Doesn't kill you when things you bought for a lot of money are now worth nothing??... (1 Viewer)

I was cleaning out my basement. And decided to donate to the local temple rummage sale a bunch of my girls "Braatz" dolls and playsets. It kills me that you spend a fortune on these things and now the only value is to give them away. Same goes with the boxes of vhs tapes both pre-recorded and ones taped off of tv. I must have 250 video tapes that I bought that are nothing more than garbage. I have a load of the plastic vhs cases that are in great shape. I even tried to sell 100 of them for 99 cents plus shipping on ebay and nothing. Even dvd's are not immuned. Dvd's I paid $15-30 on. Are worth $2-5...or a little more if I trade.

I know depreciation is a part of life. Just when you see it in action. It just sucks. Anyone, else have this experience when dealing with stuff in your home?

As someone who tends to be an impulse buyer, I run into that all the time. The obvious stuff is technology related, but I have my fair share of useless crap that I spent top dollar for (years ago).

Action figures/toys are the biggest offender. I don't do it anymore, but there was a time (about 5 years ago) when I was insane with collecting "cool" toys.

The newer Star Wars figures (for example)...I remeber paying top dollar for certain figures, just to complete the collection. Now they sit in a big ol' box in the garage.

It's not just depreciation that sucks. It is finding a place for that all that stuff. Whenever I buy something, I always take into consideration of where am I going to keep it.

You should see my baseball card collection that for the most part isn't worth the cardboard it's printed on now. I have unopened wax boxes (boxes of packs) that I couldn't even give away now.

I just sold all my xbox stuff which probably cost me around $2500-3000 total for $220. Yeah I feel your pain.

In that case then, I'll take them off your hands for the price of S&H.

I feel the pain, but the way I get over it is to argue you should regard such things like a theater or concert ticket. You paid for the pleasure they gave, but there's the bonus that unlike a theater or concert ticket, you can usually get at least some money back.

And not all things depreciate. At the risk of raising the usual comments about philately, my stamp collection has accumulated nicely in value. It's a slightly sobering thought that one sheet of stamps (which I bought for their face value) is now worth more than the entire amount I paid for the rest of the collection. The only snag, as my wife gleefully points out, is that as I won't part with it, this financial gain is purely theoretical.

I have unopened wax boxes (boxes of packs) that I couldn't even give away now.


I'll give you a buck plus S&H!

MarkHastings, I feel your pain with the newer Star Wars figures.

I did get one last laugh on that industry at the time, however. The Darth Maul figures were going for TOP dollar - by that, I mean the little four inch figures were going for $50-$60 bucks, depending on where you were looking.

I wanted to get one, but I thought paying that kind of money for a figure that was JUST manufactured was ridiculous in the extreme. A friend of mine said that he had just gotten figures at Wal Mart and paid all of $5.95 apiece. I handed him a 20 and told him to get me Darth Maul and some of the other characters I liked. He came back with 2 versions of the Darth Maul figure, and I was QUITE happy.

I've thinned out my bookshelves and tried selling a few on Ebay (like-new hardcover first editions). No one is interested.

I really want to get rid of a bunch of CD's from my extensive collection. I've tried selling a few on Ebay. No one is interested.

I guess I'll just donate them to the local library or Salvation Army and see if they can use/sell them. At this point I just want them out of my house.

I used to run into these problems. But, then I got pissed back in 2000 or so. This was a teenage/early college thing for me.

So, now I am way more cautious and don't have nearly the same problems. I only buy what I must absolutely have and will get excessive use out of.

I no longer buy figures, etc., of anykind. Cause it's just sitting on a shelf. I just don't see the need anymore. I do buy a few really cool items to display, but I switch several times a year to not get bored. It's stuff I absolutely love.

Things still depreciate, but I don't feel nearly as bad when I get use out of whatever it is.

I used to build collections just for the sake of building. I was buying DVD's weekly in the late 90's. They are now worth diddle squat. But, I sold many before they bombed cause I knew I wanted out. Just not worth it for my wallet.

I still own a DVD collection, but it's very selective of only my favorite things. In other words, I don't buy Seinfeld or the latest hit title just because everyone else did and it's there. That's something I would have done 5 years ago.

So, glad I didn't keep the few beanie babies I had. Remember those circa late 90's? Made a killing off those suckers.

I'm heading to the local Flea Market (I don't do Ebay) next month with a sh*t load of this stuff. Baseball cards. The one's I bought as a kid in the early 70's I'll keep, those from the early 90's (remember the Michael Jordan from the '90 Upper Deck?) are going to go. What a waste. 1/18 replica metal cars. 20 of 30 are outa here. DVD's, cd's I don't need and my latest craze, music dvd's. I have about 25, but keeping maybe 5-6. ELO, Boz Skaggs, The Eagles, Three Dog Night, Steely Dan, Toto and maybe one or two others. The rest just aren't good enough. And then there's stereo equipment. Two cd players, three dvd players, three avr's, various speakers and three subs (nothing worth mentioning), cables, remotes, and who knows what else. Two sets of golf clubs. Various auto parts and tools (but I'm keeping most of it), and a '72 Mercedes 450 SL (keeping the '70 Fiat 124). I'll lose money on all this stuff but don't really care. Lots of fun and memories in most of it. Should have put some of the money away for a rainy day. Oh well. I guess when I'm 75 I'll be standing by the front door saying "Welcome to Wal-Mart".

I'm sure the early adopters of first generation HD-DVD will be feeling the same pains in what..a year or two..??.

You guys sound like my ex! Should i sit in an empty room on a crate and just put my money in savings, not buy anything that i enjoy? Now if you bought those baseball cards just for future profit potential, wow, what a gamble. But if you bought them cause you enjoy them, thats what it is all about! I am sure when my LD player bites the dust i will be stuck with 20 useless LDs. I had almost 200 of them 9 years ago, and sold most for pennies on the dollar when DVD came along. But, i got over 15 years of use out of them, while most people had to be happy with pan and scan VHS. I had widescreen LDs with lots of extras. I cant cry about them being useless now, since i had so mush fun with them.

It kills, yeah. But when it comes to raising kids, buying them expensive eventually useless stuff is just part of the inescapable cost.

Sigh.

My biggest problem is, I have a ton of crap, but I'm way too lazy to waste my time looking up their value. I also have a bunch of Beanie Babies and just like my Star Wars figures, if I could be 100% positive that they were all worthless, I'd get rid of them all (either donate them or sell them all off in one big chunk), but I'd kick myself because I'm sure there's a valuable figure in the mix.

Again, I'm just too lazy to do the research and figure out if anything is worth hanging on to. :frowning:

and gene, I feel your pain about all this equipment lying around. It's too old to be uselful, but I just hate throwing out old equipment, so I just hang onto it. I mean, not only do I have old HT equipment, but I have like 3 older MP3 players.

I'm kind of an unintentional horder myself. I have stuff that mean nothing to me anymore, so I'm running out of space now. I really gotta go through it all and give/throw away or sell it for whatever I can get for it.

This thread inspired me to so some spring cleaning. Just threw away 5 boxes of magazines and 3 boxes of comics at the recycling center. My garage now looks spacious enough to fit 2 cars in it again.

I've got about 500 LaserDiscs including many once sought after box sets.

You bought that 50 state bird/flower sheet too, huh? What's up with that? Of all the 50 state sheets what makes that one special?

I am still in an undecided state in regards to an overpriced purchase that I am tempted to make. I have been debating whether or not to buy the LEGO Star Destroyer. When I was young I used to build LEGO sets all of the time, but haven't touched them in over 20 years. For some reason, though, this set just keeps calling me (Star Wars fan as well - obviously).

The set is $300.00, and includes over 3100 pieces. I just have a feeling that after I build it I will be kicking myself for spending that amount. I guess my desire for it is mainly to build it. I have seen this set sell for over $400.00 on ebay, but I never tried that. Knowing my luck, if I were try to sell it I wouldn't get my money back, and that is if I were to sell it which I doubt (still have all of my original LEGOs).