The moment of weakness?

[Saito2 6686]

I had come to terms with the fact I have to many cars. The plan was simple: add a few to the collection I really wanted, while selling over twice as many to make room and reduce the collection size. I shot the pics. I boxed and weighed them. I calculated shipping. I posted ads in various places. I was strong. And then I waited. And waited. And waited. Crickets. No bites. My resolve began to slowly crack. My mind began playing with potential project ideas for those boxed up cars. Tonight, I will give up again. The cars will be removed from their packing. I will have failed in a moment of weakness....OR perhaps the idea of selling them in the first place was the real moment of weakness and I come out a winner of sorts . Perhaps its all a matter of perspective...or whatever we tell ourselves so we can sleep at night. 

[J@mes 2326]

I hear you. I caught an earful when ‘another ****** car’ got delivered today - whilst I was out. Briefly considered offering to sell a few to keep the peace, hmm, nah.

[MICHAELs TopForce17 586]

I usually like to keep my collection small 5 or 6 max, sometimes I get the opposite like  "what selling again".

[Juls1 1661]

I think I’ve heard enough and experienced enough “I sold X car and I then bought it again later” stories to know that it’s easier to shelf it for 3-5 years than go through that all over again. 
 

I’ve gotta be pretty disappointed with a kit to sell it. All things Tamiya can be such that they can become really scarce, and recovering a sold model in that situation really leads to regret. 
 

So I guess weighing up the am I getting rid of it because I hate it? Do I desperately need money for another unknown kit that after selling then  buying I might regret that whole process and want to dump the new kit and find the ones I sold again? 
 

I guess the only kit I’ve bought then kinda regretted was the F201. I don’t think I could sell it though,

err well actually I’ve got 3 of those... 

i guess I’m lucky enough it’s not about the money these days, I suppose that’s part of getting old for yah, but I honestly from my early teens I went through the whole process of buy, sell, upgrade, sell, buy, upgrade sell, buy, downgrade... f*** why did I do that and throughout the next 20 years after repeated it constantly,  these days I try to think things through a little more. 
 

Ask the question do I really hate it enough to never regret selling it?? 

[Juggular 4964]

We can't sell our cars unless we find another thing to identify ourselves with.    

If I love fly-fishing more, I could sell my cars.  If I love playing guitar more, I could abandon my cars.  If I become a pilot, I might abandon dirt for the skies.  Since I'm none of the above, I am an RC-guy.  If I sell, what do I become?  Just another TV watcher. 

Why can't you sell yours?  To other people, your RC cars are worth as much as a fishing rod.  Since I know nothing about fishing, I'd offer almost nothing.  That's why there is no bite (pun intended).   

I'd say Bravo for keeping yours.  It just means you are an RC dude: you just can't find something else you'd love more.  This road is too familiar? Put them in boxes. Get an X-box. Buy a bicycle, ride it down to the southern tip of Chile. Or sail to New Zealand on a boat. Go volunteer at animal shelters. Become a stage actor. Whatever we do, people like us always come back to RC.  

 

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

I can't see me selling any of mine with the exception of the race cars. My race buggies were bought to race and I don't have the same attachment to them as I do for the Tamiyas. Its definitely a brand thing, my onroad race cars have had barely any use but I don't want to sell them. 

The exception would be the TT02B's and TT02, I don't really like them, but they are the sacrifical cars that save the rest. It also seems pointless to sell them, i would get barely anything for them.

I only buy stuff I really want now though, that sure helps

[Mad Ax 9310]

I keep saying I should sell some stuff, but I have no idea what.  There are some new things on the horizon that I'd like to own, but for the first time in as long as I can remember, I don't really have the urge to buy them.  OK, sometimes when I'm home alone on a weekend with nothing to do I get excited at the prospect of walking to the LHS and picking up just anything to build, just because I'm bored, but his price point and the lack of bearings usually stops me before I leave the house.  I really don't have space for anything new, either on the shelf or in my head, if I'm being honest.  So many of my projects are of the on-going nature that I've got enough to keep me busy until the day I die, I think.

Maybe I should forget about selling the unfinished projects with potential and start selling the finished cars that I have no intention of going any further with...

[junkmunki 846]

I have way more than i need or can use, and most times i forget they are there (not all are on display, some are packed in boxes), but occasionally i'll decide to sell the stuff i dont need. Thats when i'll open a box and go 'I forgot i had that' which is when i can no longer sell it because its like discovering hidden treasure, and i suddenly can't live without it. I think we are all just magpies and hoarders in this hobby...

11 hours ago, J@mes said:

I hear you. I caught an earful when ‘another ****** car’ got delivered today - whilst I was out. Briefly considered offering to sell a few to keep the peace, hmm, nah.

I am in the same boat as J@mes here, she does not mind once they are in the hobby room out of her way, but its getting them there past her is the issue... I have taken to sneaking them in through the garage...

J

[Saito2 6686]

2 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

So many of my projects are of the on-going nature that I've got enough to keep me busy until the day I die, I think.

I might be at that point too.  Its when I look around for a part or something and find whole cars I forgot, that I get worried. Here's a DT02 I forgot about and here's a Fox stashed under a bench that went missing. Whoa, I've got an early Hornet hidden in this box. There's a Mountain Rider collecting dust, etc. The concept was to sell off some of these forgotten cars (starting with ones I really hadn't touched in years like a Madcap and Stadium Thunder) to aid in buying a large quantity of the necessary bodies and decals to finish my Tamiya collection. Beyond that, I have a pile of RC10s to go through plus room for a rereleases like the forthcoming Ultima that catch my eye. That plus the random project ideas that I come up will probably keep me going till the end.

10 hours ago, Juls1 said:

Ask the question do I really hate it enough to never regret selling it?? 

 

4 minutes ago, junkmunki said:

Thats when i'll open a box and go 'I forgot i had that' which is when i can no longer sell it because its like discovering hidden treasure, and i suddenly can't live without it. I think we are all just magpies and hoarders in this hobby...

So, I guess its about being stuck between these two statements. I must have "hated" it enough to lose track of it and tuck it away, but sometimes reopening that box years later is like hidden treasure. Then I'm left thinking, if I forgot about it and life went on this long without it, would I regret selling it?

[Juls1 1661]

If your putting prices on things that are high enough they don’t sell in 7-10 days, then you probably don’t actually want to get rid of it, because you’ve set a very high bar for validating the reason to get rid of it. 
 

although I get some things need the right price on them to make sure they go to the “right home”. 

[Saito2 6686]

55 minutes ago, Juls1 said:

If your putting prices on things that are high enough they don’t sell in 7-10 days, then you probably don’t actually want to get rid of it, because you’ve set a very high bar for validating the reason to get rid of it. 

Its not that I don't want to part with it, rather that I hate taking a total beating. So I balance "I got it sold finally" with the resentment of knowing how badly I lost out.  Shipping is the real killer nowadays. To me, $70 for a functioning Madcap seems reasonable for a buggy you can't just buy anywhere nowadays. Add $20 shipping and I see the problem for the buyer.  For newer, lightly run or never run items, I can't take much more than a 50% hit. When I get 35-40% offers of what I paid, I just keep it rather than be taken advantage of. Trust me, there are days I feel I'd sooner throw a Hornet in the trash or give it to some interested kid (if they actually still existed) sooner than accept a $10 offer on it. Shamefully spiteful, I know (plus I'd never go through with it). I find other means to raise money. But this is how RC goes,  particularly Tamiya in the US. 

I do apologize for the rant if this topic went off track. It was initially conceived as a viewpoint consideration of weakness in selling vs keeping. 

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

My wife always tells me to keep whatever I'm thinking about selling.  Lucky me!  It doesn't change my urge to clear house from time to time, though.

[Pablo68 1049]

Ummm, I have too many cars.....and I keep buying more.
You are not alone.
I keep thinking, that's it, I now have all the cars I want....then another pops up.
If all goes well, the Ultima re-re and an RC10 will round out my collection, then that will be IT!

 (unless I buy a dynahead)

[taffer 948]

Been there collecting various models, the secret for me was actually running them to 'complete' the cycle (buy,build,restore,drive). This then allowed me to easily reason that why should I own a boomerang when my thundershot is nicer to maintain and drives slightly better, boomer gone...

If you can't drive a car and put it through its paces then how can you really decide???

Once a few models are selected this opens up other issues as possibly wanting duplicates to have a runner,shelfer, non etc of the same car!

[SuperChamp82 743]

An absolute top limit on cars has been my friend since things frankly got out of hand

Otherwise do agree it’s all too easy not to sell or trade ...

It had an unintended consequence though 

I just deepened every car left into NOS spares / hop ups and ‘one off’ accessories - like Matt Hicks’ genius for my Wild Willy 

Basically, I ended up with more space but even less cash 😂

[nbTMM 433]

Patience has definitely paid off for me when selling niche items. It only takes 1 buyer to pay the price you want and they may not be looking at the time you create the listing, so you have to wait for them. I've listed and forgot about items, and then had them finally sell 3+months later. Offer postage otherwise you are dramatically reducing your pool of interested buyers. The automatic postage calculators on eBay etc work great for this so closer buyers get cheap postage yet you don't eliminate buyers who are really far away but prepared to fork out for the postage.