General Forum

Thanks everyone for sharing.  I hate the million different parallels and the "inserts" that are produced at the same rate as base cards.  I collect sets of base cards, and I basically just buy sets now instead of putting them together myself because I hate getting only 3-4 cards in a pack that my go towards me building a set.  As a collector of racing cards, I hate we only get NASCAR and F1 cards.  Hopefully we get that first Indycar set in almost 20 years this year.  I hate that the 2023 Donruss sets featured 17 people who didn't even compete in a race last season, yet we have many drivers in lower series and owners and crew chiefs that have never had a card made.

One thing that I have run into several times just in the last couple of weeks is eBay sellers not knowing what they are selling. They have the wrong parallel listed. Also some say it’s a full set but it’s a combination of the base and parallels and then they say you are trying to cheat them when you inform them.

Price of unopened products is number one for me, by a mile, several hundred miles. 

I just used the online inflation calculator. In January of 1989 a pack of cards was .50 for most releases, except for Upper Deck. Today that .50 has a buying power of $1.27. 

All the other doesn't bother me at all:

Sorting cards relaxes me.

Postage, I can mail 20 cards to anywhere in the United States and have near certainty they will arrive safe, for much less than a bottle of soda from a gas station. That is a crazy deal. 

Thanks, Frank 

There is nothing I don't like in the hobby. The chase to find those elusive cards to complete sets is a huge part of what the hobby is about. I enjoy finding large lots of several thousand of cards for me to sort through (wish I lived closer to baseballcardstore.ca); the number of parallels and inserts put out today don't bother me as it is my choice to collect them or not; the price of new packs again doesn't bother me as I choose not to buy any. I am a patient person so short-time collectors who joined as a fad will go away. Breakers will also disappear; there are already a lot fewer of those advertising on this site (thank you!).

I will say, those who do not respond to messages do bother me but that is true in real life as well so I don't put it as hobby specific. And those who are like this, raised in a barn as we used to say, I will simply ignore in all aspects, be it if they offer me a trade or what they post in the forums. Just like what I do in life. And then there are those who collect yet complain about things involved in collecting. 

Wow - I was just about to post something very similar to this. Cards are my hobby. If there is something one is not finding enjoyable about one's hobby, maybe one should look for a different hobby. I have enjoyed the hobby from a young age, and have been involved in almost every aspect of the industry (and enjoyed being in those roles). I posted a forum thread a few years back with an exchange with an ebay seller who was just completely out of touch and I even though it was clear I wasn't getting the card I wanted from him, I had fun with the exchange. So even with people being amazingly greedy or outrageous, I just laugh it off and have fun with it.

Also to note what Bruno said about being "a patient person", I have enough cards here that I'll be entertained with them without the need to add more to stay entertained by cards.

Even though my life seems like it has revolved around cards, my life is not all-consumed by cards. This past weekend was the local card show, I did not go because we had some other things going on. I probably could have squeezed a quick visit in (almost drove by the place), but because cards aren't that high on the list of "important things", skipping it (for like the 4th month in a row) was not an issue for me. (Maybe I'm a "bad" collector.) 

This right here is what bothers me.  The hobby has always had people trying to make a buck and values associated with popular cards, but it seems to be at an all-time high right now and it has infected kids who watch these breaking videos and dealers making deals videos on social media and youtube.  For those people it's not a hobby at all, it's gambling, an attempt at a side hustle or investment, blah blah. I"m glad that regular collectors and traders still outnumber those people though.  I went to a card show with my co-worker as we both love collecting cards.  He brought his 10 year old son has who has a locked case he brought full of different graded cards and he was trying to cut deals with the dealers there on different cards.  When I asked him what players or teams he is looking for, he only seemed interested in what kinds of deals he could do, no actual interest in his collection.  

I get it but I just dont know why, If you collect the right players that you like they may be worth more someday. Hopefully Keibert Ruiz is the next Johnny Bench or Gary Carter because Ill hopefully be rich. I will say though, at least they are out there trying to make deals. 

I disagree with the Junkwax statement. There are a ton of junkwaxers who have embraced the term and still collect it to this day. I'll add that most of us collecting during that time also thought we'd be rich one day from our amazing collections much like the flippers are trying to do now. I don't condone their actions and wish like everyone they'd quietly remove themselves from the hobby.

My biggest dislike in the hobby is folks judging how others collect. Not saying that's what you were doing by any means. Simply meaning those flippers/investors/influencers bash cards that collectors are excited about constantly on social media.ie, they could care less about the Dale Murphy autograph i pulled but I couldn't have been happier.

Billy Kingsley wrote:

Four way tie: 

Exclusive licenses. 

Small sets. The largest NBA set is 300 cards, there are 525 players in the league, for example. 

Needing a lot of cards from a set, opening a pack and getting only duplicates. Even worse if you buy a whole box and get a bigger stack of duplicates than number of cards missing. 

The term "junk wax". You know automatically that anyone who uses the term is a flipper, not a collector or fan of the sport/subject of the cards. You can't really have a conversation with them because you know they are in it for the money. 

I would have said buying single cards, but that can be fun, when you are knocking out the last couple cards needed to complete a set for example. 

Sometimes...I'm colorblind, makes it interesting. I just get the wife to help.

I would say most of us here are old school collectors.  As a whole we enjoy it, or we would be doing something else.   It is a part time hobby, (hobbies are for enjoyment and fun).   We have lives to live.    Spring, summer, fall my computer time goes down fast as the garden grows and needs attention.  Our gardens and lawns are a hold different story.

We all look at the hobby in so many different ways, that is one reason why so many people love card collecting.   We can do it our way.

We also see areas.   Use whatever words you want to:   frustrating, hate, bothers, least favorite, don't like, don't use, wish it would change.   These are small areas in the world of collecting and most of us just live with it.   No big thing for most of the time but it hits a nerve now and then!!   

If anyone reads this posting (and others.)   Then changes something, they are doing it is worth it to hear people complain.    

A friend gave up cards after many years of collecting and started to golf.   Within a year and a half, he gave that up.  Cost, people ahead of him and behind him yelling speed up or slow down, finding people to golf with that he liked.  Some of the same reasons he gave up cards.  (prices and dealing with some people).  We had a good laugh about it.  He is fishing now.  Cost is still high, but he enjoys it.