[elite football cards]

I do both. I buy a ton of singles on eBay and COMC, but every time I go to Walmart or Target I check out the blasters and rack packs. About 1/3 of the time I end up buying a couple. I also tend to put in a couple large orders of boxes around major online holiday sales (i.e. Black Friday). I love the fun of opening packs and putting together sets, but I find the deals I can get on singles I want to be much more cost efficient then opening packs.
If you look at it strictly from a money perspective, opening packs is like buying lottery tickets, while buying singles is more like putting money into stocks. With packs/lottery tickets you could win or lose, and when you win you could win really big. While with singles/stocks you know what you are getting, and the market could still fluctuate but at least you made the decision on which player/card to buy into.

+1 awesome post

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WAAAY back in the day I used to only buy hobby boxes...I never pulled anything worth the money that I spent on the box...I would accumulate all of these inserts & commons that nobody wanted...I STOPPED doing that... NOW I only buy singles because I would rather spend my $200-$300 on a card that I really want instead of a box of crap & be pissed because I didn't get anything good (can't even break even)...Because of this new method for me I've accumulated a jaw dropping collection that I am now proud of & I'm not stuck with $5-$10 dollar pieces of crappy players that nobody wants....if you have a pack ripping addiction.....I guess its better than being someone with a heroin addiction but either way your out of money & still have nothing to show for it...

"That will be 10 cents please because my 2 cents is always for free"

Thank you this is sound advice for me

[kata78]

I learned the hard way. Buy singles. Buying an Auto or Patch or your favorite player is much more satisfying then pulling some scrubs Auto from a box. You will be happier in the long run, I know I am. My collection is small but sweet, quality over quantity all the way. I only buy 2 or 3 boxes a year now to keep the thrill alive and 9 times outta 10 I sell it all.

[nol84kc]

I bought a box of 2012 bowman chrome and am keeping 3 cards from the box and moving the rest ha.