What do you sell?

[detaildevil]

I wanted to pose a bit of a philosophical question with practical implications for all of us. I know of, and see many examples of users on this board posting items for sale. Assuming that you aren't in this hobby for the money, its fair to assume most items in your collection were bought for one reason or another. So, I guess the question is, what do you sell?

- Do you sell whatever you think will give the most return on your initial investment?
- Do you sell whatever it takes to get the new shiny item you want?
- Do you sell when the player leaves you favorite team?
- Do you sell because you have extras of a particular item?
- Some other reason?

I'm just curious to see your responses. I have a pretty extensive collection, and am planning on making a lot of additions, but am having a hard time deciding which ones I'm willing to part with. Hearing other perspectives would be interesting.

[Sotystl]

I think personally if i was selling it would be in order to make ends meet (hopefully never happens). I would sell the things that could be easily replaced first, whether it be just a normal game used bat or something, as compared to a photomatched HR bat or something of the sort.

[esquiresports]

I collect both memorabilia and cards. I haven't sold a lot, but when I have it is because I am not getting the enjoyment I thought I would from the item(s), or the items are taking space I would rather use for something else (and selling these items will help pay for the new item).

I usually look to sell items that have some combination of (1) little to no sentimental attachment, (2) replaceable without too much effort, and (3) duplicative or close to duplicative of things in my collection. As long as (1) and (2) apply, it hasn't been too difficult to bring myself to sell.

[TNTtoys]

Good question. As you probably can see I do my fair share of selling, it is a direct result of collecting on a budget, there being items out there that I am after, and not enough funds to make the purchase. What I tend to do is dig deep into the collection to see what I can sell that I would not miss in order to generate the necessary funds for the purchase.

Like for like selling is always best... for instance, if I have a jersey of 1 player and a better jersey of the same player comes along, it's a no-brainer to upgrade (assuming the cost to upgrade is not substantial). Then again, if the cost to upgrade is over and beyond what I could afford, there are plenty of times where I have sold multiple items just to acquire or upgrade 1.

I suppose this is the typical response you would expect from a true collector. I generally don't look to flip items, as I pay what I believe to be a fair price for things and often look to get my money back when I move them. If I make a profit on an item, it's usually by accident -- and I have lost money on plenty of other items to offset these rare occurrences.

[sox83cubs84]

or me, it's usually paying bills (mostly medical), although my income has hit an upturn for the last 4-5 month, so no items have need to be old recently. Heck, I even replaced a couple of items I hated to let go of, but needed to.

Dave Miedema

[tom1315]

For me it is making room and having funds to purchase an item I want more. I've been collecting since 2004 and have built up a pretty sizable game used football helmet collection. Sometimes I come across duplicates from a school or team, buy the duplicate as an investment, then later sell the extra one. Other times I get tired of a gamer and will sell it to pay for the new gamer. Great question!

Tom

Go Pack! NC State 1981 alumni

[detaildevil]

Thanks for all the input. Much appreciated.

[helf35]

Sometimes I see something that looks cool and buy on impulse so some of those items dont stay in my collection very long. For instance I was at soxfest and had nothing for a few players to sign and I knew I was going to run into them so I figured what the hell and purchased a couple jerseys to get signed. Now I already found someting new I want badly that I plan on keeping so those 2 jerseys are the first ones on the board. Most my collection I consider untouchable such as my Thomas, Thome and the majority of my Dunn's.

[Jim65]

I try not to sell anything. I've sold jerseys in the past and regretted it, I have jerseys I would part with with for the right trade but probably wouldn't sell 'em.

[DeacDoug]

Never sold until last year. Needed a new car and had lost interest in the NBA. So I sold most of the NBA stuff. Highly recommend Grey Flannel for basketball. Now I ask myself what I am doing when I browse auctions for NBA game worn.