Why would someone hide cards in their collection?

[Leafsman]

Hi folks,

I got a question tonight that I have gotten a couple of times in the past.

Someone looked at my traders and asked (after they saw my traders) if I have such-and-such a card. I don't understand why this is. This leads me to a question about this particular practice in the hobby. Maybe someone can answer it.

Why would someone purposely NOT show their entire collection of cards and their traders?

In my opinion, there is no excuse not to show what you have except for laziness. I sometimes hear "I have too many to display". Flickr, for example, has one Terabyte of storage, free of charge. That's so much storage that even pictures of a million cards can go on there no problem. I don't buy that excuse.

I would surmise that a high percentage of people in this hobby have jobs and families, and I understand that. Don't throw that at me, because I know that already. The thing about that is though, I'll wager that most have photos/scans of everything they have on a site somewhere, or have the pictures on their phone so they can provide them whenever asked, so why not load them on a site? Even a few at a time as time allows is fine.

I just don't understand why someone would do this. Can anyone explain why people don't display all their cards?

Tony

[Jameis1of1]

Lots of high-rollers keep their collections private ... they just like their privacy.

Also, I know some collectors who keep their cards private so that when they sell them through a consignment company, no one knows it's their card being sold ... some may do this due to pride and others may do so because they plan to shill those auctions ...

[Jameis1of1]

BTW, while I display my "cards" online, I keep many other collectibles I own, such as game used memorabilia, original art, etc., completely private ... my insurance company knows about such items but I don't make them "public".

[Leafsman]

I still don't get it...what's the point of collecting if you aren't going to display them? That's dumb.

I must clarify that I am talking about cards specifically. I thought that was clear.

[Maggot]

I don't display any of my collection online. My collection is for me, and a select few friends that I am OK with showing it to. It's not my personality to show off. Certainly isn't laziness as you're suggesting.

For the other question, I have a "fringe" collection of good players and/or sets I like. They're not part of my PC, but I also don't actively trade them. If there's something I really want and the person collects that player I'll crack them open.

[Leafsman]

I don't display any of my collection online. My collection is for me, and a select few friends that I am OK with showing it to. It's not my personality to show off. Certainly isn't laziness as you're suggesting.

For the other question, I have a "fringe" collection of good players and/or sets I like. They're not part of my PC, but I also don't actively trade them. If there's something I really want and the person collects that player I'll crack them open.

A couple things:

1. I never said you, in particular, were lazy. What I said was that there are people who use the excuse because they are. They think that they have too many to display, so "why bother trying to get pictures/scans of all those cards?"

2. You do display your traders. That counts as displaying what you have.

3. It is possible to display your private collection online and set it to private so that only you can see the pictures.

Your private collection is yours to do as you wish, but I do believe people should at least display their traders. I don't consider it to be showing off in the least. I feel that if you want to make a trade, the other person should see what you have available. The thing is, if you decide to sell something from your PC, the buyer will want to see what they're getting so you'll have to provide a photo anyway. I personally display everything I have because I have the mindset that everything - even my PC - is available for the right deal.

This is not a business for me; I collect because I enjoy it. It's fun and it keeps me from falling into boredom. Those who treat this as a business should DEFINITELY display everything they have.

[Joan P]

A couple things:

1. I never said you, in particular, were lazy. What I said was that there are people who use the excuse because they are. They think that they have too many to display, so "why bother trying to get pictures/scans of all those cards?"

2. You do display your traders. That counts as displaying what you have.

3. It is possible to display your private collection online and set it to private so that only you can see the pictures.

Your private collection is yours to do as you wish, but I do believe people should at least display their traders. I don't consider it to be showing off in the least. I feel that if you want to make a trade, the other person should see what you have available. The thing is, if you decide to sell something from your PC, the buyer will want to see what they're getting so you'll have to provide a photo anyway. I personally display everything I have because I have the mindset that everything - even my PC - is available for the right deal.

This is not a business for me; I collect because I enjoy it. It's fun and it keeps me from falling into boredom. Those who treat this as a business should DEFINITELY display everything they have.

Why not do as you see fit and give others the same courtesy? There is no wrong way for a person to enjoy THEIR hobby

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Sports Card Forum mobile app

[camsue]

My pc is not public friends and family only.

[scarrman]

Interesting subject. Many reasons why one would not display their full collection, particularly from a hobbyist vs business aspect.
Time - to scan and catalogue tens of thousands of cards is just about impossible. It's hard enough just keeping up scanning the new cards that come in. I think I have scans of a couple thousand cards, but that would leave over 60,000 cards still to scan. My preference when scanning is to do it properly - crop the image, title it, file it. I had photobucket going and then that site became difficult, so the uploading stopped.
Sorting - everything I have is sorted, boxed according to the sort method, but going through dozens of boxes takes time. I also just finished a large reno and have cards everywhere, literally - home and work. I was active weekly in the Show and Tell but had to stop simply due to not being able to access cards in a timely manner.
Family/work - 3 kids, sports, yardwork, reno's, work projects - just too much to allow time to really enjoy. Maybe one day when things slow down, but right now everything is almost overwhelming. I average 10 to 15 hours a week at sporting events for the kids - rinks, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, school. Just too much.
I would absolutely love to showcase my cards, lots of my cards, but the amount of work and time required vs what I have available is not a good ratio. I have everything catalogued in Excel and could tell anyone in seconds how many cards of a particular player I have, just don't have scan copies. I know what I have, I enjoy what I have, friends and family have access to see what I have, I simply don't have the resources to share it publicly.

[odjickfan]

I think some people are hiding cards from their tradelist because they hope to complete deals with some less popular traders at first.