Quote:Sorry bud, but your about 20 years behind in the industry. If you asked, 99% of collectors will tell you they chase big dollar cards and constantly try to trade up to increase the value of their collections. And why would we do this? Because ultimately nearly everyone see's a dollar sign attached to each and every card they own. And while I agree that every dollar people throw at their collection isn't initially meant for investing, virtually every collector tries to angle for cards that they believe will increase in value with the sole purpose of future sales or getting more in trade for card "x" than what they have in to it. Investing.

(05-09-2016, 08:31 AM)djohn Wrote: The 2 options are tough, because I do both and the wording is a bit loose. While I collect my favorite players and put together sets, I also like knowing that the cards are worth money and can be resold down the road. Maybe if the poll allowed for multiple selections, and you had a list of things like "collect favorite player or team", "build sets", "gamble on packs/boxes", "speculate on prospects", "look at cards as an investment", etc. then you might get a little more out of the poll.
I saw your discussion with HOFcollector in the other thread, but decided not to chime in there as I believe neither of you are right. I believe there is a good mix of true collectors and investors, however more and more collectors are dabbling in the investing side of things. Though I say investing somewhat loosely, as I believe a lot of people are gambling more than truly investing. Every time someone buys a pack or box, unless they are just doing it to put the set together (which very few people do anymore), they are essentially gambling, hoping they get a big hit or something they can use as trade bait.
You are right that card collecting has changed quite a bit from the 80s and 90s. Back then everyone saw the value of cards from the 50s and 60s rising and in turn thought the same would happen for modern cards at the time. Of course, with more and more people collecting the card manufacturers started making more and more cards (rather than keep the demand high, they just kept printing to keep the supply above the demand). Of course as those 100 card lots of base cards ended up not increasing in value, a lot of the people started dropping out. The baseball strike in the mid-90s also hurt things quite a bit. Almost 10 years later began the big homerun chases and inclusion of game used memorabilia, low serial numbered cards and autographs (at decent odds), and that fueled the market for a few years. Of course PED allegations hurt things, but mostly it just further hurt the overproduced rookies of the 80s and 90s stars that were part of the allegations. After a few more years things evolved again as pack/box prices started rising and people began joining box breaks with the lure of hitting big at a fraction of the cost of a box. At the same time, card grading has exploded (it started in the late 90s, and has been increasing ever since), and this has lead to increased interest in vintage graded cards as well as modern cards with high grades (i.e. 9.5 and 10). While you still have true collectors, there are more and more people collecting simply for the chance of gambling on a box break, speculating on prospects, or investing in graded vintage.

(05-09-2016, 04:26 PM)Hofcollector Wrote: I like Djohn as he always has something to contribute and is a fair trader but as he pointed out, we don't always agree. He mentioned that people may be more gambling at times than investing. My point is that's all that investing is. Gambling.