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It is really tough to gauge value of cards unless you look at completed sales. I used to be big on Beckett Value but found this only held true during trades. However, some people used "sell value" while trading. If I want to know the value of a card typically I use Ebay Completed sales. This will also give you an idea of what specific brands go for. For example you could look at a brand of cards you are looking to purchase, pull up a checklist of that brand, and see what some of the cards go for. Again this isnt exact, but it gives you an idea of what you might get in terms of reselling the cards you get.

I am not familiar with Ebay's Completed Sales section, but I will look into it.

Forgive my novice questions - what do you mean by pulling up a checklist?

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In regards to getting cards that exceed the value of the box - it's a pot-luck draw. Some people seem to have nothing but luck in getting the high value cards/players all the time, some get no luck at all, others .... it varies. Basically, it's a hit and miss league. See it as gambling - sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. For me personally, i see it as a safe gamble regardless of what i get or don't get out of a box re big-price cards as i know that i am still getting value out of a box based collective price of the individual cards.

Is there something that I am misunderstanding? Wouldn't a box have to have the high value cards/players in there? I thought that was inherent to the advantage of having a box vs buying packs. I figured packs you take the gamble but the box is the complete set so there is no risk. Am I wrong?

If you're getting into the hobby purely to make money (i.e investment-purposes only), then you have understand that you won't always be getting what you want. However, if you're getting into it purely for the joy of collecting ... you'll get enjoyment out of it regardless of what you get in boxes.

I am not interested in the hobby purely to make money. I am interested in collecting good cards for select, good players though. So I am trying to develop a method for doing that. So if you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate it because I really don't know where to start.

The purpose of this thread was to get guidance on developing a sound approach towards acquiring cards. I am going to create a separate thread asking for help regarding a player whose card I want to get.

I appreciate any and all suggestions