The short version
- Typical range: £10 – £200 — see the full vintage posters value guide
- What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
- Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
- Category: Art & Collectibles
Before you photograph it
Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.
- Measure the sheet precisely. Original release sizes are standardised by country and period, and a wrong size is usually the giveaway for a reproduction.
- Look at the image under magnification for the printing process, and check whether fold lines are original creases or a later flattening.
- Do not trim, flatten, back or tape anything. Restoration and linen backing are specialist jobs and amateur attempts destroy value.
The photographs that sell vintage posters
Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.
- The whole poster flat and square on, entire sheet in frame
- A magnified section showing the printing texture or dot pattern
- The margins and any printer’s mark, censor number or studio credit
- The reverse, plus every fold, tear, pinhole, stain or repair
Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.
Writing the title and description
Subject, year, format and country: “Original French Grande Poster, [Title], 1966, Folded”. The format name and the country are what collectors search. Say original or reproduction in the title itself — leaving it ambiguous costs you the serious buyers, who simply skip listings that hedge.
Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:
- Exact sheet dimensions in centimetres
- Country and year of issue, and whether first release or a later reissue
- Printing process, and whether folded, rolled or linen backed
- Every fold separation, tear, pinhole, stain, fade or restoration
What buyers will actually ask
You will receive the same three messages about vintage posters. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.
Give the measurements, the printing evidence and where it came from, and let the buyer conclude. Serious collectors verify against known release specifications anyway.
Say so, and by whom if you know. Professional backing is generally accepted and can protect value; amateur backing or taping reduces it sharply.
Photograph the fold intersections specifically. That is where separation starts and it is the first place any experienced buyer looks.
Pricing it so it actually sells
Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.
The vintage posters value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.
What you keep, compared
On a £105 sale — roughly the middle of the range for vintage posters — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:
| Where you sell it | Fee | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| WishThrift | £0 | £105 |
| Poshmark | −£21 | £84 |
| eBay | −£14 | £91 |
| Mercari | −£10 | £95 |
| Etsy | −£7 | £98 |
Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.
Timing and getting it to the buyer
Steady to collectors year round, with lifts around film anniversaries and exhibitions. Correctly identified originals sell quickly; ambiguous listings sit regardless of price.
Ship rolled in a rigid tube if it has been stored rolled, or flat between boards if folded. Never change how a poster has been stored just to make packing easier — that is how folds tear.
WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.
Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.
Frequently asked questions
What are vintage posters worth?
Typically £10 to £200, with original first-release film and travel posters far above. See the vintage posters value guide for the condition bands.
How can I tell an original from a reprint?
Measure the sheet against known release sizes for that country and period, and look at the printing under magnification. Reproductions are usually a non-standard size and show a modern dot pattern.
Should I get a poster professionally restored?
Only for a genuinely valuable piece, and only through a specialist. On ordinary posters the cost exceeds the gain, and amateur repairs with tape reduce the value permanently.
See also: what a used vintage posters is worth · browse live art & collectibles listings · condition grades explained.