When I started watching smpratte’s videos I was completely convinced by his analysis of the value of old pokemon cards. In the past month I’ve spent a large amount of money picking up a bunch of good deals on cards. This would normally be fine but I can’t stop looking at ebay for deals. Should I just stop looking and only start when I know I have the disposable income? Because currently any extra cent that I get goes directly into cards. I know Im not going to go broke but I also don’t want to be irresponsible with my money. The problem for me is that I have an intense fear of missing out and at the same time I am very passionate about getting the cards I want.
Im sure some of you guys can relate to this so any advice from the more seasoned collectors would be extremely appreciated.
Haha. You don’t control your collection, your collection controls you.
All joking aside, it’s good to limit yourself to a certain budget. I’ve been doing the same as you during September-November and I’m slowing down now that I completed a few goals of mine and bought a lot of extra stuff and spent probably double what I intended to.
There will always be good deals to be made. If you spend all day on ebay, you will find deals every day and end up buying a lot of cards you don’t really need… I think we’re all guilty of doing that from time to time.
I know exactly what you mean! I dont have any disposable income to spend at the moment so i just yearn for them! I stopped looking at ebay etc because i see a great deal and cannot buy it.
Maybe write a list of personal goals to gradually check off? limit your spending each month, and also you can buy and sell cards now and again to fund your goals?(like cards you arent too fussed about but got a decent deal/dont want them so sell to buy things you do want) Just a few ideas
Hopefully your collectiona nd knowledge within the hobby grows throught the years and you amass a great collection to admire and love!
I don’t have much self control when it comes to buying cards.
Recently though, I’ve greatly restricted at what price floor I buy cards at. I’m much more conservative in my purchases now.
So instead of “I want this card in PSA 9” and grabbing whatever is available as soon as it pops up on eBay, I now am much more patient.
Another strategy I’ve developed is to regularly buy under-valued, in-demand items.
Basically I search all types of raw charizards all day and every couple days you’ll see one listed at half market value that can easily be purchased, graded and resold. That mechanism helps fund my purchases.
I also buy more cards than I really should and usually a few months later illl decide I want something else more and will sell old purchases.
The nice thing about the cards I’m purchasing is that most of them appreciate over 6-12 months so I actually make money when cycling inventory.
I have a $5000/yr budget. I can never go over that amount unless I sell cards to cut into that number. I consider this as my yearly Roth IRA contribution to justify my spending since I get higher returns on investment on card than my IRA gets lol.
Well I went all guns blazing in my first month and spent over a month’s wages - massive amounts of fun, although not sustainable.
I found a nice workaround was for me to open a separate account, load it with a generous amount of startup funds, and when its gone its gone. Local finds on Gumtree and boot sales (flea markets) pay for the bigger purchases on eBay - as @teraz said as well, be vigilante for certain cards/sets/species and it will pay off.
There’s a big difference between collecting and being a collector.
If your collecting, which means your an active collector, the most important item in your collection isn’t your Illustrator or your high priced Charizard. It’s your money box.
Being active, which is having a money reserve, makes you a continuous player when that special deal comes along. It puts you on par with the Scott’s, Nicks, me, et all.
Fill up that money box before you buy anything and you’ll go from collector to a collecting monster:)
Control yourself… Take time and be patient wait for cheap auctions to pop up. And collect slowly…
Or else collecting won’t be fun anymore.
Like if someone had a cool million and just bought rustys entire shop and collection and just put it in there home. I think that would be so boring. No
thrill of the chase.
I started out buying all the good deals that I came across then I became inundated with too many purchases… Then I started only buying all the great deals… Now I think I am making the transition to where I am only going to be able to buy long term items to sit on and the occasional once a month or so deal. Starting a masters program soon and I don’t think 100 items a week is going to be maintainable at all.
So that is my suggestion to you OP @chiznuggets. If you find yourself buying too much just lower your threshold on what % of market value you are willing to pay on items.
I have to second this - it’s extremely good advice. You need to have both a money box and be extremely patient
For patience, if you watch professionals like vintagemtg and alpha investments, they’ll publicly state they offer 30% below market price. Lowballing? Yes. But they find sellers all the time. Lowballing via auction bidding works too. You are protecting yourself in a volatile asset class via a 10% buffer for transaction fees to exit and 20% margin of safety. Coupled with buying the right sets, you can usually do a firesale at no loss to yourself when you really need the money, or exit at a profit if you are willing to take the time.
For moneybox - I bought a couple of psa 10 1st ed base holos from the same guy for roughly 30% below market value. How? He wanted the money NOW. I.e. to deal within a few few hours with cash payment. I had competitors that could pay more, but they couldn’t cough out the cash and asked him to wait for their next payday.
If you have cards you’re really passionate about, do the above and flip for profit, then pay full market for the cards you really want.
Smpratte mentions this is one of his videos. First get your priority’s straight and make a budget. It helps to write it down. Then figure what your disposable income is (money you can risk loosing). Be patient and save up and plan ahead for your purchases. Be patient and wait for that good deal on your desired item.
The MOST important trick is to eat off of the dollar menu every day (or top ramen) so you have more money to spend on pokemon cards… just kidding…
I have a fairly unique situation where I will work 3/4 moths straight on a containership - 12 Hrs / Day (7 Days / Week). While I am working, I make good money and don’t really have any expenses at all (aside from the usual bills). During this time, I also have very limited access to the internet - so online shopping is non-existant (which is both good and bad). Then, I’ll come home for that same period of time (3/4 Months) and not make anything - so what I make really has to last me the entire time that I’m on “vacation”. I’ll go hard that first month that I am home - spending more than I’d like to admit on Pokemon Cards. However, after that first month, I’ll really cut-back and stick with a semi-strict budget - which becomes very important for me!
Some of the best advice has already been given: consider setting a weekly / monthly / yearly (whichever works for you) budget and stick with that budget! Try and establish smaller goals for yourself - and stick with those goals until they are completed before moving onto something else! And, like Gary already mentioned, start a “rainy-day” fund for those unique opportunities that will present themselves to you - you have to have to always have some money set-aside for those one-time-only deals!
Honestly, I can definitely see where you are coming from! Unlike a lot of the smarter E4 Members here, I was never seriously into collecting until 2016 - right when Pokemon Go was at it’s peak and card prices were constantly increasing! I made the mistake of wanting to collect everything all at once (WotC-Era Master Sets, Error Cards, “Cool” Cards, Booster Packs, Blister Packs, Theme Deck Display Cases…) - it got to be very expensive and very overwhelming, VERY FAST - that’s why I’ll emphasize setting smaller goals for yourself!
Another piece of advice; don’t ever check eBay, E4, or any other Social Media! Haha JK Seriously Though, this may sound stupid, but appreciate what you already have!!! This is something I need to get better at myself - I never feel that my collection is “good enough” when comparing my collection to other people who have been collecting for 10-20+ Years. You have to realize that some people have been collecting since Pokemon was originally released - you’re not going to have that same magnitude of a collection overnight - just take your time and appreciate your own purchases / goals!
