Have you MADE money with baseball cards overall?

[All The Hype]

After reading this thread about what you'd spend money on if it weren't for cards (http://www.freedomcardboard.com/for...end-money-on-cards-what-would-you-spend-it-on) I'm wondering how many people would actually have LESS money for other things if it weren't for cards.

I'm nowhere near the level of some people here, but I was actually kind of pleased to tell my (no longer skeptical) girlfriend that baseball card sales covered the vast majority of our rent last month.




What about you? Have you made money because of your involvement with baseball cards?

 

[cgilmo]

ohhh heeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll no

probably not even close. We can't all be Phil Mason

 

[hive17]

NO, but I think that there is enough capital trapped up in my prospect collection that, if I end up moving it all, I wouldn't think about what I speant any more.

 

[Pine Tar]

ohhh heeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll no

probably not even close. We can't all be Phil Mason

What he said and then some.

 

[rebelpawn]

Nope but then again I don't care. I sell a little bit but I really just enjoy collecting.

 

[WoundedDuck]

If you're making money, it's a business. I have no problem with that what so ever, but it's a hobby for me so spending >>>> making. On those few occasions where I have sold something for a profit, that's just more disposable income to plow back into my hobby.

 

[MansGame]

Nope but then again I don't care. I sell a little bit but I really just enjoy collecting.

+1

 

[jrinne]

Everything I own is all profit. Getting lucky on a handful of cards has helped. Not buying wax and just focusing on singles has also helped.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Sports Cards by Freedom Card Board.com

 

[shepsspot]

I buy what I know I can do one of two things on. Make money off it or help someone with a card they want or need, with the latter I only sell at what it cost me. I am not looking to make money off someone that I am friends with or have dealt with in the past. Pretty sure there are a few people here that will back me up on that.

And to answer the question, I have done really well the past year or so on making money with cards!

 

[jcmint]

For me I prospect and make plenty of dough. It feeds the PC and bank account

 

[BunchOBull]

Yes, in my married life absolutely $0 of mine or my wife's salary has gone to my hobby. I haven't spent any salary on cards since 2007. It limits the number and value of cards I can collect, but it also means cards don't cut into our budget and savings.

 

[RITM]

Everything I own is all profit. Getting lucky on a handful of cards has helped. Not buying wax and just focusing on singles has also helped.

Unless a person who busts a ton of wax hits the occasional high dollar card going the singles route would be your best shot at making profit IMHO.

I have been collecting for 24 years. In the past decade I stopped buying boxes and focused my attention on singles. Granted, I buy a handful of blasters during the year. When I look at the wax buying stretch of my collecting there is no way I broke even and that is with a handful of cards that sold $500+. When I look over the stretch of buying singles I am confident that I would make profit. Of course unless I sell out there is no way of knowing. I do know I have made more profits with singles cards than any individual profit from a break.

It is worth pointing out, though, that I collect for the hobby more than the idea of cashing in.

 

[bigpapiMA32]

Ha, absolutely not. But I'm fine with that.

 

[tramers]

don't golf , fish , hunt , smoke , can't drink and don't buy blasters --------- still broke

 

[jpcz]

Haven't made any money because I still own everything that I've bought (for the most part). But would I make money if I sold everything today? Yes, I'm happy to say I didn't purchase my cards back then for more than they'd be worth on the market today.

 

[David T.]

I've done much better with cards than I have at the local casino!
David

 

[TBTwinsFan]

Nope.

My goal is to spend more than I make. That way it's a hobby and not a job. I do trim the edges every couple of months to make room for more stuff, but I barely make enough to cover shipping.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Generally if you're making money flipping/reselling cards its at the expense of collectors. I certainly don't have a problem with that if this is someone's job; a healthy hobby definitely needs a few people like this.

However its a problem when too many people try to make money - because it drives up the cost of cards and forces more people who want to stay collecting in the hobby to sell cards themselves... Invariably this is a vicious circle situation that in the end not only artificially rises the price of cards (causing investment bubbles), but causes collectors to lose even more money and personal time selling (and not collecting!) cards.

 

[BunchOBull]

I hear the arguments against selling, but in the end, everything I buy to resell I buy for steals, I'm not competing with people on eBay, driving up market prices. I hit BINs, search bins, buy from obscure websites, etc. Beyond that, anyone who has purchased from me will tell you my preference is to trade for Thomas cards I need first, but I will sell second to that. So you can call it a business if you want, but it's all done to increase the scale and scope of my own personal collection without taking money from my family. If that's not a hobby, I don't know what is.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

I hear the arguments against selling, but in the end, everything I buy to resell I buy for steals, I'm not competing with people on eBay, driving up market prices. I hit BINs, search bins, buy from obscure websites, etc. Beyond that, anyone who has purchased from me will tell you my preference is to trade for Thomas cards I need first, but I will sell second to that. So you can call it a business if you want, but it's all done to increase the scale and scope of my own personal collection without taking money from my family. If that's not a hobby, I don't know what is.

Ah, but your hitting the BINs stops a collector of that item from hitting the BIN him/herself. By reselling at a higher price, you're making the hobby more expensive for someone else.

The same would be true for people who hit low/steal BINs for Thomas cards and resell to you at a higher price. If you were able to hit all those low Thomas BINs and were able to get those Thomas steals yourself you probably wouldn't have to waste time and energy selling cards to other people in the first place.