[amylouky]

Hello all!
I was given a box of smurf figuines that belonged to my husband's uncle who passed away in the late 80's. I'm not really interested in collecting them.. how do I go about finding out whether some of them are rare, and what I should sell them for? Also, is ebay the best place to sell, or is there a better way? Opinions?
I have both of the praying smurfs.. what is a reasonable price to expect for them? I don't know a lot about them but they look to be in good condition.
Thanks!

[Smurfysmurf]

Welcome AmyLouky

Sounds like you got a nice box of smurfs ....Can you take pictures of the smurfs so we can have a look at them?

you may have some rare ones, but without a picture it is hard to say

Ebay is a good place to sell them

[Guest]

Hello there !

If you could send a picture of your collection to us, we would gladly give you advice, and maybe someone here might want something you have ! Until we know what you have, its hard to say, but those praying smurfs are a nice one to own !

Dont rush into selling them, E-Bay is good as you can get a good price, but not always, it really does depend what you have ! Try and get a picture to us and we'll see what happens ! This is the best place for not getting ripped off, as we are always on the lookout for people who try to do us a bad deal !

Hope this is a start for you

[amylouky]

Thanks!
I haven't taken pictures of all of them yet.. there are a ton!
I do have pics of the praying smurfs and a few others, if you'd like to see.
I'm fairly sure that none of them are fakes, since hubby's uncle passed away in the late 80's and they've been in a box in a closet since then. (shame, really).
I loved the Smurfs cartoons when I was little, and have been having so much fun looking through these, but I know I wouldn't have time to keep up with them.

[amylouky]

More smurfs.. I have only taken pics of about 1/4 of the box. There are probably about 150 altogether (haven't counted). I just don't know where to start. I would love to keep them, but I'm not really the collector type.
I don't think I have a lot of rare ones, but I don't know. Is there a guide out there somewhere?
Also, would it be better to list them individually, or as a few different lots? I was thinking I'd list the more rare ones separately, and the rest as 2 or 3 lots.

[amylouky]

A few more..

[Smurfysmurf]

Hi AmyLou

you might be able to get a nice price for the diver and helicopter especially since they come with the box

Do you have more supersmurfs in the boxes?

the praying smurfs should fetch a good price also....but be sure when you put them on ebay you use clear and close up pictures..I have noticed the more pictures I used for rare smurfs the more bids I usually got

I agree with you, I would put the supers in boxes up individually, the same goes for the praying smurfs...and depending what else you have put them in lots...

that sockel also looks nice..do you have more of them?

it is hard to say how much you will really get as ebay is very unpredictable

[amylouky]

Thanks for the advice!
I have about 15-20 of the Super Smurfs with the boxes. Most of the boxes are in kind of rough shape, though.
That does bring up another question.. some of the smurfs are a bit grubby, some have writing on their feet, and some have what looks like glue on their feet.. I think he may have had some of them glued to some kind of display. Should I try to clean them up at all before selling, or just take really good pictures and be very honest about the condition? I don't know anything at all about these things, I wouldn't want to mess them up trying to clean them.

[Rachel]

Hi Amylouky, welcome aboard.

Firstly I have to ask, are you sure you want to sell these smurfs? It is great fun collecting them and you would be starting with some very fine figures in your collection.

Okay, soooo you aren't going to become addicted like the rest of us!

As mentioned, the praying smurfs are hard to find so you should get decent prices for these and usually super smurfs complete with box will sell well too.

As for cleaning them, it is usually better to leave them in the condition they are in and to be honest because you could end up damaging them if you try to clean them up too much.

As Maureen mentions, if you are going to sell them in a large lot, take lots of pics so buyers can see everything included. If you don't want to take lots of individual pics, you can always show us pics with lots of smurfs in to be able to give you more of an idea.

[amylouky]

Thanks, Rachel!
Actually, I'm pretty sure that I do NOT want to sell them.. I'm having so much fun looking at them. But, I have to.. I just don't have room in my house for them. We're getting ready to adopt our first child, and are trying to "downsize". The story behind these guys is, we were getting ready for a yard sale.. my husband brought out a box of stuff that his mom had given him from her storage closet when we got married a few years ago, to get out of HER house. The Smurfs were in this box.. I hadn't seen them before! He was going to put the whole box in the yard sale for a few bucks! Glad I stopped him. (Although if any of you collectors are local, you're probably not..)
Thanks for the tips on selling them, too! I'd really like for someone who has time to appreciate them to have them, so they don't sit in a box for another 20 years.