I am interested in the psychology behind our members' decisions when buying cards from Ebay sellers.
Let's say there is a set of non common cards (promos, inserts, costume, prop, autograph etc..) that requires 10 to 30+ cards to complete. You have been looking to finish this set for a long time but you are still missing several. You've determined that these cards are hard to find due to their age; low print run; universal desirability or whatever other criterion you wish to use. Then,you find a BUY IT NOW (no best offer available)auction, for example, that has 5 cards from the set you have been trying to finish. Unfortunately, you already have 2 of them in your collection but you don't have the other 3. What do you do? Please pick the choice that best applies to your decision making process.

Results (39 votes counted so far):
HOW DO YOU PREFER BUYING CARDS YOU NEED ON EBAY?
2	(5%)
		I DON'T BUY CARDS FROM EBAY
0	(0%)
		I DON'T WISH TO SHARE MY OPINION
26	(67%)
		I WOULD BUY THE 5 CARDS AND WORRY LATER ABOUT WHAT TO DO WITH THE OTHERS I ALREADY HAVE
5	(13%)
		I WOULD CONTACT THE SELLER TO SEE IF HE WOULD SELL ME ONLY THE CARDS I NEEDED
2	(5%)
		I WOULD RATHER WAIT AND FIND EACH CARD I NEEDED LISTED INDIVIDUALLY EVEN IF I HAVE TO PAY MORE PER CARD
4	(10%)
		IT DEPENDS ON HOW MANY CARDS I ALREADY HAVE IN MY COLLECTION TO COMPLETE THE SET
See Poll Form

This message has been edited. Last edited by: promoking,

My process :
1 contact the seller if he's ok end if he's not then
2 if the ratio left cards need cards was in my favor buy all the cards and see afterwhat to do.
3 if the ratio wasn't in my favor i would consider the rarity. If it's too rare i'd buy the cards. If not i would let them.
If the seller don't sell the cards at the end of the auction contact him again, his mind could change

Sorry, but I don't have enough information in your hypothetical situation to render my own decision. The key component missing for me is the price of the BIN.

If I only needed 3 of the 5 cards I would have to figure out whether or not the total amount I would be paying is worth it for those 3 cards alone. It could be that the 2 cards that I don't actually need are the most expensive in the lot. I would therefore be paying a much higher price for the 3 cards I actually want.

Now if the intention was to turn around and sell or trade those 2 unwanted cards yourself, then maybe it would be less of an issue. I don't sell cards, so I would not be interested in buying this lot unless I thought the overall price was what I would be willing to spend upon finding those 3 cards only.

I intially would pick them all up, keep the 3 I need and I'd list the other 2 to recoup some of the money.

IF I though the BIN wouldn't sell I'd contact the seller and ask "If it doesn't sell would you consider selling just the 3 in a BIN"? And go from there.

. . . for me it all depends on price, but if it's a better price per card to buy in lots I'll usually go that route regardless if I need all the cards in the lot. . . If it's the same price then I'll go for individual cards. . .

I don't think I would contact a seller to break up a lot, I'd probably just let it go.

Since shipping is always a pain (the seller is always in a different country than me), I would definitely buy the lot and try and sell/trade later. I have bought master sets to get a few hard to find items (eg Stargate movie mail in set, Stargate autos) so this is a pretty regular occurrence for me.

In fact, this is part of the reason I have so much spare stuff hanging around, I never seem to organise selling off the extras.

As long as the price was reasonable I would buy the lot also and sell the duplicates. Trying to find the specific ones you need individually could take years.

As buyer, I prefer to get packs and boxes to complete base or insert sets. My experience buying specific cards is a mix. A lot of sellers and even traders can't understand the difference between Near Mint or Mint from Excellent or Very Good.