In relations to obtaining your cards:

1. Ebay?
2. Hobby shops?
3. Shows?
4. Trades?
5. Online purchases?
6. Retail?

Must equal 100%

For me, it's:
For me its:
1. Ebay? 85%
2. Hobby shops?
3. Shows?
4. Trades? 5%
5. Online purchases? 10%
6. Retail?

Haven't been to a show or a hobby shop in a long while...they generally don't have what I collect anyway and I rarely do boxes.

Been a major shift for me in the last year... I used to spend about half on wax from specific online dealers, but this year's product has been soooooo bad, I have really cut back on box breaking and buying a lot more singles... Upper Deck product has been flat out miserable stuff in my opinion this year...
so my break down currently goes like this:
Ebay: 75%
Other Online Purchases: 5%
Local Hobby Shop: 10%
Trades: 10%

A rough estimate of my spending habits is something like this:

Ebay - 50%
Online purchases - 40%
Local Hobby store - 10%

I'm sorry Mario, rough estimates will not do... we need to see documentation, receipts and such... I'll expect a more thorough and precise break down in the a.m....

1991-1997
Ebay: 0%
Hobby shops: 70%
Shows: 30%
Trades: 0%
Online purchases: 0%
Retail: 0%

1998-1999
Ebay: 50%
Hobby shops: 35%
Shows: 15%
Trades: 0%
Online purchases: 0%
Retail: 0%

2005-present
Ebay: 97%
Hobby shops: 2%
Shows: 0%
Trades: 0%
Online purchases: 1%
Retail: 0%

Now, THAT is what I am talking about!

You mean the evolution of one's hobby habits?

anyone else want to chime in?

While I'm home its usually
Ebay 75%
Retail 25%

While I'm at school:
Ebay 100%

I'd say I am 90% Ebay, the other 10% various stuff. Ebay always has more than I can afford so it keeps me coming back for more!

For me these days it's about:
1. Ebay? 50%
2. Hobby shops? 10%
3. Shows? 10%
4. Trades? 30%

mine has changed this year

1. Ebay? %20
2. Hobby shops? %0
3. Shows? %0
4. Trades? %1
5. Online purchases? %75
6. Retail? %4

Ebay: 80%
Hobby shops: 5%
Shows: 0%
Trades: 0%
Online purchases: 15%
Retail: 0%

'95-'00

Ebay - 0%
Hobby Shops - 90%
Shows - 0%
Trades - 5%
Online Purchases - 0%
Retail - 5%

'01-'05

Ebay - 0%
Hobby Shops - 0%
Shows - 0%
Trades - 0%
Online Purchases - 0%
Retail - 0%

2006

Ebay - 0%
Hobby Shops - 0%
Shows - 0%
Trades - 0%
Online Purchases - 100%
Retail - 0%

maybe we can change that trade number before this year is up, but i have to have a taker first..not sure whos comfortable enough with that.

Good topic.

I haven't really thought about until now. I've been all over the place since I started back up in April. It Probably goes like this. Thanks to some individuals whom I deal with online but don't have a website, I'll add themt to online stores.



Ebay: 10%
Local Hobby stores 5%
Online stores 75%
Trades 9%
Retail .5%
Shows .5%

95% Hobby Shops
5% Elsewhere

where are your online purchases at?..for me its sportlots, or naxcom..better shipping rates than ebay..i dont want to pay 3 bucks for a 1 dollar card in shipping..so im converting to other sites

1. Ebay? 50%
2. Hobby shops? 30%
3. Shows? 10%
4. Trades? 0% (I don't trade very often)
5. Online purchases? 5%
6. Retail? 5%

1. Ebay 5%
2. Hobby shops 15%
3. Shows 60%
4. Trades
5. Online purchases 18%
6. Retail 2%

for me

1. Ebay 65
2. Hobby shops 10
3. Shows 2
4. Trades 15
5. Online purchases 3
6. Retail 5

Ebay?
Hobby shops?
Shows?
Trades? .01%
Online purchases?
Retail? 99.9%

I pretty much always buy retail no matter what since there isn't a hobby shop around my area.

Right now, it would have to be:

1. Ebay?
2. Hobby shops?
3. Shows?
4. Trades? 5%
5. Online purchases?
6. Retail? 95%

Last summer, it was probably:

1. Ebay? 7.5%
2. Hobby shops?
3. Shows?
4. Trades? 7.5%
5. Online purchases? 65%
6. Retail? 20%

If I could buy on eBay then I wouldn't even buy retail anymore.

Only problem there is having to go to the post office to do a MO. And, no pack-busting thrill, either. But, the best way to help the PC.

1 Ebay-80
2. Hobby shops 2.5
3. Shows 2.5
4. Trades 5%
5. Online purchases 0
6. Retail 10 %

I would love to go to a hobby store and be able to afford to buy something besides supplies. If the prices were $5-$10 or so higher on boxes I would throw down the money. I can't rationalize paying $20-$30 more for the same box I can get on ebay. Honestly I don't understand why they can't be more competitive. Actually they should be able to be more competitive since they have walk-in customers and can sell on ebay.

Since I am not a singles buyer most of the shows by me are just something to do when my wife is at work.

Not enough being spent in the Hobby Shops

That is my hobby shop's fault, not mine. He charges full Beckett Value on all singles (no thanks) and has outlandish prices like $100 for a box Upper Deck Football... his son cuts me a deal now and then when pops is away, but that is not very often...

full bv!!!..how do they stay in business???

Only shop in a town of 100,000+... some people have money to throw away I guess...

Some people are deatfully loyal to their shops. Some people also get huge discounts that the genaral public does not get.

where are they so i can sell them my cards at full bv ..

Yeah right. These are also the guys who buy at 10% of Book Value, So no luck there

The only cards they buy are vintage... truly, I do not understand how they stay in business....

By any chance does this same shop also sell the raw vintage for graded prices too?

Nope, they just charge full book... of course, they charge full book even if the vintage card is not nm or better...

1. Ebay? 75%
2. Hobby shops? 3%
3. Shows? 5%
4. Trades? 10%
5. Online purchases? 2%
6. Retail? 5%

Here's mine...

1. Ebay? 40%
2. Hobby shops? 0%
3. Shows? 0%
4. Trades? 40% (assuming this includes sales and trades)
5. Online purchases? 0%
6. Retail? 20%

Items 1 and 4 can swing by about 20% or so each direction depending on various things. Right now, I've been spending more here than on eBay.

-Bob

well to name a couple i've been to ernies and just today i tried out dave and adams. so far i've noticed ernies has modest prices but that members discount really does alot! its great buying from them and their shipping rates are exceptional! i'll use them again. dave and adams has mostly the lowest prices i've seen anywhere so far that i've noticed! incredibly low compared to ernies and some others that i have yet to buy from..glad i checked out dave and adams cardworld because i've saved tons buying from them instead of going to some of the sites i first went to. its scary to think how much more i would have spent if i didn't shop around. i guess i'll pay the higher shipping rates dave and adams has compared to other sites based purely on their products being so much cheaper priced. i think the thing that made me join this site is the yearning to get into buying again. so right after i joined i ordered my first products for myself for the first time ever, and have again today. i never applied for a credit card before so i haven't thought about trying to make an order for myself until paypal came along. turns out i made an account with them when i was in highschool and its been dormant all this millenia until last month when i reactivated it and used it for the first time. always wanted a credit card for the convenience of online shopping but paypal has allowed me to flex my online buying muscles enough to compensate for now.

That is true, I do love the fact of busting packs just to see what I pull.

ebay
pittsburgh sports wholesale (www.pghsportswholesale.com)
Big G's Sports Cards

Since there are many new visitors I wanted to see if anyone else wanted to respond...always interesting to hear the reason why they do what they do sometimes

Old topic looking for new replies!

Pre-TCC

1. Ebay? 50%
2. Hobby shops? 0%
3. Shows? 0%
4. Trades? 0%
5. Online purchases? 50%
6. Retail? 0%

Now with TCC

1. Ebay? 25%
2. Hobby shops? 10%
3. Shows? 5% (including flea market!)
4. Trades? 30%
5. Online purchases? 30%
6. Retail? 0%

The biggest impetus for change is my new-found addiction to trading. Now roughly 1/2 of my online purchases are for trade bait and more than 1/2 of my hobby shop purchases are loose packs....mostly for trade bait.

As an aside, I'd love to see a similar topic on why people still bust boxes and open packs even though logic would dictate that the smart $$ is buying singles.

I, for one, can't explain why I've been obsessing about buying more boxes even though I'm yet to pull ANYTHING really really good and am doing very nicely with trading and hunting for the right singles to add to my PC.

Thanks for reviving the topic.

Ebay - 75%
Online store - 20%
Hobby store - 5% (once I snag the guy from comic book, pokemon kids)

Still was more fun when I was 9 years old and it was 100% retail....

Mostly online purchases, id say about 75%, 25% hobby stores.

I only buy stuff off ebay after I have sold something from the breaks (if I am never lazy enough to put up some auctions)

Let's see...

eBay: 85 percent
shops: 1 percent
shows: 0 percent
trades: 5 percent
online purchases: 9 percent
retail: 0 percent

1. Ebay? 65%
2. Hobby shops? 10%
3. Shows? 5%
4. Trades? 5%
5. Online purchases? 10%
6. Retail? 5%

kids: 35%
wife: 55%
no idea where the rest goes: 9%
EBAY: 1%

Mines a one way deal.

1. Ebay?
2. Hobby shops?
3. Shows?
4. Trades? 4%
5. Online purchases? 1%
6. Retail? 95%


Unfortunately, I have no hobby shops around my area, I don't have an eBay account as of yet, I've never seen a card show in my life, I have only bought stuff online once or twice, I have traded a good bit online to acquire stuff I needed/wanted, but most of it goes right to retail because that is the only place around me that has anything sports card related.

1. Ebay?0%
2. Hobby shops?5%
3. Shows?0%
4. Trades? 4%
5. Online purchases?1%
6. Retail? 90%