Quitting/putting collecting on pause

I consider the fact that any of the stuff I have collected has any monetary value today a bonus. When I was paying $5 a year to have those Star Wars comics sent to my home back in 1980, the idea a complete run of those might be worth over $1,000 40+ years later is kind of insane. Same with the figures at $2.49 a pop. I view anything I can sell that I enjoyed at one time as found money, and if I sell at less than maximum to get it out the door, and a fellow collector ends up getting something they will enjoy at a bit of a discount to the overall market even better.
 
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Yeah, if I can get something back for the figures I'm no longer keeping, awesome. I never expect to get more than I paid, or even equal to what I paid, but I also see it as "If I sell this figure for half what I paid, I'm actually saving a lot later on because without that one, I won't feel compelled to get the 3-4 figures that go with it".
 
I should start keeping track of my maker/mod/dio projects in 2026 to see if they cost out to as much as my toy buying in 2025. This year has been the most toy buying I've done I think ever, but that still leaves me at only 149 figures total. Presuming I keep all my current preorders and don't buy anything beyond those (unlikely), I'll top out at 158 figures. Realistically, 9 figures this next year won't put a big dent in my budget. Right now it's mostly about space. My apartment is not huge and I'm not going to be able to expand the size of my fishbowl soon.

My guess is building out dioramas and displays will ultimately be cheaper and will at the same time give my current collection a nicer home. I doubt I'll stick to just what I've preordered now, but I also feel like this year-long splurge is coming to an end. I've been actively trying to pursue my other hobbies more. This one's fun, but ttrpgs, drawing, writing, making, and so on are more about building new things and memories, while toy collecting, for better or worse, is more often about living in old memories.
 
The self-control really is the hardest part. I'm practicing the "I may want it, but do I need it?" thing lately, and if the answer is yes, to follow it up with a "do I really need it now?" A sort of two-factor authentication for my purchases. If getting said thing prevents me from being able to do something nice for someone else, especially around the holidays, or gets me stressing about money, it goes back, end of story. I used to excuse a lot- lots of little treats for myself for getting through the week or whatever- and I didn't worry so much about money, but here lately, it seems like it just hovers over me like a dark cloud. I worry- not only about now, but the future as well, and want to do everything I can to set myself up for success (provided the world doesn't blow up first).

What I do pick up, I've noticed, has started to sorta move away from nostalgia as well. It's still there, but there's definitely more focus on both a "here and now" and future mindset- is this just a momentary rush I'm getting from finding a cool thing, or is it going to sustain? Impossible to know all the time, but I've gotten pretty good at estimating, and I've found myself having far less buyer's remorse or lost interest in things of late.

I don't really need those "treats", and I don't even know if half the time I deserve them. I'm a bad, naughty boy who deserves to be punished and..... wait...... ah crap, wrong thread......
 
On the note about self control.... I'm gonna pat myself on the back because I'm legitimately proud of myself here. I'm a pretty big Punisher fan and I have repeatedly stopped myself from getting either of the ML two-packs. Old Damien would have been like 'it's not the exact version I want, but fuck it it's good enough until the better version happens.' I'm trying really hard not to do that anymore. It's either what I want, or it isn't. But I've almost caved on the Sega Genesis Punisher like a half-dozen times at least just in the last week. It's a daily battle.
 
“Either you collecting do ‘yes’ or collecting do ‘no’. Collecting do ‘guess so’ [makes squish gesture] just like grape.”

I think a lot of us are either at or nearing the “guess so” point with respect to collecting. We’re not seeing the value in it that we used to, but we’re not ready to let go either. So we’re feeling squished…just like grapes.

Selling off some percentage of our collections and being more disciplined with our purchases going forward definitely helps, but I’m not sure that’s the real issue here.

Something has changed, and it’s not just the prices, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Speaking for myself, there’s little to no excitement now. I used to order a figure online, be it from a retailer or eBay, and check the tracking every day. Arriving home from work and seeing that box at my front door was one of the highlights of my week, and the more highlights I had to look forward to, the better.

Now I can’t be arsed (as they say in the UK) to ship my Pile of Loot from BBTS even though it contains figures like Astonishing Beast and Rachel Summers that have been on my ML want list for years.

It’s not the $30 price tag. I already paid for them. It’s certainly not the $4 shipping cost. I spend more at Starbucks on any given morning. So WHAT IS IT?!? Whatever it is, I wish it would go away, because I really miss the good ‘ole days.
 
This year (2025) I made a stronger effort to not preorder a lot of stuff outside of exclusives. I held to that pretty well and it was a bit more freeing. For 2026 I am already in for a bunch of preorders but not as many as 2025. Also I am now actively trying to wait and hold out for a sale on everything else if I can. While Canada hasn't seen the price increase (yet) that you guys did in the US, it is still a chunk of change for a single 6" figure ($36+tax). Not too mention the cost of deluxes, figure/pet, vehicles, etc. I have also made a conscious decision to fixate on GI Joe Classified and everything else is pick and choose based on price and "want." Hopefully that will further drop my spending in 2026 from 2025 levels.

As for selling, I will say a big thing I see from sellers is unrealistic expectations. Too many seem to think their prices are reasonable when they are inflated. The market is not what it was and selling is very much location dependent. Ebay might still work for US sellers and buyers, but I don't think it is worth it for me (Canadian). I can't speak to other countries, but I would imagine it is probably the same. So that leaves more local options. Going that route means lowering expectations about prices and understanding that you are probably going to sell to someone who has the same level of knowledge as you do (or at least close to it). So expecting someone to pay a premium on something that is more "common" is not realistic. Items that are "rare" is a different story, but also be realistic about how rare the item is and what it is worth in the market.

One of my pet peeves I see people saying online is that something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it like that one white whale who comes along and over pays for an item is the norm and not the rarest of exceptions. That is their justification for high prices on items.

Anyway I find that if I am selling I try to go low on items I know won't sell, and for stuff I expect to sell I try to got lower than what I would reasonably expect to pay and usually I sell stuff fairly quickly. Plus I also get in the mindset of "I am selling it, it is someone else's once sold so who cares if they get more for it that what I sold it for to them?" That reasoning makes it much easier to price low and sell rather than keeping holding on to something for a price I think it will sell for, rather than just getting rid of it.
 
I think controlling collection creep is what I have been trying to change in my habits and collecting over the last few years. Some lines keep expanding and getting deeper, and I tended to get caught up in that - and for long running lines I now have 100's of figures - with Star Wars and Marvel Legends maybe that is over 1,000.

My goal as I set out to cull things more is to establish parameters - character main looks, maybe for a franchise just certain films or shows, recurring characters not every side character or one shot villains, etc.
 
Xavion2025 said:
Something has changed, and it’s not just the prices, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
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For myself, it's just the fun factor.

It is knowing that there are companies out there that are dropping bangers and that even though Hasbro, as example, has finally fulfilled a character roster slot that I've wanted my whole life, I already know the limits of that figure because it's a Hasbro product. And I know that even though it's an unlicensed figure, I'm having way more fun and getting way more enjoyment out of this third party figure just because it comes with a bunch of extra hands and ludicrous accessories.

Do I want the new Spidey 2099? Of course, it checks all the Marvel boxes for me. But it also offers nothing new and also doesn't really be all that it could be. Doesn't even come with a Lila.

Most of the new third-party figures I've gotten in have a bunch of unique accessories, can articulate better than most characters, and quite frankly look better on a shelf once you pose them up with all that.
 
Xavion2025 said:
It’s not the $30 price tag. I already paid for them. It’s certainly not the $4 shipping cost. I spend more at Starbucks on any given morning. So WHAT IS IT?!? Whatever it is, I wish it would go away, because I really miss the good ‘ole days.
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Two things for me -

I think things are hitting more sporadically - there used to be Legends waves monthly, now its often a figure here and there for 6 months then a whole bunch in a burst; for smaller lines, waves are often 6 months or more apart so it takes patience to get things finished; and preorders are getting farther and farther out, so the excitement of an announcement dissipates when it is 6 months until we see the figure - let alone for a Legends HasLab or a Kickstarter that can result in 12 to 18 months of waiting for the actual product,. All of which to me results in loss of momentum and interest. The hobby has a weird mix of "must order immediately or miss out" and "long bouts of delayed gratification".

The other thing is I am a but frustrated with the hobby in general - long running line seem to have no urgency in completing eras or factions (we joke about this for Legends but really, at times it is just frustrating that 20 years into the line that core teams are left incomplete - its kind of taking the customer for granted), many companies start a line that goes nowhere to the point it feels a bit like a risk to back them, and too many kickstarters or small lines drop the ball. We have a great variety of product to choose from but everything is a long game.
 
canprime said:
One of my pet peeves I see people saying online is that something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it like that one white whale who comes along and over pays for an item is the norm and not the rarest of exceptions. That is their justification for high prices on items.
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That's funny, because the way my dad always used it on me was, "Wizard may say your comic is worth $80, but there's nobody in our driveway asking for it, so it's worthless."

If I'm selling a figure and I can only get a bite for $10, then it's only worth $10 at the moment. Deal or don't.
 
Xavion2025 said:
It’s not the $30 price tag. I already paid for them. It’s certainly not the $4 shipping cost. I spend more at Starbucks on any given morning. So WHAT IS IT?!? Whatever it is, I wish it would go away, because I really miss the good ‘ole days.
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I think there's a combo of things. Like @Chooch555 says, I think we're all getting older and re-prioritizing around the modern world, and I think a lot of factors there are pushing on us (I think Covid has had some weird effects on collecting but hat's a whole different idea). I also think as preorder windows get longer we've got more time to talk ourselves out of purchases we might have otherwise impulse bought. That hasn't stopped me lately, but I'm sure it's a factor for some folks.

I also think in general it's a hobby where it's sort of easy to see how it eats your life by how much space it takes up. I think in years gone by that might not have been so noticeable, or might've been a source of pride more often, but in the world now, with the level of adversarial consumerism so high, you start to look at your things and think "Jesus, is this it?". I think there's a cultural shift to start divesting of the products that lock us into buying loops and franchise ecosystems. It's certainly not everyone, but I think it's an undercurrent with a lot of folks here.

Which doesn't mean it's bad to have a collection. I doubt I'll ever sell off everything. But it certainly tempers things. And the age thing, that's a big one. More and more of us are experiencing family deaths and seeing what it's like to clear out someone's house when they're gone. And I think that encourages the notion "well, I don't want anybody in my life to have to clean up all this shit". Heck it's been expressed on this very thread a few times.
altcunningham said:
If I'm selling a figure and I can only get a bite for $10, then it's only worth $10 at the moment. Deal or don't.
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This. One reason I've never had issues selling anything on ebay is that I price my stuff as though I'd actually like to get rid of it as opposed to making a profit. Unless it's something I know for a fact has high demand I'll basically never offer an open figure for as much or more than retail was originally. And even the high demand ones I typically undercut the average ebay seller's price by 10-20%, because you see those listings sit there for weeks and weeks waiting for a whale. Those folks think their figure collection is an investment. I think mine is a hobby, and when it's time for a figure to go I want it gone.
 
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