Hi,

I'm a huge big fan of hockey cards and I buy them each week almost.
I stopped collecting a around 11 years old and restarted 1 year and a half ago...and i just love the hobby. The only thing that I'm not sure about, is that I tend to keep (no trade or sell), all the nice cards I get. For example, If I pull a patch or jersey or auto, I always keep them and couldn’t imagine selling it or trading it. I am a concervative type. The only cards I will sell or trade or the lower ends ones or doubles or any Sens cards lol.
I see a lot of you buying boxes and packs (like I do) and selling the big hit of the box to pay off the cost of it. I would have the reflex of keeping it. Is it normal? Or should I start selling all my hit?
Obviously, I'm not trying to make money out of the hobby…is it normal? Cost me maybe 1,200$ per year and I only sell for maybe 200$...
Please advised or comment:)
Thanks,

depends on what you collect for. i used to be like you when i only broke boxes for the fun of it. when i switched my focus to collecting purely lundqvist cards. any cards i pulled were moved to obtain more and better lundqvist cards. i don't break as much anymore but my main focus is still the lundqvist pc these days.

it's always great to pull a nice card but if you have a preference for one player over another, why not move stuff around and grow your collection of players you like? you'd help out others in the hobby and discover a whole new facet of the hobby in trading and selling that you haven't been doing heavily before. :)

yeah I know what you mean...but I dont have any specific player that I collect.
I love the Kane, Price, Toews, Ovechkin but i dont know...I still love to have a nice variety of patchs, jersey and auto's....but your right. Maybe concentrating on one or 2 player should be better

i am alot like you, i had stopped collecting since the mid 90's and last year began collecting all over again. i had always kept every card that i opened, but just recently started trading cards. trading cards seems to let you get more entertainment out of the hobby without having to continually shelling out the dollars. i think the only problem is that were all chasing the same card crosby, ovechkin etc. which makes things a little more difficult. anyways maybe in the future we will be able to make a trade.

I ve bought 3000 cards this year, some pack, some boxes, but from what ive learned is ,Ive got about 10 cards that are worth over 20$ out of 3000so the odds are agaist you.

you have to except the cost,enjoy the hobby

its better then the lottery, cuz at least you get to keep something. becuase youll never MAKE more on selling the high end ones, them it costs you to buy them and hoping to pull always good cards..ive got 5 different K. Turris cards all rookies but im not a fan of him.

It really depends on what you want to collect. There's no right or wrong answer. Keeping all the hits you get means you're going to have a much wider variety of players / types than someone like me (I collect Bill Ranford specifically, plus I have an Oilers collection, and I do sets).

If you do decide to narrow the focus of your colleciton, trading (or selling) is a great way to lower the cost of aquiring the cards you're looking for.

Example - Say I buy 3 boxes of UD Series 2, @ $70 a pop, while planning to do a set. Let's also assume I got 18 different Young Guns, and 1 full base set. If I'm not interested in keeping the GU, Victory, Exclusives, High Gloss, or other Inserts..... I've probably got a good stack of traders that I can move, and nearly double my Young Gun count. Is that a good move? Well, I think so.... that's what I did. Someone who wants a little of everything..... they may disagree.

i am alot like you, i had stopped collecting since the mid 90's and last year began collecting all over again. i had always kept every card that i opened, but just recently started trading cards. trading cards seems to let you get more entertainment out of the hobby without having to continually shelling out the dollars. i think the only problem is that were all chasing the same card crosby, ovechkin etc. which makes things a little more difficult. anyways maybe in the future we will be able to make a trade.

I"m willing to trade some sutff, this I dont mine because I love the hobby and the variety. I'm just not in it for the revenues.

It really depends on what you want to collect. There's no right or wrong answer. Keeping all the hits you get means you're going to have a much wider variety of players / types than someone like me (I collect Bill Ranford specifically, plus I have an Oilers collection, and I do sets).

If you do decide to narrow the focus of your colleciton, trading (or selling) is a great way to lower the cost of aquiring the cards you're looking for.

Example - Say I buy 3 boxes of UD Series 2, @ $70 a pop, while planning to do a set. Let's also assume I got 18 different Young Guns, and 1 full base set. If I'm not interested in keeping the GU, Victory, Exclusives, High Gloss, or other Inserts..... I've probably got a good stack of traders that I can move, and nearly double my Young Gun count. Is that a good move? Well, I think so.... that's what I did. Someone who wants a little of everything..... they may disagree.


thats exactly what I do. i buy boxes with the intente to get the set + rookies. But for the rest that I dont want (inserts, parallels, auto's or GU) I use it to complete my sets or my rookies...or some other sets I'm working on. I like it that way and it cost less at the end when you trade for what you really need. I also love to have the variety, just like a card shop who has a little bit of evrtyhing...
But I mainly concentrate and the same sets each years...which narrow's it down a bit.
Thanks!

I like to keep the big hits too. I just started collecting again for the first time in years. This time around I can finally afford the higher end cards instead of the Collectors Choice and OPC. The GU and auto cards are still new to me and I really enjoy them. Not to say that I wouldn't trade them if the right card came along (Schenn or Toskala).

I like to keep the big hits too. I just started collecting again for the first time in years. This time around I can finally afford the higher end cards instead of the Collectors Choice and OPC. The GU and auto cards are still new to me and I really enjoy them. Not to say that I wouldn't trade them if the right card came along (Schenn or Toskala).

Yeah I know, I have the same philosophie has yours…still new to me..last time I bought a pack when I was young was like, 1994-1995 Upper Deck…a lot have change since then and I'm still catching up/learning and behing amazed :)

I just started to collect hockey myself though I have been collecting football for 8 years after getting back into it after being out for about 20 years. I am the same way, I hate to get rid of anything at all and am still feeling guilty about selling some cards about 3 months ago even though I made very hefty profits. I do come from a long line of pack rats though so maybe that is it.

thanks for sharing everyone

well i like to keep the good cards and trade or sell the rest

Its very tough because generally (almost always) the big hits will not sell for the price of the box. It just doesnt make sense to me when people shell out $150 for a box hoping they can pull a card that books at $100, and sells for $30-40? I love to buy boxes but just cant imagine the financial hit that people take when they buy boxes simply to throw the hits on ebay...You will not make money that way unless you are incredibly lucky.

Because of this, I dont sell often,unless I put together a lot of GU, or YGs and sell it for a small percentage of BV to get a little back, and clear some space.

Instead, I find it most helpful to trade my big hits for PC cards. For example, I pulled 2 Toews RCs yesterday (Ultra, YG) and intend on trading them for Sabres cards. I think im more likely to be happy with my PC cards that I get out of $130 BV than the money I could get selling them.

Just my opinion though :)