You might be surprised at some of the everyday items you have lying around that can sell for good money. Click or scroll through to see some of the most unexpected items that have sold for huge sums that you might have at home. But do bear in mind that the highest prices are achieved for items in really good or mint condition and often need to come in the original packaging.
Why bother finding where X marks the spot when the map itself is the treasure? If you or somebody you know happened to visit a Disney park in the 1970s, have a hunt around to see if you still have one of the maps. It might be a long shot, but collectors are willing to pay up to $100 for one.
Burger chain In-N-Out has been known to give out tokens at promotional events that can be traded in for a free burger. But instead of rushing to claim your hamburger combo meal, it could be worth selling off the coin instead. Collectors will pay up to $100 for the rarer coins, while other promotional tokens from the company could make you $25-$50 richer if you sell them on eBay. That would certainly get you a lot more than a burger.
Happy Meal toys tend to be used once or twice before making their way to landfills. But if you happen to have kept some of the rarer ones and they're still in the packaging, you'll be glad you held onto them. A collection of sealed, vintage Happy Meal toys recently went for $130 on eBay, while other more recent collections regularly fetch around $26-$39. Not bad for a freebie that comes with your fries.
Collectors always seem willing to pay out for well-preserved Disney merchandise, and if you have any stored away you could be sitting on a fair amount of money. This ATC Mickey Mouse push-button telephone from 1976 is worth $150 and similar items are likely to be equally in demand.
Football fans listen up: this rare box of cereal could score you some bucks. In 2015, an unopened box of Jerry Rice Wheaties from 1994 sold for $155 on eBay, as it was a collectors’ edition signed by Jerry Rice himself. Yes, you read that right – unopened, with the cereal still inside. Well, if you can't eat it, you might as well sell it...
It may be unlikely that you've kept a box of cereal unopened for over 30 years, but if for whatever reason you do have one lying around, it could be worth up a decent amount of cash. In 2014 a rare, unopened 1988 Nintendo cereal box sold for $208.49 on eBay.
You might not have appreciated getting that cheap bottle of perfume in the early 2000s, but it was a much better gift than you thought when you first unwrapped it if it was a bottle of Gap OM Eau de Toilette. Discontinued in 2001 after it had been selling for $20 a go, there are collectors who are now willing to spend $225 for a bottle of the stuff.
Doting parents probably won’t want to part with their sons’ Boy Scout memorabilia, but if they do some items could be worth a tidy sum. An assortment from the 50s and 60s, including medals, patches and two sterling silver rings, sold for $240 on eBay in 2016. If you have an older collection, it could sell for even more.
If you’ve seen Back to the Future or Groundhog Day, you may recognize these iconic flip-style clock radios that feature in them. Turns out collectors are willing to pay a surprising amount for the timepieces, with Panasonic flip clock radios often selling for as much as $300 on eBay. See if you’ve got one lying around – time is ticking…
Not many board games are worth decent money, but if you're in possession of this rare 40th anniversary edition of the cult game Risk, it could be worth selling it. Examples of this rare version have recently sold on Amazon for up to $300, so letting it go might just be a risk worth taking.
It’s common knowledge that there’s money to be made from china and silverware – but Pyrex? That’s right, this practical and fairly unremarkable crockery is highly sought-after by collectors. Well, if it has a rare pattern... A Sandalwood-patterned butter dish from the early 1960s recently sold for $369 on eBay.
Tamagotchi collectors also go mad for these incredibly rare P’s Pink Tamagotchis, one of which recently sold for $400 on eBay. That said, it was a mint condition example in a sealed box, so used versions are likely to sell for considerably less.
Have a sniff around your attic and see if you can find one of these. The price an old perfume bottle can command depends on the type of glass, the glass-maker, its rarity and the age of the bottle. However, vintage perfume bottles frequently fetch around $400 online, which is more than a few (s)cents.
One thousand Yoda keyrings sporting 'NY I Heart' T-shirts were given to customers buying X-Wing LEGO sets in a Times Square toy store in May 2013. The shop has since closed and the miniature Jedi master's value has soared – the current average value of one of the keyrings is $400, but it has fluctuated as supply and demand has shifted.
Even if you’re a cleaning fanatic, $425 is a serious price to pay for an old vacuum cleaner. Yet that’s exactly what collectors are willing to part with to get hold of a rare, restored 50s vacuum like this one. So if you’ve got one in the attic, it could be worth digging it out.
My Little Pony first trotted out in the 1980s and has since gained fans across a huge demographic, from young girls to middle-aged men. Lovers of the ponies are willing to pay big money for the tiny horses – rare individual vintage ponies have sold for $496 and that's even without the packaging.
Playing cards can be cheap to buy and worth a small fortune later on if they're kept in their packaging. Packs of cards from Jerry's Nugget Casino were sold off for 50 cents back in the 1970s, but have recently sold for $531 on eBay.
If you need further proof that Pyrex can be worth a lot, here it is. A set of six Pyrex items, comprising two casserole dishes, three refrigerator dishes and a pie plate in a rare turquoise color recently sold for a whopping $700 on eBay, so it's definitely worth checking your kitchen cabinets!
As technology becomes more advanced, more and more collectors are seeking out the simplicity and nostalgia that comes with older games. The Nintendo Game Boy Color is one of the sought-after devices, and the Australian Ozzie! Ozzie! Ozzie! version is particularly valuable, with one recently having sold on eBay for $708.
Apple stopped selling its Classic iPod model in 2014, which means that collectors – perhaps out of nostalgia or because of the tech’s increasing scarcity – have taken an interest. A first-edition model, ideally in its original packaging, can make you a surprising $785.
Who remembers Furby? The late-1990s toy was a must-have just two decades ago and now it’s come full circle, with rare, original white versions selling for a staggering $800. It’s worth bearing in mind that only the earlier versions are likely to fetch much money though.
You might have proudly taken your brand new lunchbox to school as a kid, and nowadays collectors approach these items with a similar level of excitement. So much so that they’ll spend thousands of dollars for certain editions: a Mickey Mouse example from the 1950s, along with a matching flask, recently sold for $1,000.
One person's old is another person's vintage, and when it comes to Levi's people are willing to pay big money for original denim. This vintage 1950s 507XX Levi's denim jacket recently sold for $1,039 on retro clothing site Rokit, and eBay is brimming with old pieces that are priced well into the hundreds.
If you've got a garage that's full of outdated technology, it could be a bit of a treasure trove. The Commodore 64 was a hugely successful computer model in the 1980s and 17 million units were sold when it debuted. The old computer originally had an RRP of $595, the equivalent of $1,800 in today's money, and can now be found on eBay going for up to $1,200 if you have the original packaging.
Who’d have thought lunchboxes could be so lucrative? A rare Star Trek lunchbox and matching flask (not pictured) recently sold for $1,496.
It’s time to dust off your old sneakers, because certain styles could be in fashion with collectors. Brands such as Adidas Originals (as pictured) can sell for a fortune online, with one seller recently pocketing $1,500 on eBay.
Anyone for a game of Monopoly? Don’t throw out your ancient version just yet – if it’s in good condition, it might be worth a fair sum of money. A 1991 Franklin Mint Limited Edition Monopoly sold for $1,600 on eBay, although it did come complete with a four-drawer stand and chairs. Similar versions without the extra furniture have sold for around $400.
In the 1980s there were very few Christmas lists that didn't feature a Cabbage Patch Kid (or Little People as they used to be called). Nowadays plush versions of the dolls are still highly coveted, but with a much bigger price tag: rare dolls can sell for up to $1,600.
It might be filled with nostalgia but, unless you're deeply devoted to your old boombox, it could be worth selling it on if it's in good condition. This particular model recently sold for a whopping $2,000, while other examples frequently sell for around $1,000-$1,500.
One lucky person brought a Tiffany’s lamp base, similar in style to the one pictured, onto the American version of the TV show Antiques Roadshow. They’d bought the base at a thrift store for $5, only to discover it was worth a massive $25,000. Even without their shades, antique lamp bases will often sell online for around $2,000.
They say you gotta catch 'em all, but there are some Pokémon that you'd be better off releasing if you're looking to make some cash. A mint, first-edition Neo Genesis Holo Typhlosion card sold on eBay for $2,390 at the end of 2019, so if you've got a big card collection stuffed away somewhere it could be a veritable goldmine.
IKEA furniture is known for being cheap. But can it sell for thousands of dollars? Yes it can, really. The flat-pack furniture could make you a tidy profit, as rarer pieces from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s can sell for high prices. This table is valued at $2,974.
Tin signs hanging around the house are a nice touch, but they could also be a nice boost to your bank balance. A Cadbury's advertising sign reached $4,595 on eBay recently and similar signs for other products have had bidders fighting for them.
We've seen that collectors are willing to shell out for rare Pokémon cards, and Yu-Gi-Oh! fans are no different. Billions of the cards have been sold worldwide, so the chances of finding a particularly rare one are slim, but if you have one like this first-edition White Dragon card, you might be able to sell it for upwards of $6,000.
If you’re a music fan who went to your fair share of concerts back in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, it might be worth digging out your old band T-shirts and seeing what they’re worth. One Nirvana T-shirt had the huge price tag of $6,987 because it allegedly belonged to Kurt Cobain’s bodyguard, and was only given out to crew during the 1993 In Utero tour.
Here’s another bit of plastic you probably threw away and now wish you hadn’t. It’s clear that for almost any niche item there’s a group of collectors willing to pay good money for it, even when that means spending $7,000 on a 1979 Pez dispenser. In fairness, there’s thought to be only one of this particular design in existence as it was only ever made as a prototype.
There’s clearly money to be made from band T-shirts, with this 1980s Run-DMC shirt selling to the tune of $13,022. The hip-hop trio had a partnership with Adidas, which bumps up the price of this rare example.
It's definitely worth trawling through the attic to see if you have any old children's toys that could be worth something. Vintage Fisher Price pieces tend to do particularly well, and this 1936 Push-Cart Pete toy sold for an impressive $12,500 at Morphy's Auctions back in 2007, which is equivalent to $15,550 in today's money.
Tetris is one of the best-known computer games going, but if you happen to have a copy of the 1989 version that was released on the Sega Genesis platform, you're in for a pleasant surprise. It's thought that only 10 copies of the game was produced, which has given them a huge estimated value of $25,000 each.
Even though advanced tech means that we have virtual reality and CGI at our fingertips, some gaming geeks are willing to spend thousands for classic games from the 80s. This Nintendo game, Family Fun Fitness: Stadium Events, was released in 1987 and is relatively scarce, although it’s still hard to believe that a copy sold for $35,100 on eBay earlier this year.
If you happen to have one of these IKEA chairs at home, it looks like you’re sitting on a goldmine. Unbelievably, the “clam” chairs have been known to fetch as much as $65,459 per pair at auction, as they were produced the year after the store was founded in 1943 and are very rare. That’s according to reports from Barnebys, a search engine that tracks auction house sales.
Ooshie fever swept Australia in 2019, with supermarket Woolworths giving away one of the Lion King-themed toys with every AU$30 spend. Shoppers were all looking for one of the 100 Furry Simba toys, and they quickly popped up on eBay for eye-watering sums of money. The largest amount spent on the rarest Ooshie was rumored to be $66,200, with over 100 bidders battling to own the little lion. There are other stories of people accidentally disposing of the tiny toys, so double-check before throwing one away!
Back in 2002, the world's oldest postcard sold for £31,750, the equivalent of $67,150 in today's money, after it was discovered among a stamp collection in the UK. While this was a record-breaking one-off, plenty of old postcards have recently been listed on eBay and they have sold for hundreds, which might be worth bearing in mind when you next root through old family things in the attic.
It's safe to safe that not every Coca-Cola bottle would sell for hundreds of thousands, but one-of-a-kind, mint condition bottles like this Coca-Cola Root Glass Co. modified prototype bottle could be one of the best things you ever find. Typically vintage pop bottles are more likely to sell for $5-$100, but that's still a better profit than if you'd just thrown the bottle into your recycling bin.