Expert: Anne Hoffmann - 12/2/2007

Question
i have a 1998 avon business barbie doll how much is she worth?

Answer
I am assuming that you doll is the 1998 Avon Representative Barbie, dressed in a pink and black jacket top and black pencil skirt. For a MIB doll, with the box in pristine condition, you could realistically expect to get about $20-$25 for her at private sale, about half that at auction.
Since there seem to be a number of questions about valuing modern Barbie dolls, I'd like to add a word on doll collecting as an investment.
Value is established by popular demand, rarity, condition and completeness, in about that order. Modern Barbie play dolls, while beautiful and imaginatively dressed, do not currently represent an investment. Even the far more expensive and smaller issue silkstones are not garnering much secondary market interest. There are a very few exceptions, notably the Toys 'R' US special edition of the Legend of Ireland Faerie Queen Barbie (brunette), which had a limited issue of 500.
The point to remember about collecting production dolls (rather the than high-end artist dolls) as an investment is that they ARE toys and are sold as such. Their eventual value is tied very closely to the nostalgia of the generation that played with them. You have to wait until that generation is old enough to feel nostalgia! The dolls of my childhood are commanding exceptional prices now, but we Baby Boomers are old enough to be telling stories of "the olden days" to our grandchildren.
Interest often flags after a generation disappears, then revives when things become truly antique. For example, I am less interested in the dolls of my mother's childhood (1920's-30's), but love those antique gems of my grandmother's generation (1890's-1910) and earlier.
As dolls are toys, those designed as collectibles by collectible clubs are usually steeply depreciated on the secondary market. Their eventual value remains to be seen, but as they are not sold as toys, there is no nostalgic reference attached to them. Their primary value is to the original buyer and their issues are not small enough to represent a tightly limited market.
Artist dolls, those dolls produced in limited editions by doll sculptors, have a more immediate investment value. However, many well-known doll artists also design for production companies, so one must distinguish between a true artist issue and a production line designed by the same artist.
Production of modern dolls far exceeds the production of toys for generations past, so that scarcity will hardly be an issue in the future. The extravagant prices for an original 1959 Barbie in excellent condition is largely due to the fact that most of these Barbies were thoroughly played with, enduring haircuts, chewed feet and fingers and exchanged heads, and tossed out when outgrown.
Lastly, the ultimate appeal of a doll may just be, to quote Jan Foulke in her introduction to the 11th Edition of the Blue Book Dolls & Values,"...what some collectors refer to as the 'presence' of the doll, an elusive indefinable quality which makes it the best example known!"