Say you have the money upfront and want to go after a set that you don’t currently own. Do you prefer to buy a complete binder or each card individually?
To me it just seems so joyless buying a complete set, even though its usually cheaper, easier and you can still be happy with the quality of all the cards because you can get clear pictures of them all. It’s usually being sold by a collector who’s built their collection carefully, so it pretty much aligns with what you would look for in the quality of a raw set. Something about hunting each card out and waiting for it to be delivered, then organising it into gaps in a binder is so gratifying.
To anyone who has bought a complete set before, did you find it any less satisfying?
Definitely prefer collecting the individual cards personally, even though it takes longer and creates a lot more waste with the mail and things. I enjoy the “journey” of collecting and like taking my time building up my collection if I can, as it feels more satisfying to complete after a longer period of time. I also like to be more picky with the rarer cards, so I can eventually complete a really clean set in the end.
In some cases, I’ve purchased larger lots/parts of a set because it was simply a better deal at the time compared to individual cards. Other times I’ve looked at complete sets and I found that people would off-load a lot of poorly conditioned holos and things (especially on vintage cards), so I tend to avoid complete vintage sets unless I really know what I’m getting myself into.
So I think it just depends on how you want to collect, I can see the appeal of doing either way depending on the circumstances and what exactly it is that you’re buying.
I’ve bought a few complete sets and reflecting back, I don’t have quite the personal connection to each card from those sets since I bought them in one go. However I did get a good deal and I still appreciate that I have them. In one instance I bought a non Pokemon set that I’m not sure I would even be able to track all the cards to, and it came with numbered cards that may never go up for sale. I definitely took time to appreciate that one. I guess it just depends on the situation and the person.
I’m thinking of this from a vintage angle, so that would significantly increase the price haha!
Just thinking about base set 2, with little interest in having the “set” because I have base sets already, but more interested in having a fun little thing to scratch that collector itch. And I’ve always never paid attention to base set 2 but don’t really have any other vintage goals right now. So I wouldn’t want to buy a full set because I don’t really want the set of you know what I mean, just want the collector serotonin boost.
For traditional sets, I always liked to buy complete non-holo sets. These are commonly available for vintage WotC. So for example, I’d buy a complete set of Base 17-102 and then collect all of the holos one by one, choosing each one with care.
Then when I’m finished I go through and upgrade anything from the foundation that needs to be replaced.
I’m interested, do you feel you appreciated the cards that arrived as part of a set the same way or did it take the joy out of it a little? Like when I receive a single in the post I love just taking time to really examine it for a bit before it fills it’s gap. Did you feel the same when they arrived as a set, or was it more switch focus to the singles straight away.
I’ve never been in this position for a vintage set because my childhood sets were either complete or basically complete and I had to buy the singles when I got back into collecting to fill any gaps. Base set 2 I’ve just never had a thought about doing and have never really owned any, but could be a fun little project because all my other goals are waaaay to big or optimistic right. It’s sadly dulled the joy of collecting a bit because it’s waiting for stuff to pop up on the market, or saving enough to pull the trigger on grails.
I could buy a full set now but I’m not chasing the goal of actually having the full set, I’m chasing the joy of collecting.
It’s really interesting hearing everyone’s thoughts though, and hoping other people are in a similar position. I really just can’t get into modern cards so can’t satisfy that collector urge that others can through that. (Maybe this should have been a “how do you satisfy your urge when you don’t have much you want to collect or everything you do want is a loooong term goal thread” haha)
If the set were 100% complete, or if I wasn’t upgrading cards over time, I would feel that way. In the past, the easiest cards to sell were the cards I didn’t put any work into collecting. But completing a partial set is still an involved process that occurs over a period of time where I have lots of opportunity to build a relationship with the set.
For me completed set is usually and always my choice. I am assuming that we are talking about bigger sets not like a sub set of promos or Japanese exclusives i.e. munch set, poncho etc.
Completed sets have the weird outcome of usually being much cheaper than buying all individually. By this I mean in certain context of course. Sellers usually put more higher value on completed sets and will hold out for a price higher than what it would take for them to put together another set but usually through auctions these completed sets seem to always do a bit below what you would expect. This is why when sellers are selling huge sets they inevitably end up breaking it up.
In an entire set there might be a great number of cards that are very desirable but some that are pretty much trash in the eyes of certain buyers. This is why people try to bundle up those undesirable cards with the ones that are more eye appealing. As a seller you want more money because it has all the cards but as a buyer you might only want certain cards and wont pay for those cards you don’t want ending up with much lower hammer price. Sellers usually argue that they put a lot of time into completing the set but the buyers also have to put in time after the fact to sell the cards they don’t want trying to recoup some cost of attaining all the “other” cards especially if the buyer already owns some pieces.
TLDR: Sets are usually cheaper cause seller doesn’t want to piece out individual cards and neither does the buyer. You pay less because its convenient for the seller (most of the time). Full sets offer no liquidity if you are in need of money, so they are more likely to dump fast and more on the cheaper side to get that influx of cash.
edit: think about this as a seller who are you more likely going to give a discount to, someone whos buying 100 cards totaling 10k or someone who is buying 1 card for 100 dollars.
From a convenience perspective: finding full sets of cards when I was missing like 3,000 different cards from my set binders was very nice.
From a sentimentality and collecting perspective: looking back I couldn’t tell you prolly even one of the cards that was in the full sets I bought. Like others have said, you remember the individual cards you hunt much more and they have more sentimental value to you.
The only set I bought complete was Base Set. Sure, it wasn’t the best deal ever and the hunt is fun, but it gave me a nice start to build my collection on which at the time consisted of individual cards from various sets. I definitely still buy larger lots though and flip the duplicates.
The few sets I’ve bought “complete” were annoying expensive. For example I bought a complete PSA 9 Skyridge holo set (twice actually) because it was priced out with a bulk discount. Likewise, I’ve also bought a (near) complete CGC 9 Team Rocket Returns ex set because it was priced cheaper than the sum of it’s parts.
Basically the cheaper, the better. Typically it’s cheaper to hunt for deals by buying single cards but when it’s not I chose to buy the set all at once.
Not a conventional set collector myself. The only ever set I brought complete was the Pokemon Wen expansion. It was a great deal to buy the full set compared to the individual cards, since most of the cards are reprints of iconic card artworks, some of them were expensive. I tried to do the same for the Pokekyun set and also got lucky to get the full set for fraction on the price of the sealed box and the individual cards. Since sets are not my primary goals, I would like to buy the full set of I can rather than hunt for individual cards.
I collect Promos and sometimes having a group or most of some of the low tier promos together (gym challenge, Meiji, McDonalds etc) is really convenient and easier on the wallet. Although now it’s highly unlikely to get a complete set of promos for anything.