I've been collecting things for about 40 years. And once every decade or so, I usually go through a fairly substantial purge to thin out the physical and mental clutter and clear the decks.
Well, over the last ten or so years, my collection has once again far outgrown my available display space. So it's definitely getting to be that time again.
The trick this time, however, is that the stuff I've been collecting in recent years is a heck of a lot more expensive and valuable than the stuff I collected in my youth. Like a lot of us around these parts, I started small and cheap with action figures. But as the hobby has matured, so have my tastes. Today it's all Hot Toys figures, SS statues, PFs, etc.
Back in the day, when I wanted to purge action figures, I could just take a van-load to a comic shop and get pennies on the dollar ... or ... just throw the stuff away. I mean, they were just cheap, mass-produced plastic back then. Not expensive works of pop culture art like I collect now.
So now I'm faced with the daunting dilemma of having to carefully sell off a fairly expensive pile of nice stuff.
And this has got me tied up in anxious knots because I'm not quite sure how to proceed.
The way I see it, I could either become a Premium Member and sell here on the boards, or try my luck on eBay.
While I've bought plenty of things over the years on eBay, I've never sold anything there. And I've heard a LOT of nightmare stories about how eBay isn't so great for sellers. But I'm understandably nervous because a lot of these items are expensive and could fetch hundreds of dollars each. (It's one thing to get scammed on a $20 sale, but this stuff was substantially larger investment.)
What do you guys think? What would you say are the pluses and minuses of each approach? What should I look out for? What are the pitfalls in your experience? What's worked best for you? Are there other options I don't know about?
Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Well, over the last ten or so years, my collection has once again far outgrown my available display space. So it's definitely getting to be that time again.
The trick this time, however, is that the stuff I've been collecting in recent years is a heck of a lot more expensive and valuable than the stuff I collected in my youth. Like a lot of us around these parts, I started small and cheap with action figures. But as the hobby has matured, so have my tastes. Today it's all Hot Toys figures, SS statues, PFs, etc.
Back in the day, when I wanted to purge action figures, I could just take a van-load to a comic shop and get pennies on the dollar ... or ... just throw the stuff away. I mean, they were just cheap, mass-produced plastic back then. Not expensive works of pop culture art like I collect now.
So now I'm faced with the daunting dilemma of having to carefully sell off a fairly expensive pile of nice stuff.
And this has got me tied up in anxious knots because I'm not quite sure how to proceed.
The way I see it, I could either become a Premium Member and sell here on the boards, or try my luck on eBay.
While I've bought plenty of things over the years on eBay, I've never sold anything there. And I've heard a LOT of nightmare stories about how eBay isn't so great for sellers. But I'm understandably nervous because a lot of these items are expensive and could fetch hundreds of dollars each. (It's one thing to get scammed on a $20 sale, but this stuff was substantially larger investment.)
What do you guys think? What would you say are the pluses and minuses of each approach? What should I look out for? What are the pitfalls in your experience? What's worked best for you? Are there other options I don't know about?
Any input would be greatly appreciated!
