So I have a bunch of old toys in my basement...

[Victim]

Actually, a lot of the transformers are up here now, because I've been looking to see what they all are. I'll probably be looking to start selling things (I hesitate to use the word collection considering I played with these toys...) "soon," all G1 models. Unfortunately, some Transformer pieces are in our other old toy bins, so I won't have a complete inventory until I actually go through everything (and I'm reasonably sure that some stuff is buried in our Legos... ).

However, I have some sort of basic questions first. A number of my bots are quite dirty (especially my Fortress Maximus that wasn't sealed in a container like the others). What's a good way to clean figures without messing up the decals on them?

Similarly, if a figure's transforming is really stiff, is there a good way to loosen the joints up?

The heat sensitive stickers on my Transformers no longer seem to be particularly sensitive. Just holding them didn't seem to do anything. Is this normal because of their age? Will something like holding a blow dryer on them for a bit make them work? Apparently, one of my toys is a micro-spy with no other faction markings, so that sticker is the only way to accurately identify it, right?

Also, I was planning on extensively photographing each Transformer and their parts so potential buyers could evaluate their condition. Describing things seems so subjective. However, as people who collect transformers, I figure you guys know what information you want to see more than I do. Are the pictures good? Should I instead try go for youtube videos to show the transforming (although the resolution would suffer) - and I no longer (or, in some cases like Scorponok, never) know how to shapeshift all the guys.

Thanks for all the help. This site has already been really useful; I only remembered a handful of names and proper accessory placements.

[LD2062]

As someone who sells on ebay pictures are the way to go. The more the better. Make sure they are well lit and in focus. Use the macro (flower) setting when taking them. The first image should always be a group shot of everything in the listing. With enough space between each item to show how much is there.

I like to upload a bunch of images of all sides of my item to an online gallery (photobucket) and then post a link to that gallery into my ebay description. That way the additional images are free. Ebay lets you post more than 1 image. But depending on which listing option you are using the additional ebay images can cost money.



Cleaning:
To clean everything including stickers and chrome the only safe thing I found are pledge brand wipes. I've not notice them damage anything. They are good for taking off dust and straight up dirt.

After the overall cleaning you'll probably notice a bunch of marks. I individually try cleaning them using q-tips.

isopropyl alcohol for marks from food, paint, ink. Be VERY CAREFUL when cleaning with this. get q-tip wet but squeeze it a little so it doesn't drip everywhere. This should really only be used on PLASTIC. It will take off chrome, paint, and bleach some stickers.

Use goo gone for sticky things, and ink or paint marks. I find this can with care be used on the painted areas. It strips the original paint as well as whatever mark you are trying to clean. But not as fast as the alcohol. So I find I can carefully clean off a mark and wipe it dry. You'll notice a bunch of the original paint on the q-tip but usually on the figure it'll look only slightly lighter. Which is bad, but often still better than having the painted area all marked up.

I recommend you practice on a broken or inexpensive figure before tackling your really valuable ones (like fort max!!!)

[Victim]

Thanks, I'll be looking for Pledge wipes next time I run errands.

Is this amount of picture coverage good? I tried to get all the decals and the stamp (of course, I think that part ended upside down...). The lighting on the first few is not great; I'll probably retake the overall shot at least.

Hmm, I'm trying to put the pictures in spoiler block, but none of the codes that work for that on other message boards seem to be enabled here.

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[Roadbuster]

That's a nice G1 Brainstorm!! Would love to see more pics of the toys you've found. Oh, and noticed you didn't have a pic of him in robot form. Here's a great site with G1 instruction scans in case you need it for reference: http://www.botchthecrab.com/archive/instructions/ It's helped me out a lot.

[LD2062]

Like I said, be sure to check the all the cleaning products on something less valuable before hand. I know some of the pledge wipes in the pack are much wetter than others (liquid will settle on whatever side is laying face down) I don't really know if a wetter one might cause some problems. Most of the items I sell are not vintage so I don't clean them as often as the more recent ones. Also I cannot recall if anything might hurt a working rub sign. I seldom get a vintage figure with working rubsign, and when I do it even more rarely needs to be cleaned.



The amount of pictures you have gives good views of the figures. But you should have 1 for the first listing photo where the headmaster and guns are separate from the jet. The headmaster and the guns are actually the more valuable items for this figure because they are so much harder to find. So you want to show everyone who glances at the photo that its complete with everything.

Make sure your listing title also includes all the important keywords:

Transformers
G1
Headmaster
Brainstorm
Arcana
Guns
Complete

I also like to add things like vintage, rare, takara, the date things like (nice, good, great) where appropriate and if there is room.

Be careful to use things like good, nice, great only where appropriate. Those are condition descriptions. Ebay may require you to refund the money if the item is not up to the standard you say.

If you are interested pm me and I'll send you a link to one of my ebay listings. I have a pretty high number of sales, and no negative feedback.

[Victim]

"Roadbuster:"

That's a nice G1 Brainstorm!! Would love to see more pics of the toys you've found. Oh, and noticed you didn't have a pic of him in robot form. Here's a great site with G1 instruction scans in case you need it for reference: http://www.botchthecrab.com/archive/instructions/ It's helped me out a lot.

Thanks. I'm actually surprised at the good condition a lot of my Tranformers are in. There were way more complete figures than I thought there'd be. Granted, not all of them are like that... I have a "special edition" 5 piece Jetfire - without guns - and a "Lt. Dan" Metroplex.

I have a lot more photos up on my photobucket now: http://s1263.photobucket.com/albums/ii6 ... nsformers/
There's pictures of Brainstorm in robot mode and with the parts separate, as well as other models, in named sub-albums.

Of course, the condition of some transformers is really baffling. Obviously, some of the figures are missing guns and such. OTOH, there are also guns that don't see to go to anyone, a cab without a trailer, and a trailer without a cab...

I've been able to figure out most of the transformations, but I do plan on looking up the bases since those tend to have lots of parts that are supposed to go somewhere.

Be careful to use things like good, nice, great only where appropriate. Those are condition descriptions. Ebay may require you to refund the money if the item is not up to the standard you say.

If you are interested pm me and I'll send you a link to one of my ebay listings. I have a pretty high number of sales, and no negative feedback.

The Pledge wipes you mentioned seem to be working well so far.

I was looking at previous sold listings to see how other people do it and get pricing info. I might have already seen one of yours.

Yeah, I really dislike those condition terms, because the contributing factors still seem rather subjective without examples or prior knowledge. I'm looking at their seller rules and policies to make sure I don't screw thing up.

Right now, it looks like I have the following Transformers with all the parts:

Joyride
Chromedome
Sixshot
Strafe
Snap Dragon
Getaway
Roadgrabber
Kup
Blot
Throttlemaster Bumblebee
Slapdash
Ramhorn
Slugfest
Brainstorm
Throttlemaster Rollbar
Wideload
Horribull
Airwave
Blaster
Swindle
Trypicon

[LD2062]

I always like to say things like" some paint/chrome wear, markings or other normal wear"