The Question of the Day is a way to facilitate community discussion to help members ponder the unanswered questions of the world that are somehow relating to the hobby. Questionsj are many times open ended and up to interpretation. Feel free to post your thoughts in as much or as little detail as you’d like.
Helpful Considerations may or may not help some people focus their answer, these are blurred to not bother those who have their own ideas.
If you really like a card, buy a second or third copy if feasible. That way, if the card stonks, you can sell one or more of your copies and still retain one for your collection.
I used to buy a single copy of most cards because I felt that obtaining duplicates was wasteful when so many goals were left unfinished. This helped me to complete collecting goals quicker, but now (during a boom) I have become a victim of my expeditious progress.
Totally rational but I feel like when I do that, I lose the sense of attachment and joy of owning the card. From 2 onwards, now it’s just a copy among others, the process of bonding is impaired, I need to look them closely to decide which cert to keep, and they have lost their uniqueness to my eyes. It’s the fastest way I found to not care anymore wether I want to have a card in my collection or not and thus greatly diminish my enjoyment of collecting
If you really like a card and know you absolutely 100% want to buy it “someday”, and the price feels doable, it’s better to lock it down sooner rather than later. Otherwise it can become out of reach
While during Covid I did very well, This time around I’m doing great, but I over-sold at first, and missed-out on some things later. I did kinda need to sell tho… Still…
The lessons learned best, are lessons learned the hard way… usually.
I love this one. Really important professionally too.
I’ve had extreme luck in my life and I’ve missed on a lot of things too.
My dad was able to gift me, over than 10 years ago, grail cards (not in pristine conditions, of course, but we are talking about real grails) for a price that nowadays seems impossible to even think of.
I am soon to be 22 years old, during my childhood and teenage I didn’t really like to ask my parents for money, so I just missed on really good chances to get cards I liked a lot for a nonsense price compared to today’s market.
If i was constant and maybe a little more greedy, today I could have a bigger collection. But at the end of the day I just love what I have (sometimes I try to get appraisals for a trade or to sell, but I cannot part with the majority of my cards lol.)
That’s the advice I could’ve want when I skipped on PSA10 holo Umbreons from Skyridge and Reviving Legend: 160$ for both. (still remember the price to this day lol)
Ooof! I remember those prices. =) I’m glad that I didn’t skip a few, by sheer dumb luck mind you: Karen’s umbreon, skyridge crystals, and the big one: Mint Masaki gengar. NEVER WOULD I consider buying these for my collection today, but I’ve also had a good mix of luck in life. Wish I’d bought CD zard, club porygon, and grand party before tho…
Thanks! I read here and there, but this question hitted hard so I had to contribute!
I completely feel this, I was really young at the time and even if the prices were absurd to think of now, I just couldn’t afford them on my own hahaha…
I was lucky on a lot my chases: BS Charizard, Crystal Lugia, NG Lugia with a massive swirl plus some other bangers that today would cost a total of thousands.
I never cared much about conditions, as long as the artwork is intact and there are not major creases and recently one of my friends found a little stash in is garage and I was able to buy a full creased reverse Crystal ho-oh from him, I felt like a child again. My Crystal Lugia is now in good company after 12 years (until I find an holo one for a good price!)
if you are looking to upgrade a card you already have, always purchase the replacement first and then sell the old one.
Once upon a time I had a Gyarados Poncho, but it had a small crease. So I sold it with the intention on getting a more NM copy. I swear the second I sold it, Ponchos became all the rave and I have not been able to get another one in the collection since.
This is the best advice I have never learned my lesson of buying the expensive stuff first. Every single time I’m trying to finish a set, it’s always the chase cards that I’m trying to hunt down.
I learned that I would never regret making a purchase for my collection in the long run, but that I would almost always regret selling, or even regret not making a purchase when I had the chance.
I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to build my collection during a time when the cards I enjoyed were relatively underappreciated. I sold parts of my collection and then came back to repurchase some of the pieces I was missing, only to realize that the prices had gone up 10x and that I was now priced out. Many of my collection pieces will never be with me again.
I did make a few purchases this week and just ended up paying the new prices, which were several times higher than what I paid years ago, and those new cards do not have the same memories attached to them. The worst part is that I never needed the money when I sold them and assumed prices would stay flat.
@wisewailmer has it spot on. Figure out what is worth selling and what isn’t. For me, I realized that most is not worth selling.
