About our pricing

This is a reference guide, not an appraisal

The price estimates on Farm Diecast are derived from actual sales data and are intended as a general reference for collectors. They are not formal appraisals and should not be used for insurance, estate, or legal purposes. Actual sale prices vary based on condition, buyer and seller location, timing, and factors we cannot observe.

Where the data comes from

Prices come from eBay today. Two further tiers are planned; all three are described below with the confidence each is intended to carry.

1. Tier 1: eBay active and sold listings (official API only). The highest volume of recent, verifiable farm toy transactions. Farm Diecast uses only eBay's official Browse API (no scraping) and matches listings to specific models by exact UPC, by the manufacturer stock number paired with the brand, or by a title term that is unique to a single model in the catalog. Tier 1 data is refreshed daily.
2. Tier 2: Auction house results. Specialist farm toy auctions (Polk, VanDerBrink, Aumann, and similar) regularly sell high-value collections with documented condition and provenance. These results carry higher confidence for rare and high-grade examples than open-market eBay sales. Planned addition.
3. Tier 3: Community submissions. Verified reports from collectors: private sales, local auctions, and swap meet transactions that don't appear in any online database. These are weighted lower than Tier 1/2 data but help fill gaps for scarce models. Planned addition.

Other marketplace links

Some model pages also link to listings on Etsy, Amazon, or Mercari, alongside the eBay price data described above. These links do not feed the price estimates on this site. Each one is added by hand after a human confirms the listing matches the correct model, edition, and condition.

Condition grades

Price estimates are keyed to condition. Listing pages show the label below for each grade, since it says more than the grade code alone. Collectors will recognize the code itself (NIB, EX, VG, G, F) from common convention.

Original packaging (open box) (NIB)

Unplayed with, original box present and intact, no shelf wear. The highest grade and typically highest value.

Pre-owned (excellent) (EX)

No play wear visible; may show very minor storage marks. No box, or box with minor wear.

Pre-owned (very good) (VG)

Light play wear, minor paint chips, or small decal wear. Still highly displayable.

Pre-owned (good / used) (G)

Moderate play wear, paint loss, or missing small parts. Complete and displayable but shows use.

Pre-owned (fair condition) (F)

Heavy wear, significant paint loss, missing parts, or damage. Value is primarily for parts or restoration.

The headline price shown on a model page reflects the most common trading condition for that model (usually NIB for Precision Classics). Other grades are shown in a detail table.

A listing's own title can shift its label further, since a title sometimes says more than the grade alone. A sealed NIB listing reads "Factory sealed (vintage stock)." One with a damaged or missing box reads "Pre-owned (no box)" or "Pre-owned (box damaged / reproduction)" instead of "Original packaging." A listing whose title flags it as for parts or incomplete reads "Parts / accessory / as-is," regardless of grade. One with no usable condition data reads "Condition not specified." These shifts only change how a listing is described. They don't change which grade a sale counts toward in the estimate above.

Sample size and confidence

Est. value is a weighted average of what buyers actually paid for completed sales, combining item price and shipping into one total per sale. When a sale doesn't list a shipping cost, Farm Diecast estimates it from that model's other sales. The estimate draws on completed sales from the past two years. More recent sales count for more than older ones, so the figure tracks where the market is now: a sale from 15 months ago counts for roughly half as much as one from this week. The low and high figures reflect every sale in that window equally, regardless of age, showing the full spread even when the headline estimate leans toward newer sales. Each model page states how many sales the estimate rests on and the date range they span. A model needs at least three recorded sales before Farm Diecast publishes an estimate; below that, or with no sales yet, the page shows a current asking price ("Available from") instead. When nothing has sold in the past few months, the estimate is labeled with the month of the most recent recorded sale. Every figure updates as new sales are recorded.

Variants and pricing

Some models were produced in multiple variants: standard retail issues, National Farm Toy Show specials, and dealer exclusives. Where the variant is known, prices are tracked separately per variant, since show specials often command a meaningful premium over standard releases.