When you buy a big mixed lot...

[jillrose]

I am in the mood to gather some opinions, thoughts, and stories on this

Recently, I bought two nicely priced large, mixed lots of LPS - tons of incomplete sets, some fakies, varying conditions, etc - mainly for the purpose of acquiring some "diamonds in the rough" that were in there I'll be getting a bunch of stuff that I had not necessarily been looking to add to my collection, and am pondering which pieces I will want to sell/trade vs. which ones I will want to keep just for fun.

What do you guys do when you acquire a mixed lot? Do you keep all the extra goodies? Just the pieces in good condition? Turn duplicates into customs? Do share!

Sidenote, I cannot wait to offer some sale items. Just be patient with me...summer is almost here and my free time just increased with half-day Fridays at the office. WOOHOO!

[Nina:)]

If you sell them i'm interested in the fakies

[sarafina]

It's generally a rare occurrence when I buy a lot, but when I do, I usually try to sell most of the extra pieces. That being said, if I were a customizer, I would definitely keep some for that. I also thought about collecting baby animals for awhile or building a little "army" of Country Fun Pets, but that was just a fleeting thought for me. It is tempting, though!

[ibuildabrit]

I'm not much of an artist so I don't keep extras for customizing so when I bought big lots, I would sell all the extras I didn't need. It was nice to help someone else with their collections.

[jillrose]

What I am thinking is that I will keep sets that are complete or nearly complete, even if they had not necessarily been on my wish list; but offer for sale/trade anything that is a duplicate for me (that's a given), as well as animals/accessories for sets that I do not have and do not want to complete for the purpose of my own collection It may be hard; the animals are sooo cute! I'll really have to see once I get the packages! But I'd rather offer some pieces that may complete others' sets, as opposed to keeping something just because of the cuteness factor.

[Saradavo]

I recently got some large lots and they contained a lot of the dazzling hair pets, I don't collect these but once they arrived I thought, why not? I have now nearly completed the dazzling collection! Sometimes I also update my collections pieces if they are in better condition then mine.

[sarafina]

Sometimes I also update my collections pieces if they are in better condition then mine.

I do that too, though sometimes I actually wring my hands a bit about it...I want the piece in better condition, but I have such a hard time letting go of a piece from my childhood.

[Saradavo]

Oh Sarafina, I agree. I still keep all my childhood pieces as well, I just can't part with them!

[MoondancerMilkyWay]

I haven't bought a lot at all recently but in the past when I've done it I have kept the things I was after and set aside the others for sale/trade so others could complete their collections.
I let go a complete puppy from the ready to go set and I keep thinking "...man...I do still kind of want him. I always liked him..." but then I think of the people who don't have him at all (my sister has "ours" in MN) so I go back and forth. I want all the LPS, but I want to be fair to others, too...

whatever you're selling, I might be interested in!!

[katze016]

I was just thinking how I miss the early days of my collecting when it was pretty common for me to purchase big lots. Back when I could use several sets from them and work to complete any partial sets that were included. It's awesome to be so close to my "complete" collection, but being reduced to combing through those big lots for one tiny piece and then asking the seller if they would pretty please sell it to me separately...not quite as enjoyable.

When I did purchase them I kept anything I didn't have yet because I wanted to collect almost everything. If I already had a piece in my collection I'd be sure to compare them and keep the piece that was in better condition. I also have a long list of custom projects that I hope to get to someday, so if I needed anything for those projects I'd set those pieces aside. If I had complete sets left over I tended to list those back on eBay. And all the extra random pieces I'd put up for trade on the forum.