What are mistakes you made starting out as a collector you are embarrassed by today?

[LVDan]

Originally Posted by patchgenie

investing in pitchers

[CdnOsFan]

Not embarrassed but regret, wanted to start collecting a nice run of early to mid-1980s FASC a few years back and really didn't get going. I have a few but man, I should have bought everything pre-1988....Prices are nuts now!

[pewe]

1) participating in breaks, thinking that was a better “deal” than ripping wax
2) ripping wax


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[dmanrico]

Originally Posted by pewe

1) participating in breaks, thinking that was a better “deal” than ripping wax
2) ripping wax


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That's really funny. Love it.

[txrngr34]

Chance at buying Nolan Ryan rookie in roughly PSA 7 shape for $90, and trading my sharp 89 UD Griffey for that b/w Score Bo Knows card that I thought was the coolest card made.

Both in 1989. The Nolan might have been a little earlier.

[ShoutFan2020]

Easy, selling cards off to pay for dates back in my teens with limited ROI.

Stay single until you are 30 guys.

[DragonWagon]

Originally Posted by LCM1223

Taking Beckett BV as gospel

Oh how disappointing

Exactly...they tricked all of us.


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[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by pip

I bought some boxes back in 1990 and ended up with a handful of these. I took them to card shows and tried to sell them to dealers for between $75 and $100 each. Had no takers. They all told me it was too much for an unconfirmed error and that there were probably tons of them. I later sold them for several hundred each.

Oh man...imagine if we knew then what we know now...you'd have what 30-45K worth of NNOFs still?!

[ShoutFan2020]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

Oh man...imagine if we knew then what we know now...you'd have what 30-45K worth of NNOFs still?!

Hell I remember my old flea market who first had Fleer basketball cards (86 packs $10, 87 for $5 and $88 for $3). I bought a couple packs of 88 just hoping for a Magic card for the PC. Cuz $10 per pack back then was crazy.

[marl1220]

In 1987 : Trading all my basketball and football cards (multiple Bird/Johnson rookies, multiples of Montana, Lott, Lawrence, and other rookies) for an unopened box of 1987 Topps baseball.

[1989FF]

Starting out? In 1986/87 I had one of those huge card catalog books. Marked every card I owned. Remember as a kid thinking early on "Wow I have $120 in cards!" Was filling up foot lockers (3 to be exact) with cards. Until it came time to sell and I quickly learned that BV was not even close to realistic.

FF to years later, getting angry over losing a auction.
Was around 2003ish and I lost a auction. A Bill Ripken rack pack. Black Scribble to be exact. I bid $10 and was sniped. Sniping? What's that? I felt so cheated. I messaged the winner and complained. Ha ha. Sour grapes. Wish I knew what I wrote back then.

Another item I lost on auction and then saw it relisted for 3x more. Was appalled that someone would do that. Think I messaged that seller as well. Few decades later I'm doing the same flipping, making good money. Oh the young/naive me...

Another time on the BGS board a collector was thanking me for outing scammers as I frequently did. Many of the characters in his message were symbols. Somehow I thought those characters meant he was being sarcastic and I ripped into him. Still bugs me.

[The Accountant]

Not buying older bowman, bowman chrome, and retail products sitting on the shelf... given I was really young and I couldn't afford much. I remember being thrilled once I learned cards were worth actual money

Looking through the annual beckett almanac pricing my felix pie chrome card at $4 was so much fun. Miss those days

[YouTheManNick]

Originally Posted by pewe

1) participating in breaks, thinking that was a better “deal” than ripping wax
2) ripping wax


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These same two for me.

I like ripping wax. It's fun. So over time I've developed a pretty good rule of 2 boxes when a product first releases. I'll allow myself a third if I hit something big. Sometimes I still get carried away like with the six boxes of Finest Flashback I opened. But in general, the money's better spent on singles.

Random team group breaks are the biggest crapshoot money sink.

Any time you can minimize risk and randomness you should do it.

[Brady7799]

buying anything with an RC logo thinking it would carry value.

inserts, rookie debuts, all-star, home run derby, other brands.

[Brady7799]

bonus: buying another box after hitting something big, like a case hit.

chances are the next box is from the same case and since you've already pulled the case hit...

that took me awhile to figure out.

[pewe]

Originally Posted by Brady7799

bonus: buying another box after hitting something big, like a case hit.

chances are the next box is from the same case and since you've already pulled the case hit...

that took me awhile to figure out.

Haha! Totally... also: thinking “case hit” means “anyone cares” about the hit


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[Boredlawyer]

Putting too much emphasis on GCL, short-season, and, particularly, Northwest league stats. Starling Heredia and Grant Lavigne are great examples here.

Thinking anyone cared about pitching prospects on less popular teams (Derek Holland).

[Rage]

Buying wax outside of Bowman/Flagship/Chrome/Topps Online Exclusives. Used to spend so much money just buying random hobby boxes that were on sale. Now with box prices so high even buying hobby boxes of said brands(to rip) is a losing endeavor.
Been getting much better at not buying into FOMO of every new release, and focusing on the products with better ROI/long term ROI and sticking to singles more.

Also was storing every card opened including common base at first, such a waste of space. Nowadays if it ain't a rookie/insert/parallel/PC player I'm recycling them.

[Rage]

Oh god the online group breaks....almost forgot that money pit.

[nevermore]

1. Buying quantity over quality.

2. Not getting into vintage cards sooner, somehow thinking they were beyond my reach.

3. Not investing enough time learning about the greater hobby pricing/market beyond my collection interests.

[gravity]

Early 2017, bought around 20 total boxes of 1991 & 1992 Donruss trying to hit one of the Elite Series cards. Ended up hitting an Eddie Murray from '92, but still could have bought one on Ebay for half the price of a single box... Was fun though.

[JoeAdam]

A lot of people list ripping wax as a mistake. Sure it might not be the best ROI, but it's part of the fun. Unless it becomes an addiction I don't see the harm in blowing some money on boxes occasionally.

[darin2200]

In about 2008 I choose to set collect 2008 Razor signature series, I have the whole 200 card set including the 100 autos, I also chose to focus on 2005 Topps Pack wars at that time. I like the plain surfaces for the autos on those two sets. I still like my 2005 topps pack wars cards but the razor set, what a waste, still some value in Posey and Stanton but ick.

[hairysasquatch]

Originally Posted by marl1220

In 1987 : Trading all my basketball and football cards (multiple Bird/Johnson rookies, multiples of Montana, Lott, Lawrence, and other rookies) for an unopened box of 1987 Topps baseball.

Possible winner here.

[WalterAZ31]

selling way, way, way , way too early