littleguymart:

This is how I look for toys online to help people find their missing buddies. This guide will mostly be for the U.S. because that’s where my experience lies. This should tell you both how to look for something of yours, and how to help people out online!

Asking for Help
-The best two places to ask for help are reddit.com/r/helpmefind, and the facebook group Plush Memories Lost Toy Search Service.  You can also post on lostmylovey.com.

-When asking for help, try to come up with the most detailed description of your item as possible. try to differentiate between what you’re less sure about and what you’re absolutely positive about— memories can play tricks on us!

-An image says more than any description. If you don’t have a photo of the item itself, a drawing can be super helpful for getting across the pose and proportions.

-Here are some questions to get you started in describing your item:
What kind of animal, character, or object was it? What colors was it? How big was it? Around what year would you have gotten it? Do you know where you got it? Did it come from a crane game or arcade? What pose is it in (sitting up, lying down, etc)? Did it have joints? If a plush, was it filled with stuffing, beans (like a beanie baby), both, or something else? Were the eyes plastic or stitched on? What about the mouth? How stylized was the face— was it cartoony, realistic, somewhere in between? What texture was the fur (ex: terrycloth, velvety, coarse, wooly, fluffy, stringy)? Do you remember it being in a ‘set’ with any other items? Do you remember anything about its tags?

Searching
-The first place I search is almost always picclick.com, which lets you see current eBay listings in a grid view.

-When I’m looking for an item that I’m not personally familiar with (for example, on someone else’s description), I scan along the images looking for specific characteristics. For example, I might search something like “vintage white bear plush”, and look very quickly across the images, stopping only when I see ones with a pink plastic nose (assuming in this case that that’s something the person remembers). Then I cross-reference the ones I stop at with the description I have to see if it could match.

-If you have a brand name or even better, the specific name of the item, search that first. Then expand to get more general. Think about what a seller is likely to highlight in their listing— they may not put “plastic eyes” in the title of the listing, but they might put something that seems special, like “heart nose”.

-For claw machine plush, try searching for the following brand names with what you’re looking for: fiesta, peekaboo, king plush, national entertainment network, toy network, carnival toy co, national prize & toy co, toy factory, kellytoy, teddy time, emerald toy co. for example, “fiesta green cow”.

-If even a general search doesn’t get you far, try looking through toys sold in lots, especially if you need to find a photograph of your item. For example, “vintage plush frog lot”.

-Another place to search for information is worthpoint.com, which is an archive of sold eBay auctions. If your item can be distinctively described (for example “vintage yellow pink bunny plush gund”) and there’s still no trace on eBay, try looking on worthpoint. It might give you an old auction with a photo, a brand name, a toy line name, etc. 

-If you’ve posted asking for help someplace, keep your post updated with any new pictures or information you find. If you find a picture but not an active listing, save the photo to your device. Old listings can often expire since so much information passes through eBay every day.

Buying Tips
-If you find what you’re looking for, but it’s too expensive, try adding the listing to your watchlist. Especially if the item has been for sale for a long time, sometimes the seller will send you a offer. This works on eBay as well as secondhand selling apps like Mercari.

-If shipping is super expensive and is “expedited”, as the seller if they would be willing to ship standard. Some sellers set the shipping to expedited by accident!

-You can ask sellers if they’re willing to split lots. They might say no, but it’s worth asking.

-Similarly, you can ask sellers if they will re-list items that ended without being sold. Often they will if they know they have a buyer (you!)  

Extra Places to Look
-eBay isn’t the only place to find information or listings for sale. Here are some other sites:

Buying secondhand items:
-kidizen
-mercari
-poshmark
-depop
-etsy
-http://ronsrescuedtreasures.com/
-https://plushmemories.com/lovie-shoppe/
-https://asuwishshop.ecrater.com/c/1079522/plush-toys-loveys  
-your local facebook marketplace
-your local craigslist

Identifying your item/finding a photo of it:  
-pinterest
-checking the archives of ebay blogs (you can filter by tag in the archive, for example, ebayfriends.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/dog)
-collector’s personal sites and forums (for example, google “rubber duck collecting forum”)
-here’s an example of a really fun personal site on rubber ducks: http://rubberduckpond.com/index.htm  
-trampt.com keeps track of designer vinyl toys
-lastdodo.com is a collection-organizing website that has a lot of information about European kinder surprise type toys.
http://animaltoyforum.com and http://www.dinotoyblog.com  are helpful for small plastic model animals and dinosaurs
bogleech.com knows a lot about monsters, halloween, and “gross” toys
littleweirdos.net knows a lot about tiny plastic capsule toys, often monsters.