Is collecting still fun?

[bootydaddy]

Collecting is still fun, but the things that got me out of collecting 7-8 years ago are starting to creep up again for me. I will always love opening wax, and in fact, I am buying a lot of older wax now just for the fun of it. But, this whole "book" thing really drives me nuts.

"How much does that card book for?"
"I just got a great Joe Schmo Auto...books for $20"
"The book says this card is only worth .50"
"According to the book, I just pulled a great card!"
"I just got a card that books for $50 for only $10!"

Obviously, a lot of people really don't care much about the fun of collecting cards and following players. They seem to care only about what they can sell cards for on Ebay, or the perception of value they think they are getting when they "steal" a card on Ebay. I see young kids in the card shops now treating buying wax boxes like they are buying lottery tickets, and, in most cases, they would be better off with the lottery tickets.

Still, jaded as I am becoming again, I still love card collecting because it keeps me young (not that I am that old, only 35!). It brings me back to the days when I bought packs at the corner store, and tried for the whole season to put together the full Topps baseball set. I would never say then: "Wow, I got a great Ozzie Smith RC, let me run to Ebay with it"...you just enjoyed the fact that you got a favorite players card. Period.

[bishop2knight]

I got back into cards so I can share them with my son (who hasn't even been conceived yet). I started just getting team sets of Packers in the "cheaper" sets like Topps and MVP just because these sets have more players per team. I love just getting the commons and putting together team sets, including rookies.

I think the part of me isn't having as much fun as when I was a kid because of the trading factor. Sure, trading rookies and GU isn't all that hard online or in shops, and is actually fun trying to get something good and sending out a card someone I don't know is really going to like. But what about my commons? I have about 100 commons/stars/semi-stars for every team, but what can I do with them? No one wants them or is willing to trade them for Packers.

Sounds silly, but I guess this bums me out because I have a box of cards I don't care about. I spent money on these cards and all they do is sit there. If I could find someone to trade these with, then I could have more fun. If I had 100 Packers commons instead of 100 Bengals or Rams, then I'd enjoy those cards a lot more.

By the way, I'll be 31 on Sept. 19.

[Travaje]

I have lots of friends who love sports, especially football, but none of them collect cards. I just started again and am getting my best friend (who i collected with as a kid) into it, but I know for a fact he's not going to be breaking open packs and boxes anytime soon, especially when packs of the nicer looking cards are up to $10 a pack for 5 cards. He's into the Bills and I've just been giving him my Bills cards for free, even some Game Used, because he's my boy and I know how much he'll appreciate looking at them during football games and other times. He does love them, but he loves his truck too, and I think he'll keep spending his money on his truck.

But most of my friends would agree that 40 dollars on a box of cards that will most likely sit there is a lot of money, much less $100, especially when you have kids, house payments, car payments, and other bills. And what are the chances that those cards will actually go up one day and be worth something, especially when cards are continually being undersold on ebay. I know some may get sick of hearing about Book Value, but when boxes of cards are selling so high, you have to figure in what the cards inside that box is worth. If I buy a $100 box of cards and add the value all up, and it's less than $100, I'm pissed. I feel like I got ripped off. Then I'm supposed to sell what I don't want on Beckett or Ebay for only 30-50% of the value? No thanks.

Collecting cards is fun for me, and busting packs and getting anything is great, just because it isn't a GU or a auto, doesn't mean it sucks. I love my base cards just as much. I wish that everyone wasn't looking strictly for GU or autos. Doesn't anyone care about the inserts? I remember a time when that's all there was, there was no such thing as a GU. There needs to be a place where you can trade and sell your 50 cent cards too, without having to pay loads of fees, cause every card is worth something, and all those 50 cent cards add up. The whole experience has me guarded so far and right now, holding on to my cards until I meet more people and learn more about the hobby and the trading/selling market, and watching the "supposed" value of my cards grow.

I keep reading in national publications about how card collecting is exploding, and that there's a market similar to the stock market. Well, in the stock market, you buy a stock at the LISTED price, and hope it goes up, then sell. In the card market, people just want to buy cards at 25% book to re-sell them for 50% worth and make a profit. It's killing the hobby, and the real money makers here are the companies charging $100 a box, the card companies, and the losers are us.

[Molina00]

I am currently 20 and have been collecting for almost 11 years so since I was 9. I used to only collect Collector's Choice because I was on a small allowance and they were 99 cents a pack and you still got some nice inserts. I only started collecting Pudge when i got my first job in 2002 and since then I have accumulated around 700 different and probably 1200 or 1300 total of his cards.
About book value, I do not collect based on book value but if I can get a nice card for a lot less than what it is supposedly worth, I have something I can trade for equal value in Pudge stuff. That is how I look at book value.

[lprimus]

Originally posted by bootydaddy
Collecting is still fun, but the things that got me out of collecting 7-8 years ago are starting to creep up again for me. I will always love opening wax, and in fact, I am buying a lot of older wax now just for the fun of it. But, this whole "book" thing really drives me nuts.

"How much does that card book for?"
"I just got a great Joe Schmo Auto...books for $20"
"The book says this card is only worth .50"
"According to the book, I just pulled a great card!"
"I just got a card that books for $50 for only $10!"

Obviously, a lot of people really don't care much about the fun of collecting cards and following players. They seem to care only about what they can sell cards for on Ebay, or the perception of value they think they are getting when they "steal" a card on Ebay. I see young kids in the card shops now treating buying wax boxes like they are buying lottery tickets, and, in most cases, they would be better off with the lottery tickets.

Still, jaded as I am becoming again, I still love card collecting because it keeps me young (not that I am that old, only 35!). It brings me back to the days when I bought packs at the corner store, and tried for the whole season to put together the full Topps baseball set. I would never say then: "Wow, I got a great Ozzie Smith RC, let me run to Ebay with it"...you just enjoyed the fact that you got a favorite players card. Period.

I agree totally.
It's amazing how many people jump to auction sites with cards they have pulled.
Just the other week, I had seen a post on another board by a member who had pulled a GU pants card of Babe Ruth numbered to only 5. He was going to keep it for his collection, but there were so many other members posting that he should sell it on eBay. "Get the money and run!" was the basic attitude. Luckily, he decided to keep the card. He wanted to keep it for his kids and because of the historical significance. Not because of the value.
I'm not in it for the money. If I was, I'd be selling tons of stuff on eBay. I've never done one auction.
I'm a player collector primarily, but have started collecting the vintage sets. I restarted collecting about 2 years ago after a 10 year hiatus and love it.
I'm 30 years old with my first child on the way. I can't wait to teach him/her about card collecting and to have something to share with them.

:D
Jason

[Travaje]

That's way cool he kept the Ruth. The longer I have my cards, the more I love them, and even worse, the more I want. I can sell them at any time, ya know? Ebay's not going away or anything. I went and bought my first pack of 03 Certified just 2 hours ago and might run back and get another one.

[bishop2knight]

Tying the selling thing back into the fun aspect, the thing I don't like is the fact that "NEW" stuff is all that's hot. For example, I bought a box of Leaf Certified and got 4 really cool cards. I knew that if I didn't sell/trade them right away, I'd have a harder time getting the cards I wanted.

Doesn't anyone like those players who've been around for a few years? Vintage is cool and new rookies are cool...seems like nothing in between is worth looking at.

[Molina00]

I don't know about anybody else but I think there were a lot of cool cards in the mid-90's or so just to look at.
I remember back in 1995 I collected and almost finished a set of Fleer '95. Back then those were the most awsome base cards I had ever seen. And are still very nice cards to look at.
I don't know much about the 80's or before because I don't have very many cards from that period. Mid-90's SP and Leaf were very nice sets as well. To me early and mid-90's was the earlier stuff. I don't know what you guys condsider early.

I think there are too many people out buying cards not for the joy of collecting but just to make money off the new products.

[pwaldo]

Originally posted by bishop2knight
Tying the selling thing back into the fun aspect, the thing I don't like is the fact that "NEW" stuff is all that's hot. For example, I bought a box of Leaf Certified and got 4 really cool cards. I knew that if I didn't sell/trade them right away, I'd have a harder time getting the cards I wanted.

Doesn't anyone like those players who've been around for a few years? Vintage is cool and new rookies are cool...seems like nothing in between is worth looking at.

Yeah but that's good for people like ME who are collecting certain players or sets because all you have to do is wait 3 years and then you can get it cheaper than what it came out for.

That's like you NEVER buy somebody when they are HOT and everyone is collecting him.

I collect McGwire and when he became popular and broke the HR Record his stuff was going for crazy amounts. I think I went a whole year without buying a McGwire card because most shops were selling them for at or above book value and people were paying that.

So that's who you can actually save a lot of money collecting if your willing to wait for cards to cool down.

[Travaje]

Well...the way I'm doing things, I'm not going to have to worry about keeping my cards, because I refuse to sell them for half BV or less. If a card is listed at $10 and someone only wants $2 bucks for it, they can take their 2 bucks and shove it. Especially for rookie cards. If a card is a 1:4 pull at 3 bucks a pack, and I only get 2 bucks for the card, I really screwed myself. It's like the odds don't even matter anymore, cause the odds are even better some sucker will sell it dirt cheap on the bay if you look enough. Who's going to open the boxes after a while?