General Forum

Ugh!

  Sometimes my collecting obsession gets the better of me. My white whale was the 1995 Donruss All-Stars NL David Justice. I had the hardest time tracking this card down for almost 20 years, then it popped up as a part of a lot of 95 Donruss cards. I payed $41 for the lot (which did have some nice inserts). In any case, the day after it arrived, I saw it on eBay for .99 cents. I've now bought 3 of them for less than $4 total within the span of a few months. It's moments like these that I finally understand Charlie Brown. So, what's your white whale story?

Lol, dude that sucks! I always check a Beckett value first so I know

Several times ughh! 

I always have the current yearly Beckett Bible handy, but only as a barometer for what a price might look like on a national scale vs regionally. Like I said, I did get some really nice Mound Marvels, All Stars, & Longball Leaders in multiples -it's just that my interest was only in the DJ card. I've been collecting as long as I can remember, and I've just come to accept that this is a price we pay as collectors. In my case, I payed the aforementioned $41. Haha.

Never really worried about what I paid for a card because that was obviously what it was worth to me.

If it shows up cheaper later the so be it. I still only paid what I was happy to for it.

Not a card, but I once paid almost $50 for an out-of-print Anthony Braxton CD on ebay and then found one for $10 in a used CD store in Montreal before the copy I bought on ebay had even arrived.

Six months later I found a brand new copy in a cutout bin at Sam the Record Man in Halifax for $2.99.

I actually recently paid $27 after offering that to a seller listing a card for $39. Just a parallel #'d out of 10 for my Ryan Zimmerman PC and I felt there was a good chance I wouldn't see another one. 

No less than two days later someone posts one for BIN at $2.99. Of course, right? I did grab that one too, figured what the heck at that point...

Very rarely do I se something for sale that I was previously looking for because under most circumstances I stop looking. However, there are times when some things show up again because my ebay saved searches overlap. And if it's too good of a deal, just like weekendroady above me here, I have snapped a couple up (and then flipped them in sales or trades). Simolar to what DodgyDave said, I never pay more than what I'm comfortable with paying, so if I got a card for $50, I know that I got a fair (and maybe even a good) deal already. If another one comes along for even less after that, oh well. Someone else will be happy as well. :)

Not for .99 cents but many times I have found a cheaper one. Even when I have bought from Ebay. A few times just moments after commiting to buy the more expensive one. This doesn't include the times when the copy I am purchasing is in much better condition than the other copy.

I have done the exact some thing for other types of collectibles and items of all kinds. There are some kinds of merchandise that I try to only buy at the dollar stores cause I'm cheap.

It has happened to me both ways.

I (very) rarely spend too much money on cards, but I've spent $10 on a card I really want, only to find it for $5 a few days later, things like that.

On the other hand, the only time I spent more than $100 on cards was to buy a 1982 Hawaii Islanders set that included my white whale, Tony Gwynn card. I paid about $120 for the entire 25 card set (VG/EX), and the Tony Gwynn card alone is going for over $200 on Ebay. 

So I keep the positives and forget the negatives, at the end of the day, I got the cards I wanted and it makes me happy.