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HellsCollect
Posts: 6
Joined: Aug 2023
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 1:54 PM | |
Hey All, Im Z. I wanted to introduce myself as I have recently been getting more into the sports card collecting hobby. My dad and I bought a handful of baseball card boxes/ packs when I was younger and playing little league and all of that, but never really got too deep into the hobby and sort of fell off from collecting anything for a while as I got older and moved through high school and college. My dad has always been a big comic book collector, and spending time with him and going through some of his comic collection recently has really brought me some new energy around wanting to get more into the card collecting hobby. Over the last month or so, I have been starting to build my own personal collection and have been enjoying getting into things. I think I am just going to be focusing on baseball for now, but I might expand into some other sports as I continue. I really enjoy watching football, basketball, baseball, and hockey, but I think I will stick to baseball for now to try and keep from going crazy with spending money on things I want to get. There have been some cool card shows around my area that I have checked out, and I found a couple nice hobby shops nearby, too. I was really excited to find this site as it seems like a great way to organize my collection and connect with others in the hobby. Looking forward to being part of the community and learning more about the hobby! Feel free to message me or comment on here if you have any tips or advice for somebody just starting off!
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BigEd76
Posts: 3,656
Joined: Nov 2016
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 2:02 PM | |
Welcome!
Just starting out, my first tip would be to figure out what it is you'd like to collect since there's so much out there and it gets extremely overwhelming (and potentially expensive!). A favorite player, a favorite team, possibly a full set if it's within an acceptable price range, maybe just relics or autographs. Collect what you like, not what it could potentially be worth to some other collector. From there, figure out storage -- do you want to keep them in boxes and look at them by hand, or 9-card pages where you can just flip through and not get skin oils on them, or hard plastics, etc.
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* Ed * L8 * Cards in my personal Collection are unavailable *
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tcdbkrn
Posts: 584
Joined: Aug 2020
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 2:20 PM | |
Hey Z, welcome to the community! Love hearing about your journey back into card collecting and the special connection with your dad. For tips about the site, the FAQ at https://www.tcdb.com/FAQ.cfm is a great place to start. If you have any other questions or need guidance, don't hesitate to reach out. Happy collecting!
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GoldenEagles555
Posts: 533
Joined: Apr 2021
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 2:21 PM | |
Welcome to this amazing site and community. Aside from figuring out collecting habits as Ed mentioned above, this is a good post to check out to see the basics of what you can do on this site and how to do it.
Please read this thread if you signed up for TCDB in 2023
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zmaciag
Posts: 49
Joined: Nov 2022
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 2:24 PM | |
Welcome to the site and back into the hobby!
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Dmbramer
Posts: 556
Joined: Dec 2019
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 2:33 PM | |
you will Greatly enjoy this site. You will expand your collection for Minimal $$ here if you have a good list a "traders". cOST OF POSTAGE AND AN eNVELOPE,.. WELCOME.. ps.. PWE is Plain White Envelope..
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HellsCollect
Posts: 6
Joined: Aug 2023
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 2:59 PM | |
Thanks for the advice on getting specific and thinking about organization, Ed! I would definitely love to get into all of the sports I enjoy watching, but yeah, I figure that is going to get overwhelming and expensive quickly. I thought I would focus on baseball as that is where I started and what I already have a small amount of. I can tell there is already a ton to learn just on the baseball side of things, and already plenty to spend my money on lol, so I think I will be mainly focused with that. My dad has a couple of late 80's/early 90's boxes and sets, and then we got some random boxes and packs when I was younger like I mentioned, so I figured I would start with the most recent years and work my way back towards what my dad has.
I am not fully sure on my plan yet more than that, but so far I just know I enjoy opening packs and looking for autos/ relics/ hits. I have also been finding a lot of satisfaction in the organization side of things and think it would be cool to try and build some full sets, too. I am sure there is probably a better use of money in the hobby than buying boxes and opening packs, but I enjoy the fun of it. I purchased a few different boxes/ packs that I have been opening and cataloging over the last month and it has been a lot of fun. My Dad has always taken good care of his comic collection as he has some really valuable ones, so I knew the importance of organization and storage from watching him. I have been stocking up on penny sleeves and I bought a few large cardboard boxes at card shows to help keep things all in one spot as I go, and it has been super satisfying to start to build my own little personal collection!
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GoldenEagles555
Posts: 533
Joined: Apr 2021
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 3:04 PM | |
As DmBramer mentioned, don't feel like you need to spend a ton of money on completing sets unless you want to.
This site makes it extremely easy to trade for just the cost of postage and mailing supplies. Just enter the cards you are looking for in your want list, enter the cards you want to trade into your "for trade/sale" list and let the site do the matching. I've received over 10K cards I use to complete all sorts of sets just by trading.
HellsCollect wrote:
Thanks for the advice on getting specific and thinking about organization, Ed! I would definitely love to get into all of the sports I enjoy watching, but yeah, I figure that is going to get overwhelming and expensive quickly. I thought I would focus on baseball as that is where I started and what I already have a small amount of. I can tell there is already a ton to learn just on the baseball side of things, and already plenty to spend my money on lol, so I think I will be mainly focused with that. My dad has a couple of late 80's/early 90's boxes and sets, and then we got some random boxes and packs when I was younger like I mentioned, so I figured I would start with the most recent years and work my way back towards what my dad has.
I am not fully sure on my plan yet more than that, but so far I just know I enjoy opening packs and looking for autos/ relics/ hits. I have also been finding a lot of satisfaction in the organization side of things and think it would be cool to try and build some full sets, too. I am sure there is probably a better use of money in the hobby than buying boxes and opening packs, but I enjoy the fun of it. I purchased a few different boxes/ packs that I have been opening and cataloging over the last month and it has been a lot of fun. My Dad has always taken good care of his comic collection as he has some really valuable ones, so I knew the importance of organization and storage from watching him. I have been stocking up on penny sleeves and I bought a few large cardboard boxes at card shows to help keep things all in one spot as I go, and it has been super satisfying to start to build my own little personal collection!
Edited on: Aug 23, 2023 - 3:04PM
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lildog7
Posts: 877
Joined: Aug 2020
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 3:08 PM | |
Unless you have focus, you can easy find yourself wasting a lot of money and feeling overwhelmed.
To repeat what's already been suggested, I would try to determine what you want to collect. Do you want to be a set collector? Team collector? Or just a player collector?
Once you pick what you want to collect, then you have to start small. Pick something you feel is attainable.
Keep what you collect organized. This site is great for keeping your checklists up to date, but along with that you need to store the cards themselves. Some people like boxes, others binders. Find what works best for you. And if you wish to trade here, keep your doubles organized so you can find them when requested in trades. Over time, problems happen, things get off. Sometimes (as in my case) you'll find that you misread numbers on cards or whatever, but don't add to that by being a disorganized mess. I keep 3 large boxes for doubles I have listed and I have them sorted by years and brands.
Another key bit of advice, set a limit for what you are willing to spend per card. Cards can get pricey and there are collectors who will drop thousands on single cards. Personally I set a limit at $5 per individual card. For bulk lots I used to try to keep it a penny per card but have since upped it to 5 cents. You can still find a lot of bulk junk era lots for a penny per card (junk era is mid 80s to mid 90s). Limits do get frustrating when you need that one last high valued card, but they'll prevent you from over spending if you get too carried away.
One last bit of advice, don't be afraid to ask questions. Most people in the hobby want to see more people get involved and they certainly don't want to see new collectors taken advantage of by internet scammers, and trust me on places like ebay you'll find tons of those. If something doesn't seem right or you aren't sure if something is a fair price or not, feel free to ask for help.
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HellsCollect
Posts: 6
Joined: Aug 2023
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| Wednesday, August 23, 2023 3:14 PM | |
Thank you, GoldenEagles555!
That's really cool!I joined the site as I thought it had the best tools for organizing compared to others I looked at. When I joined I did not realize there was such a community built around the site, too, so thats awesome to see. I figured I would work on cataloging all the cards I got from the boxes and packs I recently bought, and then I was going to go through and start marking all my duplicates to my for sale/ trade section and seeing if other members have cards for sale/trade that I need to complete some of my sets. I have a few more boxes I need to catalog, but almost ready for that stage!
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