Like every good stick-it-to-the-adults product, Garbage Pail Kids cards were an immediate hit with kids when they debuted in 1985 … and an immediate thorn in the side for parents, teachers, clergymen, and no-fun-nicks.
Made to parody the wildly popular Cabbage Patch Kids dolls of the day, the Garbage Pail Kids actually showed up on stickers albeit with stiff cardboard backs and checking in at a regulation-baseball-card-size 2 1/2″ X 3 1/2″.
Featuring cartoon versions of the same types of familiar dimply visages that graced Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, Garbage Pail Kids then perverted each tableau through a series of pun-derful disfigurements and naughty moments that included the likes of …
- Adam Bomb, with an exploding head
- Nasty Nick, a vampire-thing on the verge of (apparently) defiling a Barbie doll in some fashion
- Thin Lynn, a skeletonized redhead whose diet went a bit too far
- Stinky Stan, a garbage-can-dwelling baby-thing who appears to be naked
… and many other awful, terrible, delightful, irresistible beasties.
In all, there were 41 different tykes, issued across 82 different cards — basically, two series (“A” and “B”) each featuring the same artwork but with different clever(ish) child names.
While kids of the era ate these things up, there was, of course, backlash from adults, and maybe even a conspiracy or two as the cards sank into obscurity and eventually ended up mostly in commons bins or — gasp! — discarded entirely.
But those kids grew up, and when we did, we remembered how much fun it was to make fun of those pudgy, little-kid Cabbage Patch things … and realized how much we really wanted to stick it to the man, just like our stickers did way back then.
And, so, what did we do?
Yeah, we sought out our Garbage Pail Kids.
When we did? Well, we found out they weren’t quite as easy to come by as we might have imagined. Demand rose, supply didn’t, and prices climbed.
Eventually, these silly little baubles entered the realm of real collectibles, so much so that we started getting graded, just like our Mickey Mantle and Pete Rose and Pete LaCock baseball cards.
Today, you need look no further than the list of most-watched Garbage Pail Kids cards on eBay right now (see below) to realize that these little troublemakers will never truly go out of style. And check back often, because this GPK list is updated all the time.
(NOTE: The section below contains affiliate links to eBay listings for the card shown. You might also enjoy our rundown of the 100 Most Expensive Pokemon Cards Sold on eBay in the Last 30 Days.)

Topps MLB x Garbage Pail Kids by Keith Shore - Julio Rodriguez On-Card Auto #/99
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Watchers: 4 # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $159.95 Auction Ends: 30-Nov-2023 02:11 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
2020 Garbage Pail Kids GPK Adam Bomb PSA 10 #1a Card ICONIC 35th Anniversary 🔥
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Watchers: 2 # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $41 Auction Ends: 03-Dec-2023 02:12 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
Mystery Garbage Pail Kids Graded Card. Golden Treasures Mystery GPK Graded Card
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Watchers: 1 # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $9.99 Auction Ends: 03-Dec-2023 20:12 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
1987 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS RIP TILE TRADING CARD
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $0.99 Auction Ends: 04-Dec-2023 17:12 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
1986 GARBAGE PAIL KIDS NED HEAD TOPPS TRADING CARD
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $3.99 Auction Ends: 29-Nov-2023 11:11 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
1986 Garbage Pail Kids Card, #147 B Muscular Molly - Topps
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $1.25 Auction Ends: 29-Nov-2023 20:11 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
1986 Garbage Pail Kids Card, #148 B Tiffany Lamp - Topps
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $1.5 Auction Ends: 29-Nov-2023 20:11 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
1986 Garbage Pail Kids Card, #127 B Flat Tyler - Topps
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $1.25 Auction Ends: 29-Nov-2023 20:11 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
1988 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Die-Cut Sticker Card #603a Mitch Mitt NM
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $2.99 Auction Ends: 30-Nov-2023 14:11 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
1985 TOPPS GARBAGE PAIL KIDS BRUTAL BRAD TRADING CARD
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $1.99 Auction Ends: 29-Nov-2023 00:11 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
Basketball, Baseball, And Some Vintage Garbage Pail Kids cards lot from 1988+
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $205 Auction Ends: 30-Nov-2023 14:11 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
1988 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Die-Cut Sticker Card #603a Mitch Mitt NM 1
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $2 Auction Ends: 03-Dec-2023 21:12 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
2021 Garbage Pail Kids Chrome Series 4 (100) Card Set
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $22.99 Auction Ends: 04-Dec-2023 01:12 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
Garbage Pail Kid Iron Jaw Aaron Card Vintage Rare 1980s
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $0.99 Auction Ends: 01-Dec-2023 17:12 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
2021 Topps GARBAGE PAIL KIDS GPK SAPPHIRE EDITION COMPLETE SET OF 170 CARDS
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Watchers: # of Bids: 0Current Bid: $74.97 Auction Ends: 02-Dec-2023 02:12 See full listing on eBay (affiliate link) |
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