Collectibles in Sweden: 2,237 adverts and how to trade them

What this category really contains

The "other" category in Sweden is the collectors' corner, and it is the largest single block in the country on Seekuro: 2,237 live adverts. Calling it miscellaneous undersells it. In practice it is vinyl records, board game expansions, retro toys, coins, Nordic design pieces and the kind of object that only makes sense to the person who has been looking for it for years.

A walk through the current adverts shows the pattern. Vinyl and music: Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland, Morgen's self-titled LP, The Go-Go's. Collectible toys and games: HeroQuest Kellars Keep expansions, a 4.5 cm Star Wars Admiral Ackbar Lego figure from 2010. Coins: an 1878 Morgan dollar. Swedish and Nordic design and folk objects: a Musse Pigg wall decoration from Jie Gantofta, an antique Dalarna folk costume doll made by C.F. Kling between 1880 and 1900, net brand marks from the Blekinge archipelago, Marimekko fabric sets. Then the ordinary household end: scented tealights, a Marc by Marc Jacobs watch, polished apatite cabochons.

Almost all of it comes from Tradera, Sweden's large auction marketplace, which is why the category reads like an auction catalogue rather than a classifieds page.

What things cost

Asking prices run from about 5 to 1,100 Swedish crowns across the adverts that carry a price, with the middle sitting at 75 crowns. That is the shape of a collectibles market: a long tail of small, cheap items and a short head of pieces worth real money.

Under 50 crowns you are looking at single tealight sets, loose Lego figures, common DVDs and records with no particular scarcity. Around the 75 crown middle are ordinary vinyl albums in playable condition, board game pieces and costume jewellery. Above 500 crowns you reach the items with a name attached: early Gantofta ceramics, a complete HeroQuest expansion in its box, a silver dollar, a signed or first pressing record, an antique doll with documented provenance.

The gap between 75 and 1,100 crowns is almost entirely about condition and completeness, not about the object itself.

How to judge condition before you pay

In collectibles, condition is the price. The same record can be worth 40 crowns or 900.

For vinyl, ask about both the sleeve and the disc, because sellers often describe only one. Ask whether it has been played and on what. Ask for a photo of the run-out groove, the blank area near the label, which carries the pressing information. A first pressing and a 1980s reissue look identical in a listing photograph and are not worth the same.

For board games and boxed toys, completeness is everything. A HeroQuest expansion missing three figures is a different product from a complete one. Ask for a photograph of all the contents laid out, not the closed box.

For coins, never buy on a description alone. Ask for sharp photographs of both faces in daylight, and ask whether the coin has been cleaned. A cleaned coin loses a large part of its value and the damage cannot be undone.

For ceramics and glass, ask the seller to run a finger around every rim and foot and describe what they feel. Hairline cracks do not photograph. Ask explicitly: any chips, any restoration, any crazing.

For textiles like a Marimekko set or an antique costume, ask about fading, moth damage and whether anything has been washed or repaired.

Writing an advert that sells a collectible

Collectors search for exact words, so the advert title decides whether you are found at all. Put the maker, the model or title, and the year in it. "Star Wars Admiral Ackbar Lego figure 4.5 cm 2010" finds its buyer. "Lego figure" does not.

Say the condition in plain words and name the flaws yourself. A collector who finds the chip you did not mention will not buy from you again, and in a small market that matters.

Photograph on a plain background in daylight, from several angles, and include a close photograph of any mark, signature, stamp or serial. On Nordic ceramics the maker mark on the base is often the whole reason somebody buys.

Say what you know about where it came from. An antique doll with a date and a maker is a different item from an old doll.

Because Seekuro republishes your advert in six languages, a Swedish collectible becomes visible to buyers in Germany, Finland, Norway and Spain who would never have seen it. Keep your sentences short and plain and the translation will carry your meaning.

Posting, paying and meeting

Most items in this category are small and light, which is the great advantage of collectibles: a record, a coin or a Lego figure posts easily anywhere in Europe.

Pack to survive a sorting machine. Records go between two stiff boards in a proper record mailer, never loose in a padded envelope. Coins go in a capsule or flip, taped inside a rigid card, never loose. Ceramics need a double box, with the item wrapped and then suspended in filling so nothing touches the outer wall.

Agree the postage before you agree the price, because on a 75 crown item the postage can be half the deal.

For anything expensive, use a tracked service and tell the buyer the tracking number. For an item worth several hundred crowns, ask whether the sender insured it.

If you meet in person, meet somewhere public and in daylight, and bring the item in its packaging so the buyer can inspect it properly before handing over money.