I'm considering selling 80% of my games collection.. ideas?

[DCUltrapro]

hey gang,

you all know me quite well by now, you know how much I love my games and how much I enjoy playing and collecting them.

So this may come as some shock to some of you! But I am SERIOUSLY considering selling the majority of my games in an effort to be able to afford new double glazing in my flat. And also I just don't need them anymore and can never find the time to play them.

I will probably sell about 80% of my 230+ DC games and likewise for my other console collections but I will be keeping most of my systems. I will just keep my 10 favourite from each console or so.

Anyway the reason for this post is to try and work out, with your help, the best way to go about this... I have considered the following options:

Ebay
short term lease a store
short term lease a market stall
car boot sale

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on what the best way to sell my games, and by sell games I really care about maximising my profit, finding the right buyers who know how much the games are worth etc as I have a lot of classics that could go for over £50-£100 and I don't want to just go to a carboot and sell them all for £1 each lol

I am not keen on the idea of ebay because of all the work, costs and effort involved. Not taking into account the obvious Ebay fees it would be near impossible to turn a profit what with having to buy lots of postage materials etc and the idea of stalls doesn't really work for me either because you either won't sell the games quickly enough to avoid high costs from the lease or you will sell them but not at the price you want.

Anyway don't panic YET!! this won't happen over night and so far I am just considering baby steps, I probably won't even begin this properly until late Summer, after the dust settles from my wedding etc.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, suggestions etc

[mazonemayu]

here's my 2 cents: don't!! you'll regret it in the end & start collecting em again in a few years, it always happens like that. also as you said, selling is a lot of hassle, specially if you want to squeeze the maximum out of it.

how about this: just don't buy anything anymore for about 6 months or so ( and I mean NOTHING: no DC, PC and [enter current gen console of choice here] games), you'll have the cash for the windows & still have your games. if you start selling em now chances are (or are slim ) that you won't have gathered the same ammount in six months as you would have, if you just save up.

anyway, thats just how I feel. sometimes I'm tempted to sell some of my dvd collection as well, like a few months ago, I really wanted to get a new piece of tattoo, but in the end I did it the hard way > by saving up. ok, so its been a while since I posted in the "dreamcast finds" section, but on the other hand, I just got myself this massive piece of €400 worth in new ink last weekend plus I'm glad I didn't sell those dvds in the end...

[DCUltrapro]

see I know what you mean, but I don't think I will if I keep the favourites I have from each console. I really don't spend that much on my games, and what with my wedding at hand and honeymoon and needing windows I REALLY need the money. I probably have 400+ games that I will just never play again and won't miss selling them...

if anyones got any suggestions on a successful way to sell a collection like this I'm all ears! I appreciate what your saying Maz but I honestly wont be able to save the kind of money I need over 6 months, or even a year lol

[pcwzrd13]

Me after reading your post:


On a more serious note, I have to agree with Maz on this one. I would give it some good thought before you decide to defiantly do this. If you absolutely must though, I'd say the best way to do it is selling them locally (classified ads). If you use any type of service, (eBay, Amazon, etc...), they're gonna take a big chunk of change from you.

[DCUltrapro]

lol, well thanks, it would be a big thing to do and I'm not 100% sure yet if I want to or not but I am still seriously considering it, just need the money man, and I don't have the time or the space to house them all anymore

[elmagicochrisg]

I don't think 400 games take up that much space when you do it right. And like the others said, chances are you will regret selling them eventually...

On the other hand, double glazing is important too. So why don't you just replace the windows you need the most first, and the rest in a second round?... Living room and kitchen would take priority. Bedroom(s) and similar not so much...

Don't buy new games for the time being. Maybe find yourself an extra job (a few hours every week) for now instead of using that time to sell your games...

[Neohound]

OK Ultra. Shut The Fuck Up, pull yourself together and forget you ever thought about it.

Honestly, you're such an enthusiastic and passionate gamer, you've always got an opinion on games, you play game, review games, video games(see what i said there?)..........you LOVE games. And you'd give that up for double glazing ?! Gimme a break.

[dark]

Keep the games. Put them into a box or two and stash them for awhile. you could probably fit 400 cd case games into two medium sized boxes, that's not so much space taken up. Then do as Mayu says and don't buy anything for a couple months.

You say you won't play the games, but most mainstream old games are literally going to go for pennies if you sold them. Just a few DC games really hold any value (the shmups, rez, Shenmue 2, SOA, etc). And selling in this current depressed world economy is going to heavily reduce the demand for people to buy your games at a significant value to you.

If you have a couple hundred games, I think it's safe to say you are a collector. I've collected a couple things in my day, DC games, comic books, etc. As a teenager I got sick of looking at the comic books and put them away in a drawer. 5 years after that, I rediscovered them and was happy I held on to them. The comic books represented a good time in my life, and rather than reading the comic book (or playing a video game) to enjoy it simply as the product it is, it is meaningful to experience the emotional attachment to it that takes you back to all the experiences you had hunting the items of your collection down, and remembering how you experienced them back in the day. When I get together with my brother (about once a year these days, we live on opposite sides of the USA) I pull out the DC and we play the same games we did as teenagers. All of a sudden it doesn't matter that it's been 10 years since we played games together, we're transported back because of the experience of playing the same game we did 10 years ago. Also, as a kid I loved "discovering" stuff that my dad or my uncle used as teenagers in my grandparent's attic. How cool would it be for your future kid to open up a box and find 200 DC games with the artwork and everything. Your collection represents a specific time in history, it's a time capsule, and that's cool and enjoyable for (some) other people to find and experience.

[yuki2012]

Yeah, do not sell them

[DCUltrapro]

thanks guys, I'm actually surprised by the responses here I thought most of you were going to just say something like "ebay" or take out an add but I'm actually really surprised that soo many of you think I'd be better off NOT selling them, I think I probably would hate myself if I sold them and I might even resent my other half if I did so too

Anyway I wasn't considering selling all of them just a large chunk but dunno, I'll probably hang on to them for now... the main thought behind me doing this is not just the glazing but also a REAL concern that I might loose my job at a time when I'm less than 2 months away from getting married, we had a team meeting the other day and the CEO came in and threatened to outsource the department (customer support/service desk) because he's not happy with the customers responses regarding our quality of service, and this CEO is a bastard, I mean he would literally kick us out the door quicker than you can blink if he thought it would stop the company (read: him) from loosing money


anyway thanks guys, Dark thanks for the pretty thoughtful and honest response and Neo... thanks for the tough love man, I needed it lol and its nice to know that at least SOMEWHERE in the world some people feel the same about games as I do, not like my fiancé lol