Is now a good time to sell off my NES collection?

[norkusa]

I use to be a big NES collector back in the day when you could actually buy carts in the wild at places like Gamestop, EB, and Goodwill. Over the past couple years though, I lost interest in collecting for the system. And I just bought a modded Xbox recently that has about every emulator you can think of installed on it, so I doubt I'll touch another NES cart again.

Lately I've been kicking around the idea of dumping my entire collection of 722 unique NES carts on Ebay. I really haven't followed the NES scene in a while though, so I have no idea what things are worth any longer. About 100 of them are boxed (of those, about 70 are complete). I got most of the rare stuff already like all 3 Panesian titles (complete) and a sealed Cheetahmen 2. Also have a boxed Flintstones SADP and a boxed & complete Mega Man collection. Still missing some hard to find stuff though, like Stadium Events, Bubble Bobble 2, and Little Samson.

Anyone have some advice on what I should do? Would now be a good time to dump it or should I hold on a little longer? I don't need the money badly, so I'm really not in any hurry to sell. I was expecting only around $5,000 for everything but after seeing that recent auction where the seller go around $20,000 for 670 licensed carts really makes me want to dump it now. Who knows if that bid was even legit though.

Also, would piecing it out be a better way to go than selling it as one big lot? I figured that's usually the way to go but considering the size of my collection and that it's only 50 carts away from being complete, I may have better luck keeping it all together.

[theshizzle3000]

I use to be a big NES collector back in the day when you could actually buy carts in the wild at places like Gamestop, EB, and Goodwill. Over the past couple years though, I lost interest in collecting for the system. And I just bought a modded Xbox recently that has about every emulator you can think of installed on it, so I doubt I'll touch another NES cart again.

Lately I've been kicking around the idea of dumping my entire collection of 722 unique NES carts on Ebay. I really haven't followed the NES scene in a while though, so I have no idea what things are worth any longer. About 100 of them are boxed (of those, about 70 are complete). I got most of the rare stuff already like all 3 Panesian titles (complete) and sealed Cheetahmen 2. Also have a boxed Flintstones SADP and a boxed & complete Mega Man collection. Still missing some hard to find stuff though, like Stadium Events, Bubble Bobble 2, and Little Samson.

Anyone have some advice on what I should do? Would now be a good time to dump it or should I hold on a little longer? I don't need the money badly, so I'm really not in any hurry to sell. I was expecting only around $5,000 for everything but after seeing that recent auction where the seller go around $20,000 for 670 licensed carts really makes me want to dump it now. Who knows if the buyer even paid though.

Also, would piecing it out be a better way to go than selling it as one big lot? I figured that's usually the way to go but considering the size of my collection and that it's only 50 carts away from being complete, I may have better luck keeping it all together.

I would say that piecing it out may do you better especially if you drop things off here at DP because many people may be willing to pay top dollar for one or two of those things as compared to someone paying for the entire thing at once.

[DreamTR]

That 20K was not legit, he relisted it. Someone else already listed their auction with their complete collection as well because of the supposed "hype".

[Felixthegamer]

I would think now would be a bad time because of the mentioned auctions. I am sure there will be some more on the way. I'd wait a few months and keep and eye on e-bay. I'd hate to see you list it and have it go for less than what it is worth because of timing

[StakeRaiser]

This fellow listed a huge collection on ebay, and it ended at only 3,100 or so, and these look like legit bidders, unlike the other auction that went up to a million before it was over

LINK

I think the other guy who had tons of fake bidders irritated people because he claimed the collection of licensed games was complete, which it wasn't, No MIke tyson's punch out, who doesn't have that????, who knows, he's got it under control so far. These are all supposedly in "perfect" condition

LINK

[bangtango]

Why not piece it out into numerous smaller lots? Put mostly commons into these lots to pad them and sweeten the pot with a couple of higher end games. I don't sell huge NES lots so I don't know if that is the way the "professionals" do it. However, I wouldn't want to "blow" all of my higher end NES titles in one or two auctions.

If you have duplicates, personally I think you are best off splitting them so you don't have 2 of any game in a given auction. If you might end up doing 4-5 different NES lot auctions and you have multiple copies of a game, make sure you are only using one copy of that game in each auction (if possible).

[cyberfluxor]

When it comes to my NES collection 90%+ were bought for $1 or less and I have several sports titles. Because I purchased as individuals I'd more than likely sell them as singles for the extra few bucks and see what happens. I don't plan on emulating my NES games because I could already have done it on my PC, and I use to years ago. I actually just ordered a top-loading NES v.2 because I was tired of all the blowing and can't wait to play them again. It's all about time too, so just sit back and see where the market goes and stick to buying/selling forums before screwing yourself over with eBay.

[Kevin H]

I personally would piece them out, but dont use ebay due to fees.

[coinheaven]

wait until a 15 cent day and list it for the hell of it, see what you get.

[eric nintendo]

I'd just hold onto them. Just put 'em all in storage since you won't actually be playing them anymore. The longer you hold onto them, the more they will be worth eh?

[gum_drops]

wait until a 15 cent day and list it for the hell of it, see what you get.

This is a good plan, but only if you set up each game with a buy it now, and pricing that many games would take a long time.

If you plan to start all the games at 0.99 dont do it on a cheap listing day, that added competition will nullify the tiny amount you would save on listing fees.

I sell a decent amount of games on ebay, PM when you decide to sell and I will share some of the pointers I use.

[swlovinist]

Right now is a bad time to sell. The people who collected their Nes collection for profit are probably going to be tempted to sell right now. You watch and there will be a couple of complete Nes collections on ebay in the next couple of months. The flooded ebay Nes listings will even get worse. Only the true premium rare stuff is selling good. Parting out is tough, but you might make more in the long run. For me, my US Nes collection is staying with me for a long long time.

[sniperCCJVQ]

I did sell mine last year, did more than 1K.

The spotlight still on the NES BUT actually their probably to much NES stuff on ebay so price while take a bit of a noise dive.

[aaron7]

Piece it out, and PM me first

[Jumpman Jr.]

This is just what I think.
Right now, there are more insane collectors who are willing to throw their money around in the Atari 2600 market. I personally think that this is because all of these big 2600 collectors - who are now in their 30's and have settled down in their life and have cash to spend - grew up with the 2600.
In a few years, all of the kids who grew up with the NES will be getting older and have a lot more money. When they realize that they can collect these games from their childhood, the market for NES games is going to sky rocket.
That's what happened to me, but I was fortunate enough to have the finances to buy a complete NES collection when I was a teenager, but in a few years, they're all going to be in here.
So I'd hold out a little bit.

[leonk]

Hi Jumpman, long time no see.

I think NES prices already had their big jump. In the late 90's you could pick up games for a song. Now the most common games (e.g. SMB3, SMB2, etc) sell for big $$ in comparison.

Selling them piece wise is the smartest thing to do. And selling them in multiple listing is better, since the rare games will give you exposure to the common ones.