Do you remember when you bought your first anime or manga volume? Maybe your first video game? Ah, that was a special time, wasn’t it? That purchase led to another, which led to another, which led to another, which led to, “I can’t keep all this!” Release was a dud, there’s a better version coming out, you’ve lost interest, you need space…you want to get rid of it!
But what options do you have? Should you go for some guaranteed money or hold out for more? Make someone’s day or unleash your creative side? Let’s once again dive into what to do with all your old stuff!
- Gift your items
- Donate your items
- Sell at yard/garage sale or flea market
- Advertise online to sell locally
- Sell on eBay
- Sell on Amazon or another online marketplace
- Trade in your items
- Put your items on consignment
- Discard them
- Use them in projects
- Keep them
Option 1: Gift your items.
Acts of kindness go a long way, and now you’re giving items a second chance to be loved by someone you know or in your community.
Friends or family who can’t afford to build their collection would certainly appreciate your older titles. Perhaps you can have fun discussions after they finish it: what was your favorite moment? What should that character have done?
Children and teens in particular would probably appreciate your stuff. Money may be tight, or there could be good stuff no longer available at local shops that could still be enjoyed. Whether rewards for good behavior or just being the cool uncle/aunt, you might turn someone into a lifelong fan. Just make sure it’s something their parents would be okay with, or else a lot of problems can rise up.
However, what about if you don’t know anyone who wants those discs or books? Well, then you have a couple of different options.
One popular method is hosting giveaways on your blog or social media account. This can drive up traffic to your pages, and chances are it will go to people who will enjoy it. You can break things up into a huge winner-take-all lot, separate them into levels of prizes, or have tons of winners who each win one item. Remember to specify what the terms are (comment, like, and follow for one entry? Each counts as a separate entry? What countries are you willing to ship to?), and find a way to keep it fair, like using Rafflecopter or a random number generator.
If you’d like to give items away but don’t want to deal with shipping for one reason or another, you could always post they’re free. Post on your Facebook for your friends to claim, or use sites like Craigslist or Freecycle and either meet up with interested parties or have them swing by. (Either way, please stay safe!) Again, if you have your own site, you could also post your items and have people claim them. First come, first serve, and whatever they want, they will need to pay the shipping for. That way, you are still not making money, but you aren’t losing money either.
Advantages:
- Items are given a second chance instead of leaving them to languish on resale store shelves or your own shelves.
- You may make new fans: fans of that series or fans of your own blog.
- Giving makes you feel good.
- You are probably going to make someone’s day, week, month — maybe even their year!
Disadvantages:
- You receive no money for giving away your items, which means you have less money to buy new titles.
- Items may have a hard time being unloaded if you no one shares your tastes, they’re considered “junk” titles, or if they’re very common.
- Shipping items can be costly while giving to strangers can be dangerous.
- There’s always a risk people may just turn around and resell your gift.
- You may inadvertently cause friction if the receiver and/or their parents object to the content.
Option 2: Donate your items.
Instead of giving kindness directly to a person(s) or family, a group tries to turn your old merchandise into happiness for others.
The most popular way is, of course, giving to a thrift store. Chances are you have one in your community. Some places may be willing to swing by your house and pick up your items (Vietnam Vets of America). Alternatively, many resale shops have drop boxes and bins at retailers or grocery stores. Here you can place your items 24/7/365.
One thing you might want to consider though is whether you’re donating to a profit (Better World Books) or nonprofit (Goodwill). Not saying one or the other is better, but feel free to use tools like Charity Navigator or Charity Watch to learn more about how much money is actually going to those in need. If you do go with a nonprofit, your donation may be tax deductible, but the new tax laws may make this more difficult or require waiting for a couple of years.
On a smaller scale, lots of local groups will ask for donations for local sales. Keep an eye out for flyers or Facebook posts from nearby schools, churches, food pantries, humane societies, etc., particularly in the summer months (rummage sales) and at the end of the year (holiday bazaars). If you aren’t sure when these groups run these events, see if you can look up any info on previous sales; most groups have them around the same time each year. Depending on how and where the sales are run, you may be asked to drop off items several days in advance or just 1-2 days before.
If you’d rather see your items actually be used, you could always reach out to individual organizations and see if they can use them. Some ideas include schools, libraries, prisons or juvenile facilities, after-school programs, and anime/manga clubs. Whether as prizes, in-class enjoyment, or giveaways, most of these groups will never turn down a donation.
If you’re not sure who is accepting donations currently, feel free to call them or send an email. You can also go through the grapevine and see if any of your friends or family know of places in need. Particularly after a tragedy, lots of organizations across the nation will run drives, and chances are that someone you know can give you more details.
Advantages:
- Generally convenient or easy to find some place to take your stuff.
- You can choose a cause that is important to you, whether your items will go to someone in your local community or turn it into money for someone on the other side of the world.
- Lots of places have a shoestring budget and will appreciate anything that you can give them.
Disadvantages:
- Although you may like to, you can’t afford to just give away everything you no longer want.
- Particularly in smaller communities, animanga items may languish on store shelves or sale tables, and thus your donation never actually benefits the organization.
- Timing may be an issue if you want to donate after business hours or during off-season for sales and bazaars; in addition, some places get so swamped with donations they actually stop accepting for a while.
Option 3: Sell at yard/garage sale or flea market.
Whether you call it a yard sale or a garage sale, you can put all your old media and merchandise up for sale in your driveway. Plus, you might also unload that ugly tchotchke you got for your birthday or that waffle maker you wanted but never use. Just hope that you pick a good weekend where it doesn’t rain all over your items! But if you can, try to pick a week where others in your neighborhood are also having sales or where there’s something going on in town. You want as many visitors as possible.
However, if you don’t own your home or live in a very out-of-the-way area, you can try to reach out to a friend or family member and see if they’d be interested in having a multi-family sale. Yes, you have to bring and unpack all your stuff, but it’s an option for you. Bigger sales will attract more attention as well.
Either way, first make sure to advertise your sale. Put up signs that are easy to read for cars driving by and that gives them enough warning to pull over. Shoppers will also check Craigslist and Facebook for sale locations, so you will probably want to advertise on those platforms. Check your local ordinances to see if you need to have a permit first.
Still not an option? Look for places that are having flea markets or indoor garage sales. You will likely have to pay to rent a table, and, of course, you will still need to pick up and pack up all your merchandise after a long day of selling. But the foot traffic is likely to be very good, maybe better than at your own place.
No matter where you are having a sale, price your merchandise! Go to the dollar store and buy stickers, make signs out of construction paper, or use masking tape. A fair number of bargain seekers will try to negotiate with you on prices, so you may want to go a little higher than your target purchase price. You can always mark prices down later if you want, but don’t mark things too high that it turns people off. Bring some bags or newspaper to pack stuff and plenty of change.
Advantages:
- You can sell your anime, manga, games, and anything else you own.
- Items often sell better when people can actually see and touch them versus seeing a picture online.
- Transactions are almost always done in cash, and you will end up keeping most of it (minus stickers, signs, and other incidentals).
- Items are as-is, so you don’t have to worry about buyer’s remorse.
Disadvantages:
- Sales take a lot of work before, during, and after the sale: set up, pricing, sitting for long hours, dealing with customers, and packing everything away.
- No guarantee you will actually sell your animanga merchandise or even turn a day’s profit.
- Best foot traffic will be in the spring or summer, but even the best laid plans can be sunk by a bout of bad weather.
Option 4: Advertise online to sell locally.
Instead of a garage sale, have an online garage sale!
Of course, Craigslist is arguably the most popular, but it is facing a lot of challengers. There’s Facebook Marketplace, Letgo, Wallapop, VarageSale, and you might even find someone nearby on interest forums. They each have their own advantages and disadvantages, but the idea is the same: sell your items to a person in your area.
Generally, you take a picture, write a description (more detail, the better), set your price, and hope someone reaches out to you. You might go back and forth to answer questions or haggle the price, but, if all goes well, arrange a meet up with them. Go to a public place, but a lot of police stations have designated areas for transactions as well. Get paid, and delete your post or mark it as sold.
Advantages:
- You keep 100% of what the buyer pays, and you can specify cash only.
- People buy and sell on these sites year-round.
- Your items will likely get more exposure than a regular yard sale or flea market, and plus you don’t have to worry about shipping like eBay.
Disadvantages:
- Meeting a stranger always carries safety risks.
- Buyers could waste your time and energy by not showing up to the meeting place or arriving and then trying to bring down the already agreed-upon price.
- The number of users for these sites and/or animanga fans in your area may be low.
Option 5: Sell on eBay.
eBay is the most popular (and, for some areas like the U.S., the de facto) auction site. However, in recent years, eBay has been slowly weaning buyers and sellers away from auctions to list things at a fixed price. And for both formats, eBay has been pushing sellers to accept buyers’ best offers.
Good eBay listings include an accurate title and detailed descriptions. Most users get 50 free listings, but full-time sellers can apply for discounts by signing up for a plan.
Shipping charges can be a pain, so try to buy a scale or go to the post office to get accurate measurements, particularly if you’re shipping internationally.
PayPal used to be the main payment method, but as it’s a separate company now, eBay is also allowing merchants to collect payment directly. However, this isn’t practical for most small-time sellers.
You can pay for shipping online (which is generally cheaper) or take it to your carrier and pay them directly. Tracking is highly recommended, and it’s included when you buy postage online.
Either way, buyers have up to 30 days (180 with PayPal) to file a complaint, so make sure pictures and details are accurate and clear. Otherwise, your PayPal charges are deducted automatically, and you can choose how to pay your eBay fees (generally 10% of total price + shipping).
Advantages:
- eBay has millions of users, so there’s a good chance someone will be interested in your items, especially if you sell to international customers.
- You can research similar listings and see how often they sell, how much they sell for, average shipping costs, etc.
- Generally, items sell for more on eBay than anywhere else, and you may get more than you anticipated.
Disadvantages:
- eBay takes 10% right off the top — including whatever you collected for shipping!
- Auctions are risky, and you may end up incredibly disappointed.
- Even for fixed price offerings, buyers may flock to a higher priced item and ignore yours.
- You may face a lot of competition, and it can be incredibly hard to match or beat the big time sellers and big companies.
- Shipping can be expensive and cost-prohibitive for smaller items.
- eBay is often accused of catering to buyers, and the long return policy can be scary for sellers.
Option 6: Sell on Amazon or another online marketplace.
Looking for an eBay alternative? Amazon steps up to the plate. Find the item you’re selling on Amazon, set your price, and wait for it to sell.
If you cannot find your product on Amazon, you can create a new product listing.
For the media categories, shipping price is set at $3.99. Otherwise, shipping is determined by Amazon by category and weight.
Amazon charges $1 per sold item plus fees, but big time sellers can save money by signing up for a monthly plan and/or paying for Amazon to store and send out products.
If you’re selling your anime discs, manga volumes, or game discs, you have other options like Alibris, Barnes & Noble, and more. Fees may vary, and make sure you check their condition grading scale.
Advantages:
- Amazon is one of the most popular sites on the Internet with more users than eBay.
- Pictures or details are not nearly as important as eBay.
- It’s easy on most of these sites to look at the competition and lower your price.
Disadvantages:
- Small-time sellers are extremely limited in what they can do (shipping fees, number of items listed, etc.)
- Fees are generally higher (Amazon 15% for most categories + $1 listing).
- Amazon is also accused of catering to buyers and not protecting sellers.
- eBay is the only practical choice for listing lots or miscellaneous items.
Option 7: Trade in your items.
Want a way to practically guarantee getting money and/or not have to deal with pesky buyers? Trade your stuff in!
You have two options: trading in to a local retailer or an online venue. Online retailers will generally give you an instant quote, but make sure you check whether shipping is covered by them or you.
When trading in, make sure you know whether the values are for cash or store credit. The latter may net you some extra dough if you shop there anyway. Keep an eye for any promotions to boost your value.
If sending online, make sure you read all the terms and conditions carefully. Some places will only take items with all components, inserts, cases — basically, in like new condition.
Most of the big box stores like Walmart, Best Buy, and, of course, GameStop, will take video games, but only the latter will accept retro titles.
Movies, there are options like F.Y.E., Amazon, and Decluttr.
Finally, for books, Amazon accepts a limited number of titles, so you’re better off going to an independent chain or small store. Book-Off and Kinokuniya have U.S. stores in some urban areas, a good choice for manga fans.
Anime fans can also check out Robert’s Anime Corner Store to sell their anime, manga, games, or figurines.
Local pawn shops may also be an option.
Advantages:
- It’s pretty straightforward: bring or send your item, they examine it, and then you get some compensation.
- You can often find trade-in values online, making it easy to see what option is best.
- You don’t have to deal with buyers or their issues.
Disadvantages:
- You generally get less than if you sell it yourself.
- Some places are incredibly strict in what they’ll accept, and even if they will take your items, it may only net you a negligible amount like a quarter.
- Pricing and grading can be subjective, almost arbitrary.
- Rural fans may not have a lot of local options, meaning they’ll have to turn to a place like eBay.
Option 8: Put your items on consignment.
Want to avoid shipping fees but are hoping for a little more than what a trade-in will get you? Try consignment!
Consignment is not offered in all resale shops, so you may have to do a little hunting. But you set the price, and if it sells, you and the store split the profits.
Some stores will automatically mark it down after a set period of time, so if you’re not willing to go below a certain price, be sure to claim it back beforehand.
Unsold merchandise not picked up by a certain date may be claimed by the store, so don’t forget about your stuff!
Another method that appears to be gaining popularity is local auction houses. Hand over your stuff, write a description, and hope the bidding goes sky high!
No matter which way you go though, be sure to know all the policies!
Advantages:
- Generally, the only thing you have to do is bring it in and maybe provide a description.
- You don’t have to deal with buyers or shipping costs.
- Your items may reach a wider audience versus online marketplaces.
- Items may sell for more than what you could at a yard sale or by pawning them.
Disadvantages:
- Shops may have restrictions as to what they’ll accept, so your animanga-related merchandise may not make the cut.
- Fees could easily take away 30% or more of an item’s selling price — perhaps as much as all of it!
- There’s always a chance that you’ll end up disappointed: your goods could end up selling for less than you would have liked or perhaps not at all.
Option 9: Discard them.
“What?? Just throw them away??”
This may seem cruel, but there are times when it may be the preferred option. There are some things that are too beat up or that bad of a product that no one is going to want it.
If you do put your stuff out to pasture, there’s always a chance that someone will pick them up. So discarding doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s destined to live forever in a landfill. If it does go there, hopefully at least it can be recycled.
Advantages:
- Simple and convenient: just put your stuff on the curb or in a bin.
- Some stuff is worthless anyway, as no one wants it.
- Might have more benefit to the world if it’s recycled into something else or picked up by someone.
Disadvantages:
- You are adding to the landfills, especially if you don’t sort your items.
- You don’t get any money nor did you make someone’s day.
- There’s still a chance someone — perhaps someone closer than you think — would have gotten some enjoyment out of it.
Option 10: Use them in projects.
Unleash your creativity!
Those manga volumes you spend money on? Why not turn them into collages?
Anime or game discs can be turned into coasters, frames, or games.
Even if you yourself aren’t an artsy person, these could be used as ways to entertain kids you’re watching. Schools or daycares sometimes ask for old books and magazines to use in art projects.
Just think outside the box! Or use Google, as there are a TON of ideas.
Advantages:
- Recycling is better than adding more junk to the landfills.
- You and/or kids can make some nice projects out of your old media.
- It’s fun.
Disadvantages:
- You receive no financial benefit.
- Someone else may have wanted to enjoy those items, but now they’re destroyed.
- Lots of art projects break, so it may get trashed anyway.
- If you’re recycling and reusing them at home, have you really saved any space?
Option 11: Keep them.
“Wait a second! Doesn’t this go against the whole point of this article?”
Well, if no one wants them anyway, you’re not going to do anything creative with them, and you’re definitely not getting any money for them, why not just keep them?
You may end up having kids who want to watch it, or perhaps you’ll get the urge to reread the series one day.
Besides, you could always change your mind in the future. But once you choose #1 through #10, there’s no going back!
Advantages:
- You were interested enough to buy it, so you likely found some entertainment value in it once before and may once again.
- Some of the things you may want to get rid of may be worth more down the line if you eventually decide to sell it.
- You don’t have to spend time deciding on what to keep and get rid of.
Disadvantages:
- Space is a premium in most households.
- Come on, are you really ever going to revisit that series with all the options available nowadays?
- You get neither the financial benefits of selling nor the altruistic benefits of donating or gifting your items.
Final Thoughts
So, what do I usually do?
Option 11. I admit I’m a bit of a collector, and I just hate to part with any of my stuff. It’s a sickness that runs in my family. Otherwise, I spent the money on it, and I could always give it another chance one day. (I probably won’t, but I still tell myself that.)
When I do want to get rid of my older titles, I usually turn to eBay. Personally, I think eBay is both a pain and a gamble, but there just isn’t a huge market for my media where I live. Most of my eBay transactions have been smooth, but I’ve had some very frustrating experiences with impatient, whiny, and non-paying buyers.