Speaking from the perspective of someone who returned to the hobby as an adult in 2019, then spent a year or so researching, learning, observing, and finally figuring out what my main collecting interest was by early 2020 (pre-WWI baseball cards), the whole of 2023 has been, for lack of a better word, exhausting. Don't get wrong, I love collecting. I love seeing all of the cool cards posted in the pickups threads and all over the board. Knowing I'll never be able to afford 98% of them doesn't bother me, I'm happy to see others completing their goals, just as I have my own goals I'm working toward.
The exhaustion for me stems from a couple of places. First, as Darren said in the original post, finding the combo of appealing and affordable outside of the B/S/T boards and FB groups has become nearly impossible. As avenues for reasonably priced cards dry up, more and more people flock to the few remaining good ones. As a result, as James has pointed out, you have to be fast or lucky or both to snag from what's posted. What's even more disappointing is there have been several times when I've seen cards on the B/S/T boards or FB groups get scooped up within a few minutes of being posted, then I find them on eBay a week later marked up 40-50% of what they bought it for. I totally understand that there are many who buy a deal to sell higher than they paid so that they can fund other cards they want, I get that. It's just deflating as a collector that would have loved to buy a card to keep forever, but missed out because I wasn't glued to my phone all day long. At that point, I have to either hope I get lucky that another is posted and I'm in the right place at the right time, or I overpay on eBay. Or, as has been my case for most of 2023, I buy nothing. Also, I'm always finding myself debating whether to overpay for something now, knowing it could be my last shot before it becomes forever unattainable, or continue waiting in the hopes that the price will eventually drop to a reasonable level. In short, the hunt is part of the fun of collecting for me, and it always has been. The mental hustle that it feels like it's become, however, is truly exhausting.
I collect by Luke Lyon's philosophy of love every card you own, which has helped me the most when deciding whether or not to buy a card, especially in deciding whether or not to overpay. As prices somehow keep climbing though, the result of that philosophy for me is that my collecting goals continue to substantially shrink. What I would have spent three years ago on five cards total that I loved, I now spend on one card that I love. As others have pointed out, I agree that there are other niches and corners of the hobby to move to, but for me it goes back to the philosophy of collect what you love, and for me that is baseball cards. I do enjoy collecting some pre-WWI soccer and boxing cards, but I'm definitely not as passionate for those as I am baseball. I'm not just going to collect something for the sake of collecting, I want to genuinely appreciate every piece I buy.
Sorry for that long-winded Debbie Downer post
I intend to stick around and continue collecting what I love, I guess I just expected things to be somewhat back to normal by now, and I'm tired
