Things you regret not buying?

[Archivist]

Some years ago, I was browsing the movie soundtrack section at a secondhand CD shop. There were four or five soundtracks from Jean Claude Van Damme movies, including the highly elusive No Retreat, No Surrender soundtrack. I bought that one, but for some godforsaken reason, I didn't get any of the others. I'm a huge JCVD fan, especially his earlier movies, and I had the opportunity to get soundtracks like Double Impact. But weirdly, I just bought the NRNS CD and that was it.

Another time, I saw a secondhand book by a favourite author. It was an unusual and uncommon book which I'd never seen before, and there it was, on a wall display just inside the entrance to the shop. I thought, "hey, that's cool," and just kept walking!

Those are just a couple of examples of things I regret not buying. What are yours? (Shares in Google and Apple, and the mining of Bitcoin stories are most welcome here, hahaha.)

[Allhallowsday]

I've regretted not buying this toy for $35 about 35 years ago... that's exactly the amount I had on me!  Unlike the pic, the one I passed on was unused with a PERFECT box. 

[claws]

I regret I haven't bought a decent food dicer & slicer yet.

I do regret buying this Onionchopper



It's one of the most useless kitchentools I ever bought.

[Alex]

When I was in Utah one time, I saw a T-Rex replica skull mounted on a plaque for $3000. I could have bought it, but that would have been all my spending money for the entire trip. Would have looked awesome on my wall though.

[indianasmith]

Quite a few years ago, an old time arrowhead collector from my region was selling off his entire collection.  I bought a frame of pretty decent points for around $350, kept a few of the best ones, and sold the rest for a tidy profit.  But he had a frame of much better points I could have bought for $750, kept some even better examples, sold less, and still made a profit.  I hesitated, and someone else got that frame.
I've been kicking myself over it ever since.

[chefzombie]

a twin of my beloved indoor grill for 5 bucks. it cost me 50 to replace the heating element a month ago.

[Gabriel Knight]

VIP tickets for a David Gilmour concert in 2015. A one in a lifetime chance, and we ended up in the field, watching a giant screen, since he was at like two blocks away from us. The sound was perfect and we enjoyed the concert like crazy, but with very little extra money we could've been right in front of him.

After that I learned that I should spend as much as I can to see my favorite artists and shows, regardless of my situation. What's the point of money otherwise?

[Jim H]

I had the chance to buy Little Samson on the NES for $80 a few times in the early 2000s.  I remember thinking that was an insane amount for an NES game, and I kept hoping to score one for under $50.

It's now selling for over $1000 on eBay....  Oh well.

[Olivia Bauer]

Playstation TV. I wanted to get one so my sister could play Persona 4 Golden on TV. Seems like the damn thing just kept getting more expensive over time.
Just gotta hope for a port, Vita compatibility on PS5, or a functioning Vita emulator.

I have my doubts about all of these.

[chefzombie]

cross your fingers for me, y'all, that i don't end up regretting the fact that i did NOT buy the panini press. i'm going back tomorrow to see if it's still there....

[Allhallowsday]

I was in a Sam Goody record store about 1980 and the store had put out a small stack of original ROLLING STONES Some Girls LPs which had been removed from the shelf about 3 years earlier when the original packaging for that album was pulled because of legal threats.  They must have had a few still in "dead stock" and just put them out to get rid of them... 

[LilCerberus]

Somebody once put a Pietta replica of a Colt SSA (I forget which model) on eBay that they thought was a toy for only fifty bucks.

I thought about it for twenty minutes, then figured, since they thought it was a toy, no need for an FFL, or dealing with eBay's block on mail order fire arms, so I went back, & it was sold.....

[chefzombie]

no regrets, my press was still there! yay! 

[Archivist]

Thank you to everyone for your replies!

@chefzombie - so... this weekend, your house will be panini city, huh?

@Gabriel Knight - that Dave Gilmour concert would have been great, wow.

@indy - I know what you mean about buying collectibles. See next story:

In 2009, I was in the Gold Coast in Australia on a work trip. I'd never been to the Gold Coast before, and was/am unlikely to go again. I went to the amusement park Warner Brothers Movieworld on the Gold Coast, and came across the gift shop. Wow, the number of cool things there was crazy. I ended up buying a framed My Fair Lady print with original film cel for myself, and a Star Trek print and film cel for my brother, who loves Star Trek. But what I wanted to get for him, but didn't because it was quite large, was a framed set of prints of all the movie posters in miniature form along with a cel from each. I was traveling by car at the time, and was unsure how this large frame was going to fit in, so I didn't.

Every year, I go to a major art exhibition and buy the catalogue, which is a beautiful coffee table book of prints and descriptions. Usually, I see the exhibition and then wait until the exhibition is about to end to buy the catalogue, because it goes on sale for at least 25% off at that time. But one year, I waited a bit too long, and the catalogue was sold out. I've got an unbroken series of exhibition catalogues from 2004 until now, with the exception of that one exhibition.

[chefzombie]

arc, you might be able to find that edition on ebay. and yes, we ARE going to panini heaven for the holiday, lol!