[jtraven42]

Jtraven - How do you check completed Ebay listing?

---

Don't be afraid either to buy older boxes, they can sometimes be cheaper.

I found 2006 Ultra and 2005/2006 Upper Deck Future Stars for about $40-$50 each. Got a bunch of great hits and were fun to open.

Over on the left hand side, apart from the search results, you'll see a bunch of result sorting criteria. About 3/4 of the way down will be a button for completed items.
If you're using the ebay app for smartphones, it's under the advanced tab.

---

Well put. Although I think you misspoke in #3. The hobby isn't dying, only the brick-and-mortar stores are.

I don't want to waylay this thread, but if it's not dying, then it at least needs an organ donor. I hope it never does, but my gut feeling is that it will eventually wither away.
But perhaps we should start another thread for this debate, it could be a good one!

[jd2k2003]

I don't want to waylay this thread, but if it's not dying, then it at least needs an organ donor. I hope it never does, but my gut feeling is that it will eventually wither away.
But perhaps we should start another thread for this debate, it could be a good one!

IMO it will only die (baseball at least) because of Topps. I sorely miss upper deck, donruss & pinnacle.

All the Brick and Mortars that I have been to in my area cater mainly to the Magic crowd to stay alive by hosting tournaments. over 90% of the stores are devoted to that stuff with a little room for sports.

[jtraven42]

IMO it will only die (baseball at least) because of Topps. I sorely miss upper deck, donruss & pinnacle.

All the Brick and Mortars that I have been to in my area cater mainly to the Magic crowd to stay alive by hosting tournaments. over 90% of the stores are devoted to that stuff with a little room for sports.

In the immortal words of Gold Five: "Stay on target. Stay on Target!"

[S3Consignments]

I'm still in education; I think you retired at just the right time!
As for collecting, the big secret is there's really no right way or wrong way. Everybody talks about their own systems and methods, but you need to experiment with what works best for you. Here's my advice:
1. Be careful with your cards. Penny sleeves and toploaders are a good idea, taping them in a photo album is not. I like to put my Topps sets in binders and store them on my bookshelf. Many people advise against this because the pages may sag. However, I've never had a problem and I like it. I also, take out my personal favorite cards and put them in the aforementioned penny sleeve/toploader situation.
2. Research prices. Like buying a TV or microwave or couch, shop around before you buy. That includes ebay too. Always check the completed auctions for a cards you're looking to buy. That'll give you a truer price than any Beckett guide.
3. Your Local Hobby Shop charges more, but that can be okay. Usually, these guys are small business owners who're trying to get by in a dying hobby. As long as the price is within a few bucks, I'll buy from him. If you're in this for the long haul, the discounts he gives you down the road will make up for the few more dollars you're spending now.
4. Collect what makes you happy. Lots of times, gents will ask on here, "What should I collect?" To which I always think, "How the poop should I know?" Collect to make yourself happy. I like the Orioles, who suck. And yes, it may be masochistic but I like to own players of my birds because I enjoy it. I'm not trying to make money, I'm trying to make memories. Don't open wax packs to turn a profit, open wax packs becaue it reminds you of summer days when you were 11.
5. Stop when you're not having fun. Baseball card collecting should be fun. When I jumped on this site full time around Christmas, I didn't know what to expect. But I found lots of nice, helpful people; and I've made a bunch of trade to help me complete my vintage sets. I have fun posting on here about cards. I hope you do, too.

I think that is about the best advice I've ever heard anyone give on collecting. If they had a thumbs up button I'd be hitting it for ya.

[capncush]

Hello Folks! I am a brand new collector, just retired from education. Don't know much about baseball except that I love to watch it. I just bought some things off Ebay and now I need to know what to do with it. I have lots of time on my hands and want to organize and store the correct way. If you can tell me what to read to get me started I would sure appreciate it. I have never been to a card show or anything. I just want to do this right. Please help by sending me in the right direction. Thanks in advance for all of your help!

welcome! i know other people have said it, but collect what you like. if we tell you what to collect, youll prob get bored real fast. theres another thread on the boards right now about buying used redemption cards, which i would assume 99% of the people on this board would think is completely ludicrous, but hey! were collecting pieces of cardboard with pictures of dudes on them. whatever. i personally collect dave justice because he was my fav growing up. i also collect cards containing maddux/glaving/smoltz together on them and also have a very small, but pretty good (i think) brian mccann collection. if youd like to see it, click the "dont click" link in my signature. i also prospect a lot to pay for these cards. i like it because the prices fluctuate more than the veterans' cards do. i just recently started liking some of the 90s cards. i usually go to shows and buy out someones entire collection of one player (ive done it with griffey, jeter, bonds, arod, maddux and ichiro so far). i usually just trade away everything or sell off stuff to make the money back but ive had the maddux collection sitting in my room for a month now, havent listed any of them on here to trade or sell because i just enjoy looking at them. idk. im sure in a little while theyll be gone and ill keep a couple of my favorites. just have fun.

my recommendation, pick your favorite player, current and retired. search through their cards on ebay and shows. if you end up liking all the new autos and memorabilia stuff, then go for it. if you like the vintage stuff, then go for that. dave justice worked out pretty well for me, because hes on the tail end of the 80s basic set stuff, then theres tons of cool looking 90s inserts and then theres a few 00s autos and mem.

[mikmouse24]

In the immortal words of Gold Five: "Stay on target. Stay on Target!"

ALLLMost THERE....ALLMOST THERE!...GGAHHHHHHH!!!
(insert explosion here)

---

GRatz on retirement and WELCOME to the hobby!!
i just got back into collecting a few years ago. What i found best for me is to catch up on what has happened over the years i was gone
--- TOPPS company has the SOLE MLB licensing now. that means the other card companies cant use the MLB logos, teams, etc...so topps has the corner (actually the whole city) of the market.
--- There are 2 kinds of 'boxes' or 'packs' of cards u can get now.. RETAIL or HOBBY..hobby packs and boxes tend to have better odds on inserts/auto/game used cards (again which are new since i collected as a kid) RETAIL are the packs and boxes u get a - well- u guessed it..retail stores, wal mart, target, etc. some people LOVE buying packs and boxes, some people buy the singles of the only ones they like. your choice!
-----REsearch research research----ask people here- post a question, we love to give our opinion and help steer you to a fun enjoyable (and hopefully profitable when you hand it down to the kids) hobby
WELCOME!!!

[Merovius]

4. Collect what makes you happy. Lots of times, gents will ask on here, "What should I collect?" To which I always think, "How the poop should I know?" Collect to make yourself happy. I like the Orioles, who suck. And yes, it may be masochistic but I like to own players of my birds because I enjoy it. I'm not trying to make money, I'm trying to make memories. Don't open wax packs to turn a profit, open wax packs because it reminds you of summer days when you were 11.

+1

Almost thirty years ago I collected the "Hot Prospects", HoF'ers and other random popular players. When I dug my collection out this year and went through it I didn't feel any connection to cards of players like Whitey Ford, Stan Musial, George Brett etc. and the values of these cards had all dropped...

The only cards that got me excited were ones wearing my teams uni's.

What local sporting events do you attend if any?

Welcome to the hobby, have fun!

[twhgracie]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post. You have been very helpful and I got some great ideas. So far I have bought a bunch of unopened packs of cards on ebay and have had a lot of fun opening them. I think I have about 6000 cards so far. I will try to organize them and see what I have. I really like the 70's-90's because that's when I was really into watching baseball. Those were my favorite players. And of course I will collect some of the recent cards because I love the Rangers! Well here I go! I'm sure I will be on here lots with a bunch of questions! I bought the Beckett book also. You can contact me on here with any suggestions. Thanks again everyone!

[jd2k2003]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post. You have been very helpful and I got some great ideas. So far I have bought a bunch of unopened packs of cards on ebay and have had a lot of fun opening them. I think I have about 6000 cards so far. I will try to organize them and see what I have. I really like the 70's-90's because that's when I was really into watching baseball. Those were my favorite players. And of course I will collect some of the recent cards because I love the Rangers! Well here I go! I'm sure I will be on here lots with a bunch of questions! I bought the Beckett book also. You can contact me on here with any suggestions. Thanks again everyone!

90's packs are so much fun to open because of all the different inserts and multitude of brands. Have fun! If you come across Griffey let me or akbobcat know

[uvaspina]

Start small and stay organized as your collection grows. Try buying a couple of "hobby boxes" (basically 24-pack sealed boxes) to get yourself started and acquainted with the different types of cards and inserts and loading them into your Org etc (maybe even try to start off by building a set from scratch). Figure out what you like. Maybe it's a player, team, era, brand, insert, whatever. Start collecting what you like and take your time with it. This site is a great place for trading. I just started collecting in the fall of '11 and I've already done 50 trades. You'll find the guys here fair and helpful, especially to the newer collectors. Once you figure out what you like, start browsing the active and completed listings to see what cards are selling for. (Believe me, your interest should be driven by the joy of collecting, not profit. But still, you want to male the best use of your dollar). Don't be surprised to see that cards may regularly sell for 25-75% of the "book value" (BV). Some cards might regularly sell well above BV (Jeter, Griffey autos for example, and short print cards).

My collecting strategy from the beginning was to collect 3 players: A young top star from my local team (Verlander), an established star whose cards are numerous and relatively affordable (Miguel Cabrera), and a young, upcoming player who I see as (still) having a high upside (Maybin). I recently started collecting Mike Stanton too. It's a little bit easier starting with a player who debuted in the last year or two; otherwise, it can be overwhelming to start collecting a player who already has THOUSANDS of cards. Start at the ground floor, so to speak.

Try to make a goal and stick to it (as long as you enjoy pursuing it). I'd advise against spending the bulk of your collecting resources buying boxes/cases. That's the gambler's/profiteer's route. Not. Very efficient way of building a focused collection.

If you decide to start trading here, don't be surprised if people ask you to ship first. It's a leap of faith, but still a pretty safe bet when you deal with the regular traders here. I have t had a single bad trade yet. Start small -$20-25 trades. Always feel comfortable saying no. (and don't be offended if people turn you down). Also, don't expect to trade 25 $1 cards for a single $25 autographed card. (you never know, but it's very unlikely someone would be interested).

Welcome aboard and good luck. If I can help you out in any way, let me know.