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Posted By: warshawlaw

There is a core of collectors out there (like me) who work extra hours to generate extra income to use on cards. Thankfully, business is good enough right now that I don't have to sell off cards to finance my habit.

There are many collectors/dealers who primarily buy for themselves but who grab bargains where they can be found and try to sell those cards, or who hold them for later use as trade bait and/or rainy day sales.

There are some collectors who are also sold on the idea of cards as investments. They not only buy what they collect, they buy what they think will go up in price, meaning that the current pricing is not an issue to them. Who among us would not have happily paid twice the then-market price on caramel cards in 2002 knowing what we know now? I know that around my house lately I am not getting any **** about buying cards instead of putting the $$ into an "investment" like stocks (which have always struck me as about as intelligent an investment as betting on black in roulette, but I digress).

There are some investors, but I suspect that number is far, far less than many think. There simply hasn't been the press coverage like there was 15 years ago that propelled casual people into the market.

Finally, the items that are selling big are really tough to find. All it takes is a half-dozen serious collectors to skyrocket an auction when they all want the items in question.