For the newer members, my name’s Azul. One of the staple Gyarados card collectors here.
This year has been. Enlightening. Life has taken a new turn and has challenged me to enter a new chapter in my life. A lot has happened. A lot of heart ache and a lot of prominent moments have come about to embrace parts of myself I have ignored for a long time. I would explain further but it wouldn’t be related really to this board. Let’s just say a lot of positive change has been happening.
The relevant thing to mention is that I have wanted to make music. For a long time. I have song journals and tucked away notes but never produced a song for fear of failure. One of the lessons I’ve embraced is to challenge fears legitimately. So I started saving for recording equipment, the biggest being a new laptop.
And I decided I’m going to sell my collection to do so.
I thought about it long and hard and it makes sense to transform a lifelong dream into a reality by selling a lifelong hobby. I have thought about selling my collection before but didn’t want to do so by money standards alone. This feels more symbolic. So if anyone has any tips on how to do so, I would appreciate it. I’ve only sold individual cards here and there, never anything like an entire collection, but I may break it down individually still.
I have added some prized stuff into shinglemetimbers collection and after seeing him complete the collection, I feel like I have completed mine to a point vicariously.
That being said, going to keep a couple of cards of course (my original 5 and maybe my BGS 10) amongst some gifts.
I wanted to thank everyone in this community. My hobby never really took off as well as it did until I joined this forum after lurking for a couple of years. I still would like to drop by time to time and have even been informed of a discord too. You guys have shown me the passion of collecting and how fun and exciting it can be. I will never forget Christmas from two years ago. It helped me transition into a better part in life. I’m now living a dream job as a Behavioral Specialist and recently started seeing someone. Things have been good and I feel like you guys helped me along that transition.
If you guys ever want to catch me off these forums, feel free to email me at azulryuseas@gmail.com.
Thanks again all. Never stop being this zany hodgepodge of awesome collectors. You guys bring joy into the hobby.
Hey Devin. Have missed you around here. Now I know why. Glad it’s due to some positive changes.
Keep in mind that your great collection is an investment too that should see some nice growth in the years to come. Not to mention the memories. So hang on to as much as you can.
Keep me posted.
Your friend, Gary.
Given the nature of your awesome collection I’d say do not break it up. It’s super sick to see all the Gyarados cards together and that’s what makes the collection special in the first place. Plus, breaking it up creates more work on your end. If you must sell go for one lot as a best offer/buy it now. You can call it the “Grand Gyarados Collection” just as it says in your signature. Make a list of the cards that you can copy and paste into the Ebay description so a potential customer can see exactly what they’re getting. You’ll have to do some math to come up with a price but I think that bit of research and documentation outweighs the hassle of auctioning off a bunch of cards to all different buyers and having to ship out many cards individually, etc, etc. I know you mentioned having thought about it but since you also mentioned landing your dream job maybe you should consider simply saving up for whatever you wish to purchase with the money from the collection. The cards might be more difficult to acquire later on if you ever want them back and I’m sure Gyarados wouldn’t mind being tucked away in storage for a while. In any case, congratulations on the life moves and I wish you all the best.
Thanks all for your warm welcome backs and advice.
A note on the idea of saving. Right now I pay nearly 400$ USD a month for student loans and though I have a good job that I love, human service work is famous for being underpaid, especially since I work in the public sphere (a high school). Saving isn’t quite as easy and I want to put in the time and effort to focus on my dreams as soon as possible.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my collection, it will always be a part of me. I had a friend’s father sell his prized Mustang in order to help with my friend’s student loans the first few years. He’s since gotten it back as a gift from his family. I like the idea of going after my collection again after I meet success in other areas. I’ll keep the cards that hold the most emotional weight.
Just remember that short term gains don’t cover long term expenses!
Likewise, long term gains shouldn’t be used towards short term expenses!
This is something I learned in school and although you think of it now as a way for easy money, trust me when I say you’ll regret it down the line. You’ve always been a jovial member of the community and don’t feel pressured to sell your cards to fund your new passion. There are many other ways to generate an income to fund your hobby, perhaps explore those streams prior to liquidating your hard work – you will get pennies on the dollar for your items you have.
Keeping your favorite cards is smart. I’m in the process of doing something similar.
Some of you are advising him to keep everything, but he has debt so I can see why he’s doing this. Sure, he can probably get a second job or borrow thousands at 10-20% interest to get the equipment he wants, but I think he’s making the right decision.
No, he won’t get pennies on the dollar. This hobby is strong enough that he will net maybe 70% ish on average unless he liquidates everything to a store.
His collection is niche as it is one specific pokemon. I’m assuming if he sells because he has debt he will be doing so in a liquidation process. Piecing out cards 1 by 1 doesn’t really make sense if he has bills to pay nor does it make sense if he wants to jump on the career right away. Like you said he could still get full value if he has time, just from the sounds of the post that’s not the intent.
Yes and I can understand this point of view. Unfortunately, when I hear liquidation, I would hate to see him lose a ton of $$ for a quicker turn around, just depends on the situation.
Nice collection, and I like the niche in Gyarados. Such a cool Pokemon and is one of the other ones I was looking at specializing other then Mewtwo/Pikachu. Good luck with your passion.
As one of the new members who has never met you before: it’s nice to meet you!
Nice collection, I love it! What I love even more is how rationally you approached the situation and then openly shared it with us. It really sounds like you made a tough choice, but one you thought very well about. I wish you the best of luck with selling. Unfortunately I do not have any great tips on how to sell a somewhat more niche collection.
And of course I wish you all the best with the exciting new path you have now taken. Go be you, and be awesome.
Nice to hear from you , it will be tough to lose/sell some cards however over the years I’ve had to do a similar sort of thing and then later get some back/ rebuild. Wish you all the best and hope you stop by in the future again .
