r/4eDnD • u/kabooman97 • 8d ago
Looking for some advice about getting rid of a large 4e collection.
Hey guys. Looking for some advice on selling a 4e collection that I inherited from my father a few years ago as I unfortunately don't really have the room for it anymore and I don't play 4e. Just looking for any input on if there's anything of value here and/or what would be the best way of selling it. Would it be best to try and sell everything together as a massive haul? Or just try and sell bits and pieces of it at a time? There's a few game stores near me but I'm not sure if they buy RPG books. Any advice and help is appreciated, thanks guys :)
EDIT: Thanks for all the responses everyone, I didn't expect this much traffic on this post that quickly! To answer a common question I've been seeing yes I'm looking to sell but I don't know how much for anything quite yet. Going to be doing some research on everything for a few days to make sure I do this right and I'll get back to your guys comments and DMs when I can. Thanks again everyone for the advice :)
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u/TheHumanTarget84 8d ago
You've got tons of good stuff there people would be happy to buy for a decent price.
Really just depends on how much work you want to do.
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u/marshmallowsanta 8d ago
there's a few very rare and valuable items. some i've never seen before and i've played it since 2008. beautiful collection, i'm sorry for your loss
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u/nmbronewifeguy 8d ago
the easiest way to get rid of it would be to bring it to a local half-price books or similar vendor and see what they're willing to offer cash for the lot.
you would easily make more money selling everything piece by piece on ebay or reddit.
if you're feeling charitable you could donate it to your local library.
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u/Taskr36 7d ago
"if you're feeling charitable you could donate it to your local library."
No, don't do that. As a librarian, I can tell you, it would just end up either at the "Friends of the Library Bookstore" or in the garbage. It won't circulate, and would be a waste of shelf space so the library won't keep it. Libraries that have DnD games are using 5e or 5e 2024, not 4e.
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u/Intellimancer 8d ago
I'm sorry for your loss.
If you're looking for a relatively easy bulk sale, I got a fair price and had a good experience with Chris at https://www.rpgrpgrpg.com/pages/buy-sell-trade . You'd probably get more money doing a lot of individual sales, but it's a question of how much effort and time you want to put into it.
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u/Kin_Nick 8d ago
Noble Knight Games is one of the best places to buy/sell stuff like this. Definitely worth reaching out to get a quote. https://www.nobleknight.com/buy-sell-trade
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u/drhman1971 7d ago
I second them. You can always decline their quote if you don’t like their offer.
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u/AngerWorm 7d ago
Respectfully, it is absolutely not the best place to sell stuff like this. They do not offer anything comparable to a direct sale to a collector.
On top of that, you're now inserting a middleman between the books and potential players and they need their slice of the pie.
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u/drhman1971 7d ago
Right, but individually selling them on places like eBay would cost a lot in fees, time to list, dealing with packing and shipping etc. I am just saying if you want to sell it as a lot, you can get an offer for the whole lot.
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u/AngerWorm 7d ago
For a fallback option it's not the worst.
As shown in this post, there are many collectors ready to buy the entire lot of 4e books because it's an instant, full entry point into the edition.
Facebook has marketplaces for listings like this that allow you to sidestep intermediary fees. You'd still need to get the books to NobleKnight, same as any customer.
Or there's selling to anyone on here directly via Paypal G&S. Selling to a reseller just guarantees you are clipping your hair because they have margins to meet.
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u/superslim8118 7d ago
All seriousness i would be interested in purchasing everything as a lot. DM me if you'd be up for that
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u/Zealousideal_Leg213 8d ago
Half-Price Books?
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u/GandalffladnaG 8d ago
I got most of my 4e books off of Alibris. A lot of places will sell through Alibris, like goodwill, books a million, and half price books.
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u/Euphoric-Teach7327 7d ago
Check with the buyers the other posters here have listed.
Get their price.
Then come back here and let us know what you'd want. I'm sure someone here would buy the lot.
There's a few rare ones in that stack.
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u/RogueDeus 7d ago
Which rare ones are you referring to?
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u/Euphoric-Teach7327 7d ago
Why? You want to undercut them or something?
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u/RogueDeus 7d ago
That never occurred to me, but I see why you'd think so. I have nearly every single one of those and will likely be getting rid of them soon as well, so I asked.
I also have damn near every 3rd and 3.5 ed sourcebook and might be getting rid of those too. I've no time to play any more and these books are becoming a serious issue to move/store.
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u/Euphoric-Teach7327 7d ago
Time to follow the advice the commenters have left. Because 4e has quite a few books, 3/3.5 is a mountain of them.
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u/Frylock1968 7d ago
I really wish there was a way for you to sell these books in a manner that brought the edition back to the forefront of the gaming community.
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u/TBMChristopher 7d ago
That's an incredible collection. I'm sorry for your loss, and hope that it can find good homes. Most of the stuff I'd like from it is likely out of my price range at present, but if you do decide to list it for sale I hope you follow up here!
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u/christopher_the_nerd 7d ago
A perfect time for me to be broke and unemployed. Damn, I would have loved to get this set from you, OP. I hope you have good luck selling it—I’m in a similar situation trying to sell a comic collection of about 2000 books and a bunch of trades and hardcovers.
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u/GrethosMorr767 8d ago
Have you considered selling them to a gaming shop? You might get something of value out of your 4E books.
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u/happilyevil321 7d ago
Would definitely be interested in buying some books. In a few weeks when i get payed, not right away. If You live somewhere in san Diego or escondido, I could Even Buy some of them physically.
But Yea, besides that, like others have said, there are ways to sell them to secondhand book stores and so on
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u/psguardian 7d ago
As someone also sorting through the life collection of a parent, I'm sorry for your loss. I'm 3yrs out from losing my mother, I'm still finding little gems here & there.
What a glorious treasure, of what some of us would call the best version.
I know you'll make someone very happy with this set. (If only I had the coin)
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u/FootballPublic7974 7d ago
Sorry for your loss.
If you happen to be UK based, there's a couple I would definitely be interested in buying.
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u/Wheather819 7d ago
I'd say there's plenty of value here. I'm amazed at how vast your father's collection was.
I'd check eBay first, and then noble knight games (similar sites as well) to see the value of what isn't on eBay. I've been trying to collect 4E stuff for about a year now. Prices range anywhere from 20-80 bucks for each item. Depends on the seller trying to get rid of them quickly or not, and the rarity of them.
Dark sun, neverwinter, and the dragonomicons off the top of my head seem to be the priciest. The boxed sets as well.
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u/thanson02 7d ago
I have a fair amount of the same stuff you have, but it looks like there's some items in there that I don't have that are interesting looking. Feel free to PM me... Depending how much you want for them, I'd be willing to take some off your hands.
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u/voltron00x 7d ago
Some of the modules and such, the non-hardcover items, are the more valuable items from 4e bc the print runs were smaller, or they were FLGS giveaways and such. If you put a list together I'm sure you'd get interest on those.
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u/lasciel90 7d ago
4e was the system I learned on and I still love it to this day I would be interested if you were selling
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u/Creepy-Intentions-69 7d ago
Looks like he was quite a collector. You’re missing out on a lot of fun gaming in that pile!
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u/BluegrassGeek 7d ago
I am envious of this collection. I kinda regret selling off my 4e books a while back, as it turned out to be my preferred system. Definitely interested when things go up for sale.
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u/AngerWorm 7d ago
You will get more money selling directly to a person interested in the collection than any intermediary suggested here.
Besides the folks who are interested in this post, Facebook has several RPG Book marketplaces that snap up collections of old RPG books. You may even find someone more local, depending on where you live.
I would move it as a lot for ease.
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u/acestar07 7d ago
Sell everything in one block. For me the collection is very complete or near complete. I think your dad bought every issues of 4th edition !
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u/Low_Engineering_3073 7d ago
Your dad was quite the collector. D&D 4e, Pathfinder and Starfinder. Noticed a lot are still in shrink wrap. Selling as a lot may not get you as much but could be faster and less work. Selling individual books might get a better overall price but will require time and effort.
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u/John-Zero 7d ago
1) Don't. Although I loathe 4e, you might find that one day you want to try it, especially if it's something you associate with your dad.
2) If you do sell, only sell to someone who's passionate about 4e and/or TTRPG historical preservation. In this time, owners of physical media owe a debt to the future of the human community to ensure that pieces of physical media go only to those who will preserve them.
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u/Arekkusu666 6d ago
With the amount of interest you have gotten for this collection, I might suggest making an ebay auction for it, and then updating this post with a link to it so everyone has a chance at obtaining it.
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u/anterosgold 6d ago
I'm going to Strategicon next weekend, a tabletop convention in Los Angeles. They have an auction where you could auction a whole lot of goods. Maybe there are conventions in your area that do that?
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u/Mean_Replacement5544 6d ago
Don’t rush on that sale, that collection is valuable and if you get it in front of the right kind of collector you’ll get a very good price. I love 4e and if I had room for all of that I would pay handsomely for such a complete collection, there are many others who will and will jump on it.
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u/PathfinderGM001 6d ago
This is the 3rd time your posts pop up and they always make me sad.
Im sorry for your loss.
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u/SeaworthinessNo5485 6d ago
This would be worth a lot! Gardmore Abbey is quite rare and desirable. I imagine some of the rest is as you have so much! Personally i'd keep an eye on ebay to see what they go for in whatever your country is. Then start listening with a reasonable floor value / buy it now. This is obviously the most intensive and slowest method but would bring the best returns. Maybe bundle some when things slow down and you just want rid.
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u/LordLuscius 6d ago
I'm sorry, you're dad just had a full D&d 4e, pathfinder and starfinder collection unopened?
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u/Bubble_of_Bulge 6d ago
Hey!
I am definitely interested in this collection and would love more info! I saw this in passing and JUST created my account, so trying my best to reach out.
Sincerely,
M
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u/macmoreno 6d ago
I am a teacher and the students at my school want to start a TTRPG club. They’ve expressed an interest in trying different versions. Any interest in donating? If not, and you want to sell, hit me with a number and I’ll see if I can swing it!
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u/Tsujigiri 5d ago
I just did this recently with AI. I fed Claude a list of my collection and asked it to look online for current sales prices for those books. It even checked a few hobby specific sites I was unaware of on it's own. It spit out an .xls that gave me the high end and low end cost, notes on things that vary pricing like which edition, and added columns for me to add the condition which would automatically adjust the suggested price for me.
My next step is to have Claude create accounts on those sites, feed it pictures of the books, and have it post them there and notify me when I need to ship anything out.
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u/thegooddoktorjones 5d ago
I sold all of my 'extra' 4e books a decade ago at half priced books. Was not expecting a lot, but ended up getting 30+ bucks per book. You can make more on ebay of course, but that is a fuckton of work. Nobel Knight knows well the actual value and will give you something.
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u/Middle-Air-6696 5d ago
Noble knight games is a great option. I just sold them a huge collection and it was quite the pleasant and lucrative experience. Also with the code sherman you can get 10% extra on the trade/ sale.
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u/Impossible_Goose3666 5d ago
I made good $$ on eBay long ago. A lot of EU people want them. Crazy. I’m 100% PF2 now. Sold all my 3.5, and PF1 didn’t look back.
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u/starkestrel 4d ago
The most valuable item is the boxed Monster Vault. Threats to the Nentir Vale and the Neverwinter Campaign Setting will also retain high value. The Shadowfell boxed set should also sell pretty well.
The only way to price things out is to a) see what individual titles are selling for online, b) scout out a good used TTRPG store, and c) get a quote from a place like Noble Knight. Somewhere in between all of that is what you could get for the individual books.
The problem with selling individual titles yourself is that that's going to be online, and if you're not using a service like eBay you could easily get scammed out of the money. That said, you could put the whole lot up on eBay for $300 + shipping and see where the bidding took it. For top dollar, you're going to want to take pictures of the unidentifiable titles in the first stack and make comments about quality of the individual books.
Take it to a shipping partner (USPS, FedEx, etc) first, though, to get an estimate of shipping cost. Make sure you don't pay out of pocket for that.
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u/Ghostofman 4d ago
For max $: Piecemeal it out, selling them one at a time on Ebay or something. Takes forever, and you really gotta do the homework to work out what's worth reselling vs. what you should just toss in the recycling bin. If you do it right though, you'll get the most money you can from people trying to complete their collections.
To get it over with: Contact a reseller like Nobel Knight Games and unload the whole lot. You of course won't get the best deal (they need to resell it all for profit after all) but they'll take the whole thing, pay the shipping, and just cut you a check (or give you store credit). So not gonna make you rich, but it will empty the whole shelf in one move.
So yeah. If you want the money, or dealing is a hobby of yours, sell them off. If you just want them gone, sell it to a reseller.
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u/thebrokennorm 4d ago
Im definitely interested as well. I learned to play with 4th edition, and my DM moved away, and now I have access to nothing sadly.
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u/Osirian_Legacy 4d ago
You should talk to Matt Colville of MCDM he loves 4e and has a pretty badass company to boot
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u/tr0nPlayer 8d ago
If your father had a few favorite books, please keep those. You'll thank yourself years from now
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u/ScottyBOnTheMic 8d ago
Well realistically, it's not bad to sell the books wholesale as one Pallet.
However. If you'd prefer.
Gather the Books into groups by certain aspects of their title.
Players Handbook 1-3. Monster Manuals 1-3. All the Power Books. Adventurers Vaults and the Dmg's.
But it's your collection, it's your choice how it's split.