Complete in box means the thing and the parts that were sold with it, in the package they were sold in. Collectors shorten that to CIB, and then they argue about which parts count. The argument is the point. A box with the wrong figure in it is a box. A figure with the wrong weapon is a different figure. A game without the manual is a disc or a cart plus cardboard. If you are going to pay a complete price, you have to know the list. If you do not know the list, pay a loose price or leave it.
This shows up constantly in thrift stores, estate houses, and outlet bins, because families keep the toy and lose the plastic. The price on the shelf rarely knows the difference.
The list is specific to the issue
There is no universal contents list. A Kenner Star Wars figure came with a weapon or an accessory that changed by figure, and sometimes by the card. A Barbie of a given issue came with clothes and shoes that are easy to separate and easy to replace with later clothes. A board game came with a set of cards or pieces, and two missing cards can end the game. A LEGO set came with numbered bags and a booklet. A NES cart in a box came with a manual and often a sleeve or a poster that a later reprint did not include.
Look up that issue before you pay a complete price, using a source that shows the contents, not a listing title that says CIB. Then count. Photograph the count. “Looks complete” is how a buyer opens the box and starts a return. Pricing only works if your comps were complete in the same way. A complete sale and a loose sale are not a range. They are two objects.
Reprints and reissues have their own lists. A greatest-hits game, a later Hot Wheels release, a reissued figure on a new card: complete for that issue is not complete for the first one. The card back and the copyright line are how you tell. If you cannot read them, do not name the first issue.
What people forget to count
Accessories smaller than a fingernail. Capes, rifles, and a creature the figure stood on. The insert that held the figure, which is part of the carded price and irrelevant to a loose one. The manual’s catalog number matching the game. The inner tray of a Game Boy box. The sticker sheet that a set was worth more with than without. The battery door, which is not glamorous and is always missing.
Paper yellows. That is age, and you describe it. Paper that is the wrong paper, a photocopy manual, a replaced insert, is not age. It is a replacement, and the listing says replaced. A collector may still want it. They cannot want it at a complete price if you hid the copy.
Boxes crush. A crushed box is a crushed box. It can still be complete. It is not mint, and it is not “shelf wear” if the corner is gone. Say crushed. Collectors who buy grade-sensitive boxes are reading the corners in your photos. Collectors who want a complete game to play may not care, and they will pay the complete-to-play price, which is a real price and a lower one. Pick the buyer in the title so you do not attract the other and then argue.
Married boxes and reseals
A married piece is a box from one example and contents from another. Sometimes that is a honest restoration, disclosed. Sometimes it is how a common cart gets an uncommon box. If you did it, say you did it. If you do not know whether it was done, do not say original. The way to be unsure in public is “box present, contents unchecked for factory match,” and the price has to match that sentence.
Factory seal is a specific claim. A tight piece of tape from a kitchen drawer is not a factory seal. Yellowed tape, a slit you can see, and a wrap that does not match the period are reasons to say “appears sealed” only if you are qualified to say it, and otherwise to say nothing of the kind. LEGO is where this temptation is constant, because a sealed set and an opened set with the bags present are far apart, and you cannot see the bags if you refuse to be honest about the seal. If the seal is doubtful, price it as doubtful.
Loose is not an insult. A loose figure you can identify, with the accessory, is a straightforward sale. A loose redline car is about the wheels and the base, not about a blister you do not have. Do not buy a wrecked card at a carded price because you like the character. Buy the loose figure at a loose price, or buy a card that is actually intact.
Games, records, and the paper problem
For games, complete usually means box, game, manual, and the inserts that issue included. A rental sticker does not by itself make it incomplete. It makes it a rental copy, which you disclose. A missing manual is the usual gap, and it is a different comp. Say “cart only” or “disc only” in the title. Buyers search those words on purpose, because they are cheaper. You want that buyer. You do not want the buyer who searched CIB and received a bare disc.
Records are the same idea with a sleeve. A poster that a first issue included is part of that issue. A later pressing that never had the poster is not incomplete. Know which you have. Books have a jacket that is the “box,” and a jacket married from another printing is the book version of a married toy. The copyright page is how you catch it.
Beanie Babies and other hang-tag toys made the tag do the work of a box. A missing tag is a missing part for the collectors who care, and it is irrelevant if you are buying a toy to give away. Decide which you are. The buying used test is whether you wanted the object or the packaging. Both are legitimate. They are not the same price.
Condition of the box is not condition of the toy
A mint box can hold an incomplete toy. A tired box can hold a complete one. Grade them separately in your notes: box, contents, working or not. A board game with a bright lid and three cards missing is a bright lid. A scuffed NES box with the manual and a cart that boots is a complete game that looks used, which is what it is.
Do not clean a box into a higher grade. Erasers, solvents, and tape removal tear paper. If you do not know how to flatten a crease, leave the crease and describe it. The crease is more honest than a shiny patch where the ink used to be.
Playing it is allowed. If you will play the game, a loose tested copy is often the correct buy, and a sealed copy is a collectible you have now opened, which converts it into the looser category the moment the seal breaks. Open it on purpose, or do not open it. Accident is an expensive category.
How to pay, and how to list
In the aisle, if you cannot confirm the contents, the price you offer yourself is the loose price. Estate sale strategy includes opening the drawer where the manual went. Ask. A company that priced an empty box as a complete game has made a mistake you do not have to fund.
On the listing, the title states the gap. “Complete, manual included” only when you photographed the manual. “Loose, accessory present” only when the accessory is in the photo. Fees on a small loose toy can eat it. A complete example sometimes clears a fee that the loose one will not, and sometimes the complete example is so common that it does not. Check sold listings of the same completeness. There is no bonus for typing CIB on a toy that is not.
Worth can identify a famous package from a clear photo. It cannot see the weapon that should be in the bubble if your thumb is covering it, and it cannot invent a manual you do not have. The item guides for figures, cars, games, and sets are the short version of the contents question, one object at a time. Learn the list for the thing in your hand. Then call it complete only if the list is in the photo.