Why Tracking Your Toy Collection Can Increase Its Value

Tracking a toy collection can give you the extra value that will make you into a great collector. Tracking a toy collection can sometimes turn the hobby of toy collecting into an investment. For some other people, they already see their toy collection as a big investment in which tracking it helps to solidify and keep that high value.

People all around the world collect valuable toys to grow into a collection and watch their prices grow over time, turning them into valuable investments. However, if they are not tracked through the market and through inventory lists, your collection can greatly decrease in value.

Tracking a toy collection can turn "hidden value" of a toy into a clear, proven asset. Follow along in our blog with us as we show you how to track your toy collection and the importance of it in order to increase your collection's value.

Join Us in Seeing Why Tracking Your Toy Collection is Important

Follow along in our blog with us as we dive into why small accessories are important to track along with each toy's condition, waiting time, grading, authentication, and strategic selling. All of these things will appear throughout our blog as we show in detail the importance when it comes to tracking.

When these factors are put into practice, you will not only notice your collection is better taken care of and you know everything in your collection well, but you will also notice it's growth. Tracking your collection will take you from being a good collector to a great collector. Follow along as we dive deeper into the benefits of tracking a toy collection.

Track Small Accessories and Parts

First up, tracking the small accessories is something that is important but often overlooked. When keeping an inventory list or a catalog, it is important to know everything you have in your collection. Tracking all loose accessories for items and making sure all small pieces are in safe spots will help to increase your collection’s value

Through this tracking, you will be able to see every little bit of each item you have and track the value to know how much your entire collection costs. Often, the difference between a high valued toy and a lower valued toy is in the accessories and parts. If a toy is complete with all of the original pieces, it will hold a much higher value than a toy without all of the pieces. 

Because of this, some people search out these smaller items and pieces to make their collection complete. Also, tracking this is important if you have a toy that is missing a piece, maybe you will find it at some point and be able to put it back with the original toy it belongs with to increase the value.

Along with this, some rare items might be worth something even when it's not the entire toy, just a small part of it. Even if you don’t have the toy that goes with the accessory, tracking those parts will help to see if they are valuable on their own or if another collector might purchase yours for a higher amount due to demand. 

Your Collection's Condition

Next, the condition of your collected vintage toys makes such a huge difference in their value. Keeping track of your toys’ condition helps to see the history of your collection with how it has risen in value over time. Many toy collectors look for items that are mint-in-box to purchase and add to their collections. This means that the toy remains in its original packaging with all original pieces in good condition. Often, mint-in-box is as close as possible to the condition it was in when it first came out.

However, toys are so prone to damage, especially as they get older and more brittle. Because of this, most toys don't last after 20, 30, or 40 years. They break and go missing from just normal life playing with toys. Another thing to keep in mind is that toys are meant to be played with. It is why they released in the first place. However, the toys that are the most valuable today are the ones left untouched by time and look brand new, though they may be decades old.

It is important to track the condition of your vintage toys on your catalog or inventory lists so you can see how well you are taking care of them as well as having a more accurate understanding of the current value. For instance, you might record the condition of a toy when you first get it and then two years later notice that it remained in the same condition. From this, two years later, your toy most likely grew in value.

If you didn't track the condition, though, you may not have the same idea of how much your toy grew in value or how the condition of your items have changed. Have you cleaned them regularly or left them to sit on a dusty shelf? Have your toys been stored properly or have they been damaged by weather changes or flooding? Tracking your collection's condition will help with all of these areas to also better know how to take care of each item to increase the overall value.

Tracking Over Time

Another way that tracking can increase the value of your toy collection is over time. Toys grow in value over the years from rarity, nostalgia, and maintaining the condition. Tracking your toy collection can increase the value since you will be able to see the growth over time and know the history of each item as well as when the price raised or lowered for specific reasons. 

Since some items are in demand for only a short period of time, such as when a new movie comes out for the characters or when an actor passes away. Often these toys then rise in demand for fans and toy collectors. These items might rise for a short period of time, but steadily go down.

However, most toys gradually grow in value especially if the condition remains the same. If your toys are in mint condition and you take good care of them, years later, those same toys will most likely sell for much higher prices than they did when you purchased them. This is one reason so many people choose to purchase toys as investments.

Grading Toys

Another way your toy collection grows in value is by tracking the online market. Through this, you can understand the value of items and what makes certain toys sell for higher prices. Through tracking the market, you may notice that items in pristine condition sell for the highest prices.

From this, some of these toys are graded. Collectors send their high valued toys in mint condition to grading companies which helps with the authentication and preserving the value. As a collector, you can then track the market to see the value of your graded items.

Having graded items within your collection also might help when tracking through your own collection's catalog or inventory list. Through this, you can keep the documentation all in the same place and trust that your graded items will remain in their good condition as they are kept in acrylic packaging. Your collection will grow in value over time rather than decrease when you track and take good care of graded items.

Authenticated Toys

Another thing that will increase your toy collection is through tracking authenticated toys. Documentation for these toys is often necessary in order to keep the value. If the toy came with documentation proving it's authenticity when you purchased it but you no longer have that documentation, the value of your toy probably actually dropped in value.

However, authenticated toys are often incredibly valuable across the board. This includes limited edition, autographed, and graded items. These toys show authenticity for their rarity and uniqueness which is incredibly appealing to buyers and collectors, thus increasing the value.

It is important to track the documentation and the condition of your items in catalog or inventory lists to organize, take care of, and know where they are at which will ensure your collection will grow in value over time rather than decrease in value. When these toys are kept well, with all documents in good condition, the value will rise significantly over time from the rarity, quality, and demand from buyers.

Strategic Selling

The last thing we will mention with tracking a collection to grow it's value is when it comes to selling your toys. Most likely, there will come a time where you either sell your loved toy collection or someone else will sell the items. From this, it is super important and helpful to have a tracked collection.

Tracking your collection is great when you own it, but it is even more beneficial when you go to sell your items. Since vintage toys and other collectibles gain their value from the demand of the buyer, the selling process actually plays the biggest factor in how valuable your toys really are.

Planning ahead, taking good care of your toys, knowing what you have, and keeping it all organized in a safe spot through tracking your collection will ensure that your toys increase in value over time. This way, when you go to sell your toys one day, they will be worth much more than when you purchased them.

Final Thoughts

Tracking can make a world of difference when it comes to the value of your collection, especially over time. Everything from small accessories to expensive toys with documentations increase in value and are helpful to track in order to keep your collection in good condition and sell for high prices.

We trust this blog was helpful to you, thanks for following until the end. Follow along in our other blogs about tracking a collection to learn more!

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.