody has a professional camera or know how to use it. Hence, the pictures may miss some details or may be of poor quality. Descriptions may tell what pictures already do but most important, what pictures don´t. A good description for the item may be of great help when evaluating the condition for a vintage toy.
- A good policy is to advertise a Grading System for the items in order to help buyers understand the real shape of the vintage toys. Good condition for example may not mean the same for different sellers and this situation can be solved using a standard grading system. A proposed scale is as follows:
- Grading System for vintage toys:
- Mint: the item is like new in perfect condition and may achieve (100% of maximum value)
- Near Mint: the item is almost perfect with very minor imperfections (90% of value)
- Excellent: the item will have had very careful use with only small imperfections (70%)
- Good: the item will have had more use showing obvious imperfections (50%)
- Fair: the item will have heavy signs of wear showing major imperfections (30%)
- Poor: the item will be in distressed condition with many faults and may include repaints (10%)
- This grading system is not perfect because many times is not easy to tell the real shape of a vintage toy and there may be imperfections only visible in very close inspection. But is a starting point to make life easier to buyers that intend to purchase the item. For a toy collector the condition is a great concern and may spend a lot of time analizing it. I hope this guide gives you a simple explanation in using a grading system that may help traiding vintage toys in eBay with better customer satisfaction. Thank you for reading my guides and enjoy buying at eBay!
Guide created: 11/14/08 (updated 07/08/09)
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