Collecting Mistakes

[Mattymc727]

I’m fairly new, so ripe with mistakes so far. I’d say the two biggies are;

Almost getting scammed out of a few hundred bucks over meh photoshop

My other big one is getting caught up with the “behavioral science” of eBay. Sometimes you get caught up in an auction trying to win without realizing you are out of focus on your goals and intent. It’s easy to overbuy early and then get buyers remorse. Part of it is trying to identify what exactly the market is, but then you win and end up setting the market!

I think the biggest lesson for me is, there’s actually a ton of T206 inventory if you are willing to pay for it. So you really do need to be patient as a collector. One will always come along. Too many times I’ve rushed into buying something for my PC set and then a week later there’s just a better one available.

I’m sure you all knew this stuff already!

[Rhotchkiss]

This is a great idea for a thread.

I have been collecting on and off my whole life (I am 49), and I have made many mistakes over the years. Mostly, selling when I did - almost everything I have owned is worth more later than it was when I sold it. And I certainly have bought things thinking I must have it now, only to see one or more other example pop up in weeks. Patience is a virtue and that is a lesson I still have not learned.

Other larger mistakes include, not looking at the card closely enough and depending too much on the flip/grade, letting someone talk me into a card or a card at a certain price when my gut said no, and getting emotional during bidding wars substituting my need to win over my need for what I am actually winning. But here is one specific event I recall that involved several mistakes at once:

Back in 2017, I accidentally hit “buy it now” on a very pretty, but overly priced t206 red Cobb PSA 4.5. I freaked out and emailed the seller to see if I could cancel. He told me I could cancel for a $500 penalty, which I paid. Here are all the mistakes: (1) I mistakenly hit BIN, (2) I did not understand the eBay rules well enough to know that I could just cancel the deal and/or I cared to much about BS feedback, (3) I paid $500 to “get out” of my mistake, and (4) today, that card would is worth 3-4x what I was committed to overpay. I have bought a ton of cards since getting back into collecting in 2015, and that mistake sits with me more than any other.

BTW- I have made many more smart moves than mistakes… you can’t win them all, and mistakes can be real assets if we learn from them and use them as a catalyst to make better decisions going forward.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

This is a great idea for a thread.

I have been collecting on and off my whole life (I am 49), and I have made many mistakes over the years. Mostly, selling when I did - almost everything I have owned is worth more later than it was when I sold it. And I certainly have bought things thinking I must have it now, only to see one or more other example pop up in weeks. Patience is a virtue and that is a lesson I still have not learned.

Other larger mistakes include, not looking at the card closely enough and depending too much on the flip/grade, letting someone talk me into a card or a card at a certain price when my gut said no, and getting emotional during bidding wars substituting my need to win over my need for what I am actually winning. But here is one specific event I recall that involved several mistakes at once:

Back in 2017, I accidentally hit “buy it now” on a very pretty, but overly priced t206 red Cobb PSA 4.5. I freaked out and emailed the seller to see if I could cancel. He told me I could cancel for a $500 penalty, which I paid. Here are all the mistakes: (1) I mistakenly hit BIN, (2) I did not understand the eBay rules well enough to know that I could just cancel the deal and/or I cared to much about BS feedback, (3) I paid $500 to “get out” of my mistake, and (4) today, that card would is worth 3-4x what I was committed to overpay. I have bought a ton of cards since getting back into collecting in 2015, and that mistake sits with me more than any other.

BTW- I have made many more smart moves than mistakes… you can’t win them all, and mistakes can be real assets if we learn from them and use them as a catalyst to make better decisions going forward.

Great story Ryan,

When I opened my first nightclub at the ripe old age of 26 all I can remember is every mistake cost me $500, $1000, or $1500 dollars, which was an awful lot of money back then, Luckily I'm a quick learner and have an unwavering belief in what I'm doing. Although I sold it after 16 years to open a "respectable" business, the club recently had its 30 year anniversary.

My hobby mistakes have been cards I didn't buy, Ramley Johnson for 1500 before the run up, e121 Ruth, etc. but I was fortunate enough to hit for average, selling my 52 Jackie to buy my 14CJ Cobb among others.

I've also overpaid on auction night and woken up the next morning feeling like Nancy Kerrigan screaming "Why!?!", those cards didn't last long in my PC before they moved on at a loss.

Like other members have mentioned, mistakes are how we become seasoned collectors or as my Dad would say, "you can't build character without getting a little dirty".

[sportscardpete]

I find our vintage bubble to be awesome, and unfortunately I assumed every other collectible bubble to be equally awesome. I ended up - at the time - buying a fake Michael Jordan rookie. Totally fell on me - didn't do research, assumed the best in people. Fortunately for me, the guy transacted with someone I knew in a bigger deal, and it worked out where I got my money back. Lesson learned, but still leaves a bad taste in my mouth (mostly for me being an idiot).

I also once ripped a t206 Ty Cobb effectively in half, because the person mailing it to me didn't put it in a top loader (it wasn't graded). When I opened the envelope I ripped both the envelope and card in half. Learned lesson that even if you are excited to get a card, open the envelope with care (but come on - shame on the seller for not packing it with care)!

The other - more jokingly - mistake I made was selling a few cards back in 2015 to buy my first apartment. Oh, what I would do to have those back and stay at my parents a few more years!! One of the cards was a gorgeous W600 Cy Young.

The cool thing is that you kind of just learn from mistakes and it ultimately makes you a better collector. In hindsight, all of the mistakes helped me in the long-run, but definitely tough to swallow in the moment.

Funny enough, years later, I ended up selling the ripped Cobb for MORE than I paid for it!

[Tere1071]

Having worked at various baseball card shows and for a baseball card shop for nearly twenty years I was exposed to many vintage and now-wildly sought after items. Although I had a blast working in that capacity, I passed on many opportunities to purchase items as the pay wasn't great and my focus was too narrow. However, on a few occasions I was able to obtain some fantastic cards and collectibles, but like grains of sand they passed through my fingers. Thirty years ago it didn't seem important, but in reflection some thirty years later I messed up!

Phil aka Tere1071

Complete 1953 Bowman Color, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1975 Topps Baseball sets under revision as the budget and wife allows

Under construction:
1968 Topps Baseball - 420/598: Overall vg, missing all of the bigger name stars and many commons from 1-375; no game cards

1969 Topps Baseball - 320-664: Overall vg, missing all of the stars and many cards after #217; no deckle edged cards

1969 Topps Baseball Team Stamps- Dodgers; missing everything else

1970 Topps Baseball Insert sets:
Booklets- missing 7; 9; 11; 13; 14; 15; 17; and 23.
Posters # 1; 8; 14; 17; and 19
I do not have any 1970 scratch offs yet.

1971 Topps Coins- 120/153
I do not have any 1971 scratch offs yet.

1974 Topps Baseball Washington variations- 32; 53; 77; 102; 125; 226; 241; 309; 364; and 599

[jchcollins]

Having been at this hobby off and on since 1986, I've got a laundry list of mistakes somewhere mostly too long to bother with.

Recently, not remembering what cards I already have and not having any type of online wantlist seem to hurt me. It's why I currently have 3 copies of a '67 Topps Aaron / Mays / Allen LL, and why even if priced right - I typically don't buy '67 high number commons when they come into my LCS - because I can't remember which ones I already have.

Selling things that later skyrocketed mistakes stick out some still. The one that comes to mind was a nice '52 Topps Jackie Robinson that would have probably been PSA 2-3 range, that I sold raw for $500 in about 2002. Whoops.

[LEHR]

In April 2021 I sold my Graig Kreindler painting of Ty Cobb in the spring REA auction. That was definitely a mistake and I've regretted it ever since. We were in the middle of a house build and some "potential issues" came up that we had not planned for, and I thought we'd planned for everything. In haste I sold about $10k of stuff from my collection and consigned my Cobb painting, which brought in another $10k. As it turned out, we didn't end up needing a dime of this money for our build and actually came in under budget.

[bnorth]

Been collecting since the mid/late 80s. I have loved error cards of all kinds since I started collecting. So for me it was buying a ton of expensive error cards that turned out to be altered junk.

[brunswickreeves]

Premature selling of Ruth before the run up, and overpaying for Jackie at the height of the run up are painful.

[Seven]

I passed on a PSA 4 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle that was being sold here on the board, not too long before Covid, as I thought I couldn't justify the purchase at the time (funds were tight). The Covid runup on all things vintage, killed me. Will eventually be able to afford one, abeit in a lower grade.

I went back and fourth on buying some modern cards, namely Ohtani rookies when he was having the down season, hindsight is 20/20 but I could have made a pretty penny off of them. More of a regret than a mistake though.