Thinning the Herd - When and what?

[Pyrate Jim]

It's hard to let go. But there comes a time.
Many of you have seen some of what I've collected. I think it qualifies as a hoard.
I started playing in 1988, some 37 years ago. Most of that was in New England, by 1999 there were 10 fields within an hours drive. Now two within 90 minutes in Va.
I'm pushing 70. I can't play like I did. (I haven't aged well)

What to do? Sell it, or bequeath it?

[Cdn_Cuda]

A mixture of both? Do something you enjoy with it. It that means sells off and using the money for something special or find a way to pass on some markers in a meaningful way.

[Pumps4ever]

I also started playing in 1988. It sure was Pretty awesome back then.

I do agree with Cuda, a mixture of it all...

Keep your favorites to leave to family or friends, gift or sell the the low hanging fruit that does not mean too much.

When I decide to sell my stuff it will be to people who are going to play with it.

Watching these poachers get something super cheap here on MCB then selling it high on their own websites, ebay or even sell it back to us here on MCB is so hard to watch.

Especially stuff we all love and want to play with but can not afford on these poachers websites.

I missed a CCM the other day for a great price... it will be on a poachers website very soon for double the price.

Hope you get to get out and play sometimes

If you ever want to talk about the old days of Paintball hmu!

[Drunkscriblerian]

I would proudly identify as a gun hoarder, for a couple of simple reasons.

Reason the First: I've only ever sold one gun (my VM-68, the first gun I ever owned) and these days I wish I hadn't done that. As much as that gun pissed me off when I owned it, I'd kinda like to have it back.

Reason the Second: Very little of my collection would have any monetary value to anyone (its all old mid-90s blowbacks) and the few guns that actually might be worth some cash (a PGP, a Phantom, etc) I have some significant emotional attachment to, because memories. The way I see it paintslingers don't take up that much space in the house, but some of them can take up significant space in the heart.

[coyote]

Space became an issue.

When you can not have houseguests without introducing them to you anodized aluminum addiction some things have to go

[Grendel]

Selling off markers is cyclic for me. I tell myself I will get my herd down to what I use but that does not last long if it ever actually happens. I buy everything with disposable cash so whether I hold stuff or not does not affect me financially. For me it is space to store and how many times I have to handle something before I get sick of seeing it.

[Pumps4ever]

I swear I was going to get down to one marker... then a friend got me back into pumps and you know a good pump addiction can lead you deeper into the realm of autocockers... LOL

[Ecapnation]

I've hit the purge cycle....

I have over the year bought a bunch that was only ever intended to be a museum display item. We then lost that space in 2022 so everything there came back to me and I view most of that as a waste of effort and space as well as something I don't normally collect.

[Pumps4ever]

This how I felt with my first buys back into the game... Splatmasters, PGPs and more stuff I bought for nephews to come play just ended up wasted time and space... So I just about sold everything from that time and now just focusing on good playing markers... although I will get a splatmaster and a PGP again for sure... LOL

[StaticShocked]

I 100% agree with everyone about keeping the sentimental ones. I sold most all of my paintball items in 2005ish and regret selling the sentimental ones. If you will think about it fondly after its gone, and you have the space to actually keep it, keep it. Thanks to stukem17, i will get to use a micromag again. That was my favorite marker back in the day and the one i regretted selling the most.

[Jordan]

My criteria for selling follows along the lines of "could I replace this if I sold it?". So far much of what I've owned has met that criteria.

Very little today appeals to me, anyways... Pretty much everything on my wall I've built for myself.

At the end of the day it's just stuff.

[Frmrspec]

When my wife and I bought our house in 2020, I sold off anything of value at the time… my threshold is somewhere around $300… anything less than that and it really isn’t worth my time after eating fees, dealing with low ballers, packing and oddly the hardest part for me… shipping. No post office around me has 24hr drop off and I work during shipping hours.. so unless I skip lunch just to drive to a post office, its hard to get something shipped.

So I’ve got a wall of markers valued at $100-$300 each… the only stuff I kept worth more than that I regularly use and know I wouldn’t be able to replace if I sold it.. also doesn’t help that a vast majority of them are in some state of disrepair

[Ragu310]

I definitely need to down size. I have way too many markers. I still have first two from like 1987. It's only grown since then. It's been fun collecting over the years. Eventually I will put it in the Collectors Corner.

[Cal440]

Nice collection of long guns you got there. What is that bottom one? Those are cool ,I should have looked a little closer I could have answered my own question.

[Ragu310]

Thanks man! The bottom 2 are both Automags in wooden stocks.

[Ragu310]

We need a PA - Paintball Anonymous lol

[StaticShocked]

Isn't that kind of what this MCB is? I literally found MCB because of someone calling MCB the "...place where the old paintball guys hang out, go ask there. They will know.", and i was like, wait, that sounds like my kind of group!

[nerdcore]

Sentimentality & avoiding further regrets seem to be the only reasons I keep markers. But finally hit a limit, so now i'm in the "buy one, sell one" phase. We'll see how long that lasts.

[vijil]

Oh man, I wish I had the space, time, money to actually have a collection!

Sold my very last marker a couple years after getting married, when I realised I'd probably never play more than once a year for the forseeable future. The only thing I kept was my mask, but that got moldy and now I have nada. The mask I actually want would be about $460 NZD and I just can't justify that.

None of them had any real sentimental value though, so nbd. My fond memories are more of moments of fun while playing, less about the gear.

[glaman5266]

When I see all the stuff I don’t use, I’ll purge & not buy for a while.

But… I feel like I don’t have as much fun with the game as I used to. I’m doing more pump stuff, which is fun & all. But I don’t need all the gear I have and all the parts I have in bins. It’s more crap to worry about & more worries are the last thing I need right now. I’m going to do a massive purge once I’m done with the garage. I have 4 paintguns I’m going to hold on to, and I’m going to go bare minimum on everything else.