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bakerybum
Posts: 223
Joined: Sep 2019
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| Sunday, July 19, 2020 10:39 AM | |
As a set collector I am not chasing rookie cards or inserts or autos. I want the set. So unless the doubles I pull are Patriots or a select few players they are all going for trade. Normally I get my base from lots I have purchased or I buy boxes. I'm wondering people's views on when it is no longer worth it to buy boxes anymore and just look to finish the set through trades. For example - I'm 70% complete with the Score 2019 base and 75% complete all the parallels. That means I have 131 cards left to complete the base set. Now I can spend $30 CAD on a box that has 132 cards in it but are the odds no longer in my favour and the majority will be dups? I typically stop buying boxes when I'm around 80% complete. Is this a good approach or should I continue to purchase boxes? I just don't want to be throwing my money away.
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hawkking
Posts: 899
Joined: Mar 2015
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| Sunday, July 19, 2020 10:59 AM | |
I think at that point I'd stop buying boxes and look here to trade or on comc for individual cards.
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Always looking for Blackhawk hockey, Notre Dame Football, White Sox and Bears Stuff. I have a plaque in my card room that says, "I could have been a millionaire but my mom threw out my baseball cards". How apropos!!! Collecting Chicago Blackhawks Hockey, Doug Wilson Hockey, Chicago Bears Older, Notre Dame Football in their college jerseys and Chicago White Sox.
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ravensray52
Posts: 306
Joined: Apr 2020
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| Sunday, July 19, 2020 11:03 AM | |
When the number of duplicates begins to approach the number of new cards its time to stop. Unfortunately it also looks like 2020 has made buying boxes not worth it.
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bakerybum
Posts: 223
Joined: Sep 2019
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| Sunday, July 19, 2020 11:08 AM | |
Yeah I have no 2020 sets at all yet. Was looking to get the Score 2020 but can't find boxes anywhere and the prices online are insane.
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jimetal7212
Posts: 4,386
Joined: Dec 2016
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| Sunday, July 19, 2020 11:40 AM | |
When I came back into the hobby in '17 that was my goal too, to build set from busting a box. I realized quickly enough that it was not the most economical way of doing it. I'm not chasing the AUs and the guaranteed hit was usually a MEM (especially the dreaded MANU ones). When I paid a lot for a Bowman Draft box that year I decided enough was enough at that point. The value for me wasn't there. Now I just purchase the sets from eBay or, for Topps, just get the FS at the end of the year. I can get the complete set and, a lot of times, most of the insert sets for less than the price of a box. Example, I got the 2020 Bowman set, base paper, paper Prospects and Chrome Prospects, for less than 3 digits after shipping/tax. A boxes alone were going for $200+ and that would get you nowhere close to anything. I'll buy packs from the store (well, until recently at least) to get the busting itch scratched and add to my trading stock. I'll also buy lots from eBay just for that purpose also.
Edited on: Jul 19, 2020 - 12:47PM -------------------------------
When the sky is coming down When you feel like you're going to drown When you know the end is all that you've been looking for When the pain is too much to bear When there's no one who will care
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captkirk42
Posts: 2,169
Joined: May 2011
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| Sunday, July 19, 2020 12:00 PM | |
The way they seed boxes now days plus all the inserts and parallels they make no box is worth it. If you can't build a set from just one maybe two boxes it is no longer worth it.
On the card of the day post for today (Sunday 19 July 2020) Billy mentioned he bought a case for that particular set and when all was said and done was 5 cards short. Plus one box of was all duplicates of another box.
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I collect: Baseball, Football, Hockey, Mostly Vintage pre1980, My Homie teams - Washington/Baltimore Teams Senators (Twins, Rangers), Expos/Nationals, Redskins, Capitals, Bullets/Wizards - HOFers - Non-sport (mostly TV shows and movies). My Trade List is very much a work in progress CaptKirk42s Trading Card Blog Curly W Cards Strive For '65 YouTube klandersen42
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Aycee
Posts: 133
Joined: Jun 2017
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| Sunday, July 19, 2020 1:00 PM | |
For the rare set I want to complete I typically stop between 65-75% depending on the duplicates. If I'm in this range and low on dupes it means I've gotten lucky, but it will be tougher to trade every duplicate for a needed card. In this case I would trade up to around 85% completion and purchase the rest. There is no math behind my reasoning though. In case of a high dupe count I start trading earlier.
Basically due to the sickening prices I've quit collecting sets except for the NBA Donruss and Hoops base set. I just buy a card or one box of cards I like these days. It leads to the collection becoming a totally random mess but I'm starting to like that. I'll accept that I won't finish a set and keep what I'm dealt for the sake of my wallet.
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BigEd76
Posts: 3,668
Joined: Nov 2016
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| Sunday, July 19, 2020 1:21 PM | |
For Upper Deck hockey, I buy one box from each series then get whatever I'm missing through ebay (or sometimes Beckett if I can find some Young Guns for cheaper prices than ebay)
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* Ed * L8 * Cards in my personal Collection are unavailable *
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BobbyL
Posts: 272
Joined: Mar 2018
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| Sunday, July 19, 2020 9:38 PM | |
bakerybum-Are you not getting any match alerts for your 19 Score? Should be other football collectors looking to trade. I work my match alerts to generate most of my trades. I dont have my inventory listed here, already had it listed on another site. I did look at your 19 Score wantlist and probably gave 50-60 of the cards you need. Unfortunately, there were no matches from my wants. Good luck and work those match alerts.
BobbyL
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Billy Kingsley
Posts: 7,487
Joined: Aug 2011
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| Monday, July 20, 2020 5:11 AM | |
It varies. A large set like O-Pee-Chee I could see doing three hobby boxes or more. For most sets I try to do a hobby box and a blaster, but I'm not always able to do even that. Like Kirk said about my comment, there's not really a foolproof way to do it.
I prefer opening packs and boxes to buying singles. That's not fun for me until I feel like I've done all I can and then just filling in the blanks.
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VERY slow trading due to health problems. Not transferrable so safe to trade with, just moving is painful and can't always access the cards. Cardboard History My COMC New Collection Website: Cardboard History Gallery (Still under construction) Tips on how to make your scans look like the card does in hand (No more washed out, fuzzy scans!):
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