General Forum

Do companies do this so you buy more packs and boxes? Ive been collecting for over 20 years and I may stop tring to collect all these cards because of a few reasons....  I really dont want to spend the money and still may not get the ones i need. What do yall think

I collect the variations because they are part of the " team set". It seems like (sps) or variations run from the time of vintage sets. I do this only for my main team ( Phillies).....Im currently loading the Yankees, and will skip most of the inserts. I will do variations, again, because they are part of the" team set."

The best part of this site, is the trading you can do to match your wants, Trading eliminates buying cards all the time, hoping for "the one", while being stuck with a bunch of stuff you cant use.

Engine614

I, for one, hate the marketing scheme used over the past decade or so...intentional variations. And that's all it is...a scheme to increase sales to "fanatic, OCD collectors" (most of us, lol) who can't stand to have "incomplete" sets. That's one of the biggest reasons I quit rampant collecting. I only collect my teams and certain players and don't buy packs anymore.

Thanks for yalls in put it helps me with my decision not to worry with inserts,variations and errors again thanks, Ray

I have always thought the variations a bit annoying, especially when you have to sift through cards looking for minor things like sparkles, or wondering if the picture on your card was an sp or not. My philosophy is to collect the base set and if you get a variation or sp, consider it a bonus. I would go nuts trying to collect every variation. Team set variations I do go for though.

Personally I am very fond of and obcessed with the variations and subsets. Yes it gets frustrating trying collect them all and ending up with 40 # 5's and many other unwanted commons. Yet for me, its all in the thrill of the hunt. I have grown to appreciate the relaxing time that comes with sorting and sifting through hundreds of cards during an afternoon. But it is all in the beholder. Happy hunting

I personally don't target variations, but I don't hate them either. :)  I consider my set to be complete if I have all of the BASE cards.  In other words, I don't need card #1b, #1c and #1d to consider my set complete.  In fact, I don't even store the variations when I do get them with the base set.  They get sleeved and top loaded and placed in a "variations" box.  Personally I think lately the trend is getting ridiculous.  When every other card in a set has a variation, it is just too much.  And don't get me started on the Topps baseball "sparkles" variations this year...dumbest idea ever.

I've started collect at age 12 I am now 64 and I still collect however, I only collect baseball cards because it can get very expensive trying to collect all sports. If you are at that crossroads where money is an issue reevaluate your collecting method. You may want to collect only RC cards, or Inserts, or Variations or even just Auto's.; this alone will help you to 1. downsize your collection. 2. Increase your enjoyment. 3. And save you a few more dolloars.

Even as a Master Set builder I often find it hard to continue but I often refocus my collection to just a few sets of focus like Topps BB, Topps Chrome, Topps Gpyse Queen, and Hairtage. I use to try and buy every new Topps each year not only was it costing me too much I was not making any enroads to completing my sets therefore I downsized. Today I am more in control of my collecting and not allowing the collecting to control me.

Whichever way you choose you will always needs to reevaluate your collection (s) and the methods you use to maintaine your hobby but when your collecting no longer gives your the enjoyment you may want to walk away for a few months like clearning your hard disk on your compter allowing your brain to clear from all your thoughts you use thinking about collecting in other words; take a vacatioons once in awhile and you will gain a new outlook on your hobby.

I TOTALLY  AGREE, now if someone would send Topps the memo.....( chollenback)

I collect BASE cards only also.  I don't mind putting the SP versions in my wantlist for team sets, but I don't persue them, nor would I spend much money on them.  I'd rather work on the base sets.  Any variations I have usually go in the FS/FT list to get equal cards that are on my wantlist.  There are few insert sets that I collect also and I usually trade most of those away for others that I need.  Great question that is interesting to learn how others treat them.

Dan