Just started my Life Liquidation Sale....sigh...

[onemanfilmcrew]

So I put up my first 5 ebay auctions tonight, thereby officially starting my Life Liquidation Sale. Due to losing my job back in November, being out of work for the better part of the year, and now wanting to go back to school to avoid spending the rest of my natural life serving food, I have now decided to cash in my video game collection.

This is no small task, as my collection currently resides 5 states away. So I have to fly back to my hometown, rent a 10 foot moving truck to pack my collection up (and believe me, I'm going to need all the room, which is really impressive when you consider I have no arcade machines), and move it back up here to Illinois.

It is my hope that I can pay off my massive amount of debt I've incurred over the years buying camera equipment (which was needed in my former career). If I am able to pay off my debt, I get to turn around and go right back into debt so I can go back to school for game design. It's kind of symbolic that I'm selling my game collection in order to be able to create games, but it is still kind of painful.

That being said, if anybody has any words of encouragement, I'm all ears. Also, if you are missing some rare game/system/manual/box/etc in your collection, start writing them down (because my god do I have some rare stuff: Vectrex, a complete copy of Track and Field for the Atari 2600, Prototypes, etc). Once I get everything up here in a couple weeks I'll let everyone know, and then it's time to wheel and deal.

[dsheinem]

It's sad you have to do this but looks like it is for the right reasons - good luck to you.

Also, be sure to give us a shot on the B/S/T forums before eBay!

[dedalusdedalus]

Man, sorry to hear that you gotta sell your game collection. But good luck with using the money to go back to school.

I'm also genuinely curious about the stuff in your collection, since you need an entire truck to haul it all. I'll definitely keep an eye out for your listing.

[Jrecee]

What is your current career? Besides just being a one man film crew. What do you film?

[onemanfilmcrew]

My current career is serving food to ungrateful people. Before that however I worked for an ad agency as a photographer. Sadly with the combination of the collapsed economy, cheap professional camera, and the fact a lot of places have figured out that it's cheaper to buy a $500 prosumer camera and give it to an intern to take some shots for the website as opposed to hiring a professional for $500 a day pretty much means being a professional photographer is all but dead as a career (unless you shoot weddings, which i'd rather gouge my eyes out than do).

I did do a lot of video work in the past ( most recently my classic video game show www.TheVgaTV.com ). But even that market has taken a serious hit, plus since I don't have an HD camera, it's virtually impossible for me to get work since everyone wants HD stuff.

[onemanfilmcrew]

"I'm also genuinely curious about the stuff in your collection, since you need an entire truck to haul it all. I'll definitely keep an eye out for your listing."

Yeah, I'm kind of curious as to what all is in there too. I bought a lot of stuff over the past few years, especially with my last job since I got to travel all over the country. Basically when i moved nearly 3 years ago I had roughly 35 of those giant plastic storage containers you get at Wal-Mart filled with my collection (not including boxed systems, or my boxes of loose boxes...yes i have boxes with nothing but boxes in them...what can i say, i take my collecting seriously

Once I get everything moved up I'm going to let everyone know, and I'll even highlight some of the rarer stuff, but like any good radio station, I take requests (even if it isn't rare).

[onemanfilmcrew]

"Also, be sure to give us a shot on the B/S/T forums before eBay!"

And don't worry, I'll give you guys first shot at the rare stuff. I just put up some Gameboy and DS games today since that's all I had up here at the time. Rest of the stuff up in a few weeks!

[Hobie-wan]

Sucks that you gotta sell, but at least you know what to cut to get things back in line. Also kudos for sticking to a personal no weddings rule even if it makes things harder.

*edit*

Try to hold on to a few things at least. Not necessarily the most expensive, but a few that you actually enjoy. Still going to need some time to unwind in there.

As others have said, hit us up first so you know stuff will go to a good home. I'm admittedly curious about the Vectrex. I don't know what they run, but I've always wanted one. Only saw them a few times in stores and got to play one once at a summer camp.

[brickiemart]

I can relate. I haven't sold any parts of my game collection (I doubt it is as big as yours), but I have made lists of what I own and estimated how much I could get for them. I have worked in the food service industry for over a decade now, I’m the epitome of "got stuck there". I've made several goes at college and only managed to get an associates degree in arts. Currently I have a nasty government loan hanging over my head which I will not be able to put off much longer.

About a year and a half ago I decided to suck it up and make a career in restaurants, I had just moved to the area I'm at now and started in a new place with the intentions of going up as high as possible. Midway through I got an offer from a former boss to come work for him as a restaurant manager in a new place opening up. The money wasn't great at all (by most people’s standards anyway), but it allowed me the chance to afford my own place instead of roommates and start making debt payments.

After three weeks of training and a week in the actual restaurant the higher ups gave me a vote of no confidence as a manager and demoted me. I just left the place instead since the money would no longer be there. I'd be lying if I said their decision was completely unfounded, but I did my best. Much of it had to do with a personality conflict I had with one of their corporate trainers; especially coupled the brutal hours I was working.

That was two weeks ago, now I'm back at my old restaurant and like you I have decided I need to do something else. I'm doing school, yet again, this time with goals that will hopefully be more realistic. I am going the computer route, but not with games. I have a few more decisions to make and I have a smart and dependable relative helping me make them. I'm actually hopeful.

So, you're not completely alone. I haven't sold many games, but I did part with 300+ cds (mostly metal and some really rare vinyl), a lot dvd box sets, and three guitars. Good luck to you and try not to stress too much. It takes time, but things can get better. I hope you can get back to school, is so try to have fun with your classes and kick ass at them too!

[Jrecee]

My current career is serving food to ungrateful people. Before that however I worked for an ad agency as a photographer. Sadly with the combination of the collapsed economy, cheap professional camera, and the fact a lot of places have figured out that it's cheaper to buy a $500 prosumer camera and give it to an intern to take some shots for the website as opposed to hiring a professional for $500 a day pretty much means being a professional photographer is all but dead as a career (unless you shoot weddings, which i'd rather gouge my eyes out than do).

I did do a lot of video work in the past ( most recently my classic video game show http://www.TheVgaTV.com ). But even that market has taken a serious hit, plus since I don't have an HD camera, it's virtually impossible for me to get work since everyone wants HD stuff.

I have served food to ungrateful people and done the filming thing. I bought a new camera to get a business going to real estate photography but unfortunately that market is in the crapper. I still do filming for local businesses but business is slow. Most people don't really understand hd and if they ask for it just tell them the additional cost (a shitload) and it's pretty easy to conivince them SD is good enough. Otherwise, charge them out the ass for the equipment you need to rent to do it.

Thing is, I see a lot of people paying good money for absolute shit work. It all comes down to who you know. I watch these local car ads and figure half their money is going to comcast who's just hiring the cheapest person they can find to do the work, and pocketing everything in between.