So you’re thinking about selling yourvillage

A guide from Hooked on Villages

If you’ve got a shelf, a closet, a whole spare room, or an entire storage unit of retired Villages or Ornaments you’re ready to part with, we’d love to talk. Here’s everything we’d want you to know before you reach out — what we look for, how the process works, and the questions collectors usually ask us first.

What we're looking for

  • Department 56 - Dickens Village · Snow Village · North Pole Series · New England Village – Alpine Village, Seasons Bay, Christmas in the City (CIC), etc.
  • Hallmark
  • Jim Shore
  • Precious Moments
  • Hawthorne Village
  • Kurt S. Adler
  • Olszewski
  • Thomas Kinkade
  • Enesco
  • Lemax
  • Bradford
  • Rudolph
  • Licensed villages and ornaments
Something else on your shelf that isn't listed here? Tell us about it anyway — we buy plenty of collections that don't fit neatly into one category.

Your collection needs to have the original boxes and come from a smoke free environment.

How the process feels, start to finish

1

You tell us what you have

A list of pieces, brands, and condition.  If you have the item #’s that’s great but not essential.  Here are downloadable Dept 56 retired lists that may help.

History Lists – Department 56 Retirements

This is also a good resource: Sortable Product Lists - The Village Chronicler

2

We send you a real offer

If it’s a collection we can use, we will send you an offer, usually within a couple of days.  Offers do not include shipping or delivery to us in Ponder, Texas.  We give you our best offer right up front, no negotiating or wondering if you’re getting the “best we can do” price.  

3

We figure out getting it to us

We’ll walk you through safe packing for shipping, or arrange pickup/delivery if you’re near Ponder or elsewhere in Denton County.

4

You get paid

We send you 75% of the agreed upon offer (less any shipping charges) when the collection is picked up by the carrier.  As soon as everything arrives and matches what we agreed on quantity, items and condition we send you the balance — no waiting around for us to resell it first.  We use Zelle, Venmo and Paypal for payment.  If any deductions or additions to the original offer occur, you are sent a detailed report.  Items that cause a deduction include missing light cords/adapters, missing parts and pieces, chips, cracks, mis-coloring, missing box sleeve, and missing boxes.  We do our best to fix what we can and we don’t deduct if we can fix it or the cleaning of the pieces and boxes.  

Questions collectors usually ask

1. Do I need the original boxes?

Yes. They help pieces travel safely.

2. What if a piece is chipped or missing a part?

Let us know when you describe it — we’d rather price it accurately upfront than have anyone feel surprised later. We take damaged pieces more often than you’d think.

3. I only have a handful of pieces, not a whole village. Is that still worth mentioning?

Maybe.  It depends on what you have and where you are located.  Sometimes the shipping outweighs the offer you would receive.  

4. I’m local to Ponder or Denton County— can we skip shipping?

Often, yes. Mention where you’re located and we’ll see if a pickup or drop off makes more sense.

5. How do you settle on a price?

By piece — weighing how retired it is, its condition, and what collectors are currently paying for it .  We use Ebay “Sold” listing to determine the current market values.

However much or little you’re looking to part with, we’re glad to hear about it.