Best hobby advice you've received.

[Snapolit1]

Don't believe people who tell you the market is insane and about to collapse. Many of them have been a broken record for 20 years.

In all my hobbies - "Collect what you like." It may be worth nothing tomorrow.

[brunswickreeves]

1) If you can't afford to buy it twice, it's too expensive and you'll obsess over the price;
2) Pay 15% less than the average trending sale price for the grade/condition, omitting the upper and lower prices outliers, you can always resell at break even or better

[mrreality68]

Ruth Ruth and More Ruth

With a Side Order of Jackson

[Casey2296]

I found the best pre-war collecting advice while reading Dante's Divine Comedy.

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here...

[Bobbycee]

If you can afford the HOFers, don't let them pass you by. Grab them first.

[Eric72]

This thread reminded me of a card that was on my eBay watch list for a while. I don't remember exactly when I first saw it, but last summer sounds about right.

It was reasonably priced (for the issue) but an expensive card...for my budget, anyway. I probably came close to hitting "buy it now" a dozen times this past fall and winter, yet never went through with it.

Fast forward to yesterday. I figured it had probably sold by now; however, decided to check anyway. Surprisingly, the card was still available. Same price, too. Something was different now, though. There were 11 watchers.

Screw that. I'd spent too much time pondering the question of whether or not to buy this card. After dragging my feet for far too long, I somehow still had a chance to make the purchase. Those other 11 people can go find their own damn card. This one is mine.

Needless to say, I (finally) pulled the trigger and the card is on its way to me. All things considered, I'd have kicked myself for not seizing the opportunity...

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Eric72

This thread reminded me of a card that was on my eBay watch list for a while. I don't remember exactly when I first saw it, but last summer sounds about right.

It was reasonably priced (for the issue) but an expensive card...for my budget, anyway. I probably came close to hitting "buy it now" a dozen times this past fall and winter, yet never went through with it.

Fast forward to yesterday. I figured it had probably sold by now; however, decided to check anyway. Surprisingly, the card was still available. Same price, too. Something was different now, though. There were 11 watchers.

Screw that. I'd spent too much time pondering the question of whether or not to buy this card. After dragging my feet for far too long, I somehow still had a chance to make the purchase. Those other 11 people can go find their own damn card. This one is mine.

Needless to say, I (finally) pulled the trigger and the card is on its way to me. All things considered, I'd have kicked myself for not seizing the opportunity...

Been there many times. My barometer is, if I don’t pull the trigger and someone else does, will I kick myself? If yes, buy it NOW!

[Harliduck]

Originally Posted by obcbobd

When putting cards in 9 pocket pages, that last card's number in a page should all add up to 9

9 = 9
18 = 1 + 8 = 9
27 = 2 + 7 = 9
etc

I keep an eye on this and often I catch a mistake early which I can rectify without having to switch too many cards.

I learned this a couple of years ago...GAME CHANGER. Saves my bacon everytime I start bindering up cards. Last year my COVID project was to binder up all my old and new 1981 Topps, Donruss, and Fleer to 1990 sets...some of the sets were worth less than the binder and sheets...haha...but just wanted it done to honor my youth. I would have lost HOURS if I didn't add up every corner to make sure is added up to 9. Again, game saver!

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Rich, I recall setting up in about the late 90's at Ft. Washington, PA across the aisle from Alan, who was residing in the Poobah Chair right at the entrance, with, of course, the open briefcase filled with crisp Benjamins and his faithful companion "Zubes" at his side (guarding the cash?). I exchanged a few words with him and he remarked that some guy would come in with some raw '52 Topps, most of them in lousy condition but that there would be a few nice high series cards. And the guy wouldn't know anything about high numbers. Alan rubbed his hands in anticipation while I went off to get one of those foul cheeseburgers. Well, at the end of the show he walked over to my table and laid out, yes, some nice high numbers, including, as I recall, a Reese, Robby and a beat up Mathews
I kinda, sorta miss the old rascal, and wouldn't he be amazed at the state of the current market. He thrived on deals and money.

In this market there would be no one better than Al at a show.

Rich

[egri]

Originally Posted by Eric72

This thread reminded me of a card that was on my eBay watch list for a while. I don't remember exactly when I first saw it, but last summer sounds about right.

It was reasonably priced (for the issue) but an expensive card...for my budget, anyway. I probably came close to hitting "buy it now" a dozen times this past fall and winter, yet never went through with it.

Fast forward to yesterday. I figured it had probably sold by now; however, decided to check anyway. Surprisingly, the card was still available. Same price, too. Something was different now, though. There were 11 watchers.

Screw that. I'd spent too much time pondering the question of whether or not to buy this card. After dragging my feet for far too long, I somehow still had a chance to make the purchase. Those other 11 people can go find their own damn card. This one is mine.

Needless to say, I (finally) pulled the trigger and the card is on its way to me. All things considered, I'd have kicked myself for not seizing the opportunity...

A few years ago, when I was in college and had been working on my 1953 Topps set for about a year, I found a semi-tough card I needed on eBay. The seller and I went back and forth over the price, and we finally got to be about $2 apart. The card was roughly $40, so as a percentage $2 was a bit of a gap, and as a college student collecting vintage I was buying champagne on a beer budget, so I really had to watch every dollar. It was getting late, so I figured I'd sleep on the seller's counteroffer and see how I felt in the morning. As I lay down, I said to myself "I've been looking for this card for over a year. Am I really going to let it get away over $2?" I woke back up and accepted the counteroffer.

[Rich Klein]

I've had several people ask me recently about going "full-time" in this business (all modern people)

My one piece of advice to them is: and it's something I've picked up over the years

"If you are going to be a dealer, then you should not be a collector. Otherwise, money spent on your Pete Alonso collection should be spent on items for you to re-sell. For now, your collecting days are done."

I will also state if you have other income coming in then you can keep your collection going.

Rich

[rjackson44]

Buy vintage hockey

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

I've had several people ask me recently about going "full-time" in this business (all modern people)

My one piece of advice to them is: and it's something I've picked up over the years

"If you are going to be a dealer, then you should not be a collector. Otherwise, money spent on your Pete Alonso collection should be spent on items for you to re-sell. For now, your collecting days are done."

I will also state if you have other income coming in then you can keep your collection going.

Rich

That is great advise Rich.


Listen when told do not buy from (insert name). Because if they will screw over others they will screw you over also.

One of my favorite times I just shook my head was when a member on here asked if anyone knew who a eBay ID belonged to. I told him who it was and the seller is a well known card doctor. So the moron said "I guess I will have to look at the card really good when I buy it".LOL

This hobby will remain a joke as long as we let it.

[Frankish]

So true about not mixing business with pleasure. A number of times I've thought about becoming a small dealer because I enjoy buying and handling cards so much. But I'm not sure I'd be that great of a seller (too much of a softy, plus collecting would always be an anchor). If only the tax situation for hobbyists wasn't so brutal, I could just let the idea go....

Originally Posted by rjackson44

Buy vintage hockey

Oh, man, I wish I had listened when the little voice in my head was urging me to buy those early 50s Parkhurst cards for a song a few years ago. At least I bought a bunch of 70s hockey, so it's something. A small something, as I only got one Gretzky, but something nonetheless.

The time to buy it is when you see it. Buy the rare caramel Cobb when it comes up and fund it with something you can replace later

Everything is for sale at the right price

If you have to sell something, try to sell it to a fellow collector. There's many reasons for this but it comes in handy if you ever really want the card back!

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

I've had several people ask me recently about going "full-time" in this business (all modern people)

My one piece of advice to them is: and it's something I've picked up over the years

"If you are going to be a dealer, then you should not be a collector. Otherwise, money spent on your Pete Alonso collection should be spent on items for you to re-sell. For now, your collecting days are done."

I will also state if you have other income coming in then you can keep your collection going.

Rich

I found out that I have the perfect collector personality to be an auctioneer. It turns out I'm completely cool with getting to say "We had that" as opposed to saying "I have that." That started when I was a dealer but became more important as an auctioneer, and it made the transition fairly easy.

[Exhibitman]

Plastics...

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Plastics...

This is SO funny in many ways!

[JollyElm]

Short rant:
I have to say with the number of people talking about the 'divisible by 9' binder page thing here...how in heck wasn't that always blatantly obvious?????????? I mean, c'mon!!!!!!!!!!!

[Exhibitman]

And some advice for the many, many people who take this stuff way too seriously

[topcat61]

The best Hobby advice I ever received was - Get a second opinion if you're unsure of the purchase. The second best advice I ever received was - If it looks too good to be true, it probably is!

[jbsports33]

Have fun and enjoy! Buy at least one Ruth, Mantle, Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams card for your collection - oh wait Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Lou Gehrig and many more! do you have any more money? - how about a Joe DiMaggio

Do not get too involved and buy what you like!

Shows are the best and traveling to shows with friends and family is even better - soon we will have more shows. The stories in between are a lot of fun too!

Happy Collecting!


[Michael B]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Plastics...

Okay Sam Wainwright. (got the character name wrong at first)

[brianp-beme]

No one but myself gave me this advice, but I would like to share it.

The only slabs that collectors should care about are the slabs of gum that used to come in packs of Topps cards.

Brian

[mintacular]

Your best deal may be "no deal". Be willing to walk away more often than not my answer is "no". Time is $. What is the opportunity cost?

[MVSNYC]

Buy the best card, of the best player, in the best condition, you can.

-Scott Levy

[YankeeCollector]

Buy Ruth!!! Thanks Joe T!

Also buy only centered cards!

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by mintacular

Your best deal may be "no deal". Be willing to walk away more often than not my answer is "no". Time is $. What is the opportunity cost?

Mine is similar - "You'll get better deals if the seller knows that you are willing to walk away."

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[FrankWakefield]

When you're the winning high bidder at an auction, you can be certain that you were paying more than every other person interested in the item.

Acquire two of everything, then you'll have one to trade.

Know what you're buying, know the cards; do not trust the grading companies.

Collect the cards, not the slabs.

When buying 1952 Topps as a kid, I'd have made more money if I'd thrown the cards away and safely kept the wrappers and sold those now, rather than have kept the cards and discarded the wrappers. (I paraphrase what and older collector told me about buying 52 Topps, wasn't around then.)

When working on a set, if you buy a filler card that you're not happy with, you'll end up buying that card twice. (I can remember this, but I've disregarded it a few times, so that I experienced negative reinforcement when I ended up buying a better version of the card.)

It's a hobby, it's just cardboard; it's not an investment.

[Popcorn]

collectibles only sell if someone thinks it’s a good deal

[bnorth]

Never send a card in a PWE with a thick piece(s) of cardboard. The cardboard greatly increases the chance of the card getting damaged and the buyer getting their card with postage due.

[jchcollins]

Random, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot - but here is what comes to the top of my head:

1. Don't have regrets. Most of us have sold some cards that we have at least some level of passive regret over at some point in time later. But at least in my case, the funds from those sales allowed me to buy other cards I had wanted that I didn't have before. It's all about the fun and the experience - and remember our one ride on this merry go-round is kind of short when you look at the big picture. Enjoy your cards and don't focus on mistakes with your collection. As the late Dr. Richard Carlson once said, "Remember, every hundred years? All new people!" Don't spend more time than you have to in that window regretting things you can no longer change.

2. If you are more of a collector than an investor or speculator in cards, know that third party grading services have extremely limited utility. Basically, they are useful if you are buying a card online, sight-unseen, and want peace of mind that the "EX" card you just bought doesn't have a glaring, hidden crease. But if you are mainly doing PC and don't sell a lot of cards, once that slab arrives in your mailbox, the look of the card isn't going to change no matter the grade on the flip. So, (unlike me in the past...) don't get caught up with why this card only got a 6 when you thought it was a strong 7, or why that card you were sure was a 5 only got a 3.5 from PSA. That is the head game that ALL TPG's want collectors to buy into to keep them submitting and re-submitting cards ad nauseum until the end of time. Are you pleased with how the card LOOKS, and how it fits in your collection? If not, then upgrade. If you are, then realize that for whims, days of the week, the weather, what grader you did or did not get - that you could likely resubmit the same card over and over again and rarely get the exact same grade every time. Grading that is at all related to eye appeal is subjective, and always will be. No matter how many computers or HGA grading companies enter the picture.

3. Don't get caught up in trying to "Keep up with the Joneses" in terms of your collection and how bad@ss you think it is or is not and how that in turn makes you come off in groups like this one as a collector. With extremely scarce exceptions, somebody somewhere has a better collection than you do. All of you. And in turn, your collection also blows somebody's (and likely a lot of somebody's...) away too. Collect what makes you happy, and don't make it a competition with everything you see on message boards, on YouTube, or anywhere else you discuss the hobby with other people.

[Casey2296]

3. Don't get caught up in trying to "Keep up with the Joneses" in terms of your collection and how bad@ss you think it is or is not and how that in turn makes you come off in groups like this one as a collector. With extremely scarce exceptions, somebody somewhere has a better collection than you do. All of you. And in turn, your collection also blows somebody's (and likely a lot of somebody's...) away too. Collect what makes you happy, and don't make it a competition with everything you see on message boards, on YouTube, or anywhere else you discuss the hobby with other people

+100. Can't stress how important this is. I owned a Blues club for 25 years and one quote I'll always remember was from George "Harmonica" Smith when he would invite the young guys up on stage to play. He'd say "Man, do your thing, just do your thing". Same thing with collecting, "Man, just do your thing".

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by Michael B

Okay Sam Wainwright. (got the character name wrong at first)

Pop culture tip: whenever someone just says "Plastics" it's a Graduate reference, not It's a Wonderful Life.

[polakoff]

Many have already been said but:

Collect what you like
Buy the card, not the holder
If investing: buy the best card you can in the best condition you can

[Gradedcardman]

Never advise fellow collectors of your true collection needs. The prices then sky rocket.

[Exhibitman]

Forget all the damned money and political crap in the big drama show threads and post cards. Lots of cards.



And like Honus said, don't use tobacco.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Gradedcardman

Never advise fellow collectors of your true collection needs. The prices then sky rocket.

Learned this one the hard way more than once. Especially if it is a high end card in a specific condition.

Another is the "make me an offer" seller. No matter how good your offer is the seller will ask for more because you are showing interest.

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Learned this one the hard way more than once. Especially if it is a high end card in a specific condition.

Another is the "make me an offer" seller. No matter how good your offer is the seller will ask for more because you are showing interest.

Dont make a WTB post either!

[Leon]

Best hobby advice? Buy the card....not the holder.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

Dont make a WTB post either!

Very true, I have 2 rare cards that I buy every one I see so I don't even mention I collect those 2 cards.

[brianp-beme]

Make sure to frequently post really beat up cards, because then it will make everyone else feel better about the cards they own.

Brian (once again my advice...no one would ever advise me to do this)

[Rich Klein]

Really good one I just saw

See a deal, buy the deal. Once you haggle, you open up for the seller to be aware.

[Steve_NY]

So many great statements -- but mine are quite similar: (I started collecting in 1957 and became a "dealer" in 1976 and I did start advertising items for sale by 1964 --wish I had those items back today):

1 -- Buy what you like -- if you get stuck with it, you still own something you like. So I do have about a 1,000 beanies but they are all Disney or Warners, so guess what, I still like them -- all of my Mickeys and other comic characters.

2 -- Just like the stock market, don't put all of your money into one stock/player. I might make an exception for Ruth, Mantle and many similar players.

3-- Focus on the "keys" that you can afford. Besides sports, I did the same in non sports and comic books. While non sports has cooled down, there are some keys and comic books that I literally have hundreds of or more.

4 -- Negotiate with everyone for a better price. It can't hurt to try and all they can do is say no. Yes, that can turn them off, so you buy something else.

5 -- When I started selling in 1976, it was for me a clear end to most of my collecting but it did not stop me from investing in "quality" and often "quantity". It's tough to sell at shows almost every weekend in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990's, and continue collecting when you were buying collections 5 to ten times a week. Those acquisitions were next weeks sales.

6 -- Have a mind of your own and don't always follow the trends. For me it has always been to figure out the next hot item, buy a ton of it and wait for the market to catch up. Not sure that would work now, but look at the last year!!

Steve

[Stampsfan]

Best advice I received has been mentioned earlier:
If you see something you want for sale, buy it as it will disappear. I've picked up some really nice pieces, and have missed on things I will never see again by not following through with the purchase.

Best advice I have given:
If a seller makes an offer and the buyer doesn't take it, it's OK. If a seller makes an offer and the buyer doesn't take it, it's OK.
Both have the right to do so, without the other taking offense. At the end, both of you walk away happy. A deal not made is not personal.
We are not selling a kidney here.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Stampsfan

We are not selling a kidney here.

Graded or raw?

[perezfan]

Get to the mailbox before the wife.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Get to the mailbox before the wife.

Better yet, have your purchases sent to your office.

[clydepepper]

A little voice in my head (which is much louder now): Now is NOT the time to buy!


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