"Why are you selling?"

[Snapolit1]

Funny, a bunch of people on the board know my eBay handle, and when I list something they not infrequently send me an email asking if there is any reason I am selling and hopefully nothing wrong and not a forced sale, etc. Nice sentiment, and I appreciate the notes.

Since I started collecting, I've never had any hesitation selling stuff I have. In my entire collection there are probably 10-15 items that I have no plans to ever sell, let's call them the "super special" stuff, usually one of a kind items. But everything else is fair game. I periodically go through the safe deposit box and find a few items that I haven't thought of in years and decide to give them a new home. Most of them have gone up in value.

I guess I always assumed this is what 95% of the people on the board do. Buy occasionally, sell occasionally, refine the collection, branch out, move things on that no longer resonate loudly. Am I mistaken? Are there a lof of collectors who buy and never plan on sellng any of their stuff? I'm not quite knocking on heaven's door at this point (I hope), but I have little interest in in leaving my heirs 100s or 1000s of things the need to deal with. To me that seems like it could be a burden.

[Vintage Vern]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Funny, a bunch of people on the board know my eBay handle, and when I list something they not infrequently send me an email asking if there is any reason I am selling and hopefully nothing wrong and not a forced sale, etc. Nice sentiment, and I appreciate the notes.

Since I started collecting, I've never had any hesitation selling stuff I have. In my entire collection there are probably 10-15 items that I have no plans to ever sell, let's call them the "super special" stuff, usually one of a kind items. But everything else is fair game. I periodically go through the safe deposit box and find a few items that I haven't thought of in years and decide to give them a new home. Most of them have gone up in value.

I guess I always assumed this is what 95% of the people on the board do. Buy occasionally, sell occasionally, refine the collection, branch out, move things on that no longer resonate loudly. Am I mistaken? Are there a lof of collectors who buy and never plan on sellng any of their stuff? I'm not quite knocking on heaven's door at this point (I hope), but I have little interest in in leaving my heirs 100s or 1000s of things the need to deal with. To me that seems like it could be a burden.

Can you look, and see if you have any Vern/Verne Clemons cards stuffed away. I'd love to purchase them no questions asked to why you're unloading them.

[ronniehatesjazz]

I'm completely with you. There are only a handful of items I likely will never sell. What's weird is the lack of sentimental value I have when I move a card I like.

A few years ago when I bought my first house, I sold some of my nicer cards to help with the expenses. I thought I'd look back and regret selling them but it never hit me. I think the big reason for it is that most cards are readily available on eBay, BST here, etc. So any time I sell a card, I know I can find another one fairly easily (usually easy anyways) and the only real concern is if prices rise substantially.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Vintage Vern

Can you look, and see if you have any Vern/Verne Clemons cards stuffed away. I'd love to purchase them no questions asked to why you're unloading them.

Ha. Can I humiliate myself and say I have never heard of him.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Ha. Can I humiliate myself and say I have never heard of him.

You and thousands of other members.
.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Leon

You and thousands of other members.
.

I have heard of Clarence Clemons. And wouldn't surprise me if Spaeth has his rookie card in a PSA 9.

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I have heard of Clarence Clemons. And wouldn't surprise me if Spaeth has his rookie card in a PSA 9.

What he was a singer or actor with a "rookie" card?

[ksfarmboy]

There was a time I would have never sold anything but with the passing of my mother I reevaluated things in my life. I’ve sold several things in my collection but nothing in my main focus. It really wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.
I have heard of Verne Clemons because he played minor league ball in Wichita. I have a postcard of the Wichita team with him in it. It’s not for sale though.

[Vintage Vern]

Originally Posted by Leon

You and thousands of other members.
.

How many are you sitting on Leon. LOL.

[Vintage Vern]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Ha. Can I humiliate myself and say I have never heard of him.

As I have of many other players. How about Bill Doak aka Spittin' Bill? That's who Verne usually caught balls from.

[Huck]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I guess I always assumed this is what 95% of the people on the board do. Buy occasionally, sell occasionally, refine the collection, branch out, move things on that no longer resonate loudly. Am I mistaken? Are there a lof of collectors who buy and never plan on sellng any of their stuff? I'm not quite knocking on heaven's door at this point (I hope), but I have little interest in in leaving my heirs 100s or 1000s of things the need to deal with. To me that seems like it could be a burden.

I am in the 5%. I have never sold any part of my baseball card collection. Football, basketball and hockey cards amassed through buying collections have been sold off. I did not give the non-baseball cards a second thought and the money generated fueled baseball purchases. I have started thinking about paring down the collection, focusing on certain cards and in the coming months will hopefully have some items on the BST board.

[pawpawdiv9]

As i grow older, (like most folks on here are in there 45+ yrs)
and going to the doctors regulary the past 2yrs - it has become more & more on my thoughts about stopping and sell everything and focus more on health/excercise.
I too, has a few cards that i think i never sell (51/52 Mick, leaf paige, BigHead Ruth).

[Seven]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I guess I always assumed this is what 95% of the people on the board do. Buy occasionally, sell occasionally, refine the collection, branch out, move things on that no longer resonate loudly. Am I mistaken? Are there a lof of collectors who buy and never plan on sellng any of their stuff? I'm not quite knocking on heaven's door at this point (I hope), but I have little interest in in leaving my heirs 100s or 1000s of things the need to deal with. To me that seems like it could be a burden.

I don't want to say I will never sell, because my collecting journey is really still in it's infancy. I don't have children yet, but hopefully one day when I do, I can pass down some of my cards to them, assuming they are interested.

I have some smaller modern pieces in my collection, that I plan on parting with soon, in order to fund eventual vintage purchases. I do want to say that the core of my collection, will never be sold, at least in my lifetime, barring any life changing events. There are certain cards I have fond memories and sentimental attachments too.

[Section103]

Im going to ramble for a second so pardon me for that.

Ultimately, I am a "set collector" and I never accumulate cards that dont fall into 1 of those sets. At one time I had a HOF set (modest, but relatively complete) that I had to sell (marry well, ladies and gentlemen, marry well). I have a player set of cards from a 50s player that is related to my wife. That wont be sold off anytime soon. And I have an additional "set" that Ive been working on for 20+ years. Ive sold off lower grade duplicates, but thats it. In all of those cases, it makes no sense for me to sell unless Im liquidating the set, which I generally hope to never do.

I might dip my toes back into the HOF one day soon, but Im not sure if I'll attempt a complete set or not and that really messes with my head in trying to visualize what my collection would look like. In short, what prevents me from selling also prevents me from buying!

[butchie_t]

I have no children and there will come a time when I will sell my sets, not there yet. But I figure 15 - 20 years from now, is a good possibility for me to liquidate things. As long as I am still on top of the soil. Upside for me, my wife know the value of these cards and understands how to get it out of them too.

Cheers,

Butch

[Tyruscobb]

I’m a pure collector. I’ve never purchased a card intending to ever sell it. However, I will sell a card if I eventually upgrade it to help offset the upgrade cost. Although I enjoy all my cards, I’d have no problem ever selling them if I needed funds - absent the ones from my father’s collection. I’ll die with them.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Funny, a bunch of people on the board know my eBay handle, and when I list something they not infrequently send me an email asking if there is any reason I am selling and hopefully nothing wrong and not a forced sale, etc. Nice sentiment, and I appreciate the notes.

Since I started collecting, I've never had any hesitation selling stuff I have. In my entire collection there are probably 10-15 items that I have no plans to ever sell, let's call them the "super special" stuff, usually one of a kind items. But everything else is fair game. I periodically go through the safe deposit box and find a few items that I haven't thought of in years and decide to give them a new home. Most of them have gone up in value.

I guess I always assumed this is what 95% of the people on the board do. Buy occasionally, sell occasionally, refine the collection, branch out, move things on that no longer resonate loudly. Am I mistaken? Are there a lof of collectors who buy and never plan on sellng any of their stuff? I'm not quite knocking on heaven's door at this point (I hope), but I have little interest in in leaving my heirs 100s or 1000s of things the need to deal with. To me that seems like it could be a burden.

I rarely sell things and when I do it's usually because I have a dupe of the card or I've just want to thin things out and have a few $$ for something else that interests me more at that time.

There was an interesting thread recently about heirs being able to value cards/collectibles at the date of death of the collector.
This seems to provide some possibly interesting tax advantages for the heirs.
But then again, if you're looking at 1000s of cards, it would become an undertaking unless the heirs had a clue about current values.

I knew someone that sold off a significant portion of his collection so that his family wouldn't have to deal with it. But that was a while back before tax reporting for AHs or even fleabay became a "thing".

[Jewish-collector]

Sad Story. Some people weren't ready to sell.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/20/us/ne...rnd/index.html

[bmattioli]

Like article stated, we are just "custodians" of items until the next collector comes along and adds it to theirs..

[raulus]

Originally Posted by bmattioli

Like article stated, we are just "custodians" of items until the next collector comes along and adds it to theirs..

Don’t forget the old adage that no one can stop you from being buried with your cards…

Although I suspect that my wife and kids would probably slip in reprints, and sell the originals.

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Funny, a bunch of people on the board know my eBay handle, and when I list something they not infrequently send me an email asking if there is any reason I am selling and hopefully nothing wrong and not a forced sale, etc. Nice sentiment, and I appreciate the notes.

Since I started collecting, I've never had any hesitation selling stuff I have. In my entire collection there are probably 10-15 items that I have no plans to ever sell, let's call them the "super special" stuff, usually one of a kind items. But everything else is fair game. I periodically go through the safe deposit box and find a few items that I haven't thought of in years and decide to give them a new home. Most of them have gone up in value.

I guess I always assumed this is what 95% of the people on the board do. Buy occasionally, sell occasionally, refine the collection, branch out, move things on that no longer resonate loudly. Am I mistaken? Are there a lof of collectors who buy and never plan on sellng any of their stuff? I'm not quite knocking on heaven's door at this point (I hope), but I have little interest in in leaving my heirs 100s or 1000s of things the need to deal with. To me that seems like it could be a burden.

For me, I mostly sell when I upgrade something. Otherwise, everything else is PC.

Steve, what you said about people asking why you are selling is interesting. I have been approached as well and know several of members that were asked this same question. Very strange, I wonder why all the spin up. Personally, I don't care why someone sells, it has no bearing on my collection.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

For me, I mostly sell when I upgrade something. Otherwise, everything else is PC.

Steve, what you said about people asking why you are selling is interesting. I have been approached as well and know several of members that were asked this same question. Very strange, I wonder why all the spin up. Personally, I don't care why someone sells, it has no bearing on my collection.

Probably everyone trying to decide when the music stops, and therefore when it's time to get out before the market crashes.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

For me, I mostly sell when I upgrade something. Otherwise, everything else is PC.

Steve, what you said about people asking why you are selling is interesting. I have been approached as well and know several of members that were asked this same question. Very strange, I wonder why all the spin up. Personally, I don't care why someone sells, it has no bearing on my collection.

Maybe they are hoping you need some cash and they can get a good deal buying some of your cards at bargain prices.

[Johnny630]

Most people that inquire why are looking for an angle or are paranoid, not confident in the market or cards.

[obcbobd]

Good question. I am 61 and have a lot of cards. Complete, or near complete sets of most Goudey, Payballs, Topps (up to 80), Bowman, plus about 3000 lower condition Topps/Bowman doubles. And I'm still buying. I've always thought that when I reached about 70 I would start selling off a lot of the bulk, cards/sets that don't mean that much to me. Easy to say now, will be tough when I reach 70. I will probably adjust my plan to start when I am 75 :-)

[JCM2009]

I am thinking about selling also. Been collecting for 50 years. I collect for the enjoyment of the hobby not for the financial aspect. I do not ever recall selling a single card in all my years of collecting.

But as I grow older, material things just do not seem as important to me any longer. I have no heirs. A couple of my nephews love the NBA and NFL but show no interest in baseball much less collecting. I may will my collection to one of the nephews so he may liquidate and enjoy the proceeds. Not really willing to sell to a dealer.

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

Most people that inquire why are looking for an angle or are paranoid, not confident in the market or cards.

Agreed or seeking approval for what they spend/collect.