• Choose Decorative Collectibles

• Understand Seasonal & Holiday Collectible Terms

• Find Seasonal & Holiday Collectibles on eBay

• Buy Seasonal & Holiday Collectibles With Confidence

Choose Decorative Collectibles

Choose Decorative Collectibles

Companies such as Hallmark, Lenox, Dept 56, and Longaberger make a wide variety of seasonal collectibles designed to elicit holiday cheer and inspire your spirit of giving.

Welcome winter with holiday collectibles

The cold winter months give you the perfect opportunity to deck your halls with Christmas collectibles, illuminate your home with Hanukkah collectibles, or simply celebrate the winter season.

• Christmas ornaments: Christmas ornaments can set the theme of your Christmas tree or make charming decorations year-round. Simple, traditional choices include Precious Moments ornaments, Hummel ornaments, and Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments that reflect a variety of traditions. Those looking for understated elegance may want to consider silver or hand-painted fine china Lenox ornaments or simple, ivory Margaret Furlong ornaments in the shape of angles, snowflakes, and more. In 1986 collectors began discovering the joy of collecting Christopher Radko ornaments and you can find more than 10,000 designs today. These handcrafted European mouth-blown glass ornaments are painted by hand with some reflecting the holidays and others recreating retro American ornaments of the 1940s and 1950s. Looking to let loose and have some fun with your ornaments? Consider Lenox ornaments in the shape of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Snoopy, or Sesame Street characters or Midwest of Cannon Falls ornaments depicting Looney Tunes characters. Midwest of Cannon Falls also produces candy- and s'mores-themed ornaments. Consider ornaments when looking for special gifts for people celebrating December birthdays, moving into a new home, or welcoming a new baby during the winter holiday season. 

• Snow-covered villages: Create a winter wonderland at home with collectible snow-covered villages that include miniature buildings and bundled-up figures. Dept 56 has the largest selection of villages on eBay, most with a winter theme. For example, snow-covered Dickens Village buildings and figures suggest Victorian England, Christmas in the City villages recreate New York in the 1930s and 1940s, and The Original Snow Village evokes small town America. You can also find villages in the same style as your favorite figurines and ornaments, including Hallmark villages and Precious Moments villages. Lighted villages such as PartyLite villages and Thomas Kinkade villages may also illuminate the season, helping you celebrate the festival of lights.

• Christmas collector plates: Bing & Grondahl sold the first dated Christmas collector plate in 1895. With the popularity of that series, Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates, Rosenthal Christmas plates, Bareuther Christmas plates, and Svend Jensen Christmas plates soon followed. Today you can find Norman Rockwell Christmas plates featuring Santa, Avon Christmas plates, the latest Bing & Grondahl Christmas plates, and more. Companies can choose to set a firing limit, meaning that they only make a collector plate during a specified number of firing days. A series of collector plates with a lower firing limit typically has fewer plates produced, which often makes a plate more desirable to collectors.

• Christmas figures and figurines: Santa figures and Santa figurines allow jolly old St. Nick to visit to your house every day and you can find reindeer figures and reindeer figurines to keep him company. More religious households may consider angel figures and angel figurines while those who'd rather have general reminders of the season might want to search for snowman figures and snowman figurines. Look for Norman Rockwell Christmas figurines, Precious Moments Christmas figurines, or Christmas Hummel figurines if you collect works of art by Norman Rockwell, Sam Butcher, or Sr. M.I. Hummel.

• Nativity scenes: Nativity scenes often inspire Christmas spirit during the holidays. Companies such as Enesco, Hallmark, Roman, and Goebel produce crèches in various sizes and materials to fit your preferences. Hummel nativity scenes and Precious Moments nativity scenes can help bring a special sense of innocence to your Christmas. Newlyweds, new parents, and couples moving into a new home during the holiday season may also appreciate a Lenox nativity scene, Dept 56 nativity scene, or Heartwood Creek nativity scene as a gift.

• Menorahs and candles: Celebrate the festival of lights with a decorative Menorah and Hanukah candles. Some complete Menorah sets even include collectible dreidels.

• New Year's noisemakers: Ring in the New Year with New Year's collectibles such as noisemakers, commemorative pins, and more. New Year's also gives you the perfect opportunity to pick up commemorative gifts such as newly-released limited edition collector plates, photo frames, and champagne glasses for people who plan to marry, welcome a new baby, or experience milestone birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations in the coming year.

• Valentine's Day tokens of love: Before the snow starts to melt and ground begins to thaw, warm your heart by cuddling up to your special someone on Valentine's Day. When looking for a Valentine's Day gift, consider Hallmark Merry Miniatures to commemorate your first year as a couple, glass roses, or collectibles made of Swarovski crystal. Beautiful music boxes and dainty trinket boxes can also make excellent gifts for any occasion, including Valentine's Day, birthdays, and anniversaries. Bride and groom figurines and bride and groom plush toys make a cute gift for couples tying the knot.

Experience spring with collectible bunnies, chicks, eggs, and more

Spring-themed collectibles focus on new beginnings, celebrating new life with fresh flowers, eggs, chicks, bunnies, and lambs.

• Shamrocks and shillelaghs: Kick off the spring season a few days early by trying to capture the luck of the Irish. You can pick up a wide selection of St. Patrick's Day collectibles to show your green, from leprechaun figurines to Erin Go Bragh flags. Consider collectibles featuring shamrocks, four-leaf clovers, pots of gold, and shillelaghs. St. Patrick's Day jewelry can also make a fun gift for the Irish lass in your life.

• Easter baskets: Easter baskets, the quintessential spring collectible, can hold Easter eggs as well as new blooms that infuse your surroundings with spring scents. Longaberger baskets become especially popular with collectors this time of year and make popular housewarming gifts. To finish your collection, you may want to look for Peterboro baskets, Royce Craft baskets, and Henn Workshops baskets as well.

• Spring figurines: From children clad in bonnets and sandals to bunnies, chicks, and floral scenes, you can find a wide selection of Precious Moments figurines, Hummel figurines, and other Easter figurines that add a touch of spring to your shelves and countertops. Pastel-colored spring-themed figurines can also make sweet gifts for parents of a new baby.

• Easter eggs: While the kids hunt dyed Easter eggs outdoors, you can decorate with enduring ornamental Easter eggs inside. Vintage papier-mâché Easter eggs and Easter hearts, some hand-painted by artists in Erzgebirge, Germany, may show flowers, chicks, ducks, or Beatrix Potter characters such as Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny. Ornate, bejeweled Fabergé eggs made of glass or porcelain may better fit into formal settings such as formal dining rooms and living rooms. Also consider Fabergé eggs and Fabergé egg trinket boxes as gifts for new homeowners or anyone who admires their intricate gold enamel designs.

• Easter plush toys: Plush Easter bunnies, plush chicks, and plush lambs can complement your collection of plush toys and give you the opportunity to start a plush toy collection for a child. For example, you can find Boyds Bears rabbit and egg plush toys.

• Mother's Day gifts: As spring comes to an end, remember to celebrate the person who gave you life on Mother's Day. You can find commemorative Mother's Day collector plates from Avon, Bing & Grondahl, and Norman Rockwell as well as Longaberger Mother's Day baskets. You could also choose Precious Moments figurines, Hummel figurines, or pick up collectibles featuring the work of your mom's favorite artist.

Celebrate summer with collectibles for dads, grads, and veterans

Start the summer season by choosing gifts for the dads and grads in your life.

• Graduation gifts: Graduates may long for a new car, digital camera, camcorder, or trip to Europe, but gifts such as graduation bears and graduation figurines dressed in caps and gowns can become sentimental favorites. Graduates may also appreciate a music box that plays a favorite tune, specialty diploma frame, or trinket box to store graduation charms.

• Father's Day gifts: When shopping for dad, consider Father's Day plates and Longaberger Father's Day baskets along with neckties, power tools, and golf clubs.

Summer also provides ample opportunity to show your patriotism and honor America's soldiers, past and present. American flags and other stars and stripes collectibles can help you remember a fallen soldier around Memorial Day or celebrate America's independence on July 4.

Harvest fall collectibles

Halloween and Thanksgiving inspire a feast of fall collectibles, artwork, and crafts featuring pumpkins, scarecrows, and leaves in earthy autumnal colors.

• Halloween props and decorations: Make eBay your headquarters for Halloween shopping. To conjure a haunted Halloween, you can unearth ghoulish corpse, zombie, and coffin Halloween props for an unnerving haunted house or find more kid-friendly Halloween decorations and Halloween lights to entice trick-or-treaters. Halloween decorating themes range from skeletons, spiders, and black cats to ghosts, witches, vampires, and jack-o-lanterns.

• Thanksgiving cornucopias and more: As you sit down to a Thanksgiving feast, surround your family with colorful cornucopias, autumnal leaves, turkeys, pilgrims, and other Thanksgiving collectibles. You can even find commemorative Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade snowglobes.

Lemax villages with a Halloween theme or autumn setting can also help you set the mood of the season.

Understand Seasonal & Holiday Collectible Terms

Understand Seasonal & Holiday Collectible Terms

To determine how much you should expect to pay for seasonal collectibles and holiday collectibles, search Completed Listings to find out what similar items sold for on eBay in the past 14 days. Also understand some of the terms sellers use to describe certain collectible editions.

• Limited edition (LE): A seasonal or holiday collectible may be limited by a specific, announced number (such as 5,000 or 10,000) or by time period. Limited edition collectibles typically show two sets of numbers, usually on the back or base of the item. The higher number indicates the total number produced while the lower number indicates which one you (or a seller) have. Limited editions often come with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA).

• Firing limit: Companies such as Avon, Bing & Grondahl, Bradford Exchange, Franklin Mint, Danbury Mint, Hamilton Collection, Knowles, and Royal Copenhagen can choose to set a firing limit, meaning that they only make a collector plate during a specified number of firing days. A series of collector plates with a lower firing limit typically has fewer plates produced, which often makes a plate more desirable to collectors.

• Annual edition: Annual edition collectibles are produced for one year.

• Open edition: Open edition collectibles are not limited and could still be in production.

• Artist proof (AP): Artist proof collectibles are set aside for the artist.

Other common abbreviations used in seasonal and holiday collectible item listings include:

• NR: No reserve. Seller has not set a minimum price for sale.

• MIB: Mint in Box. A new, never displayed item in mint condition.

• NIB: New in Box. A new, never displayed item.

• COA: Certificate of Authenticity.

• BNB: Brand New Boxed.

• NLA: No longer available.

Reference materials can also help guide you in your quest to find the seasonal and holiday collectibles you want on eBay. Popular titles include:

• Boyds Tracker Plush by Beth Phillips (editor)

• Boyds Tracker Resin by Beth Phillips (editor)

• Collecting Lladro: Identification and Price Guide, 2nd Edition by Peggy Whiteneck

• Collecting Swarovski: Identification & Price Guide by Dean A. Genth

• Collectors’ Information Bureau Collectibles Market Guide & Price Index, 19th edition

• Greenbook Guide to Department 56 Villages

• Greenbook Guide to Snowbabies

• Lladro Authorized Reference Guide

• Luckey’s Hummel Figurines and Plates: Identification and Price Guide, 12th edition by Carl F. Luckey

• Number One Price Guide to M.I. Hummel, 9th Edition by Robert L. Miller

• The Official Precious Moments Collector’s Guide to Figurines by John Bomm and Malinda Bomm

• The Official Precious Moments Collector’s Guide to Company Dolls by John Bomm and Malinda Bomm

• Price Guide to Contemporary Collectibles and Limited Editions, 9th edition, by Mary L. Sieber (editor)

• Royal Doulton Figurines: A Charlton Standard Catalog, 10th edition

• Whimsical World of Boyds Bears: 25 Years and Counting by Susan K. Elliott

Find Seasonal & Holiday Collectibles on eBay

Find Seasonal & Holiday Collectibles on eBay

Once you know what type of decorative collectibles you need, go to the Collectibles category portal, click Holiday, Seasonal , and start searching for items on eBay.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of the page will help you narrow down seasonal and holiday collectible listings by brand. Subsequent Categories lists will help you narrow listings even further by item type.

• Keyword search: Search eBay listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find a Longaberger Easter basket, type "longaberger basket" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Remember to use a "+" between consecutive words in a keyword phrase. After conducting your initial search, try misspelling the name of the item you desire, trying several variations. You'll likely come across additional listings. Visit eBay's Search Commands page for more tips on searching with keywords.

• Advanced search: eBay's Advanced Search feature allows you to conduct a more precise search and gives you the option to search by seller, buyer, or store. You can also narrow results to "All of these words," "Any of these words," or "Exact phrase." Search All Categories to find seasonal and holiday collectibles listed in multiple categories and subcategories on eBay including Antiques, Collectibles, Dolls & Bears, Home & Garden, Pottery & Glass, and Toys & Hobbies.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping eBay Stores, tell the eBay Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy Seasonal & Holiday Collectibles With Confidence

Buy Seasonal & Holiday Collectibles With Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay are not covered by eBay protection programs.

• Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorized payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to $1,000.

• eBay Security & Resolution Center: Visit the Security & Resolution Center to learn how to protect your account and use eBay's quick and efficient resolution tools.