I have a sizeable collection of old(ish?) Yu-Gi-Oh! cards I'm not sure what to do with.

[Oly J]

Hi everyone, seems like all I post lately are questions for advice, must get myself a current-gen console at some point so I can take part in more discussions,

anyway, I have, sitting at home, gathering dust, what is quite a large collection of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, (one extremely large folder I bought from a friend to help him get rid of them, and several collectors tins stuffed past their intended capacity)

The thing is, I've been out of the game for a long time, I stopped going to local tournaments because I was no longer enjoying them, also, while generally placed decently I rarely ever won even when my deck was current.

the last deck I ran was a Morphtronic one, back when they were sort of a relatively new thing, I just got sick of the whole cheap effects and broken decks arms race that the game devolved into, I know it was always headed that way in hindsight, but I still don't like it. Also keeping up with banned card lists became very tedious.

but I still have all of those cards, and up till now I've kept them because I spent a lot of time and money collecting them and just in case I decided to get back into the game, but at this point, why would I? even if I kept all my cards, the vast majority of them would be obsolete by now.

I've considered selling them of course, but how do I best go about that? I haven't really confronted that problem, and I'm not sure where to start, of course, there's always eBay, but I'm wondering if there's a better way, because, when I go on eBay it's in the hopes of getting something for less than I would normally pay for it, and I can only imagine that a good chunk of other eBayers would be the same and if I do sell them I'd want at least as close as possible to a decent return of investment.


I could get in touch with my university's Card Games society next year and see if there's anything I can do with them, but I don't really have the drive to play the game anymore, I suppose I could trade them away or sell some personally to people.

but herein lies the problem, even though I have no desire to play the game again, I've had them for so long and spent so much time collecting them, that I'm not 100% sure I even want rid of them, but I also don't like them just sitting there gathering dust, it seems a shame when there are probably others who would want them, I'm just not sure what to do here. any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[Oly J]

Hi everyone, seems like all I post lately are questions for advice, must get myself a current-gen console at some point so I can take part in more discussions,

anyway, I have, sitting at home, gathering dust, what is quite a large collection of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, (one extremely large folder I bought from a friend to help him get rid of them, and several collectors tins stuffed past their intended capacity)

The thing is, I've been out of the game for a long time, I stopped going to local tournaments because I was no longer enjoying them, also, while generally placed decently I rarely ever won even when my deck was current.

the last deck I ran was a Morphtronic one, back when they were sort of a relatively new thing, I just got sick of the whole cheap effects and broken decks arms race that the game devolved into, I know it was always headed that way in hindsight, but I still don't like it. Also keeping up with banned card lists became very tedious.

but I still have all of those cards, and up till now I've kept them because I spent a lot of time and money collecting them and just in case I decided to get back into the game, but at this point, why would I? even if I kept all my cards, the vast majority of them would be obsolete by now.

I've considered selling them of course, but how do I best go about that? I haven't really confronted that problem, and I'm not sure where to start, of course, there's always eBay, but I'm wondering if there's a better way, because, when I go on eBay it's in the hopes of getting something for less than I would normally pay for it, and I can only imagine that a good chunk of other eBayers would be the same and if I do sell them I'd want at least as close as possible to a decent return of investment.


I could get in touch with my university's Card Games society next year and see if there's anything I can do with them, but I don't really have the drive to play the game anymore, I suppose I could trade them away or sell some personally to people.

but herein lies the problem, even though I have no desire to play the game again, I've had them for so long and spent so much time collecting them, that I'm not 100% sure I even want rid of them, but I also don't like them just sitting there gathering dust, it seems a shame when there are probably others who would want them, I'm just not sure what to do here. any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Donate them, and write them off on taxes. (That is a serious suggestion. I just don't know where you could donate them and get a receipt for your records.)

You probably won't ever get a decent return on your investment, especially so when selling online, where there is a ton of competition for similar items. You could try to find buyers on Craigslist. (I think it has enough presence in the UK to be worth a shot.) Or, see if you can find a buyer at a social event like your uni's CG society. Lastly, a card/comic store might, might, give you an ok price on some cards. Whatever you do, research the current values on your collection. Maybe save some truly rare cards until they go way up in value years down the road.

If they aren't taking up useful space, it might be worth it to just keep them for another couple decades. Accidents, parents/spouses tossing out "old junk" and purposeful destruction can make the number of out-of-print cards dwindle, and their value go up. I've been sitting on 13+ year old Pokemon cards, because I'm too lazy to try and get rid of them. Maybe some day I can buy a week's worth of lunch with the few rare cards.

Also, maybe save them for your kids or a relative's kids. It's better than buying new board games at whatever inflated prices they will be in a few years. The cheap cards can even be used for arts and crafts. I remember being bored in school and making some outrageous creatures with insane stats by cutting up and gluing together some Pokee-man cards. (I don't how well Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic cards would lend to this, but let the kids experiment.)