I've always been more drawn to individual players than I am to any teams, or sports. It was like that even when I was a kid. I just appreciate talent and skill, and am drawn to that. When I started collecting as a kid, it was no different. I would focus my entire collection on a few players and I'd try to get as many cards of those players as I possibly could. Later on, when I realized girls, I took a long break from collecting but when I got back into it several years later, I went right back to player collecting again. At this time, I'd lost all my older cards (I'm sure mom tossed 'em) so I had to start new. Seeing as how the Spurs were the hot thing, and since they'd always been my favorite team, I decided I'd start collecting all those guys. Big mistake! I was on a budget...and do you guys know how expensive Tim Duncan's cards are? 
So, I "settled" on Tony Parker, which was fine because, besides Tim Duncan, he was my favorite player on the team. So there started my journey into player collecting on a budget and I'd like to share my experiences, and recommendations, with y'all.
First and foremost, let me say that it could be easy for you to do way more volume than me. I only used the forum I was on at the time (TCC) and eBay. I'm still that way. I don't get into the Facebook groups, or X (Twitter) for trading. I'm not sure why, but I've always been pretty loyal to a single source for trading (which would now be SCA) and a single source for buying (eBay). Again, though, that's just me. Please, by all means, use as many sources as you can if you want a better chance at more cards. For me, though, my budget really doesn't allow much more than what I'm able to spend at these two sources anyways so I'm fine with just a few.
Think of any player collection as a marathon rather than a sprint. Unless there are just a few cards of your player, this is going to be a long road! Start with a goal to add maybe 1-2 cards a week (or more depending on the player and budget), on average. That could put you at up to 100 cards per year. That doesn't sound like a lot starting out, but once you've wiped out a lot of the base cards, especially if you're on a budget, that pace is tough to keep up with.
The first thing you want to decide when you're starting out is if you're going to go after volume or quality. If you're on a budget, like me, you can't do both...at least not both at the same time. I decided early on that I wanted volume. I wanted to get as many Tony Parker cards as I could. If I didn't have it, I wanted it! In fact, I'm still that way. So, I hit eBay a lot early on, spending as much money as my budget would allow on "lots". The only problem with this is I ended up with a LOT of duplicates. Still, this is where the vast majority of the cards in my collection came from...eBay. You can knock out a lot of cards in a hurry with those lots, and if you're willing to re-package all of your duplicates, and sell those back on eBay, you can recoup some of your money and try again on another lot. The thing is, though, it won't take long until you're only getting 1-2 cards that you need in a lot of 20+ cards. So that source kinda dries up. That happened to me pretty quickly.
The next thing I discovered, during my early days on TCC, was group breaks. There was a team group box break on TCC that allowed the members to choose their team. Nobody has the Spurs, so I jumped into that group with the Spurs. Everyone would pitch in $25/month and you would get every card from your team, every month. The group did a great job of trying to open at least one box of every product, every year. So, more Tony Parker cards started rolling in each month. They were mostly base cards, but I'd also get the occasional insert card, game-used, or autograph. More importantly, though, I was also getting all the newest Tim Duncan cards and, even though I'm a fan of his too, it was easy for me to convince other Spurs collectors to trade me their Tony Parker cards for my Tim Duncan cards. So, that's what I did. If you're a player collector, looking for volume, and your player focus is still an active player, I highly recommend trying to find a team group break club to join. It's one of the best ways to get the latest base/inserts from your player. They're also a lot of fun! I had great trading relationships with all the guys in the group and it was not uncommon for one of the guys in the group to just send me a care package with some Tony Parker cards for my collection.
Years later, when I was a member on The Bench, someone pointed out a new resource (SportLots). I'm not sure how I never knew about this before, but it really is a great site for player collectors. SportLots is a site where members sell individual cards, including base cards, for pennies! My first few days on that site I was able to rack up 40+ different Tony Parker cards for under $20. I think my first lot, including shipping, as somewhere around $0.20-0.25 per card, which was a LOT less than some of the lots I was buying on eBay. The only downside here is that you need to find a lot of cards that you need, all from the same seller, in order to save on shipping costs. Otherwise, the cards can get expensive pretty quickly.
Lastly, you need to be consistent! Wherever it is that you're looking for cards of your player, be consistent...borderline obnoxious! During my early years on TCC, it was no secret on that site who you'd go to if you had a Tony Parker card you wanted to get rid of. I got private messages all the time. Sometimes folks would just want to send me cards, asking for nothing in return. Other times we'd be able to work out a trade for something. The point is, I made it abundantly clear, to as many folks as I could, that I want their Tony Parker cards and I'd do just about anything to get them!
The most important thing is, wherever you do your trading, make sure it's a place that's community focused first. When everyone around cares about everyone else's collections, you have a LOT more help looking for cards for you. So many of the cards in my Tony Parker collection wouldn't be there if it weren't for other collectors tracking them down for me, and pointing me in the right direction. They did that because they actually cared about their fellow collector. I think a lot of that is missing on some other sites. It was there on TCC...it was there on The Bench...and I'm hoping it'll be here on SCA.
So, just to summarize, here are all the ways that I, through the years, have found are the best ways to add to your collection, especially if you're a volume collector on a budget.
So, I "settled" on Tony Parker, which was fine because, besides Tim Duncan, he was my favorite player on the team. So there started my journey into player collecting on a budget and I'd like to share my experiences, and recommendations, with y'all.First and foremost, let me say that it could be easy for you to do way more volume than me. I only used the forum I was on at the time (TCC) and eBay. I'm still that way. I don't get into the Facebook groups, or X (Twitter) for trading. I'm not sure why, but I've always been pretty loyal to a single source for trading (which would now be SCA) and a single source for buying (eBay). Again, though, that's just me. Please, by all means, use as many sources as you can if you want a better chance at more cards. For me, though, my budget really doesn't allow much more than what I'm able to spend at these two sources anyways so I'm fine with just a few.
Think of any player collection as a marathon rather than a sprint. Unless there are just a few cards of your player, this is going to be a long road! Start with a goal to add maybe 1-2 cards a week (or more depending on the player and budget), on average. That could put you at up to 100 cards per year. That doesn't sound like a lot starting out, but once you've wiped out a lot of the base cards, especially if you're on a budget, that pace is tough to keep up with.
The first thing you want to decide when you're starting out is if you're going to go after volume or quality. If you're on a budget, like me, you can't do both...at least not both at the same time. I decided early on that I wanted volume. I wanted to get as many Tony Parker cards as I could. If I didn't have it, I wanted it! In fact, I'm still that way. So, I hit eBay a lot early on, spending as much money as my budget would allow on "lots". The only problem with this is I ended up with a LOT of duplicates. Still, this is where the vast majority of the cards in my collection came from...eBay. You can knock out a lot of cards in a hurry with those lots, and if you're willing to re-package all of your duplicates, and sell those back on eBay, you can recoup some of your money and try again on another lot. The thing is, though, it won't take long until you're only getting 1-2 cards that you need in a lot of 20+ cards. So that source kinda dries up. That happened to me pretty quickly.
The next thing I discovered, during my early days on TCC, was group breaks. There was a team group box break on TCC that allowed the members to choose their team. Nobody has the Spurs, so I jumped into that group with the Spurs. Everyone would pitch in $25/month and you would get every card from your team, every month. The group did a great job of trying to open at least one box of every product, every year. So, more Tony Parker cards started rolling in each month. They were mostly base cards, but I'd also get the occasional insert card, game-used, or autograph. More importantly, though, I was also getting all the newest Tim Duncan cards and, even though I'm a fan of his too, it was easy for me to convince other Spurs collectors to trade me their Tony Parker cards for my Tim Duncan cards. So, that's what I did. If you're a player collector, looking for volume, and your player focus is still an active player, I highly recommend trying to find a team group break club to join. It's one of the best ways to get the latest base/inserts from your player. They're also a lot of fun! I had great trading relationships with all the guys in the group and it was not uncommon for one of the guys in the group to just send me a care package with some Tony Parker cards for my collection.
Years later, when I was a member on The Bench, someone pointed out a new resource (SportLots). I'm not sure how I never knew about this before, but it really is a great site for player collectors. SportLots is a site where members sell individual cards, including base cards, for pennies! My first few days on that site I was able to rack up 40+ different Tony Parker cards for under $20. I think my first lot, including shipping, as somewhere around $0.20-0.25 per card, which was a LOT less than some of the lots I was buying on eBay. The only downside here is that you need to find a lot of cards that you need, all from the same seller, in order to save on shipping costs. Otherwise, the cards can get expensive pretty quickly.
Lastly, you need to be consistent! Wherever it is that you're looking for cards of your player, be consistent...borderline obnoxious! During my early years on TCC, it was no secret on that site who you'd go to if you had a Tony Parker card you wanted to get rid of. I got private messages all the time. Sometimes folks would just want to send me cards, asking for nothing in return. Other times we'd be able to work out a trade for something. The point is, I made it abundantly clear, to as many folks as I could, that I want their Tony Parker cards and I'd do just about anything to get them!
The most important thing is, wherever you do your trading, make sure it's a place that's community focused first. When everyone around cares about everyone else's collections, you have a LOT more help looking for cards for you. So many of the cards in my Tony Parker collection wouldn't be there if it weren't for other collectors tracking them down for me, and pointing me in the right direction. They did that because they actually cared about their fellow collector. I think a lot of that is missing on some other sites. It was there on TCC...it was there on The Bench...and I'm hoping it'll be here on SCA.
So, just to summarize, here are all the ways that I, through the years, have found are the best ways to add to your collection, especially if you're a volume collector on a budget.
- Search eBay lots, but be careful that you're not buying the same cards over and over.
- Join a team group box break club, especially if your player is still active.
- Search SportLots, but be careful that you're buying mostly from the same sellers to avoid high shipping costs bringing your cost per card too high.
- Find a group of people who will help you grow your collection simply because they get just as excited about you adding a new card as you do!
