What would make you sell your collection?

[obesolete]

*sigh*

My husband and I are trying to start a family this year, buy a place, and generally make the next big move in our lives.
We both share an extensive collection of games and consoles that we treasure dearly, but in the depths of our realism, we know we can't keep all of this stuff forever and have each brough up to each other that maybe we should start selling things off.
Not that we really want to, but that we know that there's a goldmine spanning across floor to ceiling shelves that could potentially be a large chunk of a down payment of a condo, or outfit a baby room.
We've gone over options of getting backup units for the systems we play most and selling off the hundreds and hundreds of loose carts, only keeping the ones that we can't bear to part with.

We want our future child to be able to play all of the games that we grew up with, but keeping them all doesn't seem to be a wise option.

Of those who have sold part or all of their collections in the past, or are debating parting with them in the future, what made you do it?

[MachineGex]

I would sell my collection for a down-payment on a house, but not for a condo. I wouldn't even sell Gyromite for a down payment on a condo. A house has value to me, not so much on a condo. People are giving them away in some areas of the country. I heard a radio show about how people in Denver couldn't give away their Condos.

If the roof needs repair, YOUR MONTHLY dues go up. The fence needs to be replaced, your MONTHLY dues go up. Your neighbor stops paying their dues....YOUR monthly dues go up.

What is happening is some of the units are sitting empty because people lost their job, forclusure, they just cant sell the units,etc,...... you pay for it. If half of th units are empty, your dues double.

Now, dont get me wrong, I am sure their are great condos, they just dont fit my needs. I dont what someone else spending my money, deciding what color my house is, fix or not fixing my toilet when it breaks. But, I also had to buy a home with 10 acres, just so my neighbors can live without the fear of me killing them.

I have thought about selling my collection to buy one of my dream cars. I would have a hard time not selling them for a 47,48,49, 59 or 1960 Caddy with the right setup. I am just too lazy to sell it all. If someone would give me 50% of ebay prices for ALL of it, I would sell in a heartbeat. I would however keep about 10% of the games I really play.

[obesolete]

I really didn't want to go for the condo route, but it's the difference between $200k for a er,... "affordable" living arrangement versus a near $400k small house with patio for a yard at best. I just cant stand sinking almost 2k a month into the rental I'm in now.

Ugh, Toronto housing...

[Emperor Megas]

They're just video games; none of it is irreplaceable. But if some of it actually is, and you're that attached, then keep that stuff and hock as much of the rest as you need to. Honestly, I think that you already know the answer to this one for yourself. You're just having trouble taking the first step, which is understandable.

What you should be focusing on is how to yield the best profit from what you're planning on letting go. You say that you're sitting on a gold mine, but are you really? What I'm saying is if you're stuff isn't going to net you the big numbers you seem to feel it will, then maybe it's not worth it to you guys to sell it.

As for what would make me sell my collection? Desperation. Plain and simple. I can't think of anything that I want (now) that would be worth selling my collection for at the moment since anything extravagant would probably cost significantly more than I could get for it all, and anything that costs less I could probably purchase without sacrificing my games which I would end up reacquiring all over all.

Ironically, NOT having a kid would be something I'd sell every game off to avoid. I'd fire sale it all in a heartbeat if Roe v. Wade got overturned and we needed to make an unscheduled pilgrimage to Canada, or somewhere besides Central America where women still had reproductive rights.

[goatdan]

They're just video games; none of it is irreplaceable. But if some of it actually is, and you're that attached, then keep that stuff and hock as much of the rest as you need to. Honestly, I think that you already know the answer to this one for yourself. You're just having trouble taking the first step, which is understandable.

This is great advice for a first step. Take a look at what you have and decide the items that for whatever reason, you can't part with. Pick those things that are items that you can't part with because you know that you could never get back that particular item.

For instance, in my case, I have a copy of Earthbound. I fell in love with the game playing it from a rental store, and I bought this from a rental store with the box for $5.95. The cart is all ripped up, but it is *my* cart. I wouldn't trade it for a brand new copy of Earthbound.

But, my pile o' stuff like that is pretty small. A few Jaguar titles, my NES games from when I was a kid (like 15 of them), my 2600 games from when I was a kid (like 15 of them) and... that's about it, really. Everything else, I know that if I sold it, I could eventually get back an item of "equal" sentimental value to those, as I really don't have an attachment to those particular items.

If you can do that exercise and find out that your pile of stuff you feel that you really need to keep is huge, then you've got a problem. Otherwise, it is a great first step.


What you should be focusing on is how to yield the best profit from what you're planning on letting go. You say that you're sitting on a gold mine, but are you really? What I'm saying is if you're stuff isn't going to net you the big numbers you seem to feel it will, then maybe it's not worth it to you guys to sell it.

This too -- you need to come up with a plan on how to sell things if you're going to do it. Gary and I started a long time ago the GOAT Store because I wanted to help gamers find different titles they wanted in the condition they wanted. When we did this, we were both collecting for the Jaguar and it was a crapshoot on if we would get a new game when we bought one online, or a game that looked like a dog ate it. EBay was in it's infancy at the time, and there was no good way to do it.

I bring this up only because the majority of the games we stock, we make less than $1.00 on, and it takes time to sell a lot of it. You also have to take into account that selling items individually is a royal pain in the butt when it comes to shipping them. Until we created tools to help us do it, I *hated* days we would have four or five orders for one game apiece, because it would take me forever to fill out the forms and whatnot and box them up. You could instead sell everything as a group, but expect to get between 50 and 75% of what the value would be if you sold individually... but how valuable is your time?

If you can do these two, I think that it is well worth it to look at selling at least part of your collection. A few years ago, I realized that I had far more GameCube, PS2 and Xbox titles than I ever was going to open or play. I've since sold probably 75% of them, and am working on playing or selling the rest. I have no real attachment to them, and the extra money that it got me helped me pay for a bunch of different stuff that I wanted to do, and I couldn't be happier about it. If you can get past that first step, I think you'll find yourself happy with your decision :)

[treismac]

But, I also had to buy a home with 10 acres, just so my neighbors can live without the fear of me killing them.

Must be wonderful. I grew up surrounded by trees on all sides of me, and I don't care for living in a neighborhood. Trees are much better neighbors than people. Perhaps one day I can return to the sanctuary of the woods. I'd trade the non-essentials (80% I don't play) of my collection for that.

[Parodius Duh!]

keep whats most important to you and sell the rest. Ive sold collections for various reasons over the years. At drastic low points (for drugs, angry girlfriends, etc.), to times when I just had to (lack of interest in the system, space, greater interest in a different item and needed the cash from selling games, etc...).....Ive never gotten rid of my famicom stuff though and to this day Ive amassed an incredible collection of rarities. Maybe you and your husband should find a common ground, one or two consoles you both enjoy the most and can focus on collecting together, sell the rest and just stick to said consoles. Who knows maybe down the road after youve had a few kids you guys can focus on a wider scale collection.

[obesolete]

They're just video games; none of it is irreplaceable. But if some of it actually is, and you're that attached, then keep that stuff and hock as much of the rest as you need to. Honestly, I think that you already know the answer to this one for yourself. You're just having trouble taking the first step, which is understandable.

What you should be focusing on is how to yield the best profit from what you're planning on letting go. You say that you're sitting on a gold mine, but are you really? What I'm saying is if you're stuff isn't going to net you the big numbers you seem to feel it will, then maybe it's not worth it to you guys to sell it.

You're absolutely right.

We're still in the stages of discussing what we would keep and what would go.
I could honestly get rid of everything but my nes and snes(save for current consoles of course)
We have hundreds and HUNDREDS of things to go through.

The majority is nes and snes games that would be sold, many are boxed with inserts, and we don't have many "Junk" games. No dead batteries too.
The other systems we have have an average of 30-50 games a piece, all I could do without.

I had an idea as I was just participating in a Comic convention this weekend and was shocked to see a video game booth with inflated prices. People were EATING this up. I could easily man a booth and unload a large portion of games and systems at reasonable prices.

Anything left over I could throw up on forums, I'd rather avoid ebay at all costs.

I'm not sure, I'm just throwing out ideas at this stage of the game. All I know is that we're going to have to lighten the load within the next year or two.

[littaum]

*sigh*

Of those who have sold part or all of their collections in the past, or are debating parting with them in the future, what made you do it?

I predict your life is going to get very busy, very quick! I used to be a big collector back in the day, but they mainly sit in plastic bins in my spare room of my house, dominating a wall along with my comic book bin and life-size replica of Darth Maul.
My wife doesn't like the fact that the room can't be used for anything other than a "stuff" room, and I'm trying to reduce my "treasures" so that I'd be the lamest episode of "hoarders" ever.

My comments are similar to what others have already said in the thread. The first question is, are there any game systems that you've collected just because they were there while you were collecting for the systems you really wanted? If so, get rid of those systems. I had a partial Atari 5200 collection, but I never played the system when it was originally out, it didn't have the nostalgic "pull" when I looked at them, so out they went and I have never regretted it. My Odyssey^2 system is up for sale next (I'm a 2600 guy, and Pick Axe Pete has no sway with me!). I've also sold off all of my duplicate video games, one copy is good enough for me.

Next question, do you really need backup units? The reason I ask is .. as long as digitpress and other "retro" sites are around, and while ebay is still around, someone is going to always be selling game systems. If yours breaks, you can probably have a perfectly usable system in your (NEW PLACE OF RESIDENCE) in a week or two, and it's not going to cost an arm or a leg.

Third, do you really want *all* the games for a system, or just the ones you really like or partially like? I sold off a lot of NES games that I would realistically never, ever play again. And if I did want to play them, chances are it can be done on an emulator or a cheap purchase on the Wii virtual console.

I'm whittling down my collection to the systems that either have major nostalgic pull with me or systems that are just limited to the "greatest hits", with a minimum of duplicates.

[8bitgamer]

Keep the stuff you still play (or intend to play at some point).

[rocky412]

I had to part with of my Atari 2600 collection 2 years ago when I was unemployed for 5 months. I had every game for the system plus a large collection of PAL games. Last year I had to part with my Genesis collection due to open heart surgery and being out of work on disability for 3 months. Collectiing $170.00 a week on disability forced me to sell.

[Emperor Megas]

I had to part with of my Atari 2600 collection 2 years ago when I was unemployed for 5 months. I had every game for the system plus a large collection of PAL games. Last year I had to part with my Genesis collection due to open heart surgery and being out of work on disability for 3 months. Collectiing $170.00 a week on disability forced me to sell.How much did you make off of those sales, if you don't mind sharing.

[obesolete]

My comments are similar to what others have already said in the thread. The first question is, are there any game systems that you've collected just because they were there while you were collecting for the systems you really wanted?

Next question, do you really need backup units? The reason I ask is .. as long as digitpress and other "retro" sites are around, and while ebay is still around, someone is going to always be selling game systems.

Third, do you really want *all* the games for a system, or just the ones you really like or partially like?

1. yes, I have several. All of the "extra" systems we'll call it, were ones that I had always wanted to try as a kid. I'm impartial to those and will have no problem getting rid of them

2. By backup units, I mean copiers, flash carts etc. If I can back up things, I won't have to worry about hanging on to games that I can easily play from a backup.

3. see number 2 =)

I would keep my systems that I would still want to play, but I really don't need 3 NESes, 2 Mastersystems, etc., you know?

[Rickstilwell1]

If you have an emergency and are low on money, it's the time to realize it's just stuff and yourself is more important than it. This is why I am selling almost everything I have. I really have to finish pricing everything and listing the rest of my stuff. I've only gotten about half listed. I have more games for PS1 and PS2 than anything else.

[Informationator]

Only dire financial need would get me to sell my collection. I could never get 1/10th of the time and effort I've put into accruing it back out of selling it and I'd want to die to have to collect it all again.

The only other thing to make me part with my collection would be a life calling that had me leave this country. Even so, I'm pretty sure my family would store it for me, knowing what it means to me. Heck, my dad helped me build the custom oak shelves that house my SNES games. He's as proud of them as I am. Giving those shelves away would be a tragedy because they're art in and of themselves.

[Rickstilwell1]

Yeah I can't bring myself to get rid of the CIB copy of Ms. Pac-Man for Genesis that my grandma and I both played all the time. My grandma was essentially my mom growing up and memories of her are very dear to me.

[Lerxstnj]

Getting about twice what I paid for games I no longer play would make me sell.
That's about it.
Oh, and the other things I use less would have to be sold first, of course.

[xelement5x]

It would have to be something pretty major for me to sell off my entire collection; no place to live, or needing money to pay off a huge medical bill for myself or my family are what comes to mind. If I needed the space for my family I'm sure I wouldn't mind too much parting with some things, but those that are really sought after or hard to find would still be kept in the hope I could rebuild.

I've seen quite a number of threads from people who had to sell off collections, and sell of the crown jewels first to net the most money. They then kick themselves later when they try to require them and find out that they really shouldn't have sold them if they wanted to own them again someday.

Nothing is more important to me than my health and my family, so as much as I enjoy them games will always come in a distant second place.

[rocky412]

How much did you make off of those sales, if you don't mind sharing.

I made about $5000 for the Atari games and about $1800 for the Genesis collection.

[crazyjackcsa]

My collection was far smaller than yours to start, and is far smaller than it used to be.

At it's peak, I had about 500 games across about a 12 systems.

I bought a house, and started a family, and unloaded a lot of my stuff.

Here's what I can add. Keep the stuff you are sentimental about, no matter the value. Get ready of the valuable stuff no matter how "interesting"

I'm down to about 100 games across a half dozen systems. It's still too much to play, but I kept things like:

Genesis games I got as a kid from my parents. It takes me back to my youth.

Dreamcast games I used to play with my sister and my girlfriend (now my wife).

Sega Saturn stuff that I used to save hard earned first job money.

The stuff I got rid off was the valuable things/ things I had no attachment to.

The Virtual Boy, Dragon Force on the Saturn, items that came in lots, or I though would be interesting to have.

I miss some items, but nothing terribly.

At one point I did get rid of some stuff I did love, common Genesis games, the valuable Saturn games that I did love (PDS, Guardian Heroes, Shining Force 3)

Within a month I regretted it, and had to buy them all back.

That would be my advice. Keep the things you love, get rid of the things you have. Any easy way to tell the story of the item, if it starts like "I used to play this all the time..." Keep it.
If the story is more like "I bought this item down town for way more than I should have." get rid of it.

Put a number to it if it's too hard. Aim to cut your collection by say a third, and figure out what goes.

[Nes]

Ironically, NOT having a kid would be something I'd sell every game off to avoid. I'd fire sale it all in a heartbeat if Roe v. Wade got overturned and we needed to make an unscheduled pilgrimage to Canada, or somewhere besides Central America where women still had reproductive rights.

I'm confused. Are you trying to avoid not having a kid? Ie, you want a kid? That doesn't make sense in light of your pro-abortion stance. My wife just had our first child and I'd give up all my games to keep him without a doubt. Once you've held your own child in your arms you will then not be able to imagine how you lived without one. I put off having one for a long time, but I knew I would die miserable with regret in a nursing home with no one to visit me if I didn't have a kid.

[Nes]

I had to part with of my Atari 2600 collection 2 years ago when I was unemployed for 5 months. I had every game for the system plus a large collection of PAL games. Last year I had to part with my Genesis collection due to open heart surgery and being out of work on disability for 3 months. Collectiing $170.00 a week on disability forced me to sell.

Slightly off topic and I don't know if your open heart surgery was a bypass or not, but if it was, I highly recommend watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.

Getting back on topic. Financial problems would make me sell my stuff. At this point, that's about it. I don't have such a huge collection that I could put 20% down on a house and I am looking at buying or building a house in the next year or two. Somewhere in a subdivision so my wife is not all alone when I'm at work and preferentially a few acres.

[Zing]

I really didn't want to go for the condo route, but it's the difference between $200k for a er,... "affordable" living arrangement versus a near $400k small house with patio for a yard at best. I just cant stand sinking almost 2k a month into the rental I'm in now.

Ugh, Toronto housing...

I hear you. I live in Newmarket and just bought a townhouse for $350k. This would be impossible for my family back in Ohio to understand, since there, an expensive house would be around 80k.

If you have so much video game related stuff that it would make a dent in your liabilities, then yes, I would sell. Prices for much stuff is relatively high right now. It sounds like you have a lot of stuff just sitting around that will never get enjoyed. Sell it for sure.

[JoshTheNESNerd]

what would make me sell my collection hmmm... one hundred billion dollars per cell in the human body per game [there are roughly 13 trillion cells in the human body according to bill nye] do that math

[Emperor Megas]

I'm confused. Are you trying to avoid not having a kid? Ie, you want a kid? That doesn't make sense in light of your pro-abortion stance.Typo. Not having a kid is something I'd sell everything to do, i.e., I'd sell it all to avoid having a kid.


My wife just had our first child and I'd give up all my games to keep him without a doubt.I'd imagine so.


Once you've held your own child in your arms you will then not be able to imagine how you lived without one.You don't actually believe that, do you? I've held my child in my arms countless times, and I absolutely can imagine how I lived without her. Hell, I don't have to "imagine", I remember.


I put off having one for a long time, but I knew I would die miserable with regret in a nursing home with no one to visit me if I didn't have a kid.That's not something I've ever had a fear of, and I certainly wouldn't create more people just to have someone to visit me in a home one day...not that I think anything's wrong with anyone else feeling that way.

[Haoie]

Nothing outside of me collecting something new or desperate need of cash.

[Buyatari]

A buyer with lots of money !

[madman77]

I would sell my collection for a down-payment on a house, but not for a condo. I wouldn't even sell Gyromite for a down payment on a condo. A house has value to me, not so much on a condo. People are giving them away in some areas of the country. I heard a radio show about how people in Denver couldn't give away their Condos.

If the roof needs repair, YOUR MONTHLY dues go up. The fence needs to be replaced, your MONTHLY dues go up. Your neighbor stops paying their dues....YOUR monthly dues go up.

What is happening is some of the units are sitting empty because people lost their job, forclusure, they just cant sell the units,etc,...... you pay for it. If half of th units are empty, your dues double.
Unrelated to the question, but this is absolutely false information. Condo boards have reserve funds that are applied to maintenance, in the event there is a large cost involved, the cost of the project is split throughout the owners based upon their total percentage of ownership of the building via a one-time special assessment fee. If you own a house and the roof needs repair, who do you think pays? Still, the owner. There is no difference there. If other unit owners due not pay their dues, my fee does not go up. I'm not sure where you came up with that, but you clearly do not own property.

To answer the OPs question, I can't think of anything that would make me sell other than just not being interested in any of the particular systems any more, which I've done so in the past.

[obesolete]

I hear you. I live in Newmarket and just bought a townhouse for $350k. This would be impossible for my family back in Ohio to understand, since there, an expensive house would be around 80k.

If you have so much video game related stuff that it would make a dent in your liabilities, then yes, I would sell. Prices for much stuff is relatively high right now. It sounds like you have a lot of stuff just sitting around that will never get enjoyed. Sell it for sure.

Even in Newmarket the prices are that high? Sheesh! My parents just bought a house in Saint Catherines for $169k and I wanted to puke with jealousy.

My husband and I were searching prices on some games last night and holy bananas, sell sell sell.
We agreed to unload all of the RPGs(and rares) that are selling high right now, pick up some usb controller ports for the mame cab and a couple of super comfy stools and rom it up.
...Then we pulled out the snes and played mario all stars until we had to go to bed and had second thoughts.

I think we are still going to get rid of the super golden goodies that are selling high for the mean time, and just wait for the rest. We're not in a huge hurry to unload but if the demand for say example, Earthbound(I know,... boooo) is insane right now, why not rake in the cash? It's not like I have time to sit down and play rpgs anymore.

Who wants first dibs on boxed RPGs?! JK
I'll still probably end up making a thread in buy and sell first giving forum members the opportunity to take what they want before ebaying that stuff up.

[swlovinist]

I live very reasonable so that in an event of a job loss, I would still keep everything. With that being said and with a solid stance on never selling my collection...I would if I was in dire financial need/family medical bills/etc. I hate even to think about it. I have talked to alot of longtime collectors. Many of them would never sell ever, but I think it depends on who you are and how healthy you are. If there came a time that I was not able to play my own videogame collection....then that might change things.

Until then, I am going to appreciate what I have collected and play it as much as I can, as well as help others collect videogames.

[macdude22]

I unloaded a sizable collection of games and accessories to beef up my down payment for our first house. I've slowly been growing my collection back as time and money permits. I've been more focused this time around. I use to collect anything and everything. These days I gravitate toward things I'm really nostalgic for, NES, SNES, PS1, Classic Macintosh.

***Edit***
RPGs were the money maker for me. One of the reasons it's been so slow building back up. It's rare to see some of these things at a price I want to pay so I bide my time. I did just snag a copy of Suikoden II at MGC this weekend so I'll be eating ramen for lunch for a while.

[Daria]

Pft. Selling my collection would have to be the only way of saving someone's life. And I'd have to really like that person.

[Videogamerdaryll]

I’ve sold off lots of my collection to fund other things such as Mini MotoGP Racing..
I just find racing MiniGP motorcycles more fun then collecting games...and I’ve collected lots of games in the past..I’ve had walls=rooms filled with games...I’d say I was a game item hoarder.
after our apt move to a bigger place and having to pack up all that stuff,I started off new not having much on display in the new apt..It was a change of how I looked at collecting games for my own good...I no longer want to see walls and huge shelves of games,I want a little here and there and it to be specifics..
I still collect games not as furious as I did before,mainly specifics,unique,if I like looking at it it goes on display,but in short time it piles up again.. ..I don’t know how I amass so much game stuff in such short time..it’s still in me though I don’t look at it like I used to
So when I need something for racing,for bills,van repair..or say my kids,wife gets sick,the gaming stuff goes...

There are things I own that are on the never sell unless in dire need such as my arcade machines but gaming stuff can all go..

Right now I want to be racing with my family more then I want to do anything else....I still game,I don’t trade games back in,things I want to always play like Super Mario Bros is always on hand set up in a NES..
....as a kid I started off racing and collecting games..and it’s still with me today..I just don’t care for it like I did before s it’s not hard to sell it off.

I have a ton of stuff right now I'd love to get rid of..



........
I sold off game stuff to buy all these bikes.
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