Collecting Advice

I worked in the toy department at Wal-Mart for several years and even after I moved from the department, I still had people hunting me down because they knew me as a serious collector.

My first piece of advice for anyone wanting to collect, is make sure whatever you collect you have a passion for. One big thing so many people do not understand is that most pieces in anyone's collection are not worth much and no matter how one tries, there is never any guaranty of value. If you do not have a passion or interest in what you are collecting, then you're gonna be upset when you collection has no value. This is what happened with Beanie Babies and now there are a huge amount of people who collected the Beanies Babies because of preconceived value. Lots of people are now stuck with hundreds of worthless Beanies Babies that no one is buying or interested in. And since these people only collected thinking of it as an investment, they have a bunch of the things taking up space that they have no passion for.

Then that goes into my second piece of advice. Don't put value as the main focus of your collecting. Know the value and be aware of your higher value pieces, but if you are worried that not every piece of your collection is valuable, it will make it harder to collect. When you collect with an idea that it is an investment, you're making a huge gamble, and chances are you will lose money. This connects with the first piece of advice, go for pieces you like and desire above worrying about the value. If you make sure your collection reflects you passion and interest, you are going to find collecting far more enjoyable.

Comments

  1. Mr SmithMay 13, 2024 at 7:16 AM

    I always get asked: is your stuff still in package? Hell no. it's handled, played with, transformed, posed, ENJOYED.

    mint in package is a false perception left over from when nothing was left in package. nowadays it only slightly adds to the perceived value of a collectible. and the value of these pieces is set by...what someone is willing to pay for them. My stuff is never going to be saleable for more than it means to me to have it.

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