I don't really do resolutions or goals but what I do do (I said doodoo) is keep stats so with my first post of the year, that's what you're going to get.
This year certainly wasn't a great year by any means. You all know that and card wise, as far as packs and prices, it definitely wasn't a great year. For my collections, however, it was a pretty good year. It started off when I dropped Ebay like a bad habit. Their customer service sucked and they pissed me off by not fixing the issue with their site which wouldn't allow me to pay for certain auctions. It ended up being a blessing because it got me to find other alternatives. I had seen Sportlots and Baseballcardstore around but never used them because I was spending my budget on Ebay anyways.
Since I started using those places, my collections have blossomed. I spent $121.70 more this past year than in 2019 so that has some to do with it as well. Some of that money was box breaks which I wasn't doing before. Plus, some packages from fellow bloggers and my cousin.
Look at these differences. The proof is in the numbers.
Tier 1 Collections (2019 - 30 cards, 2020 - 363 cards)
Tier 2 Collections (2019 - 282 cards, 2020 - 476 cards)
Tier 3 Collections (2019 - 84 cards, 2020 - 156 cards)
Michigan Collection (2019 - 44 cards, 2020 - 135 cards)
Vintage Collection (2019 - 119 cards, 2020 - 1186 cards)
White Sox Collection (2019 - 636 cards, 2020 - 938 cards)
Tier 1 Collections I could hardly find on Ebay in my price range but look at that difference. In November, I started concentrating on my Tier 1's and I still haven't gotten through them all on Sportlots. So next year, the differences on Tier 2 and Tier 3 should adjust higher by quite a bit as well.
Notice the difference on the Vintage collection as well. That's because with the help of the baseballcardstore, I did something else that I haven't done since coming back to collecting, finished sets. That's plural. I finished the 1987 Topps, 1985 Fleer & Topps and the 1981 Topps sets. I just started at which sets I was closest too
The real numbers are I added 3,254 cards to my collection and spent $522.82 which equals out to $.16 a card. Which we all know is right where I like to land, under a quarter a card is great in my eyes.
With all the new cards coming in, it also meant more blog posts.
I had my 2nd highest amount of posts. In 2012, I was trying to do 3 a day for awhile which is why that's so high. What was I thinking? This year was only the 2nd time I even hit 200 posts. The lowest I had in a month was 12 and I did that twice. I realize what I blog isn't terribly exciting and I know how some of you feel about "look what I got" blogs but it's what I got.
So while 2020 was a crappy year, it was mostly good when it came to cards and I'm looking forward to 2021.
Nice job adapting your collecting to make it work! eBay has enough downsides that I've cut way down on it as well. Sportlots is great and I'll be trying out the Canadian dime box myself soon. I'm glad you were able to make such good progress on your PCs.
ReplyDeleteYou help a lot with my PC's too so thanks to you for that.
DeleteAwesome that you keep stats. It will be interesting to see how cards do on eBay once they have the $1.00 trackable shipping. I am glad to see there are other options out there!
ReplyDeleteWhen I bought on Ebay, I only bought cheap cards so I only bought with free shipping so I wonder how many people are going to still offer that when that goes into effect. I do think it was smart of Ebay to put it in though.
DeleteBased on what I've read on a lot of blogs... 2020 was definitely crappy... but hobby-wise it was mostly good (unless you love busting retail). I know this trend applies to me as well. As for "look what I got" posts... I didn't realize people didn't enjoy these. The post I read right before this one, mentioned the same thing. I'd say they make up a solid percentage of my posts... which kind of worries me.
ReplyDeleteYou go into a lot more depth about the cards than I do, I've always enjoyed your posts, plus it has a lot more variety than mine. I always feel like I don't really talk much about them, I just like to show them. For me, if I hold myself to make sure I talk more about them, than I start worrying about what I'm putting and then blogging isn't fun for me anymore.
Delete90% (or more) of blog posts are of the look what I got variety, some people just dress them up a little more than others.
ReplyDeleteI buy cheap though so I rarely show anything special. I consider my blog on the low end but I'm okay with that.
DeleteMy favorite post of yours thus year was the one where you asked for trading partners for your cousin. I've had a couple of great trades with him with another in progress, so thanks! Happy New year!
ReplyDeleteHe said he's done a couple of pretty big trades with you. Glad he was good to you.
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