Is It Worth Getting My Toys Professionally Appraised?

Do you have a collection of toys you don’t know the value of? Maybe you used to know the value but the market has changed so much and you are looking into an appraisal for your toys. There are different kinds of appraisals and different companies do them a bit differently. 

There are pros and cons to getting your toys professionally appraised in most scenarios. So, is it worth it to get your toys professionally appraised? What does it even look like? Follow along in our blog with us today to hear more about the different appraisals for toys and learn if these are well suited for your collection. Stick around to see if it is worth it to get your toys professionally appraised.

Stick Around to See if It is Worth It to Get Your Toys Professionally Appraised

Follow along with us as we mention different factors to help you determine if you should get your toy collection professionally appraised. We will mention aspects such as protection, decision making, selling, inherited items, research, and types of appraisals. 

Protection

First up on our blog, we will mention the protection that can come with getting an appraisal for your toys. While there are both free appraisals and ones you have to pay for, the appraisals with a fee are often the ones who give you documentation at the end of the appraisal. 

Getting a professional appraisal allows you to have formal documentation of your toys’ authenticity, condition, and monetary worth. This is necessary for proper insurance coverage. Since most homeowner policies don’t fully cover your high valued toys and collectibles, an appraisal allows you to protect your items fully through securing a dedicated valuable items policy or through collectibles insurance. 

Along with this, the appraisal will allow you to get insurance to protect your toys from theft and damage from environmental factors before it happens. Retail replacement value is typically used for insurance reasons. This is different from the fair market price as they use the perceived value between a buyer and seller for this.

The retail replacement value used for insurance here is the highest amount that the insurance company would replace with another item of similar age, quality, origin, and condition if something were to happen to your item.

Making the Decision to Keep or Sell

Another thing an appraisal can help you do is to make a decision if you are in between selling your toys and keeping them. Whether it is a free appraisal or one you pay for, the results of your toy collection’s value may help you decide if you should keep the toys or sell them. 

Some people are wanting an appraisal to know how much their toys are worth in a time of financial distress or wanting to pass them down to the next generation. If your appraisal comes back with your toys at a high value then some people decide to sell them to get the monetary value for them while others decide they want to keep their high valued toys.

An appraisal will most likely give you a much more accurate assessment of your toys than if you did the appraisal yourself. This is because toy experts evaluate and research your specific items with an unbiased view to get an accurate number for their monetary value. 

Selling

An appraisal can also help you greatly when it comes time to sell. Because a professional appraisal gives you an accurate and unbiased assessment of the real market value, if you have an up to date appraisal then you know the amount you should sell your toys for because you know their worth. 

Getting a professional appraisal helps you to set a fair price on the market as well as being able to prove the condition and authenticity of your toys. Your listings when selling your toys are more likely, in this case, to attract more serious collectors and buyers.

A professional appraisal will help potential buyers to see the documents of authentication, condition, and value which helps to build trust with buyers rather than just listing them for a price and having no one buy your toys. With an appraisal, your buyers will gain trust and desire your toys to add to their collections. 

The buyers will want to know the process by which the item’s value was determined. If they see documentation and authentication, they will want to know the means by which you got their value. It typically looks really good and builds more trust if they see you got the authentication, documentation, and value from a professional appraisal. 

If You Inherited The Toys

Whether you get passed down a toy collection from someone downsizing, moving, or someone passing away, the toys can still hold great emotional value and significance whether you are truly interested in the items or not simply just because of who they came from. 

Most of the time, when you get a collection passed down to you, you remember how much the people who grew the collection loved their items and spent time growing it just how they wanted. Receiving these toys can bring sweet memories of these people and many decide to keep them even if they do not want to continue collecting themselves. However, when you inherit toys, you will most likely want to get an appraisal right away. 

If you inherited the collection from someone who passed away, you will need a “date of death” value to give to the IRS for taxes or an estate lawyer later if you decide to sell them. This can be done with a professional appraisal as they give you an accurate assessment of your toys’ current value. 

Regardless, if you inherited a toy collection, it is very valuable to know how much the toys are worth. Even if there was an inventory or estimate of the value, it may not be up to date and it will be super helpful if you get an appraisal to know how much they would sell for on the market today. 

Research Appraisers and Pricing

A very important thing to do throughout this process of deciding if it is worth it to get your toys professionally appraised is to research appraisers and their pricing. There are expert toy buyers and companies who give free appraisals and there are also professionals who offer appraisals for a cost. These appraisals often offer different things. Some of the free appraisals don’t offer official documents and authenticity but will still give you an accurate value and assessment of your toys. 

Is it worth paying to get your toys professionally appraised? That depends on how much you are willing to spend and what you are looking for. Free appraisals still give you an accurate assessment while paid appraisals will give you the same thing but with other benefits, depending on the company. 

Depending on the appraiser, you may end up spending anywhere from $75-$500 for professional appraisals that are not free. A typical appraiser will probably charge between $100-$250 per hour. These prices of course depend on the size, type, and complexity of the appraisal.

Another thing to consider is that many of the free appraisals are done online while the paid ones may be done in person. Some people think that appraisals online aren’t as accurate. While this may be true if you send in low quality pictures or not all of the information the appraiser asks for, an online appraisal is often just as accurate. 

Another thing that will prove to be helpful is to check the reviews on each appraiser you look in to. The reviews will help you decide if you should do it and if this person is right for you. 

Your appraiser should have expertise and thorough knowledge on the specific type of items you have. When you are looking for someone to give you an appraisal you should choose someone who knows about the value of toys extensively. Don’t choose someone who does not have specialized knowledge in this area. 

The type will also determine the price- paid appraisals are often needed for tax, insurance, and legal purposes as they provide documentation at the end. However, free appraisals are typically just verbal appraisals where no documentation is given. Both prove to be incredibly profitable- especially for extensive and rare toy collections.

Types of Appraisals

Insurance Appraisal

An insurance appraisal for vintage toys is an appraisal given by a professional. With this appraisal, a signed documentation is given to you that shows the retail replacement value of your toys. This is needed when getting collector's insurance or another specialized insurance.

Since homeowner's insurance typically doesn't cover the entirety of vintage toys and collectibles, many people need collector's insurance on top of that. In order to get this, you will need the retail replacement value which can come through an appraisal.

This type of appraisal protects your toys and also has set boundaries in place for replacing your toys if anything were to happen to them. It gives you the beginning of extra protection before anything happens.

Fair Market Appraisal

The next type of appraisal is the fair market appraisal. This one differs from the insurance appraisal as it is needed and helpful when it comes time to sell the items and for tax reasons. While an insurance appraisal gives the retail replacement value, a fair market value is different.

This kind of appraisal gives you the value of your toys based off their real and current market value. The appraiser looks at market trends and demand along with recend sold listings and the condition of your items to get an accurate assessment of the value for your collection or items.

Verbal Appraisal

This last kind of appraisal we will mention is a verbal appraisal. This type of appraisal typically does not include any kind of documentation or signed certified papers. This appraisal is just a verbal assessment by an expert of the value of your toys.

This appraisal is typically free of charge and is helpful for the general understanding of your colelction's worth from an expert, getting ready to sell, and building an inventory. It is always good to have an up to date appraisal so you know the value of your items at any given time. A verbal appraisal helps greatly with this.

Final Thoughts

There are multiple different types of appraisals, each with a range of prices. While an appraisal with a cost will prove to be beneficial to many collectors at some point in their collecting since they offer a signed document that is needed for insurance and tax purposes, a free appraisal is beneficial to just about anyone with vintage toys.

Especially if you have a rare or extensive vintage toy collection and you don't know the current value of it, a free appraisal will give you the insight you need, will prepare you to sell, and will keep your toy's values up to date. Reach out to us at Wheeljack's Lab today to get a free appraisal and sell your toys today.

Do You Have Old or Used Toys?

Don’t let your collection sit in storage gathering dust—turn it into cash! At Wheeljack’s Lab, we specialize in evaluating and buying vintage and used toys, from single standouts to entire collections.

Our friendly, expert team has decades of hands-on experience in collectible toys, so you can expect honest evaluations and a smooth process from start to finish. Ready to sell? Call us at 888-946-2895 and let’s get started.

About the Owner, Chris Ingledue

Chris is the founder and owner of Wheeljack’s Lab Pop Culture and Toy Shop. His vision has always been to reconnect collectors with the toys and pop culture that shaped their childhoods—sparking memories, nostalgia, and imagination along the way.

Each day in the “Lab” feels like Christmas year-round. From scouring the internet for the next great treasure—much like flipping through the Sears Catalog of years past—to eagerly awaiting the postman’s arrival like Santa himself, Chris lives and breathes the thrill of the hunt. Helping collectors around the world experience their own version of Christmas is what makes being a vintage toy buyer an absolute joy.