This is a bit of a stupid question, but I hope it makes sense. A lot of the cards I’m missing from my collections are low value but uncommon (ex era reverse holos), so sellers generally only have one card I’m looking for. However lately I haven’t made any progress on my collections because I find I can’t bring myself to buy (cheap) singles, even when they’re generally the only choice I have. I keep looking for nonexistent lots of stuff I want and not making any progress on my collections. Any different ways I could look at this?
I think there’s a few different ways you could look at this. If collection buying is your passion then you could continue to look for lots as you are now, but instead imagine it as just being an extra layer or additional “challenge” to the hunt. This might make it more mentally fun because you’re giving more of a purpose as to why you are putting extra time into seeking lots.
If you’re looking to break the collection buying then maybe imagine all the money saved by purely putting it directly towards what you want, instead of soaking up extra cards in a collection that you don’t need. Combine that with the time you are saving by being able to pull the trigger on some singles today, instead of continuing to look for collections.
You could also split it up and just buy a few singles occasionally, to continue making progress, while waiting for the better collection to come along.
Good luck with your collection goals!
Reverse priority on bulk vs singles for this collection. I completely understand the value of bulk, but unless it is the priority, it should be looked as secondary or bonus. You are never going to get something at the cheapest(let’s be real here, 99.5% of cards came in a $4 pack of 11 cards) and sell it at it’s most expensive. Bulk is awesome though and maybe just consider completing the set aside for better bulk deals as well. Good Luck.
Why do you want to buy bulk over singles? Is it because the average card is cheaper or/and because you have fun doing it?
The former is basically a fallacy in your case as it´s pretty difficult (and therefore time intensive, your time is worth something as well!) to find ex era reverse lots with cards you need for the collection. In this case I´d just buy missing singles.
If you just have fun hunting lots and finding something you need/valuable, keep doing it. Use cards you find and don´t need in these lots to sell for cards you actually need (again time intensive, but in this case still rewarding as you have fun doing it.)
Interesting post, i have exact the same issue with my search of the ex era singles raw cards (c, uc, r, reverses)
I just wait and prioritize some more expensive cards first
I’ve had a similar mindset as this, especially when buying from Buyee etc. where the fees and shipping cost make you want to get everything you can in one go. It does suck when you know you can maybe get 10 cards for $20, but the one last card you need is gonna cost $5 alone. I’m sure if you wait long enough you’ll find a bulk lot that just happens to hit a few cards you need, but then as someone above said you’ll end up taking on a bunch of cards you don’t want/have duplicates of and it may end up being more cost/time efficient to have just bought the cards as singles.
I personally enjoy buying lots and having fun going through them, but if you don’t want to wait then singles is the way to go.
Never really had the need per say. Tend to just purchase the specific I like or want at the time. I understand the reason for bulk buying though.
I should clarify I meant bulk/lots as in lots of purely cards I want with little to no extra cards (which is even rarer than true bulk), so I probably shouldn’t have used the word bulk here. But I think everyone hit the nail on the head here about singles being cheaper/more efficient and lot seeking being more of a challenge than a means to an end with collecting. Maybe I am trying to delay the end of my collection after all . Thanks for the thoughts!
I think the problem with that is you’re looking for a bit of a unicorn in the fact that you want to buy a job lot/collection/bulk of everything you need, but it never works like that.
For me, when I started collecting I bought a lot of “job lot” listings on eBay because back then I pretty much needed everything and although I ended up with duplicates, it was few and far between. The more I bought, the more duplicates I got, to the point where I was no longer much better off buying bulk any more.
Now, when I have a lot of cards to buy generally I’ll use Troll & Toad. For example, I’m working on Sun & Moon at the moment and I’ve got about 500 in my basket (inexpensive cards!) and it’s much quicker and easier to build a basket up on there than search and buy from places individually like eBay.
Another option is that you could create a WTB thread here and be a little more specific on what you need and you’ll probably get better results. I’ve probably got about 15-20k extra cards personally that I can help you with, I know many others here have many more.