General Forum

Thanks for all the insights here.  I have found pretty quickly that the value tcdb says my cards have is not close to what I can expect to get.  If it were I would be ahead but alas it seems you sell for much less than what the going rate is.  I was lucky enough to pull not one but two Alexis Lafenerie cards selling for $240 a piece but I'm terrified if I put one up on ebay it will sell for $50 and i will be wondering what happened 

My opinions:

You most always spend more than you will ever recover in this hobby.

Buying collections locally from facebook marketplace or craigslist can be a good way to acquire a lot of cards pretty cheap but you might get a lot of cards you didn't really want to collect.

I think if you want to collect cards that can sustain value you are better off buying vintage stars. I don't know that they will go up but they have mostly settled in at their value.

Buying new and buying new packs is a money pit and if you want something to sustain value this is not the way to go.

If you want to collect vintage stars like Gretzky, Hull, etc. you can probably buy their older cards and they should hold thir value quite well.

Luck=make money.

Fun=trade and ignore the $ ;)

it seems you sell for much less than what the going rate is 

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In that regard, you never have to worry. The price a card sells for is  EXACTLY what the going rate is. That going rate just might not be as high as you would hope for as a seller.

I learned something about this world a long time ago; collecting anything is a sure way to lose money. If you want to make money then treat it as a business and just sell what the market wants. Trading card for card will never put money in your pocket.

With that said, if you set a budget that you are willing to part with and will also be happy with, then you'll never feel as though you've lost anything and only added to your collection. I set my budget at $250/month (including shipping, supplies and stamps) but I almost never hit it.

When I die, my wife is going to throw my collection in the trash because she doesn't want to deal with it, but while I'm here it gives me a lot of joy. This is a hobby for me and I treat it that way.

I have approx 7800 cards listed here with a price of a little over $8000.    If someone wants all of them at 50% off  ($4000)   I will thrown in approx. 100,000 more cards 100 or more complete sets.  I would still lose money on the deal.