WHAT ADVICE?

Last week we held another one of our live Loupe streams, auctioning off 40+ cards from various episodes. We peaked at 225 folks in the room and had a great time with everyone. But a question came up from a 15-year old in the room. His question was this:

"What advice would you give to a 15-year old to be successful in the hobby"

If you were there you know what my response was....it was all about focus. So many new hobbyists come into the hobby and get distracted by all of the shiny objects (literally)...and they end up not becoming an expert at anything. I highly encourage new collectors to become an expert at something, anything, in this hobby. Once you feel good about that topic, become an expert in the next sub-topic/nuance and then before long you aren't counting on others for advice.

But I missed an important part of that equation.

And it had me thinking over the weekend about "success" in the hobby. I'm going to assume that most 15-year olds (or anyone for that matter) that enter the hobby right now get woo'ed by the $$$$ and the FLIP. Is that a fair assumption?

The hobby naturally gets annoyed because of this. Right?

How many of you who entered the hobby when you were in your child/teen years were thinking about "success" as the core objective?

Heck yeah I was!

Every pack I opened provided an opportunity to be successful. Every trade I made...I wanted to be successful. Every card I sold I wanted to be a huge success.

Being successful in the hobby is and should be a core theme for a collector (or investor). It should be at the core of almost everything we do. We can get annoyed when a 15-year old asks how to be successful in the hobby...but forget that we all want to be successful in our rights as well.

BUT..... and this is big. What separates a purist/collector vs an investor/flipper....is how that "success" impacts your LOVE for the hobby. As we've seen from the constant influx/exodus of flippers... their LOVE for the hobby was dictated by their success (or lack of). The hobbyists ride the waves and capitalize on the opportunities... and their love for the hobby only deepens.

So... if you are 15-year old and want to be successful in this hobby. Do what you have to do to build the knowledge and skills... But if you want to really be successful in the hobby, don't let the $$$ and the "Flip" suck out the love of collecting. Otherwise your stint in the hobby will probably be short-lived.

STOP.... and THINK

"If my uniform doesn't get dirty, I haven't done anything in the baseball game." - RICKEY HENDERSON

CARD MARKET HEALTH

We are nearing that $30m mark in COMBINED SALES which is a big threshold. Those were #'s not seen since late summer of 2022. We cross $30m the week prior, back under it this week.

Singles / Graded held up pretty good last week thanks to some huge sales in the Football Card market. As you'd expect Mahomes, Hurts, & even Burrow saw some gigantic sales come across the wire. We also saw a nice explosion from Brady's retirement. Him stepping away was the only thing that was going to save his prices. :-)

The Wax market saw a nice bump with the Mosaic Football & also some solid Topps Baseball releases moving across eBay (Sapphire specifically).

Will we see Basketball start to pick up steam after the Super Bowl? That is definitely something I'm watching closely. If you are looking for some great SEALED product at aggressive prices - check out Chasing Cardboard inventory over at The Awesome Card Shop. Tell Marcel we sent you!

TOP 10 WEEKLY eBAY SALES ACROSS MARKET 🔥

Ready to get your #hobby juices flowing? Check out these Top Sales from last week's action! 👇👇👇👇🏀⚾

• $60,000 2017 Patrick Mahomes National Treasures RC Auto PSA 10

• $45,401 1915 Cracker Jack #103 Shoeless Joe Jackson PSA 2.5

• $24,995 2000 Playoff Contenders Tom Brady #144 RC Auto Buyback

• $21,500 2017 Panini Flawless Patrick Mahomes 10/10 Sapphire Auto BGS 9

• $20,000 2003 Famous Nicknames LeBron James Auto PSA 9

• $18,109 2001 Playoff Contenders Drew Brees Auto PSA 10

• $18,000 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle #253 PSA 4

• $17,500 2000 Upper Deck SP Authentic Tom Brady PSA 9 /1250

• $17,000 2000 Upper Deck SP Authentic Tom Brady /1250 Future BGS 9

• $17,000 1951 Bowman Willie Mays #305 RC PSA 4.5

• $15,450 1921 E121 American Caramel BABE RUTH Series of 80 PSA 1 #14 on the list belongs to CHASING CARDBOARD EPISODE 13!!!

Oh boy, this 1915 Cracker Jack looks about as good as any PSA 2.5 I've seen. Beautiful card.

🐦 SOCIAL MEDIA AWARENESS

I love dogs. Check out this time lapse of a Border Collie herding sheep. Amazing.

I've never had something like this happen... Grandma of a player is questioning the auto.

📰 HEADLINES TO CONSIDER

There is never a shortage of content to consume. Here is a small list of stories that we think are worth your time this week.

• Card Shop Opening...dreams come true! Love these stories.

• Do you have Antique Furniture? These names make a difference!

• Most Expensive Baseball Photo Ever? It's gotta be close!

• Fanatics entering LIVESTREAM space? Don't they have enough?

⏰ KEEP THIS ON YOUR SCHEDULE

We have a FIRST coming out this week on the main channel... a DAY IN THE LIFE Vlog video centered around Pokemon. Who would have thunk!

Monday, Feb 13th our next FULL EPISODE (#18) is released!

WANT A FREE T-SHIRT... or FREE STICKERS? SERIOUSLY! It's EASY - JUST FWD TO A FRIEND! 👇👇👇