26 replies to this topic

[Armonigann]

I myself, have never had to sell my entire collection, in the past 5 years I've been really going hard. Always in the back of my mind though,  if something seriously needed the funds the games would go. I've been lucky lately, almost too lucky.

For all of those, who've had to "empty out,"

What type of situation were you in, to have to let/sell it off?

What went first?

Did you get back what you paid?

How was life different without all those games?

Did you ever bounce back? or never to return?

These are some of the few questions I think about at times, about my collection, and would like to see what others, who've been down that long road before had to say.

[cybercylon]

When I've had to sell things off, it's usually due  to:

1. There is something else I want more and because I live in a small house, I need to make room. Generally, I am not under any pressure and can pick and choose what I want to get rid off. Usually it's stuff I have lost interest in playing or know I won't get to. I don't usually give a second thought about that stuff.

2. I need to pay a bill(s). That one is tougher. I had to get rid of most of my PS2 rpgs last year, and I know I will probably not see any of that again.

Even with that though, it's not that hard to keep it in perspective. After all, I generally purchase to play games. I'm not trying to run a museum.

[akator]

I've sold off parts of my collection, mainly due to financial needs.

• Last year my wife lost her job and it took 8 months for her to get another.  I also had some large medical bills from the previous year.  Between the 2, the only way we could still survive was to "cash out," fortunately providing enough to cover our bills until our monthly income improved again.
  
• Getting rid of things last year convinced me that I don't need everything I have and that I don't want to own and maintain a personal gaming museum in my house.  We want the space back, so I started planning additional things to sell.  The money was planned to help pay for home improvements such as making our back yard usable.
  
• So far this year... I had a medication induced stroke and my wife had a car accident.  Rather than putting off sales, I put off other projects and am getting ready to sell off another massive round of systems and games.  This will at least pay off the thousands of unexpected bills.  I will be keeping a few of the systems I can't bear to part with.

At first it is extremely difficult to sell off parts of a collection, but it's better to eat, have reliable transportation, and pay the mortgage.  On a positive note, with the current state of emulation I've found myself playing more games than I used to because less of my attention is focused on hardware.

Monetarily, we at least broke even on my original investment.  The collection has been a better investment that our retirement funds which started tanking in 2007, lost 80% by 2009, and still hasn't recovered.

I miss many of the systems that were sold, and will undoubtedly miss many that will be sold over the next few months.  I don't miss maintaining hardware or the storage requirements.  We are now able to use an entire room in the house for more than storage, and by the summer another room that is only partially usable will be free of the collection.  What remains will be easily accessed with systems setup for immediate use with a dedicated emulation station in the same room.

[Ransom]

I had dozens of systems (game consoles and 8-bit computers) I bought at flea markets and surplus warehouses in the early 90s.  I sold everything off except for my Atari 8-bit stuff, the Turbografx-16, a SNES with a few games that my wife and I bought new, and the Jaguar my parents bought us on release day.  That sounds like we kept a lot, but I had all the common consoles and 8-bit computers from the 80s and lots of games and accessories for them.  I sold most of it on usenet or to local people through my BBS.  We were living in an apartment at the time and it just took up too much room.

What went first was the computers -- Vic-20, C=64, TI 99/4a, etc.  Then went the big stuff - Odyssey2, 5200 and trak-balls, etc. and the big 2600 collection with a ton of cartridges all in those plastic library modules that fit together.  And then the miscellaneous all went to Goodwill.

I'd say I made money on the deal.  Not a lot.  But I'd picked up most of it dirt cheap.  I'd usually buy a box of stuff for $20 at a flea market.  At the surplus warehouses I was buying NIB games for $2.  I bought two NIB 5200 trak-balls for $5 each.  And so on.  When I sold it all, prices weren't at eBay levels of course (this was in 1996 or so, I think), but some of it went for good prices.  I think the 5200, trak-balls, games, Wico sticks and y-cable went for a couple hundred.  The 2600 collection went for about $100.  The rest went for less.

I was happy to get rid of it all, and very happy that most of it went to good homes.  I didn't miss any of it for years.

It wasn't until about 8 years ago that I started getting back into it.  First came the emulators.  Then I decided to buy the systems that I liked that had unique controls that were hard to emulate -- 5200, Intellivision.  And then I branched out from there.

I think at this point I have all the classic systems I'll ever want.  I'm considering getting rid of a few more that I don't really play, though.

[godslabrat]

Am I alone in thinking that I actually DO want to run a personal gaming museum?

[Seob]

godslabrat, on Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:37 AM, said:

Am I alone in thinking that I actually DO want to run a personal gaming museum?

No you're not.
But i will sell stuff if i need, want something new and i need funds for it. Sold of my videopac(odyssey2) prototypes to buy a ps3, didn't regret that because the prototypes where collecting dust, not because they where bad, but i was to afraid that they got damaged. So i thought why keep them and not play them, when i can buy a system that i will play.
I do hoop i never find myself in the situation that i have to sell of stuff to pay bills. I will try to sell other stuff first. I also try to make a little profit with buying stuff second hand and selling it online. I made a nice profit on a faller HO slotcar track, and nice cash selling old calculators and chess computers. Made some mistakes as well, but overall it has been a good profit.

[TheGameCollector]

Just like me and my financial situation where I need a place to stay. My girlfriend told me that if I reach $5000 (maybe $4000 at the very least) then she would feel comfortable getting an apartment and I could live there. She works full time but my money would cover us the first few months while we save up money and give us something to back us up afterward.

Thanks to great people here, Nintendoage and Digitpress, I am almost halfway to my goal. I know I have the funds in my collection without even having to sell Playstation brand stuff if CIB games were only worth $10 a piece, and most of them are at least that or higher, so I can probably do it.

[thegamezmaster]

Every system and what I had for it since I first got into gaming in the very eary eighties, I regret having to sell to get the newest thing coming out to this day.

[SEgamer]

godslabrat, on Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:37 AM, said:

Am I alone in thinking that I actually DO want to run a personal gaming museum?

It's only a matter of time. The American Art Museum has an art exhibit on them right now until September: http://americanart.s...ive/2012/games/

Getting back to the first post, I sold my N64 collection last year.

What type of situation were you in, to have to let/sell it off?
Mostly needed the space and some money to fund other things (car, other parts of my collection). Didn't want to focus all of my money on one system so I decided to sell it.

Did you get back what you paid?
Fortunately yes, and found a local buyer so shipping costs/time wasn't a factor.

Did you ever bounce back? or never to return?
Currently I'm trying to build it back up after changing my mind on the whole "focusing on one system". So far I'm on track with my budget which was what I sold my previous collection for.

Edited by SEgamer, Sun Mar 18, 2012 2:23 PM.

[the.golden.ax]

I've had to sell off my stuff so many times it makes me sick. I've had collections stolen more than once. Had to sell off all or some due to parents divorce, eviction, birth of children, keeping a business going, replacement of only vehicle, a disaster, buying a home, and general survival and support of my family. Each time has been less and less devastation. It started most times with the loss of everything, as time has gone on I've had to give up a bit but never all. I've been lucky that some of the worst events, mostly recent, have hit the game stash the least of all the times my stuff has had to take a hit. In most cases I've taken large losses in value. You can't really view this hobby as investing, if you do, you are just lying to yourself and justifying it, in my opinion (this coming from an expert at doing just that). Selling off a large collection takes so much time and effort it is a full time job. Remember that, if you have any other obligations. As a father of four, self employed, finding time to maintain a collection is difficult at best. These days I'm trying to include the kids more, and make it about fun with the family, not so much my personal obsession with getting more crap.

[TMOSteel]

The only collection I had to sell was my second Neo Geo collection about 11 years ago.  And when I say had to it was really by choice: I was getting married and needed the money to pay for the band.  My Wife (then fiance) went back and forth with the whole DJ vs Band thing, but in the end I won out, and it was for the best.  The Band was great, and really fit our venue http://www.flowerfield.com , so in my mind it was well worth it.

I sold the entire collection to neo-geo.com, a modded Japanese AES console (bought new from Super Sellers in Japan; one of the last ones they had), 2 slot MVS board, extra controllers, memory cards, MVS and AES games (US Mark of the Wolves included).  Got way more than I paid for any of it, but with today's prices on Neo Geo items it would probably be worth 2 to 3 times what I got.

Luckily for me, the Xbox came around about a year later and I really got into that system.  I'm still an Xbox fan, having picked up the 360 when it came out, and now have a newer slim console as well as the Kinect.

Did I ever miss the 'Neo?  Of course.  Have I ever gotten back into it?  You could say that: two AES consoles, almost all the games I sold plus lots more up until they stopped production, plus a few converters to play the MVS games on the console.  Also picked up some of the home brew titles like Last Hope and Fast Striker.  Oh and a pair of MVS "Gold" cabinets, not just MVS boards this time.

That also led to me picking up the Bally and ColecoVision from my youth, Atari 2600, 5200, Vectrex, Coleco Gemini, Playstation, Dreamcast, Coleco Adam Computer, NES etc. etc...

So my collecting kind of came back with a vengeance, not just with the 'Neo but now for a ton of other systems as well, some I had in years past but most of them ones I never owned before.  I've kind of tapered off for now, just picking up games for the system I really enjoy, and mostly limiting that to home brews.

[icemanxp300]

godslabrat, on Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:37 AM, said:

Am I alone in thinking that I actually DO want to run a personal gaming museum?

You're not alone

[icemanxp300]

I sold my entire nes collection of over 300 games back in 2002-ish. I also sold a factory sealed mario 1 for $100. No job needed $$.

It sucked. But now I have so many games for every system it's insane. I learned when selling that some games aree worth $$ so I started a side business, buying and selling. Then about 4 years ago I decided instead of selling off the common games, I would just keep everything and now my collection is massive.

For nes alone I have well over 500 nes games about half of them boxed. I have re-aquired a sealed mario1 and some. I have about 10 boxed nes systems alone and thats just my nes. I have all other systems as a backup in case I need $$ I will not have to sell my nes stuff again. Problem is now especially w/these gaming sites I've joined. I wouldn't want to sell anything lol.

One thing is for sure, you do NOT sell anything remotely rare if you can help it. I would sell off $200 worth of low value games before 1 $100 game. Just becasue it is proven rare games only go up dramatically where commons and such stay about the same.

[Hitachi]

What type of situation were you in, to have to let/sell it off?
-I lost my scholarship that paid the majority of my college expenses

What went first?
My arcades. NARC and Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja, Bad dudes also had a Vigilante board and art

Did you get back what you paid?
Overall, no. I think I ended up with less than I had paid.

How was life different without all those games?
Not just because of this, but other things that were happening, I sunk into a deep depression and basically became a hermit.

Did you ever bounce back? or never to return?
Yes, I have since bounced back, but I don't have all the same things I did, for example, I used to have a famicom and a sega saturn, and game gear, but now, I have things like a ti-99/4a, apple //e, and neo geo pocket color. I will eventually get all the things that I sold, but I don't know if I'll be able to track down my arcades....

[pce_collector]

Armonigann, on Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:00 PM, said:

What type of situation were you in, to have to let/sell it off?
I've been selling my games to make a little money and space.

What went first?
Whatever was accessible. That's how little space I had.

Did you get back what you paid?
Nope.

How was life different without all those games?
It's no different.

Did you ever bounce back? or never to return?
I don't plan to return. Once it's gone, it's gone.

[Armonigann]

^I think I would probably be the same way..

[marthbrightblade]

Lost job to lay off '09, sold NES collection for loss. Paid on house twice and kept lights on. Laid off again '11, Sold Genesis,32X, SegaCD, TG-16, N64, GBC, Jaguar collections off for a loss. Paid on house and each bill once. Other collections me and my wife had went too, vintage barbies, comic books, ceramic dolls. 2 people laid off in a household sucked. You take crappy jobs just to keep the lights on cause unemployment don't cut it. But, you never forget those things you sold.

[dobidy]

I think I have been collecting and selling stuff since I was in grade school. My mom used to bring home comics for us to trade off in the late 70's. At one time I had about 5000 comics.....good ones too! My comics paid for part of my first year of animation school.

My first atari and intv collection went to a good home in the 90's.....the only other game collector in my area who loves the stuff as much as I do.

I have a fluctuating collection of stuff....whatever is interesting for a bit I collect and then lose interest and move on.....viewmasters, cereal premiums, toys, games, animation cels, comics, etc....

For about 10 years I sold my collections at toy shows and then on ebay. In animation the jobs are pretty much seasonal so I would supplement the slower times with selling stuff.

I just started back into the games recently and concentrating on Atari.......I'm sure at some point I will move onto another collection .....got to keep it fresh!

I've been hoarding model kits and King kong lately...we'll see where that goes.

Edited by dobidy, Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:56 PM.

[GodzillaIsMyCopilot]

I'm on my fifth copy of Tecmo's Deception. I've owned over four NES's, five PSones, three PS2s, seven Xbox 360s, 3 Ataris, 2 ColecoVisions (never at the same time, and those are just the duplicates!)... what does that tell you?

[Turbogfx]

I sell the stuff I don't play any more. I'm probably going to sell my Intellivision collection.

[Crazy Climber]

I would need an entire topic to explain all the times I have sold my entire collection, I have done it a dozen or so times...

Main reason...need money...
Well actually lets change that. I would say the main reason would be "WANT money" rarely have I sold stuff because I NEEDED money. Hell, I always NEED money. I could sell my entire collection right now and wouldn't be any better off a year from now, lol

Bottom line is if you are already kind of the spending type, your money is probably SAFER in something like classic games that have somewhat of an established resale value Or you can just keep telling your self that like I do, but seriously, it's better than blowing it on something that is worthless the second you open it/use it.

I did sell a lot of things to help pay for my wedding. Mainly because I felt guilty that I was setting nothing aside for it and blowing all my extra cash on games (was a bit of a speed collector at the time) Felt the right thing would be to sell some of it so I did. Not sure how I feel about that decission now, lol

I once sold my entire Atari collection to buy a 6 pack of Schlitz and small bag of pot. This is the uncensored version mind you, if my Mom asks it was for a football

There are always excpetions but usually when somebody completely cashes out they are just kind of tired of it and need a break. I've been there, thousands of games and thousands more on the wanted list with no money to buy them. No place to properly display them, no overall plan other than to just buy stuff. Gets stressful if you are really into it and all the rare stuff always pops up when your broke so it's tempting to just get rid of everything when the "game" just becomes to much of a burden. The true collectors (myself included) can never leave though, something will pull you back

On a side note an interesting thing I heard while visiting pre schools for my daughter. The principal mentioned to me that an independent study was conducted many years ago following the lives of above average intelligece individuals. One thing they ALL had incommon was that they obsessively collected items that the average person thought of as worthless (rocks, bottle caps/etc....maybe even video games???) Therfore I find collecting "junk" (at least to your average person) is proof I am super smart...or I can just keep telling myself that

[Gorfy]

@Crazy Climber -- Schlitz and a nickel bag -- Awesome!

Do they still make Schlitz?  I think Blatz was more common in my neck of the woods.

[Crazy Climber]

Gorfy, on Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:42 AM, said:

@Crazy Climber -- Schlitz and a nickel bag -- Awesome!

Do they still make Schlitz?  I think Blatz was more common in my neck of the woods.

They re-launched it a few years ago, about the same as I remember...meh

[HatefulGravey]

I have always been a collector of something. NES was one of those things years and years ago. I had maybe 200 games, the system, and all the major accessories for it. I sold them all for a pretty good profit because I got them cheap in local pawn shops and flea markets when you could still do that, and sold them when everyone started wanting them again. I just wasn't using them as much as I should and wanted something else at the time. I can't remember what it was, but I know I never actually got it.

I played Magic: The Gathering for the first 8 years the game was out. I sold my entire collection to a single person for a large profit. Turns out cards in great shape from the first few sets were worth a lot of money and I had tons and tons of them. As a friend got out of the game they normally gave me their stuff or sold it too me cheap so I ended up with thousands and thousands of cards.

If I had to sell what I have right now I would take a little loss on most of it. Nothing major, but I would lose money because I would lot it out. I don't have time to sell everything solo like I should if I decided to do this right now. I would make a good bit on my arcades so that would cut the loss some, but not entirely.

[the.golden.ax]

Crazy Climber, on Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:56 AM, said:

Gorfy, on Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:42 AM, said:

@Crazy Climber -- Schlitz and a nickel bag -- Awesome!

Do they still make Schlitz?  I think Blatz was more common in my neck of the woods.

They re-launched it a few years ago, about the same as I remember...meh

My grandfather was a Union worker for Schlitz in Milwaukee for over 40 years. When they tore it down in the 80's he kept big chunks of the building.