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- Mar 5, 2008
I've actually listed or have sold a lot of my Jordan 1 highs. Too many colorways and with the release of the 85 I'd rather spend money on those than these weird shaped highs
[Discussion] Downsizing/Minimizing Sneaker Collection or Quitting Collecting - WITH TIPS/RESOURCES
- 526
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- Feb 12, 2013
I’ve been contemplating selling majority of my shoes. It’s not a lot, but I really only wear slides and crocs in the summer and comfy shoes like vomeros and NBs while I’m teaching. Occasionally, I liked to wear my “heat” during the school year on Fridays, but I just had a kid and I want to stop wasting money on stupid stuff and start a fund for him to have when he’s grown.
What I could make from selling my shoes could jump start it. Guess I just needed to type this out so I can take the leap and sell the excess. I think I just need to figure out what my magic number is for sneakers to keep.
What I could make from selling my shoes could jump start it. Guess I just needed to type this out so I can take the leap and sell the excess. I think I just need to figure out what my magic number is for sneakers to keep.
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- Jun 22, 2005
a mufasa
- that's definitely a really good reason to make the move! 
I feel like the number will constantly change and can keep going lower each time. It's only when you find yourself truly happy with the shoes left that tells you what the number could be. On the flip side, it could also not exactly be what the number is, but more about what shoes you have that says "yeah, this is it."
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- Sep 24, 2015
Congratulations on getting to that point where "it's time". It takes a while for it to happen, but it eventually will happen. The number is always evolving. In the past I dunno, 6 years or so, I sold over 260 pairs combined. I have around 35 or so that are wearable and good to go. My Agassi collection of vintage stuff, I didn't add into the wearable spot even though they are.
It's the 25 or so vintage OG stuff that isn't really wearable that I want to get rid of. Once that's gone, I'll be VERY content with what I have. Plus, if I feel like grabbing something new, I won't feel bad about it. But only you can decide on what that "magic number" truly is. But it's a wonderful step you've taken so far and should be very proud!
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- Aug 9, 2014
Dang that hits. The endorphin rush of a new purchase with the underlying bad feeling of adding to the shoebox pile is a weird contradiction. Hate it tbh
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- Sep 24, 2015
But the thing is, depending on the shoe, you may not need the box. My daily show is my Magenta/Neon Huaraches. They're getting beat a little. No box. Shoes stay out by the back door.
And when I say a new pair, I'm taking like a few pairs within a 6-12 month span. For me, I bought the Emerald/Resin Huaraches (I believe that was early 2023), then I got the Mac Attack, and I'm waiting on a pair of the Flight Huaraches that sold out. Contact helped me score a pair for $63. Add in the one pair of actual driving shoes I bought (Piloti Shift, all white so I can paint them a race livery) that's all I've gotten. It's a good feeling to not stress about launches, releases, raffles.
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- Aug 9, 2014
When I said shoe box pile I didn’t mean literal boxes. Just meant adding shoes to your possessionBut the thing is, depending on the shoe, you may not need the box. My daily show is my Magenta/Neon Huaraches. They're getting beat a little. No box. Shoes stay out by the back door.
And when I say a new pair, I'm taking like a few pairs within a 6-12 month span. For me, I bought the Emerald/Resin Huaraches (I believe that was early 2023), then I got the Mac Attack, and I'm waiting on a pair of the Flight Huaraches that sold out. Contact helped me score a pair for $63. Add in the one pair of actual driving shoes I bought (Piloti Shift, all white so I can paint them a race livery) that's all I've gotten. It's a good feeling to not stress about launches, releases, raffles.
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- Feb 23, 2006
Something that helps is changing the mentality of "buying shoes to wear and potentially sell in the future" to just "buying shoes to wear".And when I say a new pair, I'm taking like a few pairs within a 6-12 month span. For me, I bought the Emerald/Resin Huaraches (I believe that was early 2023), then I got the Mac Attack, and I'm waiting on a pair of the Flight Huaraches that sold out. Contact helped me score a pair for $63. Add in the one pair of actual driving shoes I bought (Piloti Shift, all white so I can paint them a race livery) that's all I've gotten. It's a good feeling to not stress about launches, releases, raffles.
My everyday rotation now is fairly minimal and balanced. Like a pair of white stan smiths, grey new balances, shoes for the gym, and a few "fave/flashy" pairs.
90% of the time, If they haven't gotten beat to the point of needing to be replaced, I'm not buying anything new that fits the mold. I'm good with just appreciating the new releases.
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- Sep 24, 2015
Sorry buddy. With some of us, we keep all the boxes and that makes storage even more of a dilemma.
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- Sep 24, 2015
Exactly that. Though for me at least, I never bought shoes for future value if I sell. I never got into those type of Hypebeast pairs that some people only go after. I bought because I loved the shoe, the design, the story.
- 5,912
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- Feb 23, 2006
I was tying it to the boxes as well. Like with phones and tech gadgets, I used to keep a lot of their boxes because I knew I could get more money if I ended up selling it with the box, but now I toss them if I'm passed the return or warranty period.Exactly that. Though for me at least, I never bought shoes for future value if I sell. I never got into those type of Hypebeast pairs that some people only go after. I bought because I loved the shoe, the design, the story.
Knowing I'm going to beat my shoes and keep them by my door, means I can toss out the box after a while.
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- Jun 22, 2005
Same here. I've dealt with a lot of buyer's remorse over the past several years (including that spree I shared about not too long ago). For once, the last few pick-ups do not feel anywhere near that at all. Although they weren't at least a few months apart, I think what helped a lot was planning ahead for them and being very certain.
I had this mentality too. It got so extremely tiring because it was really the shoes that was controlling me on how to wear them and how often when in actuality, they're just nothing but fabrics and glue.
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- Aug 15, 2009
I recently did the same, a lot of these colorways start to look the same after a while
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- Jan 27, 2013
every time i see these videos i’m like please let me never get to that stage. It’s just so unnecessary to me personally
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- Jun 22, 2005
Things I think about if that I had that:
- I want that to be a spare room for anything else like a guest room or an office
- That'd be a ***** if I were to move
- I'm not paying an unnecessary extra amount of money per month for a room just for my shoes.
langfor5
Supporter
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- Nov 24, 2006
going to start moving a lot of my shoes to fund a garage golf sim.
Shoes are still a huge part of my life but I would rather move my DS collection so that I can play golf any day.
Shoes are still a huge part of my life but I would rather move my DS collection so that I can play golf any day.
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- Jun 29, 2018
Shoes definitely a big part of my life too. Going heavy for more than 20 yrs now and now just taking up a lot of space. Over the years, ive sold 80+ and given away 150+. I wanna say my peak was 450-500 pairs and now maybe 300.
Got advice from several of you late last year and sold 10 used pairs on GOAT. Didn’t know that i can sell used pairs. Today, i did some garage cleaning and will be posting 40 or so pairs again. Not really in it for the money, just need to get rid of clutter and get space back. Wish me luck!
Got advice from several of you late last year and sold 10 used pairs on GOAT. Didn’t know that i can sell used pairs. Today, i did some garage cleaning and will be posting 40 or so pairs again. Not really in it for the money, just need to get rid of clutter and get space back. Wish me luck!
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- Feb 12, 2014
Thoughts on how Goat compares to eBay in terms of time to sell? On eBay I sold like a dozen pretty quickly, but another dozen just sitting on there.
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- Jun 29, 2018
I need to try ebay too. Haven’t yet. Any tips would be appreciated
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- Feb 12, 2014
Ironically, I JUST made another sale on there. I sent an offer for $25 under my listing. I think people like to feel like they're getting a deal, so overpricing a bit so you can take lover offers that you're OK with seems to help. BUT, if you price too high a lot won't even bother with offers thinking you won't accept that.
That said, I'm no eBay master, and still have a lot sitting.
That said, I'm no eBay master, and still have a lot sitting.
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- Aug 9, 2014
I think it’s a tough time for sellers right now in general, people not really checking for kicks like they used to. A lot of folks saving their money and have less disposable income with how wild inflation been lately imo and Nike /other brands be pumping so many shoes out every day. It’s too much
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- Jan 25, 2006
Agreed.. having trouble moving some kicks right now but I'll wait it out.
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- Aug 15, 2009
I’ve recently sold off a lot of my Travis Scott collabs. With the loss of my dad in June and losing my job earlier in the year, it put a lot into perspective for me. Social media has dictated to us what the must have shoes were and the chase was a lot more alluring than having these shoes in my closet. The money i made off selling these shoes and putting it into my business and paying expenses that have come up is a lot more rewarding. Also, the dopamine from online shopping is short lived. I’ve begun to reconnect with hobbies that i enjoyed before i started collecting sneakers such as drawing and gaming.
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- Jan 13, 2003
I'm older so I've gone thru a few phases with this. Once my career got going in the late 90's I started collecting pretty heavy and by around 2003 I was well over 100 pairs (which was a lot for the time). Around then I also started a family, so I sold a lot of the valuable stuff (for nothing compared to what it would sell for now) and pretty much stopped paying attention to kicks entirely, stopped visiting this site and ISS/Sole Collector which were my main pre-social media hangouts. I didn't think anything of it because I had a closet full of rare heat that most new sneakerheads either had no way to get or knew nothing about. Other than 1 or 2 releases a year I was good for almost 20 years.
But during COVID I took the time to really go thru my stash and found that (surprise, surprise) all those shoes are starting to become unwearable as the materials break down. Now I have a stack of classic running shoes that are all basically trash due to foam falling apart, and another bunch of classic AF1's, Dunks, etc that are starting to come unglued, or with deflated airbags. I'm talking all my Co.JP kicks from the late 90's, Europe and Asia exclusive colorways that were hard to find when they were new, now they can't be worn unless I go to the trouble of getting them sole swapped, which honestly doesn't appeal very much to me. No idea what I'm going to do with them except throw away the ones that die on my feet. I just had to toss a beautiful pair of Air Max BW Paris St Germain that fell apart on me last week, it's depressing.
So now I have 40-50 pairs that I can't wear, another 20-30 that are wearable for now, but probably are going to die soon as well. And then about 20 that were bought in the last 4-5 years that I wear all the time. Nothing gets bought and stashed and no doubles of anything anymore. The most important lesson I have learned is that even though I love a shoe (or any other material object), that doesn't mean I have to possess it to be happy. It is good to learn to be able to appreciate things without being in a constant state of consuming and spending.
But during COVID I took the time to really go thru my stash and found that (surprise, surprise) all those shoes are starting to become unwearable as the materials break down. Now I have a stack of classic running shoes that are all basically trash due to foam falling apart, and another bunch of classic AF1's, Dunks, etc that are starting to come unglued, or with deflated airbags. I'm talking all my Co.JP kicks from the late 90's, Europe and Asia exclusive colorways that were hard to find when they were new, now they can't be worn unless I go to the trouble of getting them sole swapped, which honestly doesn't appeal very much to me. No idea what I'm going to do with them except throw away the ones that die on my feet. I just had to toss a beautiful pair of Air Max BW Paris St Germain that fell apart on me last week, it's depressing.
So now I have 40-50 pairs that I can't wear, another 20-30 that are wearable for now, but probably are going to die soon as well. And then about 20 that were bought in the last 4-5 years that I wear all the time. Nothing gets bought and stashed and no doubles of anything anymore. The most important lesson I have learned is that even though I love a shoe (or any other material object), that doesn't mean I have to possess it to be happy. It is good to learn to be able to appreciate things without being in a constant state of consuming and spending.
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- Feb 12, 2014
Very well articulated. It really is depressing to see these things rot away, especially for those of us who get the most joy out of wearing them. Unlike other collectables (ex. watches) they degrade into being worthless; it's so sad. And the age of having a rare and valuable item like a OG Jordan, none of these will hold any value in the long run. Only the rare true collector who just wants to "have" a particular shoe will be looking for old retros.
I feel like I've scratched my itch at this point. I'll be picking up certain ones I want like Military 4s, and would get the next WC4, but would offload the current one; just don't want to keep stacking boxes. There will be others for sure, but I want to make sure my collection is at least not growing, and hopefully shrinking. Wish I could offload my used pairs on eBay faster though.
