Quitting/putting collecting on pause

RicksNerdLife said:
So, while I love this hobby and love talking to you guys about this hobby, I'm sorry, but I love my wife more. And the home on a plot of land, with a little pond and some ducks is all she wants, and she's getting what she wants. Like this year, I refuse to push it back any further.
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Totally understand. Most of my collection has already been sold off to help pay for things for my wife and kids (some wants some needs a some unavoidable bills). It’s probably 30% of what it once was and I probably need to let go half of what’s left. There is something freeing about letting it go even though I enjoy having the collection and picking up new pieces. I have a very limited about of space where I can display my collection so my rule of thumb is if it is not displayed for a few months then I can probably do without it and need to let it go.
 
What's frustrating to me right now is that my collection today is a fraction of what it was at any other point in my adult collecting journey. I've drastically scaled back on how much I'm collecting. And yet I'm not making a dent in how much I'm -spending- because everything is so much more expensive. So great... instead of buying entire waves and getting 30 figures at 17.99, spending under 570 bucks after tax, I only bought 14 figures. And spent 560 dollars after tax. It's inane.

It really looks more and more every few months like the only 'solution' is to abandon the hobby pretty much entirely. It's not even that I don't technically have the money. It's that I look at what I have and I'm angry that it cost as much as it did. And even though we're totally fine lifestyle-wise, I always get that guilty feeling of what we COULD have done with this money. Hell, even not changing my lifestyle at all, that's a lot of money that could be supporting independent artists/authors that is mostly going to giant corporations. Just.. meh.
 
altcunningham said:
What was the reasoning, if you don't mind?
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Sure. Pretty much what Rick said, and I don't want to leave behind a bunch of figures for my wife and kids to go through when I'm gone. Also, I have obsessed over different interests and collectible items over the decades (musical instruments, video games, DVDs/BluRays, CDs/Vinyl, Comics/TPBs, original art, etc etc etc). I'm trying to be less scattershot with my collecting. Right now my focus has shifted to TPBs and Omnibuses, so I'm making shelf space (and extra disposable income) by offloading figures.

With the books I feel a bit better because my wife will have an idea of their worth since the price is on them. She'd be lost trying to determine what my figures are worth. I'll let her know to reduce the price of each book by half just to recoup some money without too much stress, hopefully. I realize this all sounds morbid, but I'm not getting younger and my health is declining.

Lastly, I am trying to be a better model for my kids. My son shares a lot of my traits, including obsessing over various interests. It's hard to say no to him when he sees me getting multiple packages of collectibles a week.
 
So I went through my spreadsheet and highlighted toys that I could consider parting ways with. I'm already dreading the ebay of it all, but now I'm also thinking that selling hundreds or perhaps thousands of items one at a time will take a long time/become a job. What are the pros/cons of selling lots? Feels like less money, but significantly less hassle? Anything else to consider?
 
akajomiha said:
Lastly, I am trying to be a better model for my kids. My son shares a lot of my traits, including obsessing over various interests. It's hard to say no to him when he sees me getting multiple packages of collectibles a week.
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Yyyyyup. I'm right there with you on this one. Even beyond the role model element of it; it can be a serious financial stressor to spoil two kids like I spoil myself.
 
Damien said:
I've drastically scaled back on how much I'm collecting. And yet I'm not making a dent in how much I'm -spending- because everything is so much more expensive.
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Same.
Damien said:
And even though we're totally fine lifestyle-wise,
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Same.
Damien said:
Hell, even not changing my lifestyle at all, that's a lot of money that could be supporting independent artists/authors
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This may be my goal for the new year. Instead of buying three new versions of action figures of characters I already have five times over, buy one good piece of original art from a local creator.
Damien said:
that is mostly going to giant corporations.
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It sucks when your favorite things are all owned by Disney or WB (or whatever other big corporation ends up buying them). I can take pleasure in knowing I completed my Excalibur team as long as I don't think about the fact that I put more money into the pockets of a Chris Cocks.


Yeah, I.think I need to focus more on my vintage toy collection next year. And given the fact that I have most of the vintage stuff I want.......all the better. Two waves of Marvel Legends = one minty Starduster figure.
 
akajomiha said:
I don't want to leave behind a bunch of figures for my wife and kids to go through when I'm gone.
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I feel that same way but I'm fortunate to have two "outs" in this situation. One my brother in law who deals in buying collections and would take all my stuff off my wife's hands. Another is a local shop owner who is always happy to buy my lots (he's said more than once that I bring him "good stuff"). Even so, I'd still like to trim my stuff down to about half of what it is currently.

On the topic, I asked my wife what, if any, of my stuff she would keep when I pass on. She said she'd keep the NECA 1/6 scale Raphael and Donatello that I took pictures of my two daughters next to when they were borne (both were the same size as the figures) and a select few of my live action Marvel figures. I'll keep Cumberbatch Dr. Strange forever......just for her.
 
Chooch555 said:
So I went through my spreadsheet and highlighted toys that I could consider parting ways with. I'm already dreading the ebay of it all, but now I'm also thinking that selling hundreds or perhaps thousands of items one at a time will take a long time/become a job. What are the pros/cons of selling lots? Feels like less money, but significantly less hassle? Anything else to consider?
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Yes, you'll likely end up with less money - but your time is worth money also so you may still come out ahead. Plus selling things individually means paying more in shipping also.

I just have ebay as a permanent side business. I keep a store for $27.95 per month that lets me always have 1,000 "free" Buy It Now listings. There are lower tiers that are cheaper with fewer listings (or higher tiers if you need more). It can take quite a bit of effort upfront. I probably only average 1-2 sales per day, but it's easy for me to manage shipping those out every day and listing replacement items. My daily effort is probably less than 20 minutes, but it took many weekends to get those original 1,000 listings going of course. The listings that don't sell auto-renew every 30 days (only cost is the monthly store fee and 13% ebay takes from every sale). Ebay offers a discounted shipping fee which helps a lot compared to standard rates. The discount can vary anywhere from 20-50% and seems to vary from day-to-day and based on location you're shipping to. Sometimes there seems to be no real rhyme or reason to the discount level. A lot of my sales end up going overseas but ebay handles all of that. I don't even usually know what they charge for shipping or where the item is going as they just have me send it to an ebay international shipping center in Chicago and they handle all of the rest including returns or refunds. Once I ship to ebay, I'm done and out. I don't have to worry about customs forms, tarriffs, none of it. Having the store is handy because I'll often run into something random for a price that I know that I can profit off of and I just buy it and list it.

I don't bother with auctions anymore as either a buyer or as a seller. I don't find them a good use of time and just stick with Buy It Now. I don't recommend allowing offers because you'll be inundated with the most low ball offers that you can imagine. Rarely am I ever offered even 50% of asking and I try to always be the lowest on ebay for my items. You'll actually get emails with those low ball offers anyway. I recommend just ignoring them rather than trying to reply to them all, or you'll go crazy.
 
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yojoebro82 said:
This may be my goal for the new year. Instead of buying three new versions of action figures of characters I already have five times over, buy one good piece of original art from a local creator.
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It's so weird how easy it is to overlook this stuff. A couple of years ago I commissioned a piece from a local artist. She had a small painting on display at the local library and my wife loved it, so I commissioned a significantly larger piece with the same concept. It didn't even cost very much, all things considered (I spent more on the Sentinel, or the Arctic HISS). But despite that, it's one of our favorite things in the house.

For what I spend on action figures in 3-4 months, I could get a pretty nice set of kitchen knives from a local bladesmith.

So even just selfishly, if I don't want to take my toy budget and just 'donate it to charity' - there's all kinds of things I can do for me and for my family with that money that isn't just throwing thousands of dollars at a series of huge companies, on a hobby that, let's be honest, is terrible for the environment. BUT, I've gotta be honest with myself; I do really love my little plastic army men and I can't see myself buying NONE every year, either.

So it's just going to be a matter of reminding myself all the time that less isn't none, and comparing my planned toy purchases with what else I could get for that money more often than I currently do. Ultimately, I think investing in other things outside toys and video games will be a lot more rewarding than devoting so much space and money to just modern action figures.
 
Chooch555 said:
So I went through my spreadsheet and highlighted toys that I could consider parting ways with. I'm already dreading the ebay of it all, but now I'm also thinking that selling hundreds or perhaps thousands of items one at a time will take a long time/become a job. What are the pros/cons of selling lots? Feels like less money, but significantly less hassle? Anything else to consider?
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I just moved a bunch before Christmas.

Pros for lots: you can minimise your time and work just getting it all gone. You can move things that would never move or move slower by making it parcel with the high demand items. Much less hassle... If you can deal with the cherry pickers who will inevitably hit you up.

Cons: less money. Lots are made to move. You're kind of making a deal with yourself that you know you are prioritising your time and energy rather than single listing and micromanaging every single figure.

Shipping. Obviously it's more stuff. Bigger box. I'd try for a local pick up with large lots.

When I sold my big lot of Legends I knew I had some bangers in there. But I also knew I had other things that were never going to sell. I had a price that just made me feel fine with it.

The guy that bought them didn't waste any time flipping them and that night I saw on marketplace he had taken the time to identify every single figure and sell them separately at a much higher price. I didn't feel bad though, because with my marketplace experience I knew he was never going to get any of those asking prices and valuations, because he was operating off of eBay which is not the same. Then he would still be stuck with the garbage. He'd probably still come out ahead, but that was about a week ago and checking marketplace as we post this, he has only actually moved one of the figures. So I still feel pretty good.

I think mentally, lots are better. Less work. And just find peace with the money you get back.
 
RicksNerdLife said:
I really am trying to get into the mindset of "just because you like it, doesn't mean you need it".

I have a really, really, REALLY bad habit of "Ooh, that's neat. I want it" and somehow relating it back to something that makes me nostalgic for my childhood. Always justifying.
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Yes. All this. Breaking out of wanting a thing because I like it was a massive hurdle, but I got there with some of my collecting. Going all the way is tough though. I said before, every star wars collection I have had since 1995 started with "just Boba Fett", but Vader, troopers, and so on. So yeah, just completely cutting it all out feels like necessity
 
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RicksNerdLife said:
I really am trying to get into the mindset of "just because you like it, doesn't mean you need it".

I have a really, really, REALLY bad habit of "Ooh, that's neat. I want it" and somehow relating it back to something that makes me nostalgic for my childhood. Always justifying.
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I can buy almost any toy and within 5 paragraphs relate back to how it's definitely a nostalgia purchase that my inner child deserves, even if it's a character that didn't exist when I was a kid, in a toy format that didn't exist when I was a kid, as part of a property that didn't exist when I was a kid. Haha. That's the curse. You can justify anything if you just really WANT to.
 
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