I did the same about two months ago. All these boxes just ended up doubling the space any equipment took, for no reason other than some kind of collector market fetish that, if I thought about it, I’d reflexively fallen into but wanted no part in.
Feels great to have been unburdened.
For me it feels like an insurance that the seller has kept good care of the product. And it does not make sense as a mint package only offers a guarantee that the box has been kept protected. Also I’m storing a midi keyboard in a twenty year old cardboard box. Perhaps its a sort of prayer.
I wonder if “no way I’m selling this, I’m committed for life” is an attitude anyone has to their techno gear
My personal experience in gear as well as in life is that, if something is ‘for life’ then that emerges over time. If I’m freezing my future with an intention like “I’m committed for life”, then I’m not allowing myself to change, or to be honest with myself that something isn’t working.
Re: boxes: I guess just echoing others, but:
My eurorack module boxes live in long storage bins under my bed, and my larger gear in a closet. I haven’t thought about either of them in at least 2 months (new job), so I’m giving them house room but not mental room.
I dunno, get rid of them if you like? 
I don’t think we need to ascribe motivations or personality types to people who do one thing or another.
It’s not a new thing. It’s actually quite old and not particularly unique to music gear. People buy and sell for their own reasons.
I keep most smaller boxes (sometimes folded for space saving if possible), but recently got a bigger synth, and I threw the box away for being so big and unwieldy. Now the unit has a defect and needs a box for shipping… I had to buy a large box just to be able to send it for repairs.
Same topic different forum (that has a lot of the same people). Why?
That’s a great way of looking at it!
@corpusjonsey Thanks for raising awareness for not discussing topics started elsewhere. It’s the law.
There is this outrageously odd idea of letting people enjoy things. Even if it is debating cardboard.
I save boxes for a couple of reasons: One, handy storage. I don’t always have everything I have readily available. That being said, I like to have things in order and stored away so to not incur damage.
Two, shipping. In the event that I finally decided I don’t want something, I already have a means of safe shipping. Some modules, such as the Strymon Magento or Bitbox have these fragile components due to their design. It’s just easier to ship them in the box because it’s already shaped for the product.
Three, admittedly it’s the 90’s kid in me that was ingrained with the notion of saving your box because it increases the value of the thing. Most of the time it’s kind of stupid, and I have a room full of boxes for just things that really don’t need to be saved.
On an unrelated note, I noticed someone metioned things like rash and what not.
That’s getting annoying, especially on reverb. I get a little bit of rash – it comes with the territory. What gets me are the people that seem like they’ve screwed in their modules with a hammer drill, have these massive gouges, and then have the gull to list their modules as “mint” or “excellent”.
If a module is working excellently then it is excellent! 
It’s not a collection.
I’ve been saving my eurorack boxes for now, partially because the hardware is new enough that I don’t want to have to go out and buy a box if I do sell something and partially just to demonstrate a certain amount of care, but they’re one of the few kinds of product packaging I know I can easily replace if I need to.
Anything with custom foam inserts especially, though, I always save just for transportation. It’s difficult and expensive to come up with good packaging to protect a larger product, especially something with a keyboard.
Saving the box makes it much easier to move apartments, keep documentation or accessories like cable adapters associated with the item, or ship in case you sell the item in the future.
The fetishization of authenticity.
A theme explored here through the history of Kentucky Fried Chicken:
Full disclosure - I just kept a box, along with the sticker and artistic paper inserts.
cool, but what do you mean by trade? English is not my native language and I thought selling and trading is the same…
Hmm good arguments above, thank you all.
I started wondering if those who tend to keep gear boxes also keep boxes of other things they buy. Or would audio gear boxes be the exception? I think someone mentioned a computer keyboard box, and i held onto for example the box of a vacuum cleaner at one point in my life.
Thank you for asking for clarification. For us non-native speakers of languages things are not always clear and it does not always come easy to ask; so I applaud your courage.
Trade would mean to exchange one thing for another. So you would give a module for another thing of equal value.
Selling would be to give a module in exchange of money.
Hope that clarifies the distinction!
Ah, I see… Thank for clarification. With a little thinking I might have come to the same result, but… sometimes communication isn’t such a bad idea.
I’d assume most people just save boxes and packaging for all the practical reasons mentioned here. If nothing else, think of all the waste saved by reusing packaging rather than throwing it out, just to buy a new box if you don’t get along with something and decide to pass it on to someone who could put it to better use.