Some bad news today about someone in the Netherlands getting their collection robbed from their own home whilst meeting potential buyers.
Having seen a lot of people openly display their collections in their home, I fear that this is going to become more common and a bigger issue for the community when people start realising the value of our cards. This is not something that is discussed very often so I have made this thread in the hope of saving this happening to anyone else. I’ve done some research but I’m not an expert so if anyone else has any other ideas feel free to add them below (but don’t be too personal like revealing where you store yours for your own safety).
Keep it private:
Try not to reveal too much e.g. posting a picture of your collection on your personal social media so that everyone nearby you knows you have a high value card sitting next to a window in your house. Try to keep your address private although this isn’t always possible when buying/selling. If you want to avoid this then you can get a private mail box which isn’t your own address.
Home security:
Don’t buy a cheap safe from a supermarket that anyone could lift or break into with a pry bar. Ideally you could build a fire and bulletproof vault room but this isn’t possible for most of us. Having a proper industrial safe hidden away somewhere will definitely slow down anyone trying to steal your collection but isn’t always 100% especially if you are out of town and don’t have neighbours, someone has a lot of time to break into it or steal it. Also if you want to fireproof your collection then you need a double safe rated for data storage which keeps the internal temperature during a house fire below 120F (slabs and packs melt between 150-200F), or put a fire resistant safe/case within a bigger fire resistant safe. Flooding is another issue to be aware of. Consider having CCTV which sends an alert to your phone when it detects movement. If you move into a leased property consider changing the locks in case a previous resident kept the keys.
Multiple locations:
Having some of your collection (hidden away/in a safe) at the house of a family member that you really trust is a good way to hedge the risk of losing everything at once.
Bank vaults:
This is probably one of the best options for protecting high-end items where the value is so much greater than the cost of hiring the locker. Remember to have silicate gel to take the moisture out of the air which is sealed in with your cards. One of the downsides is that you won’t get to see your items very often and not everyone has a reliable bank nearby.
Insurance:
Home contents insurance probably won’t cover collections over a few thousand, so make sure you read all the clauses or get specialised collectibles insurance because if you don’t do it right then the insurance company could find a way to avoid paying out.
In person sales:
Personally I would avoid posting a high-end item to an unknown seller in case they done a refund scam. I would also avoid traditional auction houses due to the high commissions. That leads to a lot of people doing in person sales, but from the Netherlands article we know that even an in person sale can go very wrong. The best way to do a face-to-face sale may be to meet somewhere like a bank. Try and have someone else with you, be extra vigilant and avoid meeting somewhere dodgy like a car park at night time.
Keep records:
Keep pictures or records of your graded card’s serial numbers in case they are stolen and resold. Unfortunately people could still crack them to regrade or sell raw.
This video from Alpha Investment is also relevant and the only one I have found to talk in detail about protecting your collection
