When I entered the hobby just a bit over one year ago, I set some clear collection goals as to not lose myself in endless purchases and going bankrupt. Back then these goals seemed reasonable, but the market has changed and unless prices will finally start to stagnate or retrace, it’s time for an adjustment. One possibility would be to scratch one entire mini-set from my list and sell the cards from that mini-set I already own to come closer to completing a different collection goal. That means I would sacrifice one major goal to keep another major goal within reach, so to say. I don’t know if that’s the right decision or if I would regret selling a semi-complete mini-set I have made decent progress on already, but I fear that I might end up with 2 incomplete mini-sets forever instead of owning at least one complete set, if that makes sense.
Is anyone in a similar situation? If so, how do you handle it?
Do you like one set more than the other? If so I´d sell off the less favorite one to get my favorite one. If you like both equally as much, I´d hold both, with enough patience it might be possible to complete them with some time.
Do you value a complete set more than the individual parts? Then selling one incomplete set to get a complete set might make sense.
We are in similar boats. I bought a few cards to complete sets, where i enjoyed 70% of the set, and bought a few remainders to finish. As time went on i realized I really did not like the card as much as i though, and now i have all these cards in the set i do not want.
I am looking for ways to sell some of the sets to go for a single card I want rather than entire set.
Like you, i started when prices were not too crazy, but now most of these sets are just out of reach. I might abandon some of them all together and just get single cards from now on.
I do like one set more than the other, but both are top tier really. And sure I value completeness over many of the individual cards, but not over all of them. Maybe keeping the favorites from the semi-complete set while liquidating the rest is an option…
Do you fear that you will regret selling your cards later on? Because that’s what I fear. So often I read about collectors regret having sold their cards, but I almost never hear from people who regret keeping their cards.
Haha literally in the same boat as you right now. For me, Ive decided to sell off the partial sets that I dont like as much in order to finish the ones that I like more. While I do like one or two cards from the sets I’m selling, I also value completeness, so if I sell part of the set, Id have to sell it all. But that can be a good thing as you’d have more resources to complete the set you like more.
At the end of the day, Id rather have a few cards I really like, than a lot of cards that I kind of like.
I’m in a similar position so I understand where you’re coming from. I started on PSA 10 English ex in 2019, that quickly got out of reach, I adjusted that to PSA 9+, and now the prices for many 9s are above where 10s were even in mid 2020.
I’m now in a position where I can spend a lot of money and make a small dent in this goal, or spend less money and make serious progress towards other goals.
I would advise strongly against selling, and more towards refocusing. I’ve been (back) in Pokemon for going on 7 years and my only regrets are selling items out of sets I wanted to complete and not buying more sooner. Obviously the second part comes with the benefits of hindsight but my current goals would be a lot easier if at some point I didn’t sell some cards from them off. There may be a time when you realize for sure that a set is not what you want to go for, or you may realize that a set which didn’t interest you too much in the past is more appealing. Selling a collection is a lot easier than putting one back together.
Very similar situation for me. I also got back into collecting slightly over a year ago and my original goal was to collect NM/M binder master sets of every WotC (1st Ed. where applicable) and EX Series set. At the time, this was pretty achievable; I had about $200k in MTG cards that I was determined to sell and relocate into Pokemon, which would’ve allowed me to comfortably finish every master set in the condition I wanted to (and probably have some money left over).
By around July/August of last year (~8 months after starting), I was ~75% done with WotC (excluding 1st Ed. Base) and 90%+ done with EX Series. But over the fall 2020 months, as we all know, WotC prices went out of control. As someone who both grew up with the EX Series and prefers the sets aesthetically to WotC, I ended up deciding to sell out of WotC and focus purely on EX Series. I also made my EX Series goals much more ambitious.
Reflecting on this, I’m incredibly happy I made the decision to focus my collecting. While it would be nice to collect both EX and WotC, I only have finite resources. And I have limited emotional attachment to WotC, whereas the EX Series is hugely nostalgic for me. Ultimately, I’d much rather have a complete collection of one era than half complete collections of multiple eras.
That’s what I’d personally recommend: go super deep into whatever cards you’re most passionate about. You can’t collect everything, but you may be able to collect everything within a narrower scope.
Happened to me. I bought a lot of the first edition psa 9 shining cards and I realized I not only highly dislike cards in English because of the cardstock and print style, but I wanted something more closer to home. I started collecting Japanese promos and now I have some cards I just see as stock and others that I can identify with.
And I think it’s a good thing. It’s how I’m growing and using cards I once loved to leverage into newer, harder to collect pieces.
I’m in a similar position so I understand where you’re coming from. I started on PSA 10 English ex in 2019, that quickly got out of reach, I adjusted that to PSA 9+, and now the prices for many 9s are above where 10s were even in mid 2020.
I’m now in a position where I can spend a lot of money and make a small dent in this goal, or spend less money and make serious progress towards other goals.
I would advise strongly against selling, and more towards refocusing. I’ve been (back) in Pokemon for going on 7 years and my only regrets are selling items out of sets I wanted to complete and not buying more sooner. Obviously the second part comes with the benefits of hindsight but my current goals would be a lot easier if at some point I didn’t sell some cards from them off. There may be a time when you realize for sure that a set is not what you want to go for, or you may realize that a set which didn’t interest you too much in the past is more appealing. Selling a collection is a lot easier than putting one back together.
“Selling a collection is a lot easier than putting one back together.”
I really like that and it’s very accurate. The key thing that jumps out to me when reading your message is that patience is needed.I was talking with some fellow collectors on the phone awhile back, and we all talked about what if’s and scenarios. Many of these collectors have amazing collections well into 6 figures. This wasn’t coming out of regret, but what we were talking about is that
how many of us rushed to complete collections.
We sold off so many things and spent x00% more trying to grade the cards our selves by buying & cracking boxes. That lack of patience and willingness to wait till the card came up graded or complete sets popped up is the reason many people sold off things far too quickly. I had around 20+ WOTC 1st ed and ex boxes. I don’t regret opening up loose packs, but I wished I had more patience to wait for cards. I was able to make considerable progress this year and I’m sure had I been patient I would have been able to collect much easier.
Ive done this several times too first with 1st ed base, then gold stars but now I am very happy with getting the 3 ereader sets in the exact grade I want. Maybe it takes time to figure out what you truly value. In the beginning its easy yo be overwhelmed with everything
Don’t sell anything you love. Even if it takes a long time to finish it. I mean, for me, it defeats the purpose of even buying cards in the first place. Going back on buying something that you bought because you love the art and what the card means to you in the first place. I agree with many others here.
My take on money: Comes and goes. But once it is gone, you have something that lasts forever. It is why I hate spending (a lot of) money on transitory things like food and drink, but don’t mind it on things that last forever. You look back on it and have something to show forth.
This is a great thread!
i scoped my goals down to what truly matters to me, and extended the timeline for completing them
Similar thing happened to me last year with some of my collection goals. My mentality towards it was to rank my goals based on cost really. I’m focusing on collecting some cards that are almost guaranteed to appreciate(WOTC), so I am trying to pick them up before they become too too pricey. My other goals that won’t hurt my bank account too much, I just end up grabbing cards here and there if the price is good, but #1 priority will always be saving up to get cards for my most expensive goal. For me right now it’s the t17
I’m being severely overpriced lately, so I’ve given up some goals that I wanted to achieve at some point. For example, I wanted to collect some of the goldstars. I’ve decided that I won’t be touching goldstars, not even raw ungraded.
Right now, I’m focusing on going for the cheapest cards in my wish list. For example, I have a couple of cards from Generations that I want to buy to complete the set. Just a Gulpin, Dedenne and things like that. I’ll focus on that during this year.
I had other goals that are more expensive, but I’ll wait. I think we are in a bubble right now (even if it’s not very popular to say so). If I’m right, I’ll buy those cards cheaper in the future. If I’m wrong, maybe I’ll buy them more expensive or I’ll just give up.
I’m actually thinking about quitting the hobby once I’ve finished (or not) my initial goals if the market keeps going in this direction. It’s not that fun for me anymore. It’s either quitting or focusing on brand new stuff at retail price. Older cards are out of reach for me.
Same boat as everyone - all my goals are nearly out of reach, except singles that are in the $800-$1000 range. Even then it’s not even worth it to me personally to spend that much on a single card. So for now, I’ve taken a large pause on purchasing and plan on coming back in 8 months to 1 year. By then if nothing has changed, I will re adjust my goals and continue collecting. I did start buying collections and cards in January 2018 so I do have a large amount that will hold m over, but I wasn’t as targeted as I am now for specific collections. Live and learn
This is a great thread to gain insight on this subject. I am also outpriced (severely) for a lot of my wants. I had already fine-tuned my collection goals to collect only Japanese promos as I have a monthly budget that I set aside to spend on my hobbies. I never overspend past this budget. Currently, I am taking it very slow. For now I enjoy the hunt of cheap modern Japanese promos or even overlooked older Japanese promos that somehow never got picked up. Personally, I would never sell any cards I have to buy cards I don’t have, as I know I will regret it. I am at peace with not being able to buy a lot of my wants anymore and just enjoy the ones I have.
Cheers!
Thanks for the input everyone! I have decided to hold on to my cards for now, at least to those which are part of my collection goals. There will still be plenty of opportunities to sell, should it really become necessary.
Completing Base Set 1st Edition was never my goal and I thought the cards were out of reach. That was 6 years ago…
Then I got the full non holo set and thought that was the best I could do… then I got a few holos and then a few more. Then I thought the best I could get is a PSA 7 Holo set or higher.
Today I have every holo graded PSA 8 or higher and a bunch of non holos waiting for a psa submission. Goals can change in your favor even if originally impossible. Keep working it brother!