General Forum

As someone who enjoys collecting base sets regardless of which cards are deemed "good" or "common" gives me something to do. The value doesn't specifically matter to me as much as acquiring the cards I am wanting for my collection. I do enjoy the opportunity to make a small profit on cards I am uninterested in keeping when the opportunity is there, but primarily so I can put the money back towards other cards I do want since many of my PC cards are much less likely to be traded for than purchased. I don't want to overpay for a card and very rarely will buy an expensive one. I have little interest in graded cards, but do own a few. I collect primarily because I enjoy it and am more interested in both sides being happy in a deal than making sure the values are even. That isn't saying if I have a card worth around $20 that I would be trading it for a base card of a non-name player in a set I am building. I have always felt the value is subjective though as it is a matter of what someone is willing to pay for a certain card and what personal value/significance a card has to the owner. I am sure I would value some of my cards much higher than others because of memories/stories behind them or personal reasons that others may not have, and visa versa where they have a card they deem much more valuable than I would.

In a long story shortened, I would still collect and would likely acquire way more cards than I already have.

I think I still would.  The only time I give much thought to how much my collection is worth, as a whole, is when I pass away. 

My wife and kids really will have little use for my collection once I pass away, and I am completely ok with that.  My hope is that when they sell, they get a fair price. The amount will not be life changing, but hopefully there is enough where they can go to a few baseball games, get really good seats, and order whatever food and drink they want.

It would make me sad if I knew they sold the whole collection for $100 to some POS.

Mood. Value and artificial scarcity gatekeep less serious collectors. For example, there's a red lava refractor George Foster card I'd love to have, but Topps decided to make only 5 of them for some reason, so I can't get it. On the flipside, my 2020 Opening Day Blooper card means the world to me, even though it's an unnumbered mascot card.

I'd absolutely keep collecting.

I am counting down the days until my cards are worth less so hopefully PC cards I still want will also be cheaper!

Just look at how many of us are trading to finish off junk era sets.  Half the time the postage is more than the value of the cards we're sending back and forth.  That alone proves that there are plenty of us here that aren't collecting for "value".

I basically already collect this way. The only time I care about the value of a card is when there is one I want that gets too expensive for me to buy.

yes sir!

I'm still holding out for the 88 Score Gregg Jefferies I collected in bulk be worth something by the time I retire

Count me as another yes.  My main goal in being in this hobby is the enjoyment of acquiring new cards for my collection.

Yes, a very large percentage of the cards in my collection are worth less that $1. I will never have buyers remorse by picking up low value cards and it helps keep me on budget.