I have an addiction; help needed

tombo

I have been buying, grading and flipping for a few years now on Ebay. I've done Ok --- probably making about $3000 - 4000 profit since 2006.

I have been trying to liquidate my cards including my childhood collection which includes complete sets from 1973 through the late 80's (Topps/Fleer,Donruss), many star cards from the 60's through the 80's as well as recent Ebay purchases.

My goal is to purchase several (5 - 10) high profile cards ( Cobb, Ruth, Jackie, Aaron,Clemente etc) with the funds.

The problem is that I can't keep myself from continuing to purchase other cards/sets that I feel I can make money from. How will I ever stop and begin making my big purchases if I keep trying to increase my "pot" and,in doing so, watch my funds go up and down? I hope my dilemma is clear. Thanks, Tom

StanTheManMusial

Hi Tom,

You have to resist temptation, if you truly want your goal to become reality. It comes down to what you want the most.

Years ago, I had to break a bad habit of buying wax. I decided that I would rather buy really nice higher end cards, than to open product. After deciding to go at my goal, it worked out nicely. You have to be very determined and fully commited, or it will not work.

I am pulling for you.

tombo

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I already feel a little stronger.

TNTonPMS

I'm too afraid to miss out on something to ever stop .

Cardboard . . . cardboard . . . cardboard Yea , nuthin makes my day like a good old pack rippin

stevek

Cards Anonymous

CDsNuts

You're ignoring why you always have liked the hobby; i.e. the challenge of either making money on a deal or upgrading without digging into your pocket. Don't fight it, embrace it. It's what you have fun doing so do it. I'm the same way. It makes the hobby more exciting than just buying and keeping something that you dig out every couple months to look at then put back away.

yankeeno7

Turn to drugs like Xanax

11235813

<< <i>The problem is that I can't keep myself from continuing to purchase other cards/sets that I feel I can make money from >>



I think the key is to be very disciplined in your buying, especially considering the monetary value of the time you spend buying/selling cards. I started "investing" in cards last summer as a means of raising more $$$ to buy cards for my collection and quickly realized that the it was very time-consuming to do so. I now limit myself to cards which:

a) I can buy at less that 50% of SMR
b) offer a potential profit of over $100 should I be able to sell them at SMR

This greatly limits the amount of buying I do, to the point that I currently have only three cards in my "investment" pool, on which I've spent a total of just under $2200 dollars. SMR on the three cards is $5200.

In the past year, I have made a net profit of about $15,000 on "investments" of $21,000, which is a pretty good rate of return (about 71%).

Stone193

tombo

This goes back to discussions about buying on ebay and having a problem passing up a bargain.

Well - ya can go broke saving money on ebay.

Also, no matter how tempting an item is? Wait two weeks and another will come along - yes - I know sometimes rare items come up; I'm ruling that out in my generalization.

I established specific goals and set a budget - and stick with it. The discipline comes from my wife threatening to kick my ass!!!!

Good luck
mike

CDsNuts

Mike- with all due respect you don't share in our sickness. The challenge of turning a profit on five 1984 Donruss sets puts crazy ideas in our head, such as: "If I can get just a couple low pop PSA 10s out of these sets, I could use the profit to buy a nice Yaz RC."

Call it the entrepenuerial spirit, gambling addiction, or whatever else you want, it's there and there's nothing we can do about it.

70chip

Hell Tombo I know the feeling, I was laid off a couple of months ago and I am living on the State right now but I am having trouble trying to stay away from my card shop because the urge to bust a box, anything, just 1 or 2 boxes, I will eat raman noodles for a month, just to feel the foil in my hands and the excitement of the unknown, I am sweating now and and and and......I gotta go....

Stone193

<< <i>Mike- with all due respect you don't share in our sickness. The challenge of turning a profit on five 1984 Donruss sets puts crazy ideas in our head, such as: "If I can get just a couple low pop PSA 10s out of these sets, I could use the profit to buy a nice Yaz RC."

Call it the entrepenuerial spirit, gambling addiction, or whatever else you want, it's there and there's nothing we can do about it. >>

I sure understand Lee.

I'm just pontificating from the mountain top.

Ya see - I run an office - I play Mr entrepreneur all year round - that's why I probably don't have the energy to do this.

BTW - a friend of mine completed a really nice strip mall a few years ago - and still has one 1300 sq ft. store empty. I was telling him today how it would make a great Spurs store/collectibles/sports cards/gift store place!

So, I guess I have a disease also!

mike

CDsNuts

Not a bad idea. I think you could make your money just on Spurs merch if you could get some of the players to drop in and sign every now and then. Probably more work than it's worth though.

julen23

i like jane's addiction

j

Stone193

<< <i>Not a bad idea. I think you could make your money just on Spurs merch if you could get some of the players to drop in and sign every now and then. Probably more work than it's worth though. >>

Not sure Lee.

I don't have the time or energy.

Would be fun to see tho - and getting Spurs on a saturday would be cool - even the scrubs.

Plus, ya got the minor league hockey and baseball here and their building some kind of PGA complex.

We've talked about this - the investment to do it right would be large!
mike

obusek99

My addiction is web cam girls. They all say they love me, what am I to do?

CDsNuts

Yeah, they all say they want to meet me, but they never show up at the bar. I give them my creditcard number to prove they can trust me and they still won't show up. I'd give up but they look so hot in their pictures.

magellan

<< <i>The problem is that I can't keep myself from continuing to purchase other cards/sets that I feel I can make money from. How will I ever stop and begin making my big purchases if I keep trying to increase my "pot" and,in doing so, watch my funds go up and down? I hope my dilemma is clear. Thanks, Tom >>



Hi Tom, my name is Dave & I'm a sportscard addict. I hate to discourage you buddy but you're screwed.
Good luck with that.

tombo

My addiction is web cam girls

The topic is how to limit one's card buying strictly to his/her own goals -- and we move our way into good looking web cam girls.

I wonder if any female dominated message boards go off track as easily as ours? Maybe that's just a testament to our inherent attention span deficit. Pretty funny though.

Griffins

Where are these female dominated message boards, and how do I sign up?

DerekD

I like showing my cards to web cam girls. They say they really like them and collect them too.