If you’re going to place an ad in the local newspaper or online then do a little research first to ensure that you put it in the right classified category. Don’t just mark it to go in a generic “toys” category. Do a little research first and you’ll find that you can raise your earning potential considerably.
First of all take a look through a few back issues of a classified ad magazine, or go through a lot of pages at an online classified ad site. Look at what people are selling and where they are selling it. Take a look at the index page and note the number of classified category sections there are under each general heading.
The reason for this is that if you are selling a toy car, then it may look as if it’s worth a couple of dollars. Even if you state that it’s in mint condition or new in its box, anyone who sees that in the generic “toys” section is not going to think of that car as anything special. It may have a good brand name, but if you’ve put it in a general section you won’t find it attracting much attention.
However, place it in the right classified category, perhaps under “collectible” or “1960s” or perhaps under a section for the TV series/movie the car was a merchandising item for, and suddenly you have a different ballgame. Collectors really do scan these classifieds looking to add to their collections, but they don’t all take the time to go through the thousands of “regular” toys looking for the extraordinary ones. Instead, they go to the classified category that’s most likely to have items in it that they are looking for.
If you have collectors looking at your toy car, you can be sure that you are going to get more or it than someone just looking for cars to add to their son’s toy box. So another thing you should do before placing the ad in the correct classified category, you should do a little investigation to find out what your car is worth!
You can usually do a search online for the kind of model car you are going to sell. You should find a current auction value for it, and perhaps a specialty store value. Keep in mind that the store/auction are likely to be a higher value than you will get because the sellers have to make a profit on what they paid for their toy car. However it does give you an indication of the kind of price you should ask for it.
When you place the ad (in the best classified category remember), don’t fix the price at whatever you believe to be a good rate for the item based on your research. Instead give the price you’d like, which shouldn’t be the lowest you will accept, and note that you will consider offers from interested parties. Depending on the rarity of your toy car you may find it sells immediately at your asking price, on the other hand you may find that you are contacted by collectors who will try to negotiate a better price. Whether you accept it or not is up to you – but one thing’s for sure, you probably wouldn’t be getting those offers at all if you hadn’t taken the time to identify the right classified category in the first place.