My toughest challenge as a collector...
The Card Swap project has been my most real attempt at trying to make cards some sort of revenue source. Growing up I always dreamed of owning a card shop of mine. The dream is still there and maybe one day. If this site picks up steam and does well I would love to try a physical location to go with it. Over the years I have set up at a few shows here and there but never anything like this. The shows gave me a small taste of the toughest challenge for me as a collector, but now the site needs more products it has gotten a whole lot worse. WHAT DO I SELL AND WHAT DO I KEEP?!?
About four months ago I was at a show where a buyer bought out most of my collection for sale. It wasn't a huge lot but there were some nice pieces there that would have gone perfect on the site store. But since that stuff is all gone and I still want to provide some good cards and good prices at the store, it has been a nightmare to go through my collection and figure out what I should sell and keep. I am still a collector and I still want to have a nice collection to be proud of and I surely don't "need" all of the cards in my collection.
A perfect for instance of this is Yoan Moncada. Not a White sox fan. Never saw him play. I know he's a top prospect. But I have no tie to him. I have about 30 rookies of his, and as I go through them to sell, I am keeping more than I should and I am not even sure why. I should be able to be happy with keeping a 3-5 nice rookies to keep for my PC. Seems easy, not sure why it's not. Dansby Swanson, Nomar Mazara, Joey Gallo, and Jose Berrios are some other players I do the same with that I have no real tie to. It was a big deal for me to put the Moncada /99 on the store! ha
It also happens with my collections of Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Kris Bryant. I have a lot all three of those guys (I have sold off some Harper before), and I am not sure if I should just continue keeping everything of those guys or start selling off? I included a picture of some of the other cards that I just can't sell. The Mookie Betts I had actually had two of. I traded one for a Manny auto. So that was an easy move since I had another one. The MadBum is just sick and the SSP of Hank and Willie will have a blog entry written about it.
To prove how I do have sellers remorse at time. In reference to when I mentioned I sold the lot of cards at the show. That lot contained two Manny Machado autos from my Super PC. Thought I was ok selling a couple, for the greater good. I had a sick card in my mind which is why I was selling stuff. Two days later I bought the two Mannys back. I couldn't stand the thought of them not in my collection with all the others that I had built. A lot of people laughed at me about this. I imagine you will too. Sorry, as I said...I am still a collector!
One funny part of this is, I will go back and forth on a card and if I should put it for sale. After a few moments of overthinking, I make my decision. But really I am making that decision thinking that once the card hits the store it's going to be sold, and that is just not the case!
Does anyone find themselves have those thoughts when deciding what to move? What are your deciding factors?
Hopefully more cards are gonna be added to the store soon. jk. Will be adding more singles also working on doing a bargain bin for people to search through. The store is very limited so finding the easiest way for users to buy from it. Stay tuned.