Collecting Pondering

[Kazza]

Sell off your TF's?!?! No. No no no sir!

Cash? You've got two kidney's don't you? Surely you can part with one? Or I hears that if you've got a skirt and a nice smile you can make good tax-free cash down the docks after dark, even when sporting a 5 o'clock shadow. And I also hears there is a place in Ballarat that will buy all the sperm you can produce!

Space? Surely you don't need more than one shirt, one pair of jeans, one pair of socks etc? Free up those wardrobes man! And surely you don't need a washing machine to do them in when a sink and a scrubbing brush suffices. Buying fresh food daily gets rid of the need to have full cupboards or a fridge. A warm sleeping bag means you can get rid of that pesky bed and free up the linen cupboard.

But if worst comes to worst I'm in the next two years building a Transformatorium shed on my farm (cause I need the space lol) so send'em this way and you can visit whenever you like

Bahahaha +1

I agree with what most others have said, the toylines you don't have much attachments to should be where you start selling from. I personally had to thin down my collection, and decided to knock off the movie toys.

[theshape]

Whatever you do keep the G1 stuff

[Zippo]

Thanks all for the words, it is a stark contrast to the advise the New Zealand collectors 'gave' - all they wanted was to dib certain toys in the collection for when ever I decided to sell.

When I did my collection tidy in 2009, I eliminated many sub lines from the collection as I knew that I could no longer 'catch them all' and so as I packed them away into boxes I took pictures of what I had saved from the purge and look at those images every month or so to remind myself what I have.

Regarding the student loan - I have been in the work force for 10 years now and have managed to repay $15000 back to the New Zealand Govt - I still have $20000 to go and I pay back just over $2000 a year via forced repayment under my tax code. -- Just to clarify, I am not a student anymore.

As for what I get rid of first - the clean up in 2009 got rid of the lines I didn't really care for, so everything I have is 'wanted'. I have thought of getting rid of the Western CHUG and Alternators as the Japanese 'are better' but in both instances there are toys that have never been released in Japan so if I went down that path ...

My thought of selling in lots really does come from not wanting 'reminders' of the collection I had if I am unable to get rid of a few less than desirable toys and my current sale list reminds me of that every day with the unwanted AEC toys I am practically asking for someone to take from me. I know there are very few people out there who would take a lot of toys however so selling signally is the way to go

[Kapryiath]

i'm with theshape, keep the g1 stuff , or at least just sell off things you have in multiples with all the ko's going around its getting pretty hard to track down genuine g1 stuff if you did want to re aquire them later down the track.
If it was me i'd be keeping the pieces that hold sentimental value and selling off the figures i didnt like first.
to save yourself some sorting time you could always offer lots up for sale first then if they dont sell , pick 1 lot and sell it off figure by figure ? might make a little less time consuming/ frustrating /hassle with the post man

[GoktimusPrime]

My thought of selling in lots really does come from not wanting 'reminders' of the collection I had if I am unable to get rid of a few less than desirable toys and my current sale list reminds me of that every day with the unwanted AEC toys I am practically asking for someone to take from me. I know there are very few people out there who would take a lot of toys however so selling signally is the way to go

I agree with others have said in terms of selling them individually rather than lots. If it's too emotionally difficult for you to do, then is there someone else that you can offload the toys to, and they can sell them individually on your behalf? That way on an emotional level, you've already parted with them as a massive lot, then that person handles the financial side of selling them off on your behalf (maybe that person can claim a small percentage of the income as a commission for their time, effort and storage space ).

[5FDP]

Most people I know who have sold off their collections either in whole or part regretted it later. My advice would be - go down that path only as a last resort.

[Megatron]

Most people I know who have sold off their collections either in whole or part regretted it later. My advice would be - go down that path only as a last resort.

Yes, I agree with this wholeheartedly.

Probably not the advice you wanted to hear but... I think it needs to be said. Selling off your collection is a serious decision for a serious collector, and is something that I, personally, couldn't do.

[Skullcruncher]

Thanks all for the words, it is a stark contrast to the advise the New Zealand collectors 'gave' - all they wanted was to dib certain toys in the collection for when ever I decided to sell.

Exactly why I left the NZ collecting scene long ago. Everyone out for themselves with zero consideration of other collectors. Not that I'm bitter or anything

I agree with Gok, if you know someone who would sell on your behalf they could seperate them out and pass the money on when the items do get sold.

[Sinnertwin]

It may be worth really assessing your attitude towards ollecting. I mean no malice that, let me make that clear. Question is, lets say you do sell off, what will stop you from ending up in a similar situation in 2 years?

[UltraMarginal]

I agree with a lot of other comments regarding picking sections to sell, and also what to keep.

I too am paying off a student loan here in Aus, over here it's essentially an interest free loan only being adjusted for inflation. As such there is little point in clearing that debt any faster than is required by tax law. If it's the same in NZ I would let that debt slide.

The next consideration is, money for a deposit. I realise that any little bit helps, but take into consideration how much money you have saved at the moment, and what sort of a deposit you are looking for.

How much do you actually expect to make from selling off your transformers? your OTCA audiance is a fairly large pool of collectors true, but many of us have a lot of what we need, I've noticed this with trying to onsell some of my stuff over the years. your other sales alternatives like ebay are going to take a cut of any profit, you need to take that into account.

Apart from saving any potential money you are spending on renting the storage space, how much do you think you'll make for your hours of work selling off a lot of your collection. if the number is around 5K is it really worth it for the loss. I doubt you'll be looking at 30 or 40K or more. which is the sort of numbers you need to be looking at for a deposit on anything over here.

Consider selling off to save space, but if you're doing it to make some cash for a deposit on a house, unless it's literally the last couple thousand you need to get a deposit on something you really like, I'm not personally convinced that it's worth it.
you're probably better off looking at other avenues in your lifestyle where you can reduce spending and build up a deposit that way.


disclaimer: UltraMarginal is a transformers collector who really doesn't like selling off parts of his collection at any point, unless it's doubles. Ultramarginal is not a financial adviser and any advice taken is at your own discretion/risk