What collecting advice would you give a younger you?

[Flack]

My 20 year high school reunion is just around the corner, and I've been thinking a lot about how much more I know now than I knew back then. When I was 17 I was pretty sure I knew everything. Now, at 37, all I can think about is how stupid I was at 17. Then again, when I'm 57, I'll probably think I was a moron at 37 too. Anyway ...

What if you could go back in time and talk to the younger you? Specifically, what advice would you give yourself when it comes to collecting? Are there any items you would tell yourself to hang on to? What would you tell yourself to sell, and when? Anything you would warn yourself about? What do you think the younger version of yourself would have a hard time believing?

[kafa111]

i would tell myself to never open any games and definitly not throw away the boxes

[Mattiekrome]

Buy all those Starfox Weekend, DKC Competition, and NES test carts when they were under $100.00 each... Just couldn't cough up that kind of dough

[boatofcar]

I would have told myself that buying video games as an "investment" instead of paying off my credit card was a stupid idea.

[ugly_monster]

I would have told myself that buying video games as an "investment" instead of paying off my credit card was a stupid idea.

I like this one.

I would be able to talk people down even more on prices because it doesn't sell for "this much" on Amazon or ebay

[Greg2600]

Maybe that trading in a lot of NES and Genesis games to Funcoland wasn't worth the $2 store credit.

[dgdgagdae]

i would tell myself to never open any games and definitly not throw away the boxes

Well that would have been a fun childhood!

[RPG_Fanatic]

I would have told myself not to sale then re-buy and then sale then re-buy the same games over and over.

[YoshiM]

I would have told myself not to sale then re-buy and then sale then re-buy the same games over and over.

This. I'd shuffle this into "keep your Iron Man comic collection and DON'T sell it on eBay." I had well over 300 issues and after not being able to stand the dreck that's on stands now, I'm starting to buy those comics again. Funny thing is that it's practically in the same order I did 18 years ago.

Another would be to NOT store my game magazines in the shed then toss them after getting moisture damage. I had a LOT of early issues of EGM, VG&CE, GamePro, Game Player's and such and that's what I really collect these days. Could have saved some dough with some of those issue.

And finally to just keep the systems I had. Looking back I don't think I made out as much as I thought I did selling my Atari 5200, 7800 and such.

[VACRMH]

I think I started collecting at 16, when I realized I could buy games that I never got a chance to play with my own paycheck. So I'd tell him...

1. Don't buy something just because it's video game related (Strategy guides for random games that I'd either never own or wouldn't be worth squat)

2. Have realistic goals in mind (Unless it's something you really think is worth it, don't bother with a complete collection)

3. Only buy games you 100% intend to play. Or know you can sell/trade for games you do intend to play.

[shawnbo42]

Strictly video game-wise, since to the best of my knowledge they were sold on store shelves in my area, RUN, don't walk, get to the nearest Woolworth's and pick up a Stadium Events or two. And DO NOT open them...
Other than that, should have bought that NES Flintstones when it was $50....

[Darko]

I would tell myself to sell everything I owned and convince my parents to let me invest as much money as possible into Microsoft and Apple. I would then I'd then travel a bit further forward and knock out a short sell on 9/10 for every US market possible. After that I'd return to the present time and start collecting game companies instead of games.

[Cornelius]

I gave away my NES to a friend after it had sat idle for a year or so in the late 80s. I'd love to have my original console and games now, so that'd be #1 even though none of it was rare or valuable. Also, we kept the games in the boxes until the boxes were falling apart and got thrown out, so I'd tell me to just put the boxes away somewhere. Of course, then that storage box probably would have gotten chucked at some point.

Starting collecting sooner since I only started 6 or so years ago comes to mind also, but realistically I wouldn't have taken that advice anyway since I had other stuff going on.

[98PaceCar]

Don't buy arcade games that I don't really want just because they are cheap. Hold out for the good stuff. I ended up selling almost everything I bought early on and rebought the machines that I still have now, essentially building 2 arcades over the course of my collecting.

That and don't sell your original Commodore 128 collection in college. I still regret that.

[boatofcar]

I think that can be expanded further--don't buy anything just cause it's cheap. I'd definitely tell my former self that.

[skaar]

Don't use SNES protos as box cutters.

[98PaceCar]

I think that can be expanded further--don't buy anything just cause it's cheap. I'd definitely tell my former self that.

I don't know about that. I made quite a bit of money selling off my console dupes. It took a while, but it did fund some bigger purchases nicely. The arcades were hard to flip because they were crappy titles to begin with and I took a bath on them because nobody wanted them in the first place. Probably the reason why they were so cheap!

[Greg2600]

I gave away my NES to a friend after it had sat idle for a year or so in the late 80s. I'd love to have my original console and games now, so that'd be #1 even though none of it was rare or valuable. Also, we kept the games in the boxes until the boxes were falling apart and got thrown out, so I'd tell me to just put the boxes away somewhere. Of course, then that storage box probably would have gotten chucked at some point.

Yeah, I sold my original Genesis around 1996 to a friend, only original console I do not still have. I too gave away games and controllers to my younger cousin, and my aunt later gave them to her even younger nephews, whose mother threw them away!

[thom_m]

"Young Thom, my lad: your mommy is gonna tell you to give away your old systems to your cousins everytime you get a new one. DON'T. Also, make aunt Stella PROMISE you to give you that Intellivision when your older cousins don't want it anymore. You're welcome!"

[Steven]

"Young Thom, my lad: your mommy is gonna tell you to give away your old systems to your cousins everytime you get a new one. DON'T. Also, make aunt Stella PROMISE you to give you that Intellivision when your older cousins don't want it anymore. You're welcome!"

LMAO.

Sounds just like a scene from Back to the Future II

Ah, memories