Out of Touch

[OhioLawyerF5]

There are more collectors in the hobby than ever before. Collectors tend to pay market price for cards as they are planning on keeping them. The more collectors in the marketplace, the less room for flippers like yourself to make easy money. And frankly, I think it's for the best. The fewer flippers and middlemen trying to make a buck between the owner of a card and the collector who will end up with it long term the better for collectors.

[ALBB]

Yea, everybody looking for a deal, or a steal of a deal, or hustling around,, looking under " rocks" ....... me Id rather go the lazy way...sit on my butt...trying to win stuff off Ebay !

[Kutcher55]

People continue to return to the hobby. I’m 52 and my close high school buddy got back into vintage this year. I’m sure he’s not the only one. Much like during Covid times when the world turned sideways people take comfort in vintage sports cards to help cope with the increasingly scary outside world. The markets also play a role in this. Where there was a lot of free money floating around during Covid and lower income workers were impacted more negatively than people who could work remotely, now you have a year where the markets are all climbing like crazy. Who knows how long that will last but you have to think it’s driving prices up. Also this feeling that the dollar is weakening drives people to put money into other assets, like gold and like baseball cards.

[JJ McGraw]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

There are more collectors in the hobby than ever before. Collectors tend to pay market price for cards as they are planning on keeping them. The more collectors in the marketplace, the less room for flippers like yourself to make easy money. And frankly, I think it's for the best. The fewer flippers and middlemen trying to make a buck between the owner of a card and the collector who will end up with it long term the better for collectors.

Couldn’t agree more as a collector. But auctions , as we all see, are a crazy place right now. Even here on the BST , I see a lot of high end cards in the categories I follow and not much middle of the road. Facebook groups and eBay tend to be the places to get deals , but with eBay, you must factor in the tax and shipping , which can add $20 to the price. I got back into the hobby last fall and am very glad I did, having to relearn the current overall “lay of the land” since I had stopped. And even though that was barely a year ago, I’d hate to be re-entering right now, especially without the knowledge and insight I’ve gained since then. It’s still the greatest hobby and hunt will never be anything but thrilling and rewarding……a collector has to figure out what works for them…..and,of course, their pocket book.