I'm kinda new to card collecting and was wondering how much money is fair in card pricing.

Most of the time I go by how I feel about the card. If I really like the card obviously I'll pay a little more but this method is really subjective to what the seller thinks is fair and the maximum amount I'm willing to spend.

I guess my question is how does everyone else buy their cards.

Now thats the million dollar question.to me i pay whats fair and what i can afford at the time.dont forget the old saying 'its only worth what someone is prepared to pay'

having said that i have paid and traded alot for some cards that i wanted and i consider 'really rare'high end Star trek are my greatest failing

There is no answer to that question. It all depends on a buyer's cash flow and how badly he/she wants the cards. We all have an inner voice that tells us when we are being stupid, sometimes we don't listen to it, but that can happen when we are doing more than just collecting cards.

For me, I have a loose rule of thumb.

Assuming that I have, as they say disposable income at the time, I really don't sweat anything under $50 as long as the price is in line with others I've seen. If its box buying I expect tp pay $65 - $70. If its an individual card over $50 it must be a decent deal, either because of the price or the limited availability of the card.

At the $100 mark things get serious, and I will not buy anything that I haven't researched and still want badly for whatever reason. There are very few cards that are worth 3 digits to me and I have never bought anything over $200 in one shot. That's major appliance money and the only cards worth $200 to me are the ones that are selling for over $500, which is not going to happen.

I don't buy cases for the same reason, too much output at one time. I guess that's my definition of what is too much, but every collector sets their own limits.

I would think it depends on what kind of collector you are. You Also have to take into consideration how rare certain cards are. That becomes a major factor in my purchases.

I am a completist. So if I am looking for a specific card to finish a set, I will pay what ever necessary to add it to my collection. I dedicate a certain amount of money for cards and spend it as needed. I have, at times, spent over my budget for that super elusive card when it finally becomes available.

For instance, I was working on a master of the Wizard of Oz. The only card I was missing was the Dorothy dress card. 8 were made. I saw it one time since the set came out in 2006, so I made an offer and bought it. It was the first card during my 35 years of collecting that I paid over $1,000.00 for. I paid way more than I had set my budget at. Only once since then have I seen the same card for sale. I have no regrets, as a matter of fact, I am glad I did it. But it took a while to save up for other cards I wanted. But I always make sure all the bills get paid first.

The bottom line is do what makes you happy and pay what you feel is fair. If someone has a card listed for X dollars and you don't think it is reasonable, don't buy it. But if you want it and need it, buy it.

quote:

Originally posted by beamer:
I would think it depends on what kind of collector you are. You Also have to take into consideration how rare certain cards are. That becomes a major factor in my purchases.

I am a completist. So if I am looking for a specific card to finish a set, I will pay what ever necessary to add it to my collection. I dedicate a certain amount of money for cards and spend it as needed. I have, at times, spent over my budget for that super elusive card when it finally becomes available.

For instance, I was working on a master of the Wizard of Oz. The only card I was missing was the Dorothy dress card. 8 were made. I saw it one time since the set came out in 2006, so I made an offer and bought it. It was the first card during my 35 years of collecting that I paid over $1,000.00 for. I paid way more than I had set my budget at. Only once since then have I seen the same card for sale. I have no regrets, as a matter of fact, I am glad I did it. But it took a while to save up for other cards I wanted. But I always make sure all the bills get paid first.

The bottom line is do what makes you happy and pay what you feel is fair. If someone has a card listed for X dollars and you don't think it is reasonable, don't buy it. But if you want it and need it, buy it.

You got a good buy.theres one for sale now at $5000

quote:

Originally posted by markdennett:
You got a good buy.theres one for sale now at $5000

You certainly have to have deep pockets to be a completist, that's for sure. Congratulations on your foresight beamer.

Silly thought, if only 8 cards were made, what the heck did Breygent do with the rest of Dorothy's dress?

If you want a card and can afford the asking price then pay it - you only have to answer yourself, nobody else.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by markdennett:
You got a good buy.theres one for sale now at $5000

You certainly have to have deep pockets to be a completist, that's for sure. Congratulations on your foresight beamer.

Silly thought, if only 8 cards were made, what the heck did Breygent do with the rest of Dorothy's dress?

No dress was cut up to make the cards.

I was told that the material came from the inside seam material. Cutting little pieces of that part was the only option since the dress could not be destroyed.

Ed

Hi and welcome! Great question. Really, I guess I've got 2 questions for you. The first, is how much can you afford to lose, and the second, is how will you feel a few years from now and you hold a stack of cards in your hand and realize you could have potentially bought something useful instead?

Many of us here have collections of a value such that we could have bought a new car, or put a good down payment on a house. My collection certainly fits this description, and there is nothing special about it. I don't buy cases, and I don't have any super high value cards. What I have is a reasonable sized collection of cards I actually like, that slowly accummulated over the course of a decade or so. I wouldn't trade my collection for a car, mostly because I've been lucky enough (so far!) not to need to. If you are going to collect, then like anything, remember to budget for your collection. What your budget is, only you can determine! --Chris

quote:

Many of us here have collections of a value such that we could have bought a new car, or put a good down payment on a house.

Or "Bought a House"

quote:

Originally posted by Scifi Cards:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

Silly thought, if only 8 cards were made, what the heck did Breygent do with the rest of Dorothy's dress?

No dress was cut up to make the cards.

I was told that the material came from the inside seam material. Cutting little pieces of that part was the only option since the dress could not be destroyed. Ed

I figured it might be a costume already unuseable or a secondary dress. Never saw this card, so I don't know what the swatch looks like. Thanks for the info Ed.

This is pretty much my buying criteria (which generally only seems to apply to autograph cards):

Less than £5 = don't even hesitate (£5 for any signature is a bargain)
£6-£10 = not much gives me pause in this price range
£11-£25 = my ideal price for a decent card, eg. I'd happily pay for a Sean Bean auto or similar at this price
£26-£50 = I want the card to be a a bit more special, i.e. a bigger name or really rare signer
£51-£75 = I'll pay this if the rarity of the card/signature warrants it, more likely to sit it out and wait for cheaper
£76-£100 = card really has to be something special, usually cards that can't be had on the cheap, very reluctant purchase
£100-£150 = something I have to really want, a very special card
£150+ = a card which tops all others, price becomes almost irrelevant because you'd sell your own mother to get it!

I'm glad that I have only paid triple figures on 4 occaisions in the last 12 years. I generally don't spend a lot but sometimes a card comes out and its rarity and desirability just means you have to cough up, sometimes some cards just can't be had for reasonable money. I could just about probably see myself stretching to £400 for the likes of a Sean Connery auto if it turns out that one day pigs may fly even then that kind of money probably wouldn't make a card like that attainable! Anyway probably never going to happen so no need to worry about an extravagance like that. When I saw people paying up to $10k for Harrison Ford Han Solo auto cards... that's a purchase that I don't think most right minded individuals could rationalise.

I can only echo what others have said and say "pay what you think something is worth" otherwise it sucks the fun out of it IMO. I'd also say don't fritter money away on lots of smaller items just because they're more attainable, funnelling funds into harder cards can often be more satisfying. Less is more and all that!

Ed,
Here is a pic of the miniscule dress piece. Yes, it is tiny, but I had to have it! And you are correct according to Tom at Breygent, the "swatch" was cut from inside the hem where no one would see it. The dress was owned by Debbie Reynolds and just sold at auction for 1.1 million (which included buyers premiums) The actual selling price was $910,000. Isn't that crazy? Now I am wondering if I got my money's worth? (LOL)!!

I used to say I would never spend in the triple digits for cards and I have ended up doing so quite a few times now. Mostly to fill in gaps in my collection and never usually all at once- I paid a lot for a Buffy Season 2 Charisma Carpenter autograph but I got to do it in installments thanks to one of the many friendly dealers I had become acquainted with since going to trading card shows.

So I think what you spend on any one card depends on what you want to accomplish within your collection and it will vary by person.

Val

As other have said, it really depends on your budget and whatever disposable income you have at the moment. It also depends on what kind of buyer you are, some collectors are into buying cases of cards and thus pulls tons of autos and inserts. Some don't and just goes straight for the autographs. But so far the most I have spent on one card is in the $100 range.

This Question comes up in every hobby. I used to own a comic book/card shop. It really all depends on you. I had customers who only shopped the dollar bins while others who would not think for a second about spending 1000s on a single vintage comic.
You will see others doing things in this (and every) hobby and go: a) are they crazy?? That is an insane amount of money for that b) maybe I am doing this wrong because everyone else seems to be putting their money in product x not y like I am c)am I being cheap because this guy buys like crazy and I am only getting this one thing for this small amount of money.
Enjoy yourself.
You will ask yourself these questions and more,but in the end it is your money. Do what YOU want to do with it.

Geez, please delete above account ^^^^^^^^^^^


I've said to myself I will never pay more than $500 for a card, of course that used to be $200 and I've surpassed that several times

That's very interesting info about the Dorothy dress. I'm surprised they would have actually allowed parts of the dress to have been cut up, even if it was from the inside seams.

Beamer, where is the material on the card ? The grey thing on the white heart ?

Yep thats it.

I've got the Wizard of Oz trivia game and one of the pieces of trivia was that for the black and white scenes Dorthy's dress was brown and white. It showed a better contrast than the blue and white for the B&W scenes.