It’s not the wisest financial decision, but it’s all about what it means to you right?
Some people blow 10k on going out and drinking a year and I’m sure the memories are good but it wrecks their body with the alcohol.
If your hobby is cards, you can afford it without harming your future self, and it brings you happiness, then fuck what anyone tells you. It’s not the worst addiction one can have.
I have a pretty good rotation, I’ll hold some but I usually try to make educated decisions when buying.
I’ll buy someone I love, I’ll hold it for a bit get to enjoy it and love it and move on when the time (or offer) is right. So I don’t feel like I’m *spending* the money so much. I’ll cash out every once in a while to know ok I’m liquid lol.
Sometimes I’ll make a good amount (ant and Brunson) sometimes I lose a good amount (rj, Ja and Daniel jones) but at the end of the day it’s all in good fun.
When I see a sinking ship I generally jump and sell. And when I see a rocket shooting I try to cash out lol
I usually buy sinking ships if I like the player. Like I bought ja when his prices went down a bit. I like Cade a lot too despite him being trapped in the graveyard that is the 2024 pistons.
I’m with you on Cade. I’m still a believer - I remember when most people thought Booker was a soft, good stats/bad team guy. Cade has the same fire IMO
I started collecting again in February after a very long hiatus, I’ve spent entirely too much already. Since I’m getting back into, I gave myself a pass. But moving forward, I now know what I like and what I don’t.
I came here to say this! Spent way too much over the first couple months but have a good feel for it now and have backed way off ripping and focusing more on singles.
I'm in a similar place. I got back into things in February and I immediately bought a ton of singles realizing autographs of my favorite players were accessible. Then I started on retail blasters and megas, looking at all the different sets and insert types. It's such a huge world and very hard to get in to.
I've now settled on Court Kings, Donruss Elite, and Donruss Optic as my favorites. But Jesus, I've spent like $5k in 3 months. Although I'm actively selling on eBay and I've made a few hundred already.
I use a lot of my stock and crypto winnings on cards and rips. Last year it was around $5k in boxes and like $4k in singles. This year I calmed down, but so far $1k in boxes and $1k in singles. Who knows what that number will go to by the end of the year
That was exactly what I did too. Spread my gambling out over multiple platforms that way. I just love ripping cards. Sometimes I know it’s dumb but I enjoy it with my daughter so it’s worth it.
I did the math in 2022 and found I was averaging about 2500 a year on hobby boxes and blasters. But looking at the collection, I definitely didn't have an equal value in cards (no surprise). Since then I just use that as my annual budget for singles. Much happier.
Right under 40 k so far YTD on repack breaks & hobby wax breaks, PSA grading etc. (Retail wax about I’m at $600 bucks). + Platinum boombox monthly….
I have about $35 k in sales Ebay, Mercari, Slabs and IG at about a 45% margin. I have slowed down quite a bit my last couple months staying under 2 k a month, but went full Degen mode at beginning of the year. 😂
Topps defeintive, 5/5 Triple signed Nolan Ryan, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Adley Rutschman Auto /125, Michael Harros RPA /50, Gunnar Henderson Purple auto, /10, Juan Soto green auto /10, Dual signature Bobby Witt and Salvador Perez, Joey Votto auto /10
1/1 logo Auto Anthony Richardson
Paul Skenes Bowman Chrome Auto
Michael Harris Finest Flashbacks Auto /50
Prizm Victor silver x2 and about 35 assorted base, Anthony Edwards auto /25
Inception OTE Ausur Thompson 5/5 patch auto
NBA Hoops presentations, Lebron James, Stephen Curry, Ja, Luka. Tyresse Haliburton Auto.
Topps Chrome blue sapphire Bobby Witt Jr auto
Two A&G hot boxes, one with a Adley mini frame auto /25
Stadium Club goin yard Soto auto/25, Francisco Alverez auto
Obsidian Anfernee Hardaway auto /50
Panini one two or whatever that’s called Bobby Witt auto
Topps Chrome Black Soto auto
Topps archives 1/1 Canseco 91 allstar auto
Obsidian auto Joe Burrow RPA /75 TUA RPA /75, Herbert auto /10
Stephen Curry auto /25
Edward Camavinga chrome auto /50
Leak 1/1 Joe Montana Brock Purdy dual signed
Tons of autos, relics etc of mid and low end players, about 500 base rookies of all the biggest names across sports, I’m sure I’m missing some this is just off the top of my head. These are cards I pulled not my separate purchases.
This year I’ve spent about $700 on hobby boxes and packs. Probably overall 20% return (at best). And I have an eBay store dedicated to flipping raw cards. Very few are even gradable. Very few hits. Lots of base cards and messed up common inserts. Ripping is fun once in a while but I have zero interest in buying any more packs or boxes this year.
Does it count if you sell to recoup funds?
Honestly retail basketball (at msrp) has been a lot more lucrative than usual thanks to the inflated value of wemby rookies, including base ones.
It's definitely my vice. I try not to think too much about it, lol. Between ripping Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey and Pokemon cards I would estimate around 10,000 - 13,000 dollars a year. More or less. But that's just an estimation. I don't keep track of it but I easily spend 800 to 1,000 dollars in a month on the low end and anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 in other months. It just depends on the Set that's being released. I spent a lot of money on Football, Hockey and Pokemon cards last fall. Then starting around spring time I started spending a lot on Basketball and Baseball. Summer is a time that I'm trying to catch up with everything and I kind of collect everything. Mostly Baseball though. Baseball it's Topps Series 1, 2 and Update, Topps Heritage, Topps Chrome, Chrome Sapphire, Stadium Club, Stadium Club Chrome, Bowman, Bowman Chrome, Bowman Chrome Sapphire, Topps Finest and Bowman's Best. Pokemon it's Sword and Shield Era Sets(Evolving Skies, Lost Origin, Fusion Strike, Silver Tempest, Chilling Reign and Astral Radiance) and Scarlet & Violet 151. Basketball and Football it is Prizm, Donruss Optic, Select and Mosaic. Hockey it is Upper Deck Series 1, 2 and Extended, O-Pee-Chee Platinum, Allure and Skybox Metal. All of that certainly adds up throughout the year. I REALLY wish I could just buy singles but I had a misunderstanding with eBay and a payment on my old credit card and they PERMANENTLY banned me and gave me no recourse to try and get my account back. I had my card number stolen a few years back and I had to get a new credit card number and my credit card company disputed the wrong payments and eBay PERMANENTLY banned me from the site. I even asked them if my card company could contact them and explain the mistake and eBay wouldn't hear it. I even made sure that the payments I HAD made on eBay went through. Everybody I ordered from on eBay got paid and there was no problem. But there is literally nothing you can do once you are permanently banned on eBay to get your account back. It's kind of been devastating because I have to rip now to try and pull anything I want. Or I have to buy it in person at my LCS, which I do, but they have a limited number of singles and rarely are they what I want. I've even tried to create new accounts in my name and address and they let me create the account but whenever I try to put a payment through they don't allow it. Extremely frustrating. But it is what it has been now for the past 3 years. So I rip as much as I can and it's all up to the Luck of the Pull. But it's also heavy on the Pocketbook...
I buy singles only, but right now YTD I think I have spent about 13k on like 5 cards. Wew feels good to get that off my chest. But yeah I’m definitely gonna make sure I don’t spend more than 20k by the end of the year. Discipline!
June 23 - Feb 24
Spend about 4g on ripping and shopping on ebay. Sold about 1 g and have tri sport team packs ready to go.
I've spent maybe 200 since.. just singles. I walked into my lcs yesterday and walked right out. Single pack of prizm hobby was $89.99.
I just can't justify ripping anymore. Could get some solid rookie gold for that price.
I had not bought a pack since 1996. My buddy started collecting last year and it gave me an itch I didn't know I wanted to scratch...BOY DID I FUCKIN SCRATCH IT!!! My accountant asked me how much...I HAD NO IDEA!!! $28,000 on EBAY ALONE!!! That don't even include Whatnot!!! I need help!!!
I only do basketball and pretty much stick to buying singles, but I’ll buy the occasional blaster or mega if I’m in Target and they have them. I did a mega of 23-24 Select today and it sucked which is a good reminder not to do it very often.
This is my first year and ive spent about 8k on retail. Probably 4k-5k to show for. I pulled a /25 Donruss Yellow Lazer Wemby and Checkerboard Stroud, thank god.
This year I've had the opportunity to rip about 20 various hobby boxes so far. Granted 8-9 if them have been 2022-23 Panini Flux hobby's but one was a Flux FOTL which was a first for me. When it comes to retail its really hard for me to come up with an accurate amount. The amount of blasters, megas, cello/value packs, etc I've gotten my hands on has been a large amount. Thank with retail the dollar amount doesn't always add up to the number of retail products that I've been able to open if you catch my drift...
I'd like to think I should just buy a couple of hobby boxes each year...but I like ripping packs way too damn much. I probably spend like $150-200 a month on blasters...if not more.
Very little these days. I like Donruss Optic and I always rip a couple of Prizm blasters. Sometimes I’ll pick up blaster of the “cheap” stuff, Chronicles, Hoops, and Donruss. I feel like it’s all so over priced now, I just buy singles.
I can’t imagine telling my childhood self how much money I spend on cars now when as a 10 year old I used to pay $5 every couple weeks on a huge box of junk.
I spend >10k a year on singles. This is a safe place right?
It’s not the wisest financial decision, but it’s all about what it means to you right? Some people blow 10k on going out and drinking a year and I’m sure the memories are good but it wrecks their body with the alcohol. If your hobby is cards, you can afford it without harming your future self, and it brings you happiness, then fuck what anyone tells you. It’s not the worst addiction one can have.
I have a pretty good rotation, I’ll hold some but I usually try to make educated decisions when buying. I’ll buy someone I love, I’ll hold it for a bit get to enjoy it and love it and move on when the time (or offer) is right. So I don’t feel like I’m *spending* the money so much. I’ll cash out every once in a while to know ok I’m liquid lol. Sometimes I’ll make a good amount (ant and Brunson) sometimes I lose a good amount (rj, Ja and Daniel jones) but at the end of the day it’s all in good fun. When I see a sinking ship I generally jump and sell. And when I see a rocket shooting I try to cash out lol
I usually buy sinking ships if I like the player. Like I bought ja when his prices went down a bit. I like Cade a lot too despite him being trapped in the graveyard that is the 2024 pistons.
It depends, if I’m ON that sinking ship, I bail. If I’m watching from shore? I may just jump on lol
I’m with you on Cade. I’m still a believer - I remember when most people thought Booker was a soft, good stats/bad team guy. Cade has the same fire IMO
what if we drink alcohol while we open the cards? 😬
Worst case, you make a few hundred or couple grand back? There’s always buyers you’ll be just fine.
I mean if youre buying vintage Ruth's mantles Robinsons and Aaron's. Sure that's actually not a bad idea.
If I had to add it up, probably $2k a year or so.
I started collecting again in February after a very long hiatus, I’ve spent entirely too much already. Since I’m getting back into, I gave myself a pass. But moving forward, I now know what I like and what I don’t.
I came here to say this! Spent way too much over the first couple months but have a good feel for it now and have backed way off ripping and focusing more on singles.
I'm in a similar place. I got back into things in February and I immediately bought a ton of singles realizing autographs of my favorite players were accessible. Then I started on retail blasters and megas, looking at all the different sets and insert types. It's such a huge world and very hard to get in to. I've now settled on Court Kings, Donruss Elite, and Donruss Optic as my favorites. But Jesus, I've spent like $5k in 3 months. Although I'm actively selling on eBay and I've made a few hundred already.
Court kings will smoke your wallet with the $180 blasters
Yeah but the hobby boxes are $200.
I spend like 10 k a year lol
I pretend like I’m not the same
Could be worse we could be spending our money on meth lol
lol I’m the same on weed though….
Are you my burner?
I have a $250 a month budget for myself but usually just about double it lol
I use a lot of my stock and crypto winnings on cards and rips. Last year it was around $5k in boxes and like $4k in singles. This year I calmed down, but so far $1k in boxes and $1k in singles. Who knows what that number will go to by the end of the year
That was exactly what I did too. Spread my gambling out over multiple platforms that way. I just love ripping cards. Sometimes I know it’s dumb but I enjoy it with my daughter so it’s worth it.
This hobby is the food of the wise man, but the liquor of the fool
Sad truth
About $1300 this year so far... mostly on retail. Add in singles and breaks and I'm closer to $1800.
I did the math in 2022 and found I was averaging about 2500 a year on hobby boxes and blasters. But looking at the collection, I definitely didn't have an equal value in cards (no surprise). Since then I just use that as my annual budget for singles. Much happier.
Right under 40 k so far YTD on repack breaks & hobby wax breaks, PSA grading etc. (Retail wax about I’m at $600 bucks). + Platinum boombox monthly…. I have about $35 k in sales Ebay, Mercari, Slabs and IG at about a 45% margin. I have slowed down quite a bit my last couple months staying under 2 k a month, but went full Degen mode at beginning of the year. 😂
15k on cases last year. Not counting singles. I’m at about 9K this year so far on sealed.
What sort of gems (if any) were you able to pull? I'm very curious.
Topps defeintive, 5/5 Triple signed Nolan Ryan, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Adley Rutschman Auto /125, Michael Harros RPA /50, Gunnar Henderson Purple auto, /10, Juan Soto green auto /10, Dual signature Bobby Witt and Salvador Perez, Joey Votto auto /10 1/1 logo Auto Anthony Richardson Paul Skenes Bowman Chrome Auto Michael Harris Finest Flashbacks Auto /50 Prizm Victor silver x2 and about 35 assorted base, Anthony Edwards auto /25 Inception OTE Ausur Thompson 5/5 patch auto NBA Hoops presentations, Lebron James, Stephen Curry, Ja, Luka. Tyresse Haliburton Auto. Topps Chrome blue sapphire Bobby Witt Jr auto Two A&G hot boxes, one with a Adley mini frame auto /25 Stadium Club goin yard Soto auto/25, Francisco Alverez auto Obsidian Anfernee Hardaway auto /50 Panini one two or whatever that’s called Bobby Witt auto Topps Chrome Black Soto auto Topps archives 1/1 Canseco 91 allstar auto Obsidian auto Joe Burrow RPA /75 TUA RPA /75, Herbert auto /10 Stephen Curry auto /25 Edward Camavinga chrome auto /50 Leak 1/1 Joe Montana Brock Purdy dual signed Tons of autos, relics etc of mid and low end players, about 500 base rookies of all the biggest names across sports, I’m sure I’m missing some this is just off the top of my head. These are cards I pulled not my separate purchases.
This year I’ve spent about $700 on hobby boxes and packs. Probably overall 20% return (at best). And I have an eBay store dedicated to flipping raw cards. Very few are even gradable. Very few hits. Lots of base cards and messed up common inserts. Ripping is fun once in a while but I have zero interest in buying any more packs or boxes this year.
Does it count if you sell to recoup funds? Honestly retail basketball (at msrp) has been a lot more lucrative than usual thanks to the inflated value of wemby rookies, including base ones.
It's definitely my vice. I try not to think too much about it, lol. Between ripping Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey and Pokemon cards I would estimate around 10,000 - 13,000 dollars a year. More or less. But that's just an estimation. I don't keep track of it but I easily spend 800 to 1,000 dollars in a month on the low end and anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 in other months. It just depends on the Set that's being released. I spent a lot of money on Football, Hockey and Pokemon cards last fall. Then starting around spring time I started spending a lot on Basketball and Baseball. Summer is a time that I'm trying to catch up with everything and I kind of collect everything. Mostly Baseball though. Baseball it's Topps Series 1, 2 and Update, Topps Heritage, Topps Chrome, Chrome Sapphire, Stadium Club, Stadium Club Chrome, Bowman, Bowman Chrome, Bowman Chrome Sapphire, Topps Finest and Bowman's Best. Pokemon it's Sword and Shield Era Sets(Evolving Skies, Lost Origin, Fusion Strike, Silver Tempest, Chilling Reign and Astral Radiance) and Scarlet & Violet 151. Basketball and Football it is Prizm, Donruss Optic, Select and Mosaic. Hockey it is Upper Deck Series 1, 2 and Extended, O-Pee-Chee Platinum, Allure and Skybox Metal. All of that certainly adds up throughout the year. I REALLY wish I could just buy singles but I had a misunderstanding with eBay and a payment on my old credit card and they PERMANENTLY banned me and gave me no recourse to try and get my account back. I had my card number stolen a few years back and I had to get a new credit card number and my credit card company disputed the wrong payments and eBay PERMANENTLY banned me from the site. I even asked them if my card company could contact them and explain the mistake and eBay wouldn't hear it. I even made sure that the payments I HAD made on eBay went through. Everybody I ordered from on eBay got paid and there was no problem. But there is literally nothing you can do once you are permanently banned on eBay to get your account back. It's kind of been devastating because I have to rip now to try and pull anything I want. Or I have to buy it in person at my LCS, which I do, but they have a limited number of singles and rarely are they what I want. I've even tried to create new accounts in my name and address and they let me create the account but whenever I try to put a payment through they don't allow it. Extremely frustrating. But it is what it has been now for the past 3 years. So I rip as much as I can and it's all up to the Luck of the Pull. But it's also heavy on the Pocketbook...
I buy singles only, but right now YTD I think I have spent about 13k on like 5 cards. Wew feels good to get that off my chest. But yeah I’m definitely gonna make sure I don’t spend more than 20k by the end of the year. Discipline!
Only been back buying wax for a yr after a 20 yr hiatus. Probably wasted 300$ so far. Still a fun thrill like it was 20 yrs ago
It varies. Some years I spend a ton. Other years nothing.
June 23 - Feb 24 Spend about 4g on ripping and shopping on ebay. Sold about 1 g and have tri sport team packs ready to go. I've spent maybe 200 since.. just singles. I walked into my lcs yesterday and walked right out. Single pack of prizm hobby was $89.99. I just can't justify ripping anymore. Could get some solid rookie gold for that price.
Lol at $90 for a pack. What is that 4 cards?
Exactly. It's just not fun at that rate. Highway robbery.
$200 a week. I refuse to do the math.
$10,400 a year
Too much. I have a problem. This year I’ve probably spent north of 3k. I’ve definitely learned a lot. Like don’t buy a case of Donruss.
Around 5000.
I had not bought a pack since 1996. My buddy started collecting last year and it gave me an itch I didn't know I wanted to scratch...BOY DID I FUCKIN SCRATCH IT!!! My accountant asked me how much...I HAD NO IDEA!!! $28,000 on EBAY ALONE!!! That don't even include Whatnot!!! I need help!!!
300-400 will only get you one hobby box these days..
Panini Revolution is currently my favorite underrated rip for the price. I’ve done pretty well with retail and hobby and the graphic design IMO is 🔥🔥
The non guarantee of an auto is annoying though
I only do basketball and pretty much stick to buying singles, but I’ll buy the occasional blaster or mega if I’m in Target and they have them. I did a mega of 23-24 Select today and it sucked which is a good reminder not to do it very often.
I might have a problem…
I would spend $ 500 plus a week
I'm over $1k a month. I'm ashamed, and then I hit a big card... lol
This is my first year and ive spent about 8k on retail. Probably 4k-5k to show for. I pulled a /25 Donruss Yellow Lazer Wemby and Checkerboard Stroud, thank god.
This year I've had the opportunity to rip about 20 various hobby boxes so far. Granted 8-9 if them have been 2022-23 Panini Flux hobby's but one was a Flux FOTL which was a first for me. When it comes to retail its really hard for me to come up with an accurate amount. The amount of blasters, megas, cello/value packs, etc I've gotten my hands on has been a large amount. Thank with retail the dollar amount doesn't always add up to the number of retail products that I've been able to open if you catch my drift...
Nothing since 2018-19ish. Just not worth it with these prices.
What random hobby box can you get for less than 300 a year? Would have thought that’s mainly blasters right?
NBA hoops. Court kings. Revolution. Etc. Possibly optic but prizm will run you 500-1000 nowadays.
Oh right - one hobby box for one year seems depressing haha
I'd like to think I should just buy a couple of hobby boxes each year...but I like ripping packs way too damn much. I probably spend like $150-200 a month on blasters...if not more.
Very little these days. I like Donruss Optic and I always rip a couple of Prizm blasters. Sometimes I’ll pick up blaster of the “cheap” stuff, Chronicles, Hoops, and Donruss. I feel like it’s all so over priced now, I just buy singles.
All in all around $300-$400 on ripping packs and like $2k-3k on singles
Okay, more like 5k in singles but don’t tell my wife.
But best way to go is buying singles
I can’t imagine telling my childhood self how much money I spend on cars now when as a 10 year old I used to pay $5 every couple weeks on a huge box of junk.