So Much Making March a No-Buy Month

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So much for my goal of making March a no-buy month.

It was easy enough to consider when it comes to buying online: just don’t search ebay and ignore my daily emails from them that give me the latest listings in my saved searches.

What’s not easy to do is avoid buying anything when I spend hour after hour in card stores like I did this past weekend when my dad and I took a trip to Ottawa to visit my brother.

I probably should have used that thing called foresight and taken this into account when I was writing that post, no?

So less than a week after I proclaimed the month to be ‘purchase free for me’, I found myself staring down store full of boxes that were calling my name.

I caved quickly and ended up buying the first of what would be a trio of boxes that got opened by the three of us over the course of the weekend.

I’m aiming to post a breakdown of each of them over the next little while, but given my posting habits as of late they may not arrive as rapidly as I would like.

Aside from the boxes and the few dozen cards we picked up for our collections, the weekend was yet another great one in Canada’s capital.  It’s been one of my favourite places to visit for years and the lack of trips that I make up that way is pretty inexcusable given the fact my brother has been at graduate school there for more than two years now.

Thankfully, I’ll be finding myself back out that way in early June for a conference and I’m buffering it with a few days of vacation as well, so there will be plenty of time for me to spend with my brother and take in all the city has to offer…including the card shops.

I’ll just have to remember not to proclaim June a “no-buy month” before heading out there!

Until next time, all the best in your collecting pursuits!

Ryan

Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | my ebay store | My Want List | RSS Feed

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Making March a No-Buy Month

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Based on the numbers I have in thus far, coupled with a pretty good sense of what will come in from ebay and Paypal over the next couple of weeks, February will have been my first self-sufficient month of 2013.

It won’t be by much, but it’s an accomplishment I am still very happy with none-the-less, especially since the surplus in February might just be enough to cover the tiny deficit I was left with following January’s solid start to the year.

That would then put 2013 right on track for achieving my ultimate goal, the first time such a scenario has existed in a calendar since I started down this path toward the ultimate goal I have for my hobby.

But there’s reason for concern as well.  Nearly two-thirds of my revenue in February came from the sale of a single item.  Without that sale February would have been much worse than it ended up looking on paper.

I was also less strict with my purchasing habits in February than I would have liked.  The “you have to spend money to make money” mindset set in on a number of occasions, which led me to making purchases for cards I intend to flip in my ebay store more frequently than was necessary.

When I was lamenting my lack of progress on my hobby in a post a couple of weeks ago, one of the things I made mention of was the fact that I had barely even logged in to SCF, let alone actively pursued trades.

With two months of the year now behind us, just a single trade wrapped up, and 24 more needed in order to accomplish goal #2 I set for the year, I figure its time for a refocus.

Which brings me to the point of today’s article: the combination of me not being able to control my spending as well as I’d like and the fact that I’ve made no trades got me thinking of a relatively extreme solution: cut off the bank and Paypal accounts for the month and focus the energy and time I’d been using on buying on trading instead.

So starting today (well actually it’ll be after I pay off one final ebay order this weekend… of Joe Sakic cards…a guy I don’t even collect…see “get unnecessary spending under control”) I will be ignoring the buying side of ebay and turning my attention to the SCF boards to make some deals.

If you’ve got any cards you think I might be interested after checking out my want list and you’d like to make a deal, then let me know by posting a comment, connecting on Facebook and Twitter, or emailing me at bb_bros@hotmail.com.

Until next time, all the best in your collecting pursuits!

Ryan

Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | my ebay store | My Want List | RSS Feed

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Retail Review – PressTine Hockey Card Surprise Box

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Aside from a trio of packs I picked up on Upper Deck’s National Hockey Card Day a few weeks ago, busting packs has been virtually absent from my collecting experience thus far in 2013.

So when the wife and I made a trip to the dollar store a few weeks ago to pick up some party supplies for her niece’s birthday I decided to take a look at what, if anything, the store had to offer.

Sure enough, buried in the area where kids stickers and books are kept and almost hidden to anyone not looking for them, I came across a small selection of packs. 

There were a couple of years worth of recent Score releases, some Panini Stickers and albums, and the obligatory 15-card mixed bag of base set cards, none of which really got me excited.

But then I noticed this on the right side of the store’s little card section space on the rack:

 

I had never seen one of these before, but it immediately reminded me of some of the other mystery pack products I’ve come across over the years, mainly at Wal-Mart.

With a price point of just a toonie, and with a promise of “Original Sealed Packs!”, “Presstine Repacks!” (based on the images on the outside of the box there are ten different options), and “Card Protectors!” (believe it or not I actually find that appealing), I decided to take a chance on one, if only to get a sense of what these things contained so I could know whether or not I should ever buy another one in the future. 

Here’s a look at what I got.

My “Original Sealed Pack” turned out to be a 2008-09 Upper Deck Victory, which actually far exceeded my expectations (I was thinking I’d find something more along the lines of 90-91 Pro Set).  That pack had the following cards for me:

 

There were also three “Presstine Repacks” in the box, the first being an 8-card pack titled “The 90s”.

 

Given the recycle-bin-bound quality of the first seven cars, the 1997-98 Donruss Preferred Cut to the Chase of Kevin Hatcher was a very pleasant surprise.

Next up was a repack title “Superstar”, which guaranteed me one superstar card in the five-card pack:

 

Thankfully the company’s definition of “Superstar” wasn’t as loose as I feared and I ended up with an Evgeni Malkin 2010-11 Upper Deck Biography of a Season card amongst the group included in this pack.

To finish things off, I had a “Premium Pack”, which apparently would entitle me to $5 in “book value” of cards.

 

Really nothing to complain about here.  A pair of inserts featuring a Vezina Trophy caliber goalie, a short print rookie card, and a parallel of a short print rookie card.

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In the end, I have to say that I was pretty happy with what my $2.26 (after taxes) got me.  Obviously these things won’t allow collectors to score a big ebay pay day, but if you’re looking for a little fun these are certainly worth the minimal financial risk based on what I found in this box.

All of the cards you see above are available for trade or sale, so if you’re interested in any of them please feel free to post a comment, connect on Facebook and Twitter, or email me at bb_bros@hotmail.com.

Until next time, all the best in your collecting pursuits!

Ryan

Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | my ebay store | My Want List | RSS Feed

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