Wanted to get you all’s thoughts on how to approach seller’s remorse* and share my own. I know it’s what makes the activity in this activity organic (i.e. the desire to hold the cards you buy simply out of love), but it’s a discussion worth having because sometimes selling the cards most important to us can bring us to tears and I hope I can help someone out.
Anytime I’m selling out a portion of my collection, what I like to do is take that money and place it somewhere on it’s own. This would include, for instance, placing the money I’ve made from selling a portion of my collection and placing it in an index fund or low-yield savings account on its own. This does 2 things:
It assists in the process of erasing seller’s remorse from my mind. Keeping my funds in a savings account or index fund helps me simply ‘forget’ the sale and go on with my life. This is money I can just leave and forget about. It’s isn’t showing up on PayPal balance every time I login. And more importantly, every time I spend from my PayPal account, I don’t feel as if I’m selling my cards and using those funds to buy food, furniture, etc. This is because as a collector with a true love for Pokemon, the idea of trading my cards for food I’ll consume or a table that I can’t protect with a toploader makes me sick.
It avoids the financial distress from selling a card and see it go up in value in the future. Keeping the funds from a collection in something that yields some sort of return will inevitably buttress the disappointment you feel in yourself after the card you sold 5 years ago increased in value by 300%.
*Note: When I refer to selling cards, I don’t mean the inevitable cycle of buying and selling cards as a collector in the market, but an overall thinning out of one’s collection / investment in Pokemon cards.
For me, I’d never sell my cards to just have money sitting in my bank account. The cards are liquid, so in most cases, you can sell them when you need the cash. Only reason I’d sell(except for a life crisis) is to buy other cards I’m interested in.
Do I regret the cards I’ve sold? Yes, I thinks that’s natural but I wouldn’t have the cards I have today without those sales.
This is totally fair. I definitely think holding is always ideal, but scenarios will inevitably arise that will lead people to have liquidate their collection. I just want people to NOT have money sitting in their PayPal and be left with a crap ton of buyer’s remorse.
Yes this is basically what I was thinking. At one point I almost sold all my hidden fates complete set and all my rainbow rares to spend on wotc or ex era instead and go back for the ones I sold but I can’t bring myself to do that because all my modern is pack fresh easy 9 or 10 grades. I feel if I go back later ill regret it or get worse quality cards
Very early into the hobby I sold a Mint Plasma Storm charizard secret rare for $65 CAN. $25 more than what I paid for it, at the time I felt like a professional flipper with my $25 profit.
That moment in time was a very big lesson in the value of patience as well as learning what cards have potential to increase in price and why. I don’t actually regret that sale as it was such an important learning experience.
Any missed opportunity is potentially a much more valuable learning experience than what would of happened if things went your way.
Sitting with money in my paypal doesnt define defeat or remorse, rather the choice is there to feel that way when its present which I understand. What method works for some might not for all, but its interesting hearing your take on things.
Personally, if I sell a card, Im already accepting the price it sells for as well as anything else the sale entails, so any ill feelings beyond that is wasted energy.
I feel the same! I’m always trying to ensure that I keep enough money in my “emergency fund” in case something unexpected occurs. However, when it comes to Pokémon sales if I do decide to sell an item, I try to find a price that I will be happy with and won’t regret (as much) later. Granted we would all be much happier if we never had to sell anything and bought every good deal that crossed our path, but we can’t…so we just have to make the most of what we do have and keep moving forward!
Overall, collecting is a game of buying AND selling…unless you have a TON of capital (lucky you!) so we have to accept that we may very well be forced into some sales that we will regret in the future. I know I have made quite a few sales that I regret from a financial standpoint, but I have had a TON of enjoyment from collecting over the years. Though I still own only a fraction of what I once had, I still managed to keep my personal collection from childhood and the most meaningful cards to me from over the years, which makes me happy.
Ain’t nothing wrong with selling a card to put food on the table. I’ve fortunately never been forced to have to do that, but I kind of get your perspective in saying it’d make you sick to have to do so. Maybe because then you’d be probably already be in poor financial shape and have to give up a valuable, limited item for consumables you could grow yourself or buy anytime.
As a kid there were some tough years financially. So to have the option to sell a single piece of cardboard that i got from a cool booster pack from Meijer’s when I was eleven and have enough money to feed myself for a couple months is pretty damn astonishing.
This year I’m transitioning from a postdoc to some terminal academic career. The job market is f’ed right now, hiring freezes galore and even in good times you might find 4-7 positions/year that are a good fit. I just sold off a year’s worth of living expenses in cards just in case. I have no regrets for the safety net I had to establish for myself. No stress > cardboard. I’m going to do whatever it takes to not have to tap into that money so I can buy more cards even if it means having to flip burgers for a while.
I recently sold some PSA graded 1st edition gym challenge cards I had in my collection for years. They sold well in this current market but I admit the money aspect doesn’t really make me happy. (Gym challenge is one of my favourite sets)
I sold them in order to be able to complete collection goals in the future including upgrade a number of those cards from 8’s to 9’s. My goals aren’t that easily accomplished at the moment so I have to be patient for the right cards to come along. So I am hoping that this is short term pain for long term gain! Or that’s the way I look at it.
Also I agree with you in terms of money being sat in my paypal account, I think I might just transfer it to my bank account until its needed as otherwise I just have the itch to spend it on cards I don’t even want that much just because they are available.
@fireftw_TCG It’s all about what you do with the money. If you use it for bills or food kool. Wedding house etc great. Put back into your own collection or different cards even better. Even if it just means having more money on hand that’s great. I myself can vouch that I seem to put my collection goals over random spending. Some days I sit around with only a bare minimum amount of cash for bills etc because I’m dumping so much money into my collection. But I don’t regret anything. Actually if I bought slower I would have fell victim to quadrupled price ungraded 1st edition holo’s. Which I would have wanted anyways so in my eyes I’m saving money by somewhat screwing myself haha. But in the long run it will pay off and it makes me happy. There’s a million worse ways I could blow money with zero chance to recover any cash. Gambling for example
I never have it for more than a day. I collect and hold onto the really nostalgic and important stuff to me as well as cool Japanese promos I love the art for - but I tend to sell stuff off that has risen in value that I’ve bought because it was cool but don’t have a special connection with. Great for helping with finances.
We are moving into a house in June and I got the strong urge to build a desk as well as a PC. Since most of our money is earmarked for necessities, I had to come up with the funds on my own. I decided to Mary Kondo my collection and part with some of the items I had collected because they were cool, but not necessarily special to me. Luckily with the recent upswing in prices, I should be able to hit my goal with ease and not have to part with anything I’ll miss. Had I tried this 6 months ago, I would have been maybe 1/3 of the way to my goal and had to part with some of my favorites.