With the craze of collecting dolls, the number of places that have popped up where you can actually find them have multiplied like rabbits over the years. Where it used to be that some dolls were close to impossible to find, now all you pretty much have to do is just turn around and you'll find what you're looking for.
The first place to find collectible dolls, believe it or not, is right at your local toy store. Places like Toys R Us and Kay-Bee Toys actually make it a point to stock dolls that are in great demand. You're not going to find the old collectibles at these places but if a doll is new and sure to be a hit or is of a series that has been popular for a long time, like Barbie, you can be sure that the latest addition to this collection is going to be at one of these two stores. And sometimes your Ma and Pa store will carry some very rare dolls that you won't find anywhere else. So make sure you check those out too.
Another place to find collectible dolls is at what they call a specialty store. There are many of these all over the place. Most of them usually specialize in collectible trading cards like Magic The Gathering, but some also stock some very old collectible dolls or at least know where to get them if you put in a special order, which you can do. Just expect to pay a bundle for something purchased from one of these stores. The markup on these items will make your head spin.
Then there's the local newspaper. There are always people advertising dolls that they have for sale in them. Usually a paper will have a special section in the classifieds called collectibles. In this section you'll find what the doll is and a phone number so you can call the person. Many specialty stores also advertise their weekly specials in this section in order to get you to come down to their establishment.
Finally, there is online. The Internet is a virtual paradise for collectibles. The main place that people seem to go to is Ebay. But you have to be very careful when trying to get a collectible doll from Ebay. Because this is an auction site you're not guaranteed a fixed price. The bidding for each doll will usually start very small unless the owner of the doll sets the starting bid very high, especially if it is a very hot item. But with many people bidding on this item you could end up spending a fortune on a doll that is maybe worth half as much. So make sure you pick a price that you are not going to go above before you start your bidding.
Other sites like privately run web sites may be a little more reasonable. The price will be fixed and in most cases will actually be below book value. That is the lure of these sites. They make it seem like you're getting a great deal, which you are if you're a die hard collector and plan to resell the doll down the road.
Yes, there are many places to find the doll you want. Just make sure you don't get taken to the cleaners in the process.
One fact about collectible dolls that is pretty certain is that people will most likely always continue to collect them. That is not the issue that is in question in this article. What is in question is if we'll be collecting these dolls simply for our own enjoyment or if there will continue to be a market for new collectible dolls.
Back in the days when collecting anything was unheard of, most of the dolls that people bought eventually ended up in the trash or collecting dust in an attic. Certainly we didn't go through the trouble of hunting high and low for a certain doll, paying good money for it and then bringing it home only to let it sit in its box on a shelf. But that is the reality of today's collectors. All because one day somebody realized that all these original dolls like Barbie and G.I. Joe were slowly disappearing from the world and that maybe they might be worth something. And then it started.
The guides started coming out telling people that a 1959 Barbie doll could get them $2500 at a sale if they could find one. That's when the craze started. It was like somebody had told the human race that their oxygen supply was about to run out if they didn't all jump off a cliff. People started running to garage sales, antique shows, novelty shops, and then when the Internet became as popular as it is today, they started to hit every auction site they could find, not just to buy but also to sell if they had anything worth selling.
The problem with this new attitude about old things was that people began to think it would carry over to newer things that they purchased. Whenever someone saw a new doll they would buy it, hoping that someday it would be worth a lot of money and they would have something either for their retirement or to pass along to their children. The problem with that thinking is that the reason the old dolls were actually worth something was because people didn't keep them. Most ended up in the trash. But with the new attitude of saving everything and anything, the value of the newer dolls, even years later, was getting to nowhere near the current value of the older dolls. To give you an idea of this problem, a doll that was purchased 10 years ago for say $20 wouldn't be worth more than $25 today. The estimated value of these dolls even in 20 years isn't more than $35 or $40. People were not seeing the increase in value that they were hoping for. Why? Because everybody was saving these dolls. There were literally as many of these doll 10 years later as there were when they first came out.
Does this mean that collectible doll collecting for profit is dead? The experts say that for the newer dolls, yes, but the older dolls will always go up in value.
Some companies are trying to counter this problem by releasing dolls in limited quantities. But it is still doubtful that even these dolls will ever be worth what an old Barbie Doll is worth, simply because all these dolls will ultimately end up in its original box on a shelf. Something that Barbie never had the luxury of.
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