Are people still buying full collections?

[Brickman | 3,981]

Wow it blows my mind that you have to pay tax on selling second hand video games in the US that were collected as a hobby. Sort of sucks the fun out of having a hobby if you have to keep records.

[Armageddon Potato | 124]

31 minutes ago, Shmup said:

Wow it blows my mind that you have to pay tax on selling second hand video games in the US that were collected as a hobby. Sort of sucks the fun out of having a hobby if you have to keep records.

I mean, that's how it is with anything you make money on(in the USA.) If you sell your collection without any records your cost basis will be considered zero. All income you make a profit on is taxable. Heck, even barter is taxable! "The IRS reminds all taxpayers that the fair market value of property or services received through a barter is taxable income. Both parties must report as income the value of the goods and services received in the exchange."

Think about how many different forums there are with people trading so many different types collectibles!

Another thought is if you made no money selling your collection or even took a loss. You would not owe, and could even get a possible write off. Again, it all depends on how good you kept records of everything.

What really blows my mind is I didn't learn any of this in school! (At least not back in my day!)

Edited July 2, 2020 by Armageddon Potato

[Brickman | 3,981]

3 minutes ago, Armageddon Potato said:

I mean, that's how it is with anything you make money on. If you sell your collection without any records your cost basis will be considered zero. All income you make a profit on is taxable. Heck, even barter is taxable! "The IRS reminds all taxpayers that the fair market value of property or services received through a barter is taxable income. Both parties must report as income the value of the goods and services received in the exchange."

Very interesting. I had no idea until I read this thread.
I’m from Australia and it works very differently here when you’re selling hobbies.

Art and coins are probably the only real collectibles that the tax office are interested in here and it would have to be investment grade.

[Armageddon Potato | 124]

43 minutes ago, Shmup said:

Very interesting. I had no idea until I read this thread.
I’m from Australia and it works very differently here when you’re selling hobbies.

Art and coins are probably the only real collectibles that the tax office are interested in here and it would have to be investment grade.

Oh, yea I meant for the USA only. Not sure how it works elsewhere, but here it's worded to be pretty strict. Really I don't think they care if you traded a California Games NES manual for a T2 NES manual. They probably only care if you're doing it on a large scale/regularly or making a sizable amount on something.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Armageddon Potato

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,011]

3 hours ago, Armageddon Potato said:

What really blows my mind is I didn't learn any of this in school

What class would you expect to learn this in? 

 

2 hours ago, Armageddon Potato said:

They probably only care if you're doing it on a large scale/regularly or making a sizable amount on something

I was told off the record when I was doing general contract work to not report anything under $20k per year as a rule of thumb. Especially if you're a working stiff, the IRS just don't get enough of a payoff for harassing working ppl making small side incomes. 

 

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

Are you selling because you need the money to make a downpayment? 

I saw a complete Wii U collection fetch over $3k in an eBay auction... that's the low end for a full set, other console sets are going to be worth way more. There are definitely people out there buying entire sets. Game stores included of course. I would say it wouldn't hurt to do one lot per system and put some feelers out there to see who's interested in buying. 

Edited July 2, 2020 by MiamiSlice

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

21 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

What class would you expect to learn this in? 

Home economics, which got eliminated decades ago

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,011]

13 minutes ago, MiamiSlice said:

Home economics, which got eliminated decades ago

Yeah, I know which is unfortunate. I design math courses do I'm genuinely curious what class ppl expect to learn this type of info in.

[Fleck586 | 299]

19 minutes ago, MiamiSlice said:

Are you selling because you need the money to make a downpayment? 

I saw a complete Wii U collection fetch over $3k in an eBay auction... that's the low end for a full set, other console sets are going to be worth way more. There are definitely people out there buying entire sets. Game stores included of course. I would say it wouldn't hurt to do one lot per system and put some feelers out there to see who's interested in buying. 

Yes. It would go towards the down payment. The only way we can swing it would be to raise an additional $200K from what we would already make on our current house. This would knock a big chunk out of that, obviously. I've always said when people see my game room and ask that I would take $250K with a smile. Now I am thinking more seriously about that question.

[BortLicensePlate | 652]

1 hour ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

I was told off the record when I was doing general contract work to not report anything under $20k per year as a rule of thumb. Especially if you're a working stiff, the IRS just don't get enough of a payoff for harassing working ppl making small side incomes. 

In canada I was told its 16K, if you're making more than that its considered a small business and you need to apply for a business license and all that. You could file if you're making less but why bother

[GPX | 1,369]

1 hour ago, Fleck586 said:

Yes. It would go towards the down payment. The only way we can swing it would be to raise an additional $200K from what we would already make on our current house. This would knock a big chunk out of that, obviously. I've always said when people see my game room and ask that I would take $250K with a smile. Now I am thinking more seriously about that question.

As a rule of thumb, from my personal experience selling online:

- the quicker you want the cash in a lot sale, the less money people are willing to pay. You need genuine time and patience for the big spenders to come along. 

- condition is the key to how quickly you can sell. If they’re all VGA90/WATA 9.8 type of condition, then offers will come thick and fast. If on the other hand, they’re the standard used condition, it’s going to be a tough sell to expect someone willing to spend 6 figures all in the one hit. 

- further to the previous point, most potential buyers will assume typical used condition unless it’s already been graded; this is where grading can come in handy, because buyers more or less know what to expect when they chuck in big offers.

- good luck! It’s gonna be a big headache to sell no matter what path you take! 

[DefaultGen | 5,398]

3 hours ago, MiamiSlice said:

Are you selling because you need the money to make a downpayment? 

I saw a complete Wii U collection fetch over $3k in an eBay auction... that's the low end for a full set, other console sets are going to be worth way more. There are definitely people out there buying entire sets. Game stores included of course. I would say it wouldn't hurt to do one lot per system and put some feelers out there to see who's interested in buying. 

I've seen a couple "barebones" console sets (missing LEs, big boxes, or simply having incomplete games) sell for essentially full book value if not more than book value. Sure seems like a decent time to sell sets.

[bowser | 598]

What if the house gets sold when you're in the middle of selling the collection? That would suck.

[goldenpp72 | 1,229]

As someone who has a collection that is worth the cost of a house, I can't imagine selling it for a house, but maybe i'm not old enough yet

[Fleck586 | 299]

4 hours ago, bowser said:

What if the house gets sold when you're in the middle of selling the collection? That would suck.

Lol! It won't 

[Fleck586 | 299]

1 hour ago, goldenpp72 said:

As someone who has a collection that is worth the cost of a house, I can't imagine selling it for a house, but maybe i'm not old enough yet

You haven't seen this house. 

[goldenpp72 | 1,229]

12 hours ago, Fleck586 said:

You haven't seen this house. 

 

I think it's more that having collected and gone through quite a bit of trouble over 15 years to collect, it would be hard to imagine parting with it unless it would basically result in never having to work again or some other life changing amount of money. My house is pretty nice but certainly not a million dollar mansion or anything so maybe  Between my lady friend and myself we make a healthy wage so I guess I just look at, work and save for 2 or 3 more years or sell off what took me half my life to amass. 

That said peoples priorities and interest change, as long as you won't regret it there is nothing wrong obviously, and it is a good time to sell.

[Tulpa | 3,488]

On 7/2/2020 at 6:32 AM, RegularGuyGamer said:

Yeah, I know which is unfortunate. I design math courses do I'm genuinely curious what class ppl expect to learn this type of info in.

My school had a home ec class that was geared to finances and taxes. It didn't go into detail about things that Armageddon Potato did in his post, but it touched on things like that.

[Tulpa | 3,488]

On 7/1/2020 at 5:30 PM, doner24 said:

With all the influx of money into the hobby, I think there is a small chance someone could offer on the entire lot, and not at a substantial discount. Especially if you have complete sets, or close to and have lots of the big hitters, I could see someone going close to market value as a long term investment. It’s happened plenty of times in other hobby’s. 

Aren't most of the big spenders looking for stuff to be graded, as GPX mentioned? If he had a ton of sealed stuff, especially Nintendo games, I can see it.

Otherwise, most people are going to want a discount because in their mind they're doing you the favor of taking everything at once.

[doner24 | 1,195]

1 hour ago, Tulpa said:

Aren't most of the big spenders looking for stuff to be graded, as GPX mentioned? If he had a ton of sealed stuff, especially Nintendo games, I can see it.

Otherwise, most people are going to want a discount because in their mind they're doing you the favor of taking everything at once.

Not necessarily, as with comic books, people will start going after full sets too. I guess I’m referring to CIB or sealed as both could be graded eventually. Someone could essentially pay list for a large lot of CIB’s, with the idea they could grade them and increase their return down the road. 

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

I agree with the majority. If you're serious about this, I'd highly recommend breaking it into console sets. Even those with the purchasing power to buy your entire collection may be hesitant to accumulate so much stock all at once. When you make it about a single console you expand your audience to include those with no warehouse/store and no intent to resell. The smaller your lots get, the wider your audience, but the ROI gets hazy as your time commitment skyrockets.

Edited July 3, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[Tulpa | 3,488]

2 hours ago, doner24 said:

Not necessarily, as with comic books, people will start going after full sets too. I guess I’m referring to CIB or sealed as both could be graded eventually. Someone could essentially pay list for a large lot of CIB’s, with the idea they could grade them and increase their return down the road. 

That's fair, but I'm just thinking that if they're paying the premium of list price, they're going to want a pristine CIB collection to maximize their investment, right? Though admittedly I don't know what Fleck has in that regard.

And you did say small chance, so I think that's about right.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Tulpa

[doner24 | 1,195]

1 hour ago, Tulpa said:

That's fair, but I'm just thinking that if they're paying the premium of list price, they're going to want a pristine CIB collection to maximize their investment, right? Though admittedly I don't know what Fleck has in that regard.

And you did say small chance, so I think that's about right.

I could see the differences in condition Based prices really widen as these age similar to cards and comics. Then you have price for an average collection, graded collection, etc...similar to cards. What I’m referring to as market price now would be considered average and people will still chase those. 

[a3quit4s | 4,092]

Just call up GoCollect Jimbo and sell him the <insert state here> Collection. Problem solved!