Let's collectively explore this topic and consider your hobby history to do so.
Do you suffer more from Buyer's Remorse?
1. Realization of overpayment soon after a purchase
2. Engage in an auction "bidding" war and end up regretting winning the auction
3. Making a purchase late one evening under the influence of a stupefying substance and wonder when it arrives "Why the hell did I buy this?"
4. A market "bubble" bursts within months of a purchase devaluing your purchase by 50% or more
5. You suffer from spousal abuse when your hobby appetite cuts into your grocery budget.
6. How about placing a bid on a lot in an online auction that you realize is too high after placing the bid and then praying until the end of the auction that there is a greater fool than you out there who will outbid you?
or
Do you suffer more from Seller's Remorse?
1. Realization that the buyer pool contains no one that agrees with your asking price.
2. You sell an item for fair market value and one year later the fair market value has doubled
3. The item you have sold disappears into a postal black hole and you have to refund the payment.
4. Your hobby focus is fluid and when you sell an item, you are fine, but later you have an uncontrollable urge to purchase the same item again for a lot more than your paid initially.
5. You're no longer a kid and move on to other mature pursuits, so you consign your whole collection. Five years later you stumble onto Net54 and get reinfected.
6. Have you ever sold a card and experienced remorse before you mailed it?
7. What about listing a card on BST and receiving 7 "I'll take it"s in 15 minutes, realizing after the fact that its current market value is three or four times the listing price. Ouch!!!
8. Have you ever sold a card to someone and then at some point in the future bought the very same card back from the same person for more than you sold it for?
or
Do you suffer more from opportunity lost remorse?
1. The card you didn't buy before it appreciated.
2. The card you didn't sell before it depreciated.
3. The auction house overbid after you fell asleep or passed out.
These are just examples, but more will be added to this post from time to time as they appear in this thread. Initially the hobbyist is a buyer in most cases, spurred on by the thrill of the hunt and the acquisition of treasures. At some point though the closet is full, or the man cave is full, or the house is full, and selling becomes a necessity. If life intervenes and selling is necessary to fund other immediate needs, remorse can be both a sentimental and financial disaster.
Please share your remorse. If it is too painful, consider this thread to be an AA meeting. Finding someone like yourself in the hobby can be reassuring and therapeutic perhaps or not.
