Thinking about calling it a day on collecting.

[tbob]

Brian- I wish you the best, whatever you decide. I would offer one bit of advice from one who's been there, when you get mired in a collecting funk, resist the temptation to start selling off pre-war card sets. About ten years ago I sold off complete sets of many caramel cards and have just now completed getting them all back again. It's too frigging hard to find some of the cards now as many collectors, for investment sake or collection sake, have buried the cards in to their collections like the T213 tobacco Coupons. Cards which were available ten years ago are now difficult to find and you'll find yourself kicking yourself for selling them. I know when I decided to "re-put" together the E95, E96, E97, E99 and E100 sets, especially in nice condition, it was tough. E98s would fall in to that group also but for the Black Swamp Find which has made it easier, albeit a little pricey. Sets like the 1909 Zeenuts will never disappear from my collection because it is now impossible to put together the whole set from scratch.
Think twice! For me, I only collect 1909-1919 in the pre-war because that is my favorite time in history. Find a niche, that's mine. Sure I have sets like the DeLong, Tatoo Orbit, George Miller but the 1909-1919 era is my niche.
I wish you the best in your decision....

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by tbob

Brian- I wish you the best, whatever you decide. I would offer one bit of advice from one who's been there, when you get mired in a collecting funk, resist the temptation to start selling off pre-war card sets. About ten years ago I sold off complete sets of many caramel cards and have just now completed getting them all back again. It's too frigging hard to find some of the cards now as many collectors, for investment sake or collection sake, have buried the cards in to their collections like the T213 tobacco Coupons. Cards which were available ten years ago are now difficult to find and you'll find yourself kicking yourself for selling them. I know when I decided to "re-put" together the E95, E96, E97, E99 and E100 sets, especially in nice condition, it was tough. E98s would fall in to that group also but for the Black Swamp Find which has made it easier, albeit a little pricey. Sets like the 1909 Zeenuts will never disappear from my collection because it is now impossible to put together the whole set from scratch.
Think twice! For me, I only collect 1909-1919 in the pre-war because that is my favorite time in history. Find a niche, that's mine. Sure I have sets like the DeLong, Tatoo Orbit, George Miller but the 1909-1919 era is my niche.
I wish you the best in your decision....

1909 Zeenuts? That does sound like an impossible set to complete.

[autograf]

NEVER let the 1909 Zeenuts go.........

Everyone's giving you great advice. Keep us up-to-date on what you do. I like the PAUSE, refresh, try something else out for a while. I'm doing some 1950's/1960's Topps sets right now. It's been fun.....

Good luck!

[Brian Van Horn]

Thank you, Tom. It was a pleasure meeting you and Ken Cohen and Cohen's table at Robert Morris a couple years ago. The IRS agent made me a little nervous. I don't know why. I reported all my income.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

Thank you, Tom. It was a pleasure meeting you and Ken Cohen and Cohen's table at Robert Morris a couple years ago. The IRS agent made me a little nervous. I don't know why. I reported all my income.

In 1990 I was set up at a show with my table of vintage oddball cards. The dealer next to me had stacks of 1989 Upper Deck and was selling Griffey and Sheffield rookies like they were going out of style. I think he was pricing them a few bucks below market. We got to talking and he started bragging about the thousands of undeclared dollars he was making every weekend selling Griffey rookies. $10,000 one show, $5,000 another show, and so on. Eventually he asked me what I did and I told him that I practiced law. He asked what kind and I said I am a tax lawyer with the IRS's tax fraud division. He turned about fifty shades of whiter then green. I thought he was going to puke.

The moral of the story is that if you are making a fortune in cash and aren't booking the revenue, STFU.

[bobbyw8469]

I certainly skip over anything demanding paypal f/f payment.

People usually want that kind of payment, because they are usually wholesaling cards over here with a very small profit margin (I can only speak for myself - I know some sellers are charging thru the roof for their stuff - maybe the can afford to pay all the fees, since they are sky high anyway. If we are going to get beat down to below wholesale prices, we might as well sell everything on Ebay, pay the fees, where we get a gazillion more eyeballs than we do just on Net54. Just a thought....

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

People usually want that kind of payment, because they are usually wholesaling cards over here with a very small profit margin (I can only speak for myself - I know some sellers are charging thru the roof for their stuff - maybe the can afford to pay all the fees, since they are sky high anyway. If we are going to get beat down to below wholesale prices, we might as well sell everything on Ebay, pay the fees, where we get a gazillion more eyeballs than we do just on Net54. Just a thought....

being paid that way. Cheap and easy - less headaches for each side.

[kcohen]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

People usually want that kind of payment, because they are usually wholesaling cards over here with a very small profit margin (I can only speak for myself - I know some sellers are charging thru the roof for their stuff - maybe the can afford to pay all the fees, since they are sky high anyway. If we are going to get beat down to below wholesale prices, we might as well sell everything on Ebay, pay the fees, where we get a gazillion more eyeballs than we do just on Net54. Just a thought....

Nice juicy rationalization for misrepresentation and borderline theft. If that floats your boat, go for it.