I have some cards that are doubles, cards that I acquired as part of larger collection purchases, etc. that logically I know I should trade or sell in order to buy something that I want more. But I can’t do it. So many cards have a story or memory attached to them. So I just wait a little longer to buy the next collection addition.
Does anyone else spend too much time thinking about this?
All the time. I have to motivate myself to sell.
It kills me. I bought a ton of upgrade cards in the last year, and now, when I had promised myself I’d sell the ones I replaced, I find myself not able to sell them!
I also graded a bunch of cards that I told myself were purely for selling to get the cards I care more about, and now I want to keep nearly all of them. I’m insane.
Pokemon problems.
Absolutely. I am pretty sure whenever I sell something I will never own it again, so I have to make peace with that before anything leaves me hands.
Yes, if I sell something it´s only because I´ve something way better in sight or I really don´t need it anymore, otherwise I will regret it after a few days already
You guys sell cards?
Yes. I specifically bought multiples of cards because I knew I’d want to sell one day. A few weeks ago I was trying to choose which cards to send to PWCC and I couldn’t decide which I wanted to let go so I just kept them all lmao. These were about 5 different cards where I had 2 PSA 10 copies of each. The conversation is typically like “this one has better centering but this one has a SWIRL and the holo just POPS but that was also my FIRST copy”).
I also recently bought a card back that I graded myself. It was a good price, but I would have paid a premium.
I want to in order to justify spending a little more on cards. But I haven’t been able to come to terms with selling any yet.
I have no problem selling/trading off doubles. Gets me one step closer to completing my “one of everything” collection goals. I could never part with a card that I only have one copy of. Actually, I take that back. I sold my only copy of Espeon Dasuki club (PSA 9), so I could fund a purchase of an Espeon and Umbreon gold star.
My eeveelution collection for reference
Nope, I just stick to my main collection objective of having all Pichu cards in PSA 10. Anything which isn’t a Pichu, is lower grade than that or isn’t a strong 10 to begin with is something I’m happy to part with.
selling is tough, I like too many cards. At some point though I just need to make progress on my specific goals and let the cool stuff that comes up on the way go
its even harder when 90% of your personal collection is at grading so you dont even get to see the fruits of your labor
I find myself being totally irrational about selling cards all the time. I’ll give you an example. I had some Unlimited Jungle Holos that I got as part of a random binder purchase on eBay. They weren’t advertised in the listing, just some random cards that got included as a freebie. Once I got the order in, I looked at them once and then they were left in the binder for like 5 years. I threw them in with my Ludkins order to cash in on the 2020 hype and sent them in to be graded. Once I got them back, I suddenly had doubts about whether I should sell them.
There was no reason why I shouldn’t. I had better versions of every card in both graded and ungraded condition. I hadn’t looked at them in literally years. No rational reason why not to sell but I still found myself having doubts. What helped a lot was me just reviewing the situation with my wife as objectively as possible. Once I did that, I found that I felt better about selling. When the items actually sold I realized I had no issues letting them go. Another thing that helped was allocating the funds that I got from selling towards a specific item that I really wanted.
Yep, I have cards that I really want to sell so I can buy a big card I’m chasing, but when I try to justify selling them to myself I also justify keeping them 
For me I think about what I could buy with the money I would get if I were to sell and make my decision off of that. Also if I have multiples of a card I normally am attached to a certain one, even if the condition is worse. Off the top of my head I can think of a perfect example. I have multiple Arceus LV.X cards ranging from HP to Mint. I’m very attached to one of the HP ones because I pulled that SPECIFIC from a tin that was a gift from a family member. I have no emotional attachment to the mint Arceus since I just clicked BIN off of ebay, and so I couldn’t care less if I had to sell that specific card.
This is such a great question here (similar to a question I asked Scott in patreon recently as well) and for me that answer will be yes all day.
However theres something I sort of learned along the way in collecting in recent days which has helped me greatly in this regard. It started when I first came back to collecting, achieved a few goals (the usual get the WOTC stuff I once had as a kid ventures), and then began to notice how i felt on those matters. I found myself happy that I got those cards back, but also sort of detached too in that my nostalgia for these items didnt feel the same as they did prior. I attributed this mainly to the massive amounts of new things ive discovered leading up to today which has sort of been creating a new sense of joy in me thats way stronger than before. And this new joy i sort of view as “new nostalgia” points in life where these moments are ones ill look back on 20 years from now and truly enjoy the most.
With that comes the understanding though of what collecting is really all about which is making memories. Sure getting items and reaching goals is great, but its the journey and experience that youll be taking with you forever as opposed to the cards. Its the experiences, the moments, the friends, the chase, the passion, the love, and hard work and dedication which will overall be what you recall in the end and the item itself is just a secondary piece. So treating it as such might be beneficial. But in the end, this is all just one step of a much bigger picture in being a part of something as great as pokemon (or any other collecting hobby).
Hope this helps 
Yup. I’m a hoarder. But when prices are right and I have several copies, it’s much easier.
Yes and no. I sold off most of my graded card collection but kept my binders. I’ll probably never own the graded cards I sold again and that’s okay. I found that part of what I really loved about having them was just owning them once. They weren’t something I was particularly attached to, though if I could I would’ve loved to hang on to them for as long as possible. But, it also wasn’t hard for me to sell them off because the money I got from them was used elsewhere so in that sense they’re always with me? Haha, sentimental stuff here.
I’ve kept my binder collection but I think I’d have a harder time letting them go. The graded cards I bought because I genuinely loved the art but I didn’t pack pull them and I didn’t grade most of them either. I bought them because they were cool. The binder collection, however, I put a ton more time and effort into as I curated the various pages according to my completely random standards. That’s an emotional investment that I made into my binders that I didn’t with my graded collection. I think I’d still be able to sell them if I had to but it would be much more difficult than it was with my graded collection.
I think for me, and probably most others, cards that you have a genuine attachment to will be the hardest to let go. They’re often cards that are worth more to you than they are to others and I think that’s what makes them the hardest to move.
I feel everyone’s pain. When I first bought all my cards I only bought one copy of everything. I bought everything ungraded and wasn’t inspecting condition as much as I should have. Recently I’ve decided to sell all my cards that won’t grade a 8 or better. So lately I’ve been saying goodbye to abunch of cards that I don’t have a replacement for yet. Including shinings and many other big hitters. But I’ve been using that money to speed up the building process of my graded collection. It just sucks somewhat because sometimes I’m basically trading in 4 or 5 good cards for one PSA 9. I’ve also come to understand that most sets will always be easy to buy due to pop report so I’m not entirely stressed. I’ve just been focusing on completing the harder graded sets.
I also seen someone mention selling one copy that had a swirl which is what keeps happening to me. I sell my ungraded copy with a swirl and upgrade to a swirless PSA 9. Always happy with condition upgrade but always miss the swirl! I’m a nut for swirls haha
Even when the prices go up by xxxx% i still cant let them go.
Every logical person would do then and i should do too.
Maybe it reaches a Point when its so absurd i have to give me a kick^^
Only in the Hobby since a few Years and till now i only had one Exception to that Rule: Evo Boxes
When i saw the price i reconsider and found out i tricked myself and i dont liked it enough to hold.
Much Respect to Collectors that can sell to buy another Card !!
collect - verb (AS A HOBBY)
to get and keep things of one type such as stamps or coins as a hobby.
I do the above, so yes I’m having a hard time letting cards go