Budget Collecting and Buying on Internet Auctions

8/31/2013

I live far out into the big woods.  There are no cards shops close by, so locating cards is a hit or miss affair.  I check thrift stores or the occasional yard sale.  Sometimes I find cards, most times I do not.  My cache of cards to be cataloged is getting smaller and smaller.  I collect 2005 and older so retail is not and option for locating cards either.  I decided to take a look at biding for some cards on a internet auction site.

I looked at Ebay and a few other sites, but finally decided on SportsLots for my first test purchase.  This site is a little different since there is no snipping or last second bidding.  The auctions close after the item goes 3 days without a bid.

The first set of bids was on 1967 Topps Baseball and 1964 Topps Football.  I won 4 of the baseball and 1 of the football.  $1.25 auction and $4.55 shipping = $5.80.  Did not do very well.

The second set was a single item, 34 1970 Topps Baseball.  Won at 0.25 and $4.25 shipping = $4.50, did pretty well.  The cards were in EX+ condition except 1 was in VG.

The third set was more complex.

• 1983 Fleer 507 Sandberg NM won at $3.50
• 1986 Topps 255 Football Esiason EX+ (tiny corner chip) won at 0.25
• 1989/90 Topps Hockey 1 Lemieux NM won at 0.25
• 1971 Topps Baseball 8 card lot(7 EX+/NM 1 poor) won at $2.75
• 1976 Topps 500 Baseball Reggie Jackson(EX+ little off center vertical) won at $2.75
• 2 Largent Football 1979/1980 (NM) won at 3.00
• Shipping $4.15
• Total $16.65

Over all I did very-very well. 52 Collectible cards for $26.95 with a book value of over $75.00.

As a budget collector, this was not the best use of my collecting funds.  My goal is the most cards for the money.  I must admit, having these cards is nice and I do not regret the over all amount that was paid for them.  But I blew my collecting budget for more than a month and only have 52 cards to show for my efforts.

I intend to make occasional purchases of this nature, but I must adhere to my normal methods of obtaining larger numbers of cards.  After all, the goal for my collection is the largest number of cards that I can collect.

Happy Collecting.
Jerry Yeager

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Trading Card Database  Very Nice site for creating online collection as well as resources for researching your collection and images for over half million cards so far
SportLots  Sports Card Auction Site

The Card Collector High end Software for cataloging cards

Sports Card Collector Software better for budget with fewer features

Updated Stats
9525 Cards Cataloged
1981 Fleer Baseball have 643 different cards
1987 Topps Baseball have 420 different cards
Year 1981 have 1110 different cards

A Half Million and Counting

8/26/2013

1887 Buckner Gold Coin 18a
One of 1st card in Trading
Card Database

I recently read a post on Trading Card Database
by the site admin that reported that the site had passed 1/2 million cards with images in this online database.  The site stats reports that there are over 5.2 million cards listed.  Now 1/2 million out of 5.2 million does not seem like a big deal does it?  After all, that is only about 9.7 % of the total cards on the site that have images added to its listing.  I kept an eye on the forum thread as I contemplated that the database now had that amount of images, and the thought began to form in my mind that this is a pretty big deal, after all, do you have a 1/2 million cards in your collection.  Well I certainly do not.  I have a very small collection(just over 9400 cards) and I do not get in any hurry adding cards to my catalog.  Think about it, collectors have scanned over 500,000 cards and then uploaded those images to the site, and that number is still growing.  Just today I uploaded another front and back image to the site.

 

1998 UD Choice 171 back
Basketball
Kevin Garnett

1998 UD Choice 171
Basketball
Kevin Garnett

You could make the case that, for the most part, all of those images that have been uploaded to The Trading Card Database were in an individual collection, scanned and then uploaded.  A collection of 500,000 cards would be a collection of note in anyone's book.  Being retired and in no hurry to catalog cards, I will probably never  reach a 1/2 million cards in my collection, but were I to accomplish such a feat, I would feel that I had accumulated a collection of significance.

So the bottom line, how does this relate to being a budget collector?  A large percentage of the 1/2 million cards with images are probably within reach of my budget collection.  Of the 5.2 million cards listed on the site, well goodness, it would seem that over 50 % would be in reach of a budget collector.  Think about it,  over 2.5 million cards with the price range of the average collector.  This is one of the major reasons that I collect in the manner that I do.  The possibility of building a collection of large magnitude is appealing, but the joy of watching my collection continue to grow is the real joy of my hobby.  Knowing that there is gobs of cards that are accessible for my collection is a good thing.

About The Trading Card Database.

• Free Site
• ALL major sport and non-sport cards
• Supports user collections, list, wants and for sale
• Over 1/2 million images
• Over 5.2 million listings
• Over 80,000 sets
• Over 45,000 names

Check the sit out and if you have images not there, upload them.

Happy Collecting
Jerry Yeager

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Trading Card Database  Very Nice site for creating online collection as well as resources for researching your collection and images for over half million cards so far
SportLots  Sports Card Auction Site

The Card Collector High end Software for cataloging cards

Sports Card Collector Software better for budget with fewer features

The Collection of a Budget Collector

8/24/2013

As a budget collector of trading cards, here is an overview of my collection to date.  Buying cards


1967 Topps 91 - 1st card in catalog

where I can get a deal makes my collection very random and very broad of coverage.  The cards that I am able to obtain vary in subject, age and set, so I never know what will come next.  Early on I decided to add cards to my collection in the same random manner that I get cards and as such I never know what I will add next.  But all that being so, here is my collection.



• Collect years 2005 and older (Hockey/Basketball 2005/2006)
• 625 sets represented (parallels, inserts, oddball, and junk added to card packs)
• Variations added as I come to them(add a card that has a variation, if I agree I add the number of variations to total cards for that set.  My set definition data table has a place for  number of variations in set)
• 625 sets = 205134 potential cards so far
• Of 205134 have 9353 = 4.5595 % complete
• Baseball 148259 potential have 7531 = 5.0796 % complete
• Football 39571 potential have 929 = 2.3477 % complete
• Basketball 13898 potential have 597 = 4.2956 % complete
• Hockey 2324 potential have 42 = 1.8072 % complete
• Gaming 196 potential have 25 = 12.7551 % complete
• Non-Sport 571 potential have 219 = 38.3538 % complete
• Cards from years 1960/1969 have 9
• Cards from years 1970/1979 have 480
• Cards from years 1980/1984 have 2125
• Cards from years 1985/2005 have 6739
• Number of Names 3604 (players and coaches/managers only)
• Terry Kennedy 17 cards
• Andre Dawson 17 cards
• Nolan Ryan 16 cards



2005 Madagascar 41 - last card in catalog



1987 M&M Star Lineup 22
Nolan Ryan

• Cecil Fielder 16 Cards

For me a want list would be any of the 195781 cards that I do not have.  And I am finding cards from additional sets regularly so the number of potential cards increases constantly.  In the near future, I see 1971 Topps Baseball, 1964 Topps Football and many others, so I will update in future posts.

Speaking of want lists, I still have a large number of cards that I have not cataloged as of yet and additional cards are still being obtained, so I cannot created a want list.  I am setting aside duplicate cards that I will offer for trade at a latter date.

Some may say  that collecting in this manner is without goals or any hope of completion.  While it is true that I will never complete this, I enjoy watching the number of cards for each year and each set increase.  I see the gap between cards numbers in sets slowly get smaller and smaller.  I see the number of cards in a given set increase and the collector in me is happy.

Happy Collecting
Jerry Yeager

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Trading Card Database  Very Nice site for creating online collection as well as resources for researching your collection and images for over half million cards so far
SportLots  Sports Card Auction Site

The Card Collector High end Software for cataloging cards

Sports Card Collector Software better for budget with fewer features

You Cannot Always Collect What You Want

To be a budget collector you always keep you eye open for a bargain.  Myself, as a budget collector and a collector of the most that my small allotment will allow, I try to take advantage of good deals.

In general, I do not collect modern issues, but ripping packs is a thrill that most all collectors enjoy and I am no different.  Recently at Wal Mart at the trading card display I noticed a 2011 Topps Series 2 hanger pack.  The normal price is $9.99 but this was on sale for $5.99.  72 cards for $5.99 was tempting enough to sway me to buy a pack.  On the low side 9 cents per card, this pack purchase is a good deal for a collector that is interested in these cards.  Here are the results of this pack break.

• From regular cards: Topps 410b Reggie Jackson (short print).  High Beckett $15.00
• Wal Mart Hanger Exclusives Pack Insert WHP30 Hank Aaron.  High Beckett $12.00
• Topps Gold 340  S/N 1837/2011
• Diamond Duo DD-5 Dan Uggla, Jason Heyward
• Topps T 60 T60-58 Hank Aaron
• Topps Cognac 574 Brandon Kintzler
• Diamond Giveaway TDG-13 Nolan Ryan
• Topps Town Series 2 TT2-42 Torii Hunter
• Kimball Champions KC-79 Barry Larkin
• Topps Diamond Stars DS-24 Ryan Braun
• Topps 60 Years of Topps 60YOT-103 Frank Thomas

A collector that collects trading cards as they are released should find this bargain tempting not withstanding that it is now 2 years out of date.  As you can see, the pack break held some nice cards that would be a welcome addition to any serious collection.  So in closing, as a budget collector, you cannot always collect what you like, but you can like what you collect.

Happy Collecting.
Jerry Yeager

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Trading Card Database  Very Nice site for creating online collection as well as resources for researching your collection and images for over half million cards so far.

SportLots  Sports Card Auction Site

The Card Collector High end Software for cataloging cards

Sports Card Collector Software better for budget with fewer features

Decisions to Become a Budget Trading Card Collector:

2005 Topps Heritage Retail Pack
 

8/15/2013
Somewhere in the past I had a very nice Baseball trading card collection.  So once upon a time having been a collector, naturally, people at various times would give me cards.  By 2004 I had accumulated a small stack of trading cards and was prompted to consider becoming a collector again or to just dispose of the cards.  The decision was made one day as I walked through a retail drug store and spotted a small display of packs of trading cards. 
It had been a long time since I had seen trading cards in other than Wal Mart or Target retail locations, so being intrigued, purchased a couple of packs.  As it is sometimes said, "The rest is history".

Unlike the previous time that I collected and when the crash of the house of trading cards of the early nineties soured my collecting taste, I decided to make decisions as to where I wanted my collection to go.

• How large of budget was I to devote to collecting?  Answer: very small was all I can afford.
• What would I collect?  Answer: Everything, make my collection as many items as possible on my small budget.
• How would I store my collection?  Answer:  This required some thought.  The plethora of sets, inserts and parallels made boxing each seem like much more than I liked.  In the end I decided to store my cards in the order which they were cataloged in 3 ring binders and 9 pocket pages.
• How would I record my catalog?  Answer:  The decision to store cards in the order which I cataloged them made the decision about cataloging software very important.  The software needed to do the sorting that I had decided not to physically do with the cards.  After testing various software titles, I decided to develop my own cataloging software.
• What would I collect?  Answer:  Budget set the future of my collection.  With a frugal budget, I had to decide whether to collect a few choice cards or the most cards that I could get for the money.  I choose to collect as many cards as I could get with the little that I had to spend.
• Where to obtain cards?  Answer:  I instantly realized that I could not collect in the manner which I had decided by purchasing expensive packs at retail.  Discount tables at card shops, yard sales and thrift stores are resources that fit my collecting style.
  

Not all collectors are happy not chasing the 1 off or the cut sig or the very rare insert that the card companies promise in their expensive packs.  But not all of us can afford to purchase those packs and rip them betting on that elusive insert.  Buying retail packs for the purpose of building sets is very difficult when that card companies put fewer and fewer cards in the packs plus make half the pack insert or parallel cards from a number of sets impossible to comprehend.  To collect all of those plus the "short prints" is not possible with anything less than multiple case breaks and that is not happening on my budget.  So I set my collection to be 2005 or older and started collecting what I could find backward thru the years of cards of the past.  Those that had ripped packs hunting those "rare cards" left a huge number of cards that a collector like myself can collect and be very happy collecting.

More about my collection and how it became what it is on future post when I will detail specific instances of budget collecting.  Happy Collecting

Jerry Yeager


Some Links That Could Be Useful

Trading Card Database  Very Nice site for creating online collection as well as resources for researching your collection and images for over half million cards so far.

SportLots  Sports Card Auction Site

The Card Collector High end Software for cataloging cards

Sports Card Collector Software better for budget with fewer features