Business or pleasure?

11235813

Just was wondering....

How many people on here collect solely for personal enjoyment and how many are "dealers" of some sort who buy and sell card with the primary goal of making a profit?

I collect purely for personal enjoyment, although I am selling off large chunks of my collection in order to raise funds to buy the cards I really want.

BobaFett72

90% for pleasure,
10% for profit.

vintagetoppsguy

I collect for the personal enjoyment, but I won't pass on a card if I think I can flip it and make a profit. However, any profit made always goes right back into my collection.

NYYanks23

For me its pleasure, but I am not against making a profit. When I do make a profit, I use it for the hobby. My paypal is never transferred to my bank account, its always buy and sell.

DrJ

Since this is a hobby for me, I am 100% pleasure rarely selling cards, and recently doing some trading. I deal with business everyday at work, and have no interest to make my hobby a business as well.

J

clydecoolidge

Pleasure for sure. I've recently gotten sick to my stomach after selling a 52 bowman Musial PSA 8 and a 57 Mantle. That's how I know that I'll never lose the passion for collecting. I would sell cards that I don't really want without a problem though. The problem is, I want them all!!!!

digicat

I guess I'd be 100% pleasure. I like to sell cards too, but I use the money buy more cards. I try to keep my hobby as self sustaining as possible.

ripkenintheminors

A lot of my stuff would not have been possible without some business here and there. With that being said, I have to go with both.

Downtown1974

<< <i>I guess I'd be 100% pleasure. I like to sell cards too, but I use the money buy more cards. I try to keep my hobby as self sustaining as possible. >>



Thats exactly how I feel. I have sold alot of cards I no longer have interest in to buy cards I need for my sets and such.

kingraider75

If you consider ebay selling a business, then we are all probably doing some business here. lol

I would say, personally, for me, IMO, it's 75% please and 25% business. If I thought I could really support my family selling cards, have a retirement, health benefits, then I would do it. But seems like the hobby is becoming too niche and incestous.

SportsItUpCards

So I thought you didn't sell, that it was all for personal collecting, lol, just kidding

Maybe, for every 30 cards I buy, I probably sell one??? Not much of a card seller. I have a million cards that I can put up, but it would take forver, and I don't even think that stuff would even sell for anything these days, lol.

Giovanni

bigdcards

100% pleasure. I sold a bunch of cards one time when I needed money. Other than that I only sell to buy more cards. Ebay is easier than finding a trade partner.

SportsItUpCards

<< <i>100% pleasure. I sold a bunch of cards one time when I needed money. Other than that I only sell to buy more cards. Ebay is easier than finding a trade partner. >>



Well, yeah, thats what I do too. When I sell a card, its only to upgrade my collection.

Isen't that the truth, Ebay is way better than trading, thats for sure!

Giovanni

obusek99

I won't lie, I'm pretty much about making money now. But I enjoy selling cards. I try to find nice cards to grade and sell and even if they undersell I am never angry because it's fun. Some are hard to let go of but when they sell for good money I buy more so I guess I'm not really making any profit. Hmm maybe it isn't really about the money............YEAH IT IS. Think about it this way, I do the hard part for a lot of you guys. I take the risk of buying crap off ebay and hoping it is actually described correctly, then spend the money to grade it and give you the chance to own at a price most of you have no problem paying. You are happy when you get a nice card for a good price and you never have to hear of the times when I paid $100 for a card with wrinkles from a seller no longer registered on ebay. I like money, I like cards. It works.

oldhippie

Add me to the list on the side of pleasure. I sell on Ebay occasionally when I need that hidden cash to buy the cards I need. Wife thinks I spend to much on "that paper" .... so the less she knows the better.

kylehess10

I'm in it for pleasure; thought sometimes I'll flip an item I get for cheap, so I can make more money to buy even more (or better) memorabilia.

Allen

Both. I like to sell cards to make money to buy more cards haha. Nothing more thrilling than a sweet flip.

hofautos

My collecting habits have changed many times over the years.

Currently I collect what I like, but I have no problem selling anything and everything for a profit. Of course the more rare and more I like a card, the bigger profit i will need before I will consider the sell. I like to buy rare and aestically pleasing cards of only the SUPER SUPER stars.

royalbrett

100% pleasure.

perkdog

I collect for enjoyment, if I get tired of some of my cards over time I will sell them to fund the purchase of other cards.

justmichael

I am 50/50.I have found the right mix for myself though.I sell modern cards and collect vintage.It works great because they don't get in the way of each other.
Mike

cardbender

Good question.

Mine is 70% pleasure, 30% business.

Most sales get folded back into my collection in one way or another.
I always look to buy to advance/upgrade my collection but also consider the possible need to sell off too and factor that equation into my bids. I don't want to lose that much if and when I decide to sell. I've been burned badly by over paying for vintage Baseball a few years back, now I'm mostly buying vintage Football.

On some sets/players I'll definately overpay for, while on others I bottom feed sometimes especially if they're commons. What I'm willing to pay depends largely on how much I may like a certain set design or the players in the set.

martyogelvie

90% business
10% collecting.

I used to be 100% collector but things change. go figure.

larryallen73

100% pleasure. I love selling cards on the Bay from time to time but I plow 100% of the money into more cards.

Guru

At one point it was 100% personal for me. Then I realized there were cards I wanted and in order to get them I was going to have to sell some. So now I would say it's about 50/50.

Brian48

It's hobby. I generally don't sell what I buy.

fergie23

I sell simply to funnel money back into my collection. I love ripping wax so I grade what I rip, then sell most of what I grade on ebay so I can buy more wax or some PSA 9 HOF rookies (just started collecting PSA 8 HOF rookies from the 60s since I'm nearing my original goal, all 1970 - 1990 HOFers all sports in PSA 9, and the cards I still need from the 70s are wickedly expensive). Opening old-ish wax is definitely a waste (much cheaper to just buy the cards you want) but there is a thrill to it that buying a card on ebay can never match.

I did score pretty huge on some 86 Fleer basketball PSA 10s a couple years back (hurray for PSA registry and at the time low pop commons & stars) and ended up using that money to furnish my apartment ($8k can buy some really nice stuff). But that was the only time I ever transferred money from Paypal into my bank account.

I've thought about trying to make some money flipping cards but I make plenty of money with my full time job and it just doesn't seem like it would be worth the hassle. It would probably take a lot of the enjoyment out of submitting cards if I knew I had to get certain grades to keep my enterprise going. I tried making money playing poker on the side and it sucked all the fun out of playing and I don't want that to happen to my hobby.

Robb

thedutymon

Good day,
Like most, Both. I collect Non Sport and have a few Registered sets, but also have a Family and all the other stuff that comes with life. So my Wife and I came to an agreement, I could do this, if it at least partially paid for itself, Which is all it does at best (partially) and what I sell simply goes back into more cards. Plus I spend a lot more than I ever make.
Neil

hankcaddy

i sell on ebay (not cards) simply to fund my collection, i very rarely tranfer paypal into bank account.i buy in small bulk lot dvds and sell at pretty good prices to support my habit!


addiction like this is 100% fun

mcolney1

Thanks to ebay I can do both. But in reality, I do maybe 5 percent of my transactions for profit. I've been spending all my time selling most of my collection on ebay, but I keep using those funds to buy more vintage that I don't have. So I guess I spend 100 percent of my time collecting for pleasure.