General Forum

Now, I know everyone's expenses and budgets are different, so just a general question.  What value do you put a stop at for collecting one single card? Let's say that you are one card away from a full rainbow, how much is too much to consider for one card.  I am having trouble getting some parallels and such of my collection priorities because they go for so much (mac jones plus more).  It has been hard for me to decide on blowing my entire monthly card budget on just one card or auto ect. 

Second question, when trying to obtain cards for certain players/teams and a completionist, what seriel number do you stop at? Try to obtain all cards over /25, or /5? Just curious on this one, maybe you don't even care much about parallels at all?

Debating if I want to use about half my monthly card budget on a Jaren Duran /75, or blow my whole budget on a mac jones auto.  Just trying to see how other people collect.

I don't have a budget number really. I just don't buy anything over about 15$....so I guess mine is "about" 15$. That being said, I have bid 30 or 40 on ebay when I thought something might fall to me that would usually go for over 100$, but I have never won one of those.

As for the /SN question...I am glad to collect anything, but I have set /25 as my lowest expected card. I have just been going through my Expos collection and, using the checklists on TCDB, entered them all into 9 pocket pages with spaces for cards I am missing. Any cards below /25 I did not leave space for as there are so many /3 and 1/1's that it would have left page after page of empty sheets. I figure I can always add a special page into those binders if I ever grab one less than /25.

When I got my new job 7 1/2 years ago, I decided to create a card budget, and for seven years, I've been great. It actually gave me permission to spend more than I used to. I'll get a bit over budget, or manage to stay under for a month or two. But at the end of the year, I'm always really close. 
Which still doesn't answer your question. Because I can't. For the last few months, I've gone upscale and bought way fewer, way more expensive cards. I've been trying to buy a bigger lot on eBay, but never quite win. So now I'm considering a single expensive card again. All of which is to say, if you really want a card, for whatever reason, and you can afford it staying within reasonable reach of your budget, go for it. If the price seems too much, wait until you find it for the right price or until your view of "too much" changes. 
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I have a self imposed $20 per card limit...if I didn't do that I'd be broke all the time. Moreso than normal, lol. However, if I find the right card I will go a little higher, although it's rare...the most I've spent on a card is $50. At least the most I can remember...it's not important so I generally don't remember that sort of thing. 

It's funny, cards have been one of the two main things in my life since I was four years old, it's my largest collection by a wide margin...my other main hobby is around 6300 items, while my card collection is nearing 200,000. Yet I'm much more likely to spend more in my other hobbies than I am on a single card. I don't know why that is although I theorize that it's because the card hobby is never ending. There are always more cards to chase, where the other hobby, 1/64 NASCAR diecast, is more finite. They only produce around 125-150 cars per year. I got more cards than that yesterday when I bought the MVP factory set. 

The most I've dropped is 60 bucks on a '63 Killebrew. That is rare. Its gotta speak to me specially to get me to spend over 20.

I have a self-imposed $20 limit, but I've exceeded that five times all for rookie cards - Willie McCovey, Catfish Hunter, Jim Palmer, and Kobe all for about $21-$23, and $35 for a Reggie Jackson.

Lately I've been considering buying a few more just above that threshhold only because my trade-first strategy has dwindled due to having fewer trading chips for the high end cards on my Want List. And as I've expanded my collection into hockey the temptation, or at least the consideration, to spend more has increased.

I'm more of a $10/card person, and it would have to be a 70s/80s card for me to do it. I also have a little more confidence that the player will still be notable years from now. The problem I have with buying an expensive Jarren Duran card is that he may be the next in a long line of so-so to who-knows Red Sox prospects that may make one's investment look silly in 5 years. I like him, though... he's got talent. This really is the year when we find out if he can stick in the big leagues and not just ride the hype train to a mediocre debut like last year.

Well, there are ways of looking at Duran. Trout had a medicore debut and look at him now... Or maybe he's the next Ellsbury, similar profile after all, just not injury prone! As long as he isn't Chavis...

For me, I'm not chasing down the parallels or specific base cards of any prospect. I'll get the sets that I need and those cards will be in there. often, the set will be less than the single card. It's why I laugh at the people shelling out $$$ for flagship Topps Fanco cards when the FS is 6 months away.

I totally get the dilemma....if you wait and the player doesn't pan out, you can pick up the cards for significantly less than you can when they are brand new. But, if he goes on to be a superstar the prices skyrocket and you'll have to pay more. 

I've had it happen both ways. Not cars but diecast, there was a promo issued in 2008 that was going for about $50 when new. I figured it would come down in time so I was wrong...I ended up having to pay $100 for it. Today it sells for about $250 when it comes up for sale, which is rare. 

Other times I got depressed because I tried to win an auction and failed, only to find it cheaper later....in at least a couple instances half of what my losing high bid was. 

You have to trust your gut feeling but also know that sometimes you'll be wrong and have to pay more later. 

I have exceeded $100 for one card exactly four times (the first two way back in the early 1990s when I was still a student):

1961-62 Fleer Oscar Robertson "In Action" ($120 CAD)

1986-87 Fleer Charles Barkley RC ($120 CAD)

1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky RC ($140 CAD for a pretty rough copy, after foolishly selling a slightly better one for $100 several years earlier while I was unemployed)

2017-18 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection VIP Signatures Wayne Gretzky AU ($170 US)

I didn't really want to spend that much for a signed Gretzky card, but needed one for this list and the cheapest Gretzky auto on COMC today is $471 (and that's for a lame unlicenced cut signature card with no photo).

I have probably spent between $50 and $100 another half-dozen or so times, but would be hard pressed to come up with a complete list.