The Lair on Storm Isle


An Honest Resource for the Online Collector Community of Galoob's Golden Girl™ and the Guardians of the Gemstones™



Tips for Selling Golden Girl™ Toys Online


What's Covered in This Section?
Page 1.) Before the Sale
Page 2.) After the Sale
List Items by Toyline/Category    Safe Packaging
Auction Listing Contents
Shipping Calculations
Other Important Tips
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Before the Sale

So you have some Golden Girl merchandise to sell (you're likely to find vintage 80's items at yard / tag / garage sales, estate sales, flea markets, and collector conventions). The best advice for helping you get started selling these items on eBay, is to think like a buyer. The more knowledge you have of what a collector is looking for, the more valuable your items will be to collectors out there. This website contains lots of information about identifying items, recognizing flaws, and judging rarity of items. If you've reviewed all that and are ready to list on eBay but aren't sure how to get started, here are some tips.


List Items by Toyline | Categories To List Under | Auction Title | Pictures & Description | Other Important Tips


List Items by Toyline
Ándale and other online seller tools may make auction listing easier, but they won't help you figure out the best way to advertise your merchandise! Take note: most collectors collect by a specific toyline. We don't randomly collect any old used toy, or browse random auctions on eBay out of the kindness of our hearts. We know the complete set of figures in the toylines we collect, and we're looking to complete our collections.

Once you know how to identify your items, make sure to list only one toyline per auction! Can you imagine how frustrating it would be to go grocery shopping if everything came in a variety pack? That's how it feels to me as a Golden Girl collector when I see painfully hard-to-find Golden Girl accessory pieces tossed into She-Ra or He-Man job lots! Now I have to compete with She-Ra collectors for items which may be worthless to them, when the She-Ra items are not a priority to me!

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Categories To List Under
Okay, so you've separated out your Golden Girl items and plan to list Golden Girl-only auctions. I thank you with all my heart. At this point, the biggest mistake new eBay sellers make is to list in a category no one will ever look under. When no one bids on their listings, the sellers get discouraged and assume no one wants Golden Girl items. Let's correct this problem.

Yes, it may seem ironic, but the most popular category to list Golden Girl toys (figures, fashions, horses, playsets) is the She-Ra listing under Toys & Hobbies > Action Figures > Masters of the Universe > She-Ra (category #18990).

Golden Girl does not have a category of its own, but it was essentially the competitor toyline to She-Ra (Princess of Power) in 1984. So long as your auction listing contains only Golden Girl items, non-collectors will ignore it, and Golden Girl collectors will home in on it!

Other popular categories are Toys & Hobbies > Action Figures > Other, and Toys & Hobbies > Action Figures > Masters of the Universe > Other.

I don't recommend listing Golden Girl items under the "Dolls & Bears" / "Dolls" category. Technically, Golden Girl is an action figure toyline, not a doll line (i.e. good versus evil, weapons, violence, 1/12 scale figures. The fashions may make it tempting to list under Dolls, but really--how many times have you seen a Barbie wielding a hatchet?). Plus, there are already many doll lines named "Golden Girl."

Likewise, I wouldn't recommend listing Golden Girl toys under the "Collectibles" category. First of all, most people aren't going to search for Golden Girl items there. And technically, "collectibles" refers to ornamental items marketed towards adult collectors. Today, Golden Girl may be a collector's item to nostalgic adults, but originally it was marketed as an action figure toyline for young girls. You can rest assured that when you list under "Action Figures," collectors will find your items easily by search engine.

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Auction Title
If the category is the most important part of advertising your merchandise, then your auction title is the second most important part. Buyers need to know in 45 characters or less what you're selling and what condition it's in. Here's what an auction title should include:
1. Name of Toyline (Note that "Golden Girl" is singular, not plural. A lot of people mistake the name of this toyline as "Golden Girls." That's real annoying to us collectors, because I'm not looking for a television show starring Bea Arthur. When I do a search for Galoob items, I search for "golden girl*"--the asterisk allows me to include both "Golden Girl" and the sellers who continue to misspell it "Golden Girls" in the same search.)

2. Name of Manufacturer (This is absolutely essential for distinguishing Galoob Golden Girl™ from the many doll lines that are also named "Golden Girl"! If you don't include the word "Galoob" in your auction title, be sure to state "Galoob" or "Lewis Galoob Toys" in the body of your auction listing!)

3. Name of Specific Product (for example: Dragon Queen)

4. Type of Packaging (loose, complete, MIB, MOC, NRFB, etc.)

5. Condition of Item (EXC, GC, C9, C8.5, etc.)

6. Year of Production (ex. 1984--totally optional in the case of this toyline, as it had such a short run.)

So here are some sample auction titles in 45 characters or less (eBay's limit):
"Galoob Golden Girl Shadow w/Chariot MIB C9.5"
"Galoob Golden Girl - MOC Fashions Lot of 6"
"Moth Lady MOC - Golden Girl - Galoob, 1984"
"Golden Girl - Galoob - Collector Case - VGC"
"Golden Girl Galoob - Prince Kroma complete"
"Golden Girl Jade with box/accs - Galoob 1984"

These examples should help you keep auction titles informative. Flashy titles that contain useless info (e.g. "WOW!" "LOVELY!" "L@@K!") are completely unnecessary for an auction title, since most collectors find auctions by search engine rather than by browsing.

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Pictures & Description
Now we deal with the auction listing itself! Pictures are worth a thousand words. No auction photo = no bids. Buyers want to know that sellers are honest, that they have in-hand the items they're listing, and that their photos don't contradict the description stated in the auction.

Don't "borrow" photos from collector websites and use them in auction listings. If it's done without permission, then that's copyright infringement, and it isn't an image of the actual item you have for sale.

Take large, clear photos with good lighting so that details are visible. EBay allows one free auction photo, so you may as well take advantage of it. Good photo software can help you crop unneeded background from a picture so that the subject is as large as possible. Software can also scale down a picture to the 300x400 pixel image allowed by eBay (unless you pay to supersize your images) without losing picture-quality.
The two basic elements of the auction description are form and content. Basically, you want the form to be organized and easy to read so that viewers can get straight down to the content of your listing. Don't type in all-capital letters (on the internet, that's considered to be SHOUTING!). Also, don't write in long paragraphs with no breaks in the text. To insert a line break in your text, type <BR>.

Now, suppose you're listing a large lot of figures that have some but not all of their accessories. An example to follow would be to write a simple list with the name of each figure, followed by the accessories they have. If a figure is nearly complete, it's better to point out what pieces it's missing, so that its condition is unambiguous.

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Other Important Tips
Be honest about the condition of your merchandise! There are collectors out there looking for just about anything in any range of condition, so if your listing and price are honest and fair, you can expect that there's a collector out there who wants it. However. . .

Dirty or smoky-smelling items are less valuable to collectors than clean items. A little dirt can mask the true condition of your merchandise. Remember, time does equal money, and the value will go to the seller who's willing to put the time in before making the sale. It may as well be you.

Unsorted lots are less valuable to collectors than organized lots. Personally, I'd give a lot to see listings for loose figures that had the accessories that properly belonged to them. Trust me, the accessories are many times harder to find than the figures themselves, and many collectors will go through several of the same figure in an attempt to get one complete set of their proper accessories!

A related word of advice--list complete figures singly! It's pretty frustrating to the collector who's gone through six Rubee's looking for one crossbow, to see a seller come along with the full set of Guardians loose, with their complete set of accessories. By the same token, I'd recommend listing fashions separately from figures; mint-in-box items separately from loose figures; and vehicles and playsets separately from all other items. The horses and the palace are showpieces, and should not be listed in a case-lot unless they are in poor or incomplete condition.

Remember that there is an exception to every rule, though. If you know you have a sought-after set of items and you want to list them all together in the same auction, consider featuring your listing, to give it the attention it deserves.

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Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones™ is the property of Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. & Leisure Concepts, Inc. © 1984.
Artwork excerpted from Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones by Billie Randall, illustrated by Aristides Ruiz © 1985.
This website is the result of my hard work and therefore its content and all original images are the property of Tchakani © 2004, 2005.