[tshaw31]

I have been collecting on and off for about 15 years. But recently i have noticed i have been spending a ton of money on cards and other items So I slowed down thinking I may be getting to much into the hobby. I thought I was in a bad way spending a grand in a month on cards mostly busting wax. But then I met mike. Mike is a guy I work with who is twice my age looks 3 times my age and is always pissed off at the world for no reason at all. I began talking to Mike about collecting since he told me he was into the hobby too. I soon found out mike may be a full on collecting addict he collects every sport and is obsessed with what ever he is working on at the time. He goes to the national every year and i go some years but i take maybe 500 of spending money and dont ever spend it all. Mike sold his second car to fund his spending money at the national! He has a room of cards literally a room of just carboard boxes binders whatever he can store cards in. He says he has over 2 million cards. He is a baseball fan he put together the topps gold sets from 1999-2009 he said he put almost 30 grand into it! His new obsession has been 1970 baseball player autos he has every players auto from just the year 1970 on 8x10s he said its almost 800 8x10s even at $5 a piece you do the math. If this guy made big money i could understand but trust me he doesn't and all he does is complain about money but he spends at least $100 a day on ebay. EVERYDAY. He is on his 3rd wife because each one left him because his spending on the hobby. I told him about the ravens changing there training camp rules to 15 year olds and under only for autos from the players. I collect autos from outside the arenas and through the mail too. But I told mike i think this is a good idea considering the ravens are doing this due to children getting hurt as adults mob the players. He literally stomped his feet and was screaming about how this is unfair and these athletes are paid so much they should be obligated to sign whatever is put in front of them be no matter who or what age they are! He is the kind of guy who would rush a minor league players dinner table while he has a fork in his mouth trying to enjoy his dinner to force him to sign a napkin. That begs the question when does it go from a hobby to a serious problem that could just ruin your life? I am not writing this to talk down on collectors or this collector just in general i just would like to know everyone thoughts on where is the line between a hobby and a problem.Please comment on this subject i am actually thinking about using this as a topic for a paper in one of my classes in the fall. Thank you Also if anyone else has stories like this please share them.

[will23c1982]

"Mike" is really you, right?
Seriously though, I can definitely see how people get so hooked. I've definitely got an addictive/obsessive personality (I used to be a smoker, I get obsessed with things very easily, I use the internet far too much, etc), and I think card collecting taps into all of my obsessions: money, basketball, collecting, trading, art, etc.
I think it's ok to have a hobby like this though. You just have to learn to put a limit on what you spend.
And anyway, the great thing about collecting cards is that you can always just sell them all if you need the money - I think I'd actually make a profit if I chose to do that.

[grob366]

I can see that... there is a very fine line, and we all walk it. I enjoy opening boxes and packs, but I don't enjoy spending money (partly because I don't have very much). I'm the typical tightwad. $700 per week on eBay is way too much. You need to take a look at your life and your habits sometimes. I take this story as a warning.

[kenarm79]

That story is funny and scary at the same time. If Mike really does those things I'm surprised no has put their hands on him yet. I think Mike has an extreme obsession. On the other hand if you collect, at some point you WILL reach some form of an obsession.
I didn't think that I would ever buy a card for $100. That changed. I stop collecting when I was a child. When I tried to get my oldest son into collecting things changed so much that it facinated me. I wasn't used to seeing game used cards. Auto's weren't that frequent when I collected. I even enjoy SN'ed cards.
That's just my two cents.

[tshaw31]

if you guys find this guy funny i have hundreds of stories of him acting like a child over the hobby. i am thinking about making this a thread with a new story every few days just to keep you guys entertained and to help me keep my sanity because this guy drives me insane with how he acts lol

[xstreaminsanity84]

lol. I've asked myself this question many times. I am in noway able to spend $100 a day on cards (wife, two kids, bills, etc.) But if I could, it'd be hard to stop me. I never used eBay until this year. Then boom...between 50-75 every paycheck on ebay. That might not sound like a lot, but on my budget it is. I've done good and have avoided ebay the last two months. lol. I have been trying to buy hobby packs/boxes more, but when I walk into Wal-mart, I can't help to look in the card section. I keep telling myself, if I don't buy 5 plasters, I can get a Hobby Box. So I pass on it like 3 times.....then I crack. And crack again, again, and again. Yeah, it helps my sets, but at the same time, when you buy a blaster and you only get three needs for your set, 4 hits that aren't that great, and 40 doubles, blah. lol. For a while there, everyday when I got home, I'd check ebay for an hour, adding cards to my watch list, making sure they were the day of or two days after my next paycheck, then find a way to move bills around so I could spend money. I could partially consider myself an addict. And my OCD is only with my cards. They have to be in the correct order. My PC cards have to be in sleeves that aren't too long (it doesn't seem like they make short sleeves anymore, ) My tradeable cards have to all be in the system before I trade (Just finished this thank heavens). At one point, I way making sure I'd scan every card before I sent off the trade so I could update the system and keep them for my own personal knowledge. Well, when you have a 100+ card trade, that can take some time. So then I started doing it for cards I didn't have doubles of or was collecting the set, and that still took some time. I missed a lot of good family time and it ended up making me take a week away from cards totally. What happened the following two weeks? I was on cards hard. Staying up until 3 to sort out cards. Just last night, I was up until 3:30 putting cards I had gotten in trades into the correct order, making sure they had the right sleeves, making sure they were in the system properly, making sure if I collected the set I had a double (one for the set, one for my PC), etc. Yeah, I can live off of 4 hours of sleep, but I shouldn't. But the good thing is, now they're all organized, I only have to sort cards I get in trades, all of my doubles are in long sleeves so I can get rid of them, and I don't have to spend as much time on them. I get my hobby and my family as well. All I need to do next is buy more binders and pages so I can get my building sets out of boxes and into binders. I tend to like that better when going over the years. Sorry for the lengthy response, but the story keeps me from going that far, and hopefully this story combined will do the same.

[will23c1982]

It was interesting to read your reply, Xstream. I personally don't get obsessed with how I organize my cards, but maybe I should start giving more thought to how I organize them. At the moment, all my 'random' game used and auto cards go into penny sleeves and sometimes top loaders and then into cardboard boxes. However, I hate having them hidden away in boxes, and it's difficult to find them again because they're in a random order. Meanwhile, my Bowman 48 set (including autos) are stored in a binder - I prefer storing them like that, because I can easily pick up the folder and look through it and show friends and family.
I'm glad I don't own millions of cards. I couldn't cope with that many cards. I currently have about 150 game used and autographed cards, and that's plenty for now.
I've spent $900 on cards since Christmas which is far too much (about $150 per month). I'm a geography teacher at a school in the United Kingdom, and I don't earn that much money. My girlfriend is really concerned that I'm spending too much on cards.
I think my (and I assume other people's) problem is this: knowing when to stop. For example, I wanted to complete the Bowman 48 auto collection, but I thought I'd take a year or two to do so. Instead, I did it in just 6 months. And now I find myself buying loads more cards as well, even though they're not part of any particular collection. In other words, I am buying for the sake of buying!
I'm currently considering just collecting HOF players. That way, my collection has some sort of purpose and direction. I think you need a goal. That way, you keep your spending under control.

[hlc1949]

If it affects ones life and family in a negative way, it is a problem. A hobby is a fun activity and should not break the bank, or place a persons well being, food, shelter, emotional life in jeopardy. A person must be able to step back and honestly evaluate the situation, and be willing to admit to the problem then be willing to change the destructive behavior.

[xstreaminsanity84]

hlc1949 Wrote:If it affects ones life and family in a negative way, it is a problem. A hobby is a fun activity and should not break the bank, or place a persons well being, food, shelter, emotional life in jeopardy. A person must be able to step back and honestly evaluate the situation, and be willing to admit to the problem then be willing to change the destructive behavior.

Agreed.

[xstreaminsanity84]

Will23C1982 Wrote:It was interesting to read your reply, Xstream. I personally don't get obsessed with how I organize my cards, but maybe I should start giving more thought to how I organize them. At the moment, all my 'random' game used and auto cards go into penny sleeves and sometimes top loaders and then into cardboard boxes. However, I hate having them hidden away in boxes, and it's difficult to find them again because they're in a random order. Meanwhile, my Bowman 48 set (including autos) are stored in a binder - I prefer storing them like that, because I can easily pick up the folder and look through it and show friends and family.
I'm glad I don't own millions of cards. I couldn't cope with that many cards. I currently have about 150 game used and autographed cards, and that's plenty for now.
I've spent $900 on cards since Christmas which is far too much (about $150 per month). I'm a geography teacher at a school in the United Kingdom, and I don't earn that much money. My girlfriend is really concerned that I'm spending too much on cards.
I think my (and I assume other people's) problem is this: knowing when to stop. For example, I wanted to complete the Bowman 48 auto collection, but I thought I'd take a year or two to do so. Instead, I did it in just 6 months. And now I find myself buying loads more cards as well, even though they're not part of any particular collection. In other words, I am buying for the sake of buying!
I'm currently considering just collecting HOF players. That way, my collection has some sort of purpose and direction. I think you need a goal. That way, you keep your spending under control.

lol. Thanks. My problem with my Pistons is that I want to collect all Pistons cards, one of each. It's not obtainable, but I can try. The problem with putting that in a binder and my organizational OCD is that I'm not collecting in order, so I'd constantly have to rearrange the folder. Which, believe it or not, I did at one point. lol. Right now I'm at 1650+.....................of 16000+. And my issue is that just this year alone, there were 1600 new Pistons cards. That's because of parallels and unfortunately, over production. Some I most likely won't get my hands on, like many 1/1's. I'm not the only Pistons collector out there. But I wouldn't be happy just collecting one or two players. I'm a team fan, just so happens my favorite player is on my favorite team. I've tried coming up with the best ways possible to collect all of the cards, but I keep getting stuck. Here's my Theory:
Cards are made, they have a value. Overtime, because of player stats and other releases, value goes down. Between 10 and 20 years old is when the cards are at their lowest. I can get Pistons base from 1990-97 for less than $0.25 each on average. My problem there is that most of those aren't serial numbered and during those years, only 400 were put out a year. So IF I were to get one of each of those cards from that time, it wouldn't take too long except for hunting them down. Cards older than 1990 are starting to go up in price. And I can't justify giving up nice looking cards for older cards, not yet at least. Those I may just try to buy on the bay, I don't know year. But my dilemna is this. If I got all Pistons cards up to 97 and it took 5 years, we're talking maybe 5000 cards. But, in that 5 years, at an average of 1250 a year, another 6250 cards were put out and the prices are now going up. There's not end to the madness. That's why every trade I do is for any and every Pistons card I need, from base, to GU and AU. I love trades where someone wants three superstar base that comes out to $20 and all they have of Pistons if 100 base cards just over $20 total. Talk about a good deal. And another sad part is grading. I don't care about the grade (still want the grade though), but I want ALL of my Pistons cards graded. Addiction, maybe. And growing.