player collectors, ever get discouraged by this?

[Rareairx23]

I just wanted to know how player collectors feel regarding this.... Do you ever get discouraged seeing cards you can't afford? What I mean by that is, does seeing cards out of your price range discourage you from continuing your collection of that player? Would love to discuss this topic as its something I think about alot

[JMarchand1981]

Nah. I used to PC Kobe. There is so much of his out of my price range. I would just acquire the stuff that I really wanted or that I thought presented well.

[JMarchand1981]

For instance, I really looked the 98-99 skybox premium golden touch. While not entirely out of my price range, it was more expensive than I had to spend at the time. I ended up saving up for it and was very satisfied when I picked it up, more so because I had to wait for it.

[rhigh2390]

Nah. I used to PC Kobe. There is so much of his out of my price range. I would just acquire the stuff that I really wanted or that I thought presented well.

Same thought process for me as well. I PC MJ, Pippen, Rodman, and autos of 90s Bulls players. Obviously not going to be able to get every one of their cards, but I try to go after what I can afford and what looks really nice.

[Rareairx23]

So many times there have been players I want to collect, but after looking at prices of said players I just move on to the next person, losing money and time in the process every single time

[JMarchand1981]

So many times there have been players I want to collect, but after looking at prices of said players I just move on to the next person, losing money and time in the process every single time

Just pick a player and set limits.

1) limit cost per card
2) limit what you have fiscally into that players collection
3) minimum and/or maximum number of cards you would like

[Hallco]

If you bide your time, eventually some of those out of your price range cards may come down to a level you can afford. Good for collectors, not so good for people only looking for profit!

[byronscott4ever]

Yes but only momentarily. Byron Master Collection jersey once sold for almost $100 and now is $20ish. Others are rare and high like logomen but with cost of one card, I can buy dozens of great cards so % I have is still good.

[Rareairx23]

Yes but only momentarily. Byron Master Collection jersey once sold for almost $100 and now is $20ish. Others are rare and high like logomen but with cost of one card, I can buy dozens of great cards so % I have is still good.
That's a good way to put it

[rodmanmartinez]

I know its hard to see them go, i've been luck with some of my most expensive cards, because got payment plans for my both most expensive, and they were 1/1's so i knew there was a very slight chance i wouldn't see them again.

You should try this....

[DalliLlama11]

Sometimes, I can't get a Wade Exquisite RPA (Would prefer 3 colors), they hardly pop up and when they do, they are expensive. I like to think at some point I will get one, because it is the NBA card I want the most. But if I don't, I always know that I can get multiple of his other nice cards instead. There are luls (usually offseason) of cards going up, so I try to save during that period to get a real nice card I want down the line.

[Mires]

It's just a fact of life. There are a lot of things I want that I can't afford. Cards are no exception. What's more discouraging as a player collector is seeing cards I can afford sit on eBay for years because their owners want waaaaay too much for them.

[AbraCalabro]

I just wanted to know how player collectors feel regarding this.... Do you ever get discouraged seeing cards you can't afford? What I mean by that is, does seeing cards out of your price range discourage you from continuing your collection of that player? Would love to discuss this topic as its something I think about alot

Not at all, in the past what I've done was just collect everything that both A, I could afford and B, appealed to me. In addition to 90s inserts, I'm a huge fan of photography, design and simple, but outstanding parallels, so I was always adding something.

If you keep up with it you will eventually stumble upon good deals and good prices from people who actually want to move the cards and make sales.

Personally, my PC has come a LONG way, it's funny you post this because I was looking at a really old thread asking members to list their top 10 cards they are having trouble acquiring and I pretty much knocked my list out since then.

Keep busy and stay patient.

[Deadshot]

I haven't collected a player in nearly 10 years, but it seems to have become much more challenging since then. The number of parallels and sets is astounding. Also, printing plates were somewhat of a hot commodity then, whereas now I see plates of star players ending for less than $10 (and the market seems to be flooded with them).

I had a nice little collection at the time, but probably a good idea that I stopped when I did. Although I collected Ron Artest, so my reasons for stopping were a little different. I didn't stop with the Malice, but once he kept causing problems and the team had to get rid of him, I decided it was time I do the same as well.

[AbraCalabro]

oh man, I remember that Malice at the Palace, quite a spectacle

[mrveggieman]

No not at all. I focus on what I can afford and not what I can't.

[JMarchand1981]

Sometimes, I can't get a Wade Exquisite RPA (Would prefer 3 colors), they hardly pop up and when they do, they are expensive. I like to think at some point I will get one, because it is the NBA card I want the most. But if I don't, I always know that I can get multiple of his other nice cards instead. There are luls (usually offseason) of cards going up, so I try to save during that period to get a real nice card I want down the line.

This is a great thought process.

[AbraCalabro]

No not at all. I focus on what I can afford and not what I can't.

veggie, some of the pics you have up on your site crack me up man :D

[mrveggieman]

veggie, some of the pics you have up on your site crack me up man :D

Thanks fam more to come. :p

[TBarn291]

It is discouraging, but not enough to keep me from continuing the collection. I had the opportunity to grab both the Tristan RC NT Auto/Logoman and Immaculate auto/logoman, but just couldn't bring myself to pay 4 figures for a Tristan Thompson card. It sucks, because they are basically the best Tristan cards made and I will never be willing to pay that much for them.

[MGoBlue]

I get a little frustrated by some of the newer cards that are just priced astronomically high. I choose to just not go after them anymore. When I first started collecting CWebb, if I needed it, I bought it. And I over paid on so many cards. I've learned to be patient and wait until prices settle. It's tough to do on cards that are numbered to 5 or less, but I'm tired of over paying for cards just to have them first upon release.

I've taken it a step further to combat my urge to buy new cards, and have completely cut myself off from buying anything after the 14-15 releases. Instead I try and focus on all the older stuff I don't have. But having close to 90% of all Webber cards made, it's tough finding much that I need. Which brings me to my second way of keeping myself interested. I buy tons of duplicates of cards I like. I set goals to go for a certain percentage of a print run. I chase jersey numbered cards and buy duplicates of patch cards. It's just a fun way to keep it interesting and challenging. But be careful, you can end up with an insane hoarding problem. Webber has a little over 3,000 unique cards, but my collection is upwards of 10,000 cards of just CWebb.

[MGoBlue]

Forgot to mention another fun thing I've been doing with the Webber collection. I am doing my own serial number count up with just CWebb cards to see how high I can go. It's fun searching for specific serial numbers. And it gets difficult past 100. I can currently only go to 100, because I can't find a card numbered 101/xxx. I'm searching for 17 different serial numbers and then I'll be able to go up to 200. But I can go to 100 with different cards 4 times.

Just another way to keep it fun.

[oshmeehan]

My PC player sucks and rarely is any of the higher end products anyways, so it really is never a problem for me

[Digerati]

I have plenty of fun collecting base and inserts of my PC guys with the occational jersey/patch and auto when and if i have cash to spend. I have no interest in spending thousands of dollars each month on cards. I can imagine that it gets harder and more discouraging when you start spending more and going for pricier cards, because then you start to compete with the big spenders for real.

[xavieronly1]

I still don't have Penny Hardaway logoman or PMG green. I don't feel bad because I enjoy other 2500+ cards in my collection rather than worrying for one particular card that I don't have.

Personally, I just got tired of many new releases rather than high priced card. There are just way too many products for Penny Hardaway after his retirement.

Like Matt said above, I usually pay good money for anything /5 or less right at the release. A lot of people said you have to be patient, so that the price will drop. I can tell you this does not work well for player collector (who just wants every copy).

First, low numbered cards do not re-surface on ebay very often. You missed the first auction; you don't see it again.

Second, sometimes the first copy in ebay actually was the cheapest. It happened when there were multiple listing of the same card. Supplies drove down the bid war. Sometimes, it was because the set caught on fire after a month of the release date.

Lastly, high MSRP for wax is a problem. People don't open older overpriced boxes. For example, 13-14 Flawless is such a failure at $1700/box. And because of it, I still don't have the 13-14 Flawless base /20. The last copy on ebay was like a year ago. The same happens to NT printing plates. People would not open NT at today price.

If money is an issue, I always nail down the "key" card. RC would be one of them. I would spend extra for on-card auto than buying 2 sticker auto cards.

Second option is to go for higher numbered parallel and to ignore 1/1. Like Prizm, I think gold /10 looks better than black /1. One can even think Select tie dye /25 is better (and cheaper) than gold/10 or black /1.

[hychang5]

It's impossible to have everything for most people. There may be less than 1% of the people who the kind of disposable income to grab everything they want. I started out with Kobe and Jordan inserts I could afford, less than $50, then worked my way up when my financial situation improved.

Collect what you can afford, I don't think you can really enjoy a collection that puts you in debt.

[Rareairx23]

Thank you guys for the input. I can definitely say im not in debt and i would never let myself get that way. But i look at the cards north of $500 and it kind of makes me feel bad that i cant compete with guys that have cards like that, because sometimes i look at it like a competition even though it really isnt.

[hairyangryfella]

My PC player sucks and rarely is any of the higher end products anyways, so it really is never a problem for me
Great advice... :confused:


For me, I started with a list of conditions:
- only rookie year
- no sticker autos
- no meaningless event worn patches (unless with an auto)

And got what I wanted and could afford. Since then more collectors seem to have come onboard so prices have gone up, so I'll only grab something if I really want it and it goes cheap. Just gotta realise that you can't have everything (even if you are rich) - as some people bust and keep everything anyway.

[rdleifriaf]

As an OCD completionist, it was always my goal to have 100% including 1/1's of Dominique. This was actually attainable all the way up 2005-06 as Nique only had four 1/1 cards at that point. When 2006-07 Triple Threads happened and Dominique had 74 cards in the product all numbered to /36, /27, /18, /9, /3, and /1... well, I stared the hobby straight in the eyes, almost left, and then I went all in. I'm only missing one /3 and about a fifth of the 1/1's from that product. It was financially and emotionally draining though. Since then...

No not at all. I focus on what I can afford and not what I can't.

This is what I've had to learn.

What's more discouraging as a player collector is seeing cards I can afford sit on eBay for years because their owners want waaaaay too much for them.

This.

Collect what you can afford, I don't think you can really enjoy a collection that puts you in debt.

Well I was enjoying it right up until you said something! :coffee: #teachersalary

Others are rare and high like logomen but with cost of one card, I can buy dozens of great cards so % I have is still good.

This is why I flipped the only logoman I ever had. It was hard, but I've always been more of a quantity guy than a quality guy and using the flip money for other purposes was a better fit for my collecting goals.

[bjho852]

Quite frankly, not at all. I already know from the beginning that there are cards that I will never be able to acquire financially.

[Ottomatic]

Nope, if I could afford every card and put in a 3,000$ bid on every card to ensure I win collecting wouldn't even be fun to me. I like having to save up for a big card or sell a few smaller one's to get that one elusive card.

Also going into collecting a player I realize I'm not getting every single card, I just go hard after the one's I really want.

[SteveO21]

It's just a fact of life. There are a lot of things I want that I can't afford. Cards are no exception. What's more discouraging as a player collector is seeing cards I can afford sit on eBay for years because their owners want waaaaay too much for them.

All of this.

I have always collected players that were more manageable financially, typically whoever the Pacers 1st round pick was that given year. I've basically given up on that approach though.

[jifengjeff]

Nope there are just so many cards i can't afford and it's just like life：）

[XARZY]

No I'm not discouraged because the day I win the power ball there will be a lot of people getting pms full of offers for those cards that got away the first time around.

[kukocitb]

When I see a card out of my price range it stinks, but it is a way for me to say I am "not addicted" to sports cards....LOL.

[james050713]

Op never compare your collection to others u will never be happy with your collection no matter how nice it is I PC 90s mj bgs 9.5 inserts and it is insanely expensive anything sells under 8-10k I will have at some point but common sense tells me red and green pmgs and essential credentials/9 are deff out of question gem masters gold die cut refractor bgs 9.5 and playmakers theatre (embossed with serial #) may be possible in the future