What are your yearly collecting habits?

[chamizac]

Hi all,

Obligatory statement that I'm new here and I apologise for any offence or unspoken rules I break in asking this question.

My kids have just discovered the world of the NRL and trading cards, and it has finally given me the excuse to return to collecting after many lost years of adulthood.
I am starting to put aside money now to help fund the habit (because, you know, bills etc) and wanted to get an idea on what everyone's plan of attack is when collecting throughout the year.

How much is your yearly budget?
Do you purchase all boxes/cases at once or spread throughout the season (to avoid poor randomisation)?
Do you only purchase boxes or spread your money across weekly/monthly packet purchases?
How many group breaks do you participate in?
What made you decide to either be a Team, Player or Set chaser?

I am interested to see how people go about the hobby nowadays as it has changed from the 11 year old me rushing down to pick up 5 packets every Thursday arvo.

Also, what the heck does a Priority Box mean? I've trawled through the forum as much as I could but can't get my head around what it is exactly.

As I said, I apologise for the word vomit but I am just trying to set my kids (and me) up for a good experience next year.

Cheers

 

[Brendan_B]

Hi all,

Obligatory statement that I'm new here and I apologise for any offence or unspoken rules I break in asking this question.

My kids have just discovered the world of the NRL and trading cards, and it has finally given me the excuse to return to collecting after many lost years of adulthood.
I am starting to put aside money now to help fund the habit (because, you know, bills etc) and wanted to get an idea on what everyone's plan of attack is when collecting throughout the year.

How much is your yearly budget?
Do you purchase all boxes/cases at once or spread throughout the season (to avoid poor randomisation)?
Do you only purchase boxes or spread your money across weekly/monthly packet purchases?
How many group breaks do you participate in?
What made you decide to either be a Team, Player or Set chaser?

I am interested to see how people go about the hobby nowadays as it has changed from the 11 year old me rushing down to pick up 5 packets every Thursday arvo.

Also, what the heck does a Priority Box mean? I've trawled through the forum as much as I could but can't get my head around what it is exactly.

As I said, I apologise for the word vomit but I am just trying to set my kids (and me) up for a good experience next year.

Cheers

Hello mate, welcome aboard again, you won’t regret it but your wallet might !!

I don’t have a set budget but a key to collecting with the volume released these days is to know what you are chasing. Do you love the game and want to collect sets? Are you and your kids team based collectors? Player collectors? Some collectors tots only chase autos or jersey cards, the list is endless.

A couple of things to get you moving. Do your research. There is a wealth of knowledge on this page. Ebay and Gold Coast Trading Cards are not a bad reference point for card value (it is subjective).

Don’t buy from the secondary market early in a release. Aside from the really high end / sought after cards, prices drop.

Get a trade and want list together. If you build good relationships with trade etc you will enjoy the hobby more.

Lastly, enjoy ripping a box or two with your kids. This is still my favourite part of the hobby !!

 

[chamizac]

Hello mate, welcome aboard again, you won’t regret it but your wallet might !!

I don’t have a set budget but a key to collecting with the volume released these days is to know what you are chasing. Do you love the game and want to collect sets? Are you and your kids team based collectors? Player collectors? Some collectors tots only chase autos or jersey cards, the list is endless.

A couple of things to get you moving. Do your research. There is a wealth of knowledge on this page. Ebay and Gold Coast Trading Cards are not a bad reference point for card value (it is subjective).

Don’t buy from the secondary market early in a release. Aside from the really high end / sought after cards, prices drop.

Get a trade and want list together. If you build good relationships with trade etc you will enjoy the hobby more.

Lastly, enjoy ripping a box or two with your kids. This is still my favourite part of the hobby !!

Thanks Brendan,

Appreciate the insights. This forum has been great for me to start getting my head around it and I've enjoyed sinking time into the threads.

I guess I will have to keep my options open a little bit in terms of what kind of chasers the kids will be.

I definitely am looking into ripping into the boxes with the kids and enjoying the experience with them.

Thanks again for your insights, I can't wait to get into the hobby again.

 

[Alex_H_86]

I usually just buy what I want for my PC - BUT I just found out I’m going to have a nephew soon, and my brother asked me to start a card collection for him, starting with next years traders.

So I’m going to start buying at least one box each release to start saving a collection for him, and when he is old enough, I’m going to start ripping boxes with him.

It will blow the budget out a little, but I can’t wait. I look forward to the day he pulls something significant and how excited he will be - He will breath new life into my collecting, since I haven’t opened a pack in years.

Sorry, I went off on a tangent.

Welcome to the page, I hope you enjoy collecting with your kids. That will be special.

 

[TheCurse]

Hey Matthew, I’ll drop my two bobs worth in for you. I bought my first cards in 1978 and it’s a much different ballgame these days! Back then I’d collect all cards each year which usually numbered 140-160 approximately. At 25c per pack and a school yard full of kids who also collected them it was easy and affordable to get the whole set each year. However with the number of cards and cost of them these days you’d want extremely deep pockets and multiple pairs of cargo pants to try and collect each and every card. I now only collect Raiders cards as the sheer volume of cards each year is enormous! I find it enjoyable and affordable to collect only my teams cards each year. I’ve also promised my daughters they’ll own them in the future, so I can’t stop collecting now can I ? .
Anyhow the choice is yours as there is a much wider scope of choice in whatever path you choose than there was in the 70s, so that’s a good thing I suppose……and there’s no right or wrong option either. Happy collecting.

 

[chamizac]

I usually just buy what I want for my PC - BUT I just found out I’m going to have a nephew soon, and my brother asked me to start a card collection for him, starting with next years traders.

So I’m going to start buying at least one box each release to start saving a collection for him, and when he is old enough, I’m going to start ripping boxes with him.

It will blow the budget out a little, but I can’t wait. I look forward to the day he pulls something significant and how excited he will be - He will breath new life into my collecting, since I haven’t opened a pack in years.

Sorry, I went off on a tangent.

Welcome to the page, I hope you enjoy collecting with your kids. That will be special.

Thanks Alex,

I think I'm coming to terms with setting a budget and then blowing it because I know I'm going to get caught up in the excitement of the kids getting excited over it.

Can't wait to dive in next year.

 

[chamizac]

Hey Matthew, I’ll drop my two bobs worth in for you. I bought my first cards in 1978 and it’s a much different ballgame these days! Back then I’d collect all cards each year which usually numbered 140-160 approximately. At 25c per pack and a school yard full of kids who also collected them it was easy and affordable to get the whole set each year. However with the number of cards and cost of them these days you’d want extremely deep pockets and multiple pairs of cargo pants to try and collect each and every card. I now only collect Raiders cards as the sheer volume of cards each year is enormous! I find it enjoyable and affordable to collect only my teams cards each year. I’ve also promised my daughters they’ll own them in the future, so I can’t stop collecting now can I ? .
Anyhow the choice is yours as there is a much wider scope of choice in whatever path you choose than there was in the 70s, so that’s a good thing I suppose……and there’s no right or wrong option either. Happy collecting.

Haha, I'm definitely feeling the overwhelming feeling of how big the sets are each year so quickly see myself being like you and chasing down my own team's stuff.

 

[Matt26]

Hi all,

Obligatory statement that I'm new here and I apologise for any offence or unspoken rules I break in asking this question.

My kids have just discovered the world of the NRL and trading cards, and it has finally given me the excuse to return to collecting after many lost years of adulthood.
I am starting to put aside money now to help fund the habit (because, you know, bills etc) and wanted to get an idea on what everyone's plan of attack is when collecting throughout the year.

How much is your yearly budget?
Do you purchase all boxes/cases at once or spread throughout the season (to avoid poor randomisation)?
Do you only purchase boxes or spread your money across weekly/monthly packet purchases?
How many group breaks do you participate in?
What made you decide to either be a Team, Player or Set chaser?

I am interested to see how people go about the hobby nowadays as it has changed from the 11 year old me rushing down to pick up 5 packets every Thursday arvo.

Also, what the heck does a Priority Box mean? I've trawled through the forum as much as I could but can't get my head around what it is exactly.

As I said, I apologise for the word vomit but I am just trying to set my kids (and me) up for a good experience next year.

Cheers

Welcome aboard!

Here are some answers which may be helpful:

How much is your yearly budget?

This can range from a few dollars or up to 1000's for just one release. You have some low end releases such as the Set released through Best and Less ($2 a pack - base cards with some inserts) or the Rivalry Set released through Newsagents, again low cost and has some small inserts sets to collect.

Then there are the main releases - Traders in March......these don't change much from year to year and you can find some nice inserts, predictors and autos of current day players and 2 legends each time.

You then have Elite which is a higher end release and can get pretty costly if you want to collect everything which is why a lot of collectors limit themselves to a player or the team they support.

Do you purchase all boxes/cases at once or spread throughout the season (to avoid poor randomisation)?

I usually stick to single cards of my team but sometimes buy a box to break for fun. Have opened cases before and then sold traded cards I have pulled for cards I was chasing.

All depends on your budget?

Do you only purchase boxes or spread your money across weekly/monthly packet purchases?

Usually see the savings account take a hit in the first few days/weeks after a release then waiting till the next release.

How many group breaks do you participate in?

Not too many but one of the best at doing this is @Diggaz TC who has lots of breaks around release time.

What made you decide to either be a Team, Player or Set chaser?

Im a team/player collector but have picked up some other random cards from time to time that catch my interest (not many these days)

A priority box is essentially a limited run from the release (maybe about 5-10% of the total print run) that has extra numbered hits in them. They are usually offered to the resellers who buy lots of cases for sale and usually sell for a lot more per box than a standard box and can be hard to find (and expensive).

In some cases you may have to commit to buying a number of boxes or even a case or product before you can get a chance to buy one of these from a reseller as they are very limited.

Hope this helps!

Cheers
Matt

 

[chamizac]

Welcome aboard!

Here are some answers which may be helpful:

How much is your yearly budget?

This can range from a few dollars or up to 1000's for just one release. You have some low end releases such as the Set released through Best and Less ($2 a pack - base cards with some inserts) or the Rivalry Set released through Newsagents, again low cost and has some small inserts sets to collect.

Then there are the main releases - Traders in March......these don't change much from year to year and you can find some nice inserts, predictors and autos of current day players and 2 legends each time.

You then have Elite which is a higher end release and can get pretty costly if you want to collect everything which is why a lot of collectors limit themselves to a player or the team they support.

Do you purchase all boxes/cases at once or spread throughout the season (to avoid poor randomisation)?

I usually stick to single cards of my team but sometimes buy a box to break for fun. Have opened cases before and then sold traded cards I have pulled for cards I was chasing.

All depends on your budget?

Do you only purchase boxes or spread your money across weekly/monthly packet purchases?

Usually see the savings account take a hit in the first few days/weeks after a release then waiting till the next release.

How many group breaks do you participate in?

Not too many but one of the best at doing this is @Diggaz TC who has lots of breaks around release time.

What made you decide to either be a Team, Player or Set chaser?

Im a team/player collector but have picked up some other random cards from time to time that catch my interest (not many these days)

A priority box is essentially a limited run from the release (maybe about 5-10% of the total print run) that has extra numbered hits in them. They are usually offered to the resellers who buy lots of cases for sale and usually sell for a lot more per box than a standard box and can be hard to find (and expensive).

In some cases you may have to commit to buying a number of boxes or even a case or product before you can get a chance to buy one of these from a reseller as they are very limited.

Hope this helps!

Cheers
Matt

Thanks Matt,

Awesome insights. Can't wait to have a crack at everything. Budget is going to take a hit.

 

[saintsforever]

Hello mate, welcome aboard again, you won’t regret it but your wallet might !!

I don’t have a set budget but a key to collecting with the volume released these days is to know what you are chasing. Do you love the game and want to collect sets? Are you and your kids team based collectors? Player collectors? Some collectors tots only chase autos or jersey cards, the list is endless.

A couple of things to get you moving. Do your research. There is a wealth of knowledge on this page. Ebay and Gold Coast Trading Cards are not a bad reference point for card value (it is subjective).

Don’t buy from the secondary market early in a release. Aside from the really high end / sought after cards, prices drop.

Get a trade and want list together. If you build good relationships with trade etc you will enjoy the hobby more.

Lastly, enjoy ripping a box or two with your kids. This is still my favourite part of the hobby !!

Well put Brendan.