Having to let go of a collection you stopped.

[LuvlyMelody]

How do you deal with it??

Back in my high school days I've collected a whole lot of Manga and Anime dvds, plushes and other misc Anime brick-a-brak, but after I graduated from high school, I kept adding to it, but at a slow and steady pace, a few more years later to now, I noticed how it came to a complete stop. I just haven't read/bought any new manga or finished any of the ones I started. I'm not an enthusiast as much as I used to be, I feel like I've lost interest.

I'm always used to having a WHOLE lot of manga vols all over my shelves, it made it look so "organized" or something that made me feel good in an inexplainable way. Now I'm packing up several to bring to Half Price Books that I know I can part with, while keeping some of the ones I still enjoy(ed). Iono, I'm always used to seeing my room always full of them, always enjoyed their presence around me but now that I've taken down several of them, it feels so empty now in my "library"...

Rarely I'd take a few I stopped and lost interest in and took them to Half Price Books and sold some of them.

Just skimming through some of them and thinking about how I enjoyed them back then makes me wanna change my mind and put them back up, but I kinda want the spending money and I'm debating if I should sell them or not. If I don't add more or finish any series up, they'll just sit in my room the whole time, gathering dust and somewhat "Neglected" to the point I'll think that keeping them is a "lost cause" if I don't plan to add/read on with some of them, and when I get to the point I might wanna sell them, the whole cycle starts all over again of wanting to sell but then having a change of heart. >,>;

I know there are several Anime/Manga lovers/collectors in the arena. Have any of you felt this way about your Anime/Manga collection/library?? How did you deal with it when you feel like you've lost interest, if anyone is still going strong, what did you do if you ever had that kinda feeling that you may have lost interest?

Other than going to Half Price Books, what's a good way to sell some of this stuff where I'm not being low-balled so badly??

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Ummm... I have no good advice since I married a fellow anime/manga collector and we slowly have been adding to our collection to the point we've had to decide on renovations to the house to accomodate it.  *blush*  Hehehe...

What kinds of titles are you purging?  I think if anything had to go in our collection it would be all the library copies of things we've acquired at the booksales.  They're doubles, or "reading copies" as I call them.  But we have so many random ones that we haven't finished the series for, it would almost be easier NOT to work on finishing it.  But what would we do in 20 years? 

[kaoskat]

I haven't gotten rid of mine, I still love them, so I have no clue. When I tried to pack away some of my ponies because of space issues though, it depressed me. Two days later they were all back up on the shelves. Space isn't as important as ponies it turns out.

[LuvlyMelody]

Most (if not all) Manga I bought were fresh from the bookstore...at full price too... Iono, I guess I went through like some sort of "Has to be brand new and in perfect condition" phase where I wanted everything brand new and clean looking. Now that I look at some of them, most have turned yellow at the sides of the book, thinking about it now...I may have been better off buying them 2nd hand, coulda saved so much money in high school during the time I was collecting them. What a stupid, picky girl I was. >,>;

Most of the ones I have packed are mostly short volumed series. Genre-wise, mostly Shoujo, a few scifi, not many action ones. I kinda want the holiday spending money, but without having to ask my parents for it. I'm still debating if I should do it or not. >,<;

I skimmed through several more today, I decided I'd keep a few and work on them to get them done at least, but OMG Why is the Tokyopop published version of Vol. 4 of Aria so damn expensive?! $50+ used $75+ New?! Even the other vol. aren't going for that high, why that one in particular?!
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[lovesbabysquirmy]

One of the biggest challenges of working on a manga collection is the supply and demand, which is vastly different than MLP.

Manga publishers do not reprint most series - they are a single run.  That's why Aria #4 is so expensive. 

Besides... TokyoPop went out of business last year and dropped the production on about 300 titles.  Some were picked back up by others but most are still awaiting re-licensing.  Some volumes were sold at a massive warehouse sale in Los Angeles (TP's HQ) when they finally liquidated and those volumes are worth a ton of money as they never made it to general distribution.  In other words comic book stores and the like couldn't order them to be shipped so only the lucky few who could travel to the sale and buy those titles have them...  I am sure a few big-box retailers and Internet specialty shops sent reps to buy for them but yeah, you can't just hop on Amazon and buy the $10 copy.

One of those examples *is* Aria!  As it is, it's been printed twice by different publishers already due to licensing. 

TP was releasing one volume per year, but when they closed their doors, they were JUST about to release Vol. 7. They had the warehouse sale and sold them there, instead of having them be shipped to comic book stores and booksellers.  So with the titles that were coming out just as TP was closing, you'll find that they are quite expensive. 

But Aria #4 has been out of print for quite a few years.  Those types of volumes also tend to be more expensive, and it does depend on the genre, but typically, series with shoujo fanservice (like Aria) garner a higher-price tag on the secondhand market. 

And yeah, I understand wanting to make your money back.  We feel the same way which is why we can't purge, it just gets bigger and needs more shelves.    I would say the library copies are only a sliver of the collection...  we have 441 titles...  at an average of 8 books per series and only 51% complete, that's almost 1800 books.  There's only about 50 copies of library books in there so yeah... I utterly understand your need to retain your investment.

However, don't fret too much about the yellow pages.  The publishers never printed with high-quality paper to begin with.  Can't tell you how many of ours are like that.  Sunfading damage on the covers is a big deal to devaluing a manga volume but not the printed paper itself, as long as it's not marked/stamped/written on.

[ShortyBoo]

I used to collect a lot of anime and manga stuff, but I've mostly stopped. I still watch anime, and I collect a couple series of manga, but that's it. Currently, the only series I'm collecting are Kimi ni Todoke and NANA. I also was collecting Maid Sama, even though I hated how TokyoPop screwed up the translations and I think rearranged the panels because I tried reading it the normal (right to left) way and it didn't really make any sense. I do have the first 8 volumes (the only ones published) but I may just end up donating them. I wish I hadn't bought them all at full price, though. I kind of feel like I wasted money on them.

I want to get all the volumes of NANA (even though it's still on hiatus and may never be finished) but my local Barnes & Noble never has them in stock, so I have to order them. I've bought a few volumes on Amazon, but I hate how the shipping is per book, even if they're from the same seller, so I've only managed to get the first seven volumes. It's still my favorite manga, so someday I hope to get all the volumes.

With Kimi ni Todoke, I just buy each volume when it's released. I completely fell in love with the anime from the first episode, so I had to buy the manga. I started buying the manga when there were only like 2 or 3 volumes out, so I wasn't playing catch-up so much like I'm trying to do with NANA. I really wish manga wasn't so expensive.

[Lorelei Redfern]

If you want to sell them.. The probably the best place to do it if there in food shape is at an anime con or a local convention. Around here they have a very small local anime day. And thee are dealers and such. It pretty fun. And at least then you won't be lowballed

[Maniah]

Ugh. We have tons of anime and manga laying around. Recently I tried to offload a bunch of manga.. And.. I had to BEG people to take them. I tried selling them at $2 a book. That didnt work. I offered that they just pay shipping.. That didnt work. Finally, I just donated the whole box.

Shipping books is expensive. You can find them cheaper locally or through big name sellers.. It just wasn't worth the hassle.

Good luck.

[Majesty]

I don't collect anime or manga but I collect my little pony and action figures from the metal gear solid series and the tomb raider series.  I've stopped buying figures from the tomb raider and metal gear solid series because I've lost interest in buying them. I still love the games but I just don't want to buy anymore figures.  I don't plan on selling them though, because they make me happy just like ponies.  Maybe you can pack them up and put them somewhere and display them again when you're ready.

I tried to sell my entire pony collection at a yard sale, because I thought I was done with ponies.  I'm glad no one bought any of my ponies because shortly after that I was into ponies again and continued to add more to my collection.

I'm just saying if you sell your stuff you might regret it after if you become interested again or just want them to display them (not necessarily buying anymore).

[Ginger]

I so hear you on the manga... I have collected a couple hundred volumes throughout high school and paid full retail price too. I first got into collecting way back when it was a lot harder to find those volumes used because it was just getting "big" (the manga section at the bookstore was about 3ft wide then, now it's several full rows- it's crazy!). I have kept four of my favorite series and those stay on my normal bookshelf now. In general my interest in manga is long gone, but I'm not ready to let go of those favorites.

I traded lots of manga on paperbackswap in exchange for regular books which I wanted to read. Some I sold for about $1-$3 online, others I donated to our local anime club. I have a good stack of more common manga (like Death Note) which I'm still trying to get rid of though.

The things which make me feel better about it is understanding that values change, interests come and go, and the extra free space is really nice. Loosing all that money is a big blow, but I also MADE a lot of money on other collectibles I decided to sell. I think it evens out in the end and I got lots of fun memories left with it.

For now on though, if I feel tempted to buy anime or manga, I always buy it used rofl.

[Becarys]

I've been going through the same thing - I sold most of the anime DVDs on ebay - some went for a fortune while others went for barely anything. Manga is a little harder to sell though, I think, because of the weight and slightly lower appeal. People are too lazy to read.

Right now I have piles of figurines, manga and western comics sitting in boxes waiting to be sold, but I keep just chickening out when it comes time to list them on ebay. I don't want to have to deal with dodgy people on the internet. Most people are awesome, but maybe 1 in 50 is downright awful to deal with. If I do put any more stuff on ebay I'll be filming the packing and postage process for my own peace of mind.

[banditpony]

Shipping books is expensive. You can find them cheaper locally or through big name sellers.. It just wasn't worth the hassle.

Good luck.

Actually shipping books isn't bad since you can ship them media mail. Ex, 4LBs from NewYork to California is only $3.73... 10LBs $6.19...

I get the impression though that people like to buy books as a set, rather than single volumes. Even then it seems like to REALLY depend on what series it is.

[dxgirly]

I had at least over 300 manga books back when I was really into anime and manga. I sold the whole lot off about 6 years ago to pay for my video gaming collection, for A LOT less than what they were worth.

I regret it now, and I've bought back several series that were my favorites, though I'll never again have as many as I used to.

[elvenwine26]

I once had a massive library of fantasy books(it's not manga but still printed media love related).  It was fantastic. I'd organize and alphabetize and try to see how many I could stuff on my shelves. 
But then I started moving.  After moving 3 times in one year with a large book collection and pony collection, I realized that it was mostly just stuff.  I remember all the stories really well anyway, and when it got down to it, I wasn't that attached to at least 90% of the collection.   So I sold most of it off and donated the rest.  I maintain a cycle of used books being purchased and then traded etc.  If it's really good and I find myself reading it more than twice, I keep it.
Selling wise you're just not really going to make much money back.  You'll be lucky if you even get half.  Don't even bother trying to do a yard sale with them.  You'll just get upset when people only want to pay $.25 for your pristine collection.    Ebay lots are a good way to go.  Selling them individually is obnoxious.  People will only pick and choose the volumes they're missing and you'll be stuck with a random sets that just won't move.
Occassionally I miss my old library but it was a hassle to maintain and I might find myself moving again in a year or so. 
In the end it's just stuff though.  Do you really need a physical manga library, when you could just as easily access the manga online?  Yeah it's cool and impressive, but if you're having issues with space or money then shift it on out. Not having a library of manga, doesn't make you any less of anime/manga fan, you know?

[rosierjay]

depending on the titles you can sell some of them for more.
like a lot of the tokyopop that are out of print and haven't been picked up yet.
others 5$ is the best you'll get from other collectors.
you can post
here
craigslist
amazon(not recommended)
or other sites to try and sell them.

personally i'm bringing mine to the anime convention(in my home town) where they have a huge loot swap. so i trade my uninterested comics and toys for new ones. have two big suitcases right now ready to swap.... opps.

i've also donated a few to the library. true no money was gained, but now i can go back and read them almost anytime.