How Box Breaks Nearly Destroyed Me (Even after Pulling Karl-Anthony Towns Prizm 1/1)

[brettmik59]

Some incredible stories on here. I agree with what others have said, this hobby can turn into a gambling addiction fast, especially when you're ripping wax. You may beat the odds here and there, but over the long run, you're losing money GUARANTEED. I think most agree that the average return is somewhere in the 20-40% range on wax. That is WORSE THAN POWERBALL. If you've paid all your bills and are in firm control of your financial situation, and still want to rip wax for fun, go for it. But please, do not kid yourself.

[JoeAdam]

This was a great read! Thanks for sharing. I treat this hobby as an extension of my investment portfolio. Every month I save for retirement and set money aside to buy stocks in a trading account. I look at my cards as a portion of my liquid investments. I buy things that I think will appreciate over time. I put in just as much research, and spend a lot of time making sure I get the right prices.

[HardwoodHits]

It's now February 2019... more than a year removed from my original post and about 3 years into my attempt to gain my life back! First off... thank you thunderchicken for your updates and I am excited to hear where you are today! Bravo!

During 6-8 months of being an online breaker, breaking, purchasing, buying and selling of cases, boxes and singles, the financial and personal damage at times felt like an impossible road to recovery. There were even a few unexpected bumps along the way that made this process longer than expected. Turns out, it's not as easy as just "selling your stuff".

For starters, I greatly underestimated how challenging it was going to be to sell cards and goods to recoup a large portion of my debt. I'd sell $1,000 worth of cards over the course of a month or two only to turn around and spend $200+ on fees. Meanwhile, credit card interest was stacking up. I've obviously known about fees for years, but you really start to feel them when you are trying to recoup a major loss. Interest, Fee's, taxes and the continual realization that very few cards hold value. In today's game where one injury, trade or slump can derail a career, the market is insanely volatile. Not to mention a significant portion of my collection was Gordon Hayward.... and well, we all know the story there.

In order to chip away at my debt as quickly as possible, my wife and I decided to cash out our retirement plan. We lost 40%+ to the government but knew unless we wanted to spend the next 10 years climbing out of this hole, this was the best option for us and our circumstance. After 10 years in the workforce, that didn't even knock out all of the debt associated with 6-8 months of the hobby.

Every year we get a pretty significant tax return. Most years we've spent a large portion of the tax return on home projects or family vacations. For the past 3 years, 100% of our tax return has gone to pay off the debt associated with collecting. As a father, it breaks my heart to know that three years of family vacations have disappeared. Gone. Can't get them back. I just can't even begin to think of all of the memories that we ALL missed out on. Thats not on panini, breakers, ebay, that's on ME.

In 2018, I received a significant bonus at work for designing a new website. 100% of the bonus went to debt. ALL OF IT!

I've spend the last few years selling off my entire collection and other items around the house. At times I thought to myself, well... i'll hang onto this card because the value is down... or.... this card will go up, i'll just wait to sell for a few years or so. How ignorant is that?! I had a tremendous debt that was eating away at my family experiences and I was holding onto cardboard while interest was continuing to chip away at any profit I hoped to pull. My advise to you.... If you have credit card debt AT ALL, sell all that you can to pay the debt before even thinking about holding onto your collection. Quite simply, if you have debt in any form, you can't afford the hobby. End of story. I mean we've all been there... At times I'd order water instead of coke to save $2 at a restaurant yet i'd spend $200 on a box of cards without question... That's how it starts.

It's now February 2019 and after our third year of tax returns paying down debt, I am proud to say I am $1,700 away from financial freedom. And if I can continue to move the cards that i'm selling on my eBay page, I should hopefully only have about $1,000 debt by the end of the month.

Over the years, to pay off this tremendous debt on an average salary with four kids has been ABSOLUTE WORK. It's been a long road and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The last few years have taught me a lot about myself. I've learned the power of addiction first hand and how dangerous a man can be on his own and in the dark.

Surround yourself with people that you love and can share your REAL self with. Instagram isn't real. You're shop owner that LOVES your HUGE HITS isn't real. Good people, but they are running a business. They want you to feel like you are winning and the celebrity culture of card collectors is at an all time high! Be open and honest about your struggles with people that you love.

Thanks to everyone who has shared their story on this post. I've gone back and read this thread several times over the last few years to remind me of how real this issue is. It's truly been the community I needed to overcome.

If you feel like you are in a hole you can't climb out of, let my story and others in this thread inspire you. You can do it. It might take years to recover, but don't rush through the pain. Let it teach you something about yourself. Embrace the suck. You can do it!

[corndog]

OP's latest video - 2021 edition.

[Dmen07]

I hear you. In the past, the trading cards hobby was fun to collect. You can complete a certain insert theme (famous nicknames, scoring magnet, scoring kings, etc) with breaking a few boxes. And later on, company make completion of certain theme almost like next to impossible (like one out of 1000 box)...That the reason I stop collecting because it stop to be a joy and fun anymore (Store what I collect and once in a while look at them and reminisce the past)....I happened to pull a few good one on the way (like Michael Jordan autographed card).

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by corndog

OP's latest video - 2021 edition.

Every new person to the hobby needs to watch this. I’d imagine this story rings true for many people but they’re too proud or too naive to admit it

[thunderchicken]

I've seen those videos pop up on youtube, but have yet to watch them.

I'll go ahead and post an update.

We are debt-free, other than the mortgage on our house. I can't tell you how good that feels where $2500/mo doesn't go towards paying off my stupidity.

We only have one credit card, which is a Kohl's card that wasn't cancelled during our bankruptcy. We only use it to re-establish our credit scores which took a massive hit.

I will admit, I have done a couple online breaks this year. Both of those were a complete waste and absolutely no hits. Just base cards with zero autographs. The money spent was some that I made in the stock market that was separate from our family's finances. I do have about 30 baseball cards I'm holding onto, but that's pretty much it.

My wife and I are contributing the maximum to our 401k's, and saving what's left after bills are paid off. We have the money now if some major expense would happen and not have to worry about what combination of credit cards to use if our furnace should go bad.

If things continue to run good in the stock market, with modest growth I should be able to retire in a tad over 10 years. Can you imagine instead of spending money for the thrill to retire decades earlier than you anticipated? That's huge.

How much sooner would I be able to retire if I didn't spend so much money I spent with nothing to show for it?

[bloodwings19]

This is a good read. After so many years, I'm still collecting because I paid all mostly singles and sometimes break (rarely) with a debit card. This hobby is fun if you treat it like a hobby not the urge to dream about hitting big cards (by buying cases and frequent group breaks). I always tell people, if you don't get in, you'll never get the big hit. It is by randomly joining breaks, you are bound to hit something than just buying many spots. To this day, a few years ago my best memory of a person getting a 1 spot in a Flawless I think out of many spots (around 250), he hit a 1/1 Kobe auto with just 1 spot. Also remember this brand new Charizard owner guy who said, "If you hold everything, you'll go broke." How fun is it to all those KPJ and J.Poole owners

[jzx1103]

Nice to see this thread come back, I posted my story here too which is very similar to OPs (post #119 in this thread). Got into debt of 6 figures strictly from Breaking Wax from the early 2000s to 2012. God must be watching over me cause luckily I was provided with a great job that allowed me to pay off my debts over the past 8 years. And then somehow I just managed to have enough cash after paying off the debt and got interested in getting back into the hobby again early 2020 right before the boom (no more breaking wax of course). But managed to recoup 80% of my losses from my wax breaking days just buying and selling singles over the past year. Its the first time I felt financial freedom in almost 20 years. I couldn't believe it. I still watch the online group breaks alot. It reminds me of how much $$$ you can throw away so quickly.

[lietuvalabas]

Originally Posted by corndog

OP's latest video - 2021 edition.

he did an awesome job on this video, very transparent, and what he says does really ring true. Back in college when i just turned 21....like literally on my 21st birthday i started hitting casinos with friends, i won a good chunk of money early on, and 21 year old instant gratification me questioned "wow why do people go to work everyday, this is easy" now i was just a college kid, i may lose $100 $200 $300 everytime, not big money but certainly added up quickly. But when i'd go, i noticed i'd see the same people just about everytime, but im talking grown up people, likely had families, mortgages/rent etc. I didnt have those responsibilities. And i know i know, dont judge a book by its cover sorta thing, but many of those people didn't look like they could afford a car payment, let alone to gamble. Before i knew it, i ran up 5 figures on my credit cards, not super high 5 figures but 5 figures. Mind you i was still in college, i partied, i had fun, i went to school. I only worked full time on winter and summer breaks, and i actually made pretty good money for a college kid on those jobs, but that wasn't going to make a dent in my debt, My parents bailed me out up front, and i paid them every penny back, but it took AWHILE and after I actually had to work to pay them back, i thought "wow this sucks" It was very much a growing up moment for me. Don't get me wrong i still casino from time to time, but actually earning your money has a different feel, makes you more disciplined. But my mindset in college was eh ill get em next time, and yes there were times i certainly did. But anyone thats a regular gambler and tells you they're up over time is probably lying to you.

[Wildcat55]

Great read and how crazy is it to think that this was posted a couple of years ago BEFORE breaking became as prevalent as it is and before prices increased to where they are today. I hate to think of how many people are now experiencing what the op did. I have a feeling that this thread will have many stories like this posted later this year and into 2022 once debt becomes unmanageable, stimulus checks cease, and taxes are owed on all the online sales/flips. There has always been a gambling aspect to opening wax but the hobby product from the manufacturer is now designed with the breaker and chaser at the forefront vs. the collector.
More importantly, this gambling and flipping culture has become mainstream and now effects many more parts of our daily lives and it is sadly becoming ‘normalized’. Flipping sports wax, non-sports like Pokémon, and the explosion of social media posters using the terms ‘invest’ are now intersecting with other forms of this outside of cards...the GME/Reddit phenomenon has introduced this same group to the stock market and blurred the lines of investing as well. Throw in the huge rise in crypto, daily fantasy sports, the legalization of online gambling, NFT’s, a rising housing market/rental rates, low interest rates, etc and this will no doubt become worse before it gets better. I just hope a lot of the newbies that have entered this hobby since the op posted this a couple of years ago will realize that there are others going through the same and make the necessary changes to get out of a bad situation and move onward and upward.
Thanks again OP.

[brock]

Breaking just got 10x more dangerous than it already was... And it was already a helluva drug.

Ball Prizm Wax at multiple thousands per box. Good night and enjoy the scenic, under the bridge views that will certainly come to those that get/already are addicted.

Really sad. But in a free market you gotta learn self control or many many different 'opportunities' will leave you destitute.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MikawlBBC]

I was buying T-wolves from Wiley and got beat on this case....and saw it pulled live.

[BFGATKO2]

Originally Posted by solt0131

Not even close. The odds in the casino are much, much better if you play the right games and have strict discipline.

Let me guess, you got a system? Lol

That being said GME ��������

[jzx1103]

Originally Posted by BFGATKO2

Let me guess, you got a system? Lol

That being said GME ��������

GME = Gamestop stock

[OriginalRapsfan]

Thanks for sharing your story. I know I have spent way too much time and money on this 'hobby' over many years, sometimes beyond my budget. I think I have an addictive personality. I haven't opened a box in over ten years and have taken breaks for periods of time, but always seem to get sucked back in. There are positive and negative aspects, though with the current collecting landscape I feel like the negative aspects often outweigh the positive ones. I think I have been happier and more productive when I was not involved in card collecting. Sometimes I don't want to think about or calculate how much time and money I have spent, even though I know I should.

[Litwing]

This is a great advice.

[gomiamigo]

'What's it like for people who don't suck at gambling?'

https://www.cc.com/video/dm2ugv/the-...-heavy-betting

[Eighty5Hundo]

I appreciate the tales of everyone's struggles...we all have crosses to bear...my only advice would be if you are trying to make a business out of this, gambling can only be a a fraction of it. I am not referring to gambling on box breaks but rather gambling on your abilities to grow said business. Didn't anyone listen to Biggie Smalls -- 10 Crack Commandments???

"Number 4, I know you heard this before
Never get high on your own supply"

NO TRUER WORDS HAVE BEEN SPOKEN

[Raj3sh]

This is one if the best video about hobby out there.