I am sitting on a crapload of cards and have been making complete sets of them.

The initial work was back/hand-breaking.

I haven't fully committed to it but am struggling with myself as to whether or not I should go full steam ahead.

I see people getting very crappy returns on sets lately.

(example = an Ice Age set recently sold on eBay for like $43-ish)

To me that seems far too low to be worth trying to put a few together myself.

A friend of mine sold a NM/M set of Stronghold the other day and he only got a little more than $60 with free shipping at auction!

What do you guys think? Should I keep trying to put sets together or should I just be buying complete sets outright or should I just focus on getting x4 of the $$ cards from each set?

I enjoy sorting and collecting and being patient about all this, however the end result is $$. I don't play anymore so I just collect.

Thoughts?

Edit: When I say the end result is $$, I mean that eventually, I would be planning on selling my collection, either piecemeal, by complete set, or outright.

-so not really an "investment" but more like a fun/hobby way of "saving" some liquid assets.

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Originally posted by AlmostGrown:
I'm currently collecting a set of Revised. I'm doing it because I want to have it to look at and show off, not to resell. IMO you shouldnt be collecting sets to sell, there's no profit.

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If you are building sets you should be collecting them because you actually like collecting and trading. If you are a tourny player then just collect the money cards and disregard the chaff. The whole reason that I collected complete sets is because I actually like the collecting aspect of Magic. I build sets because I like trading and I always accumulate a lot of chaff from drafting.

Set building is a money losing endeavor. You often have to trade decent cards for chaff to fill the sets. Once a set rotates out of standard the value drops by 25% to 50% depending on the cards in the set. You will always find a buyer but like you mentioned in your post. Ice age sets range from $40 to $70 on ebay. If you happen to be that $40 seller then you probably just lost $25 to $40 on the transaction.

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Originally posted by sys41o:
Set building is a waste of money. Take if from a person who has over 100 complete sets.

If you are building sets you should be collecting them because you actually like collecting and trading. If you are a tourny player then just collect the money cards and disregard the chaff. The whole reason that I collected complete sets is because I actually like the collecting aspect of Magic. I build sets because I like trading and I always accumulate a lot of chaff from drafting.

Set building is a money losing endeavor. You often have to trade decent cards for chaff to fill the sets. Once a set rotates out of standard the value drops by 25% to 50% depending on the cards in the set. You will always find a buyer but like you mentioned in your post. Ice age sets range from $40 to $70 on ebay. If you happen to be that $40 seller then you probably just lost $25 to $40 on the transaction.

The only real reason that building sets would be worth while is if you play multiple constructed formats. Even then this is kind of a weak excuse.

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I've built sets for years, and have manged to keep it slightly profitable. But it hasn't been easy. There are a few rules you need to follow:

1. Never actively build any set that hasn't rotated out. The costs are just too high. If you wait until after sets have rotated out, you can often get full or near sets at a decent discount from players who just want to be rid of them to get $$$ for new playables.

2. Buy collections to get the bulk of the less valuable cards you need. The difference between profit and loss is usually whether you have to pay for the "lesser" cards. So a few well placed purchases of collections where you are only paying for the key money cards can save you a fortune.

3. Consider building multiple copies of the same set. I quickly learned that in trying to get one full set, I would also accumulate many partial sets. I ultimately settled on building 4 of each set, and the 2nd and 3rd sets were minimal effort relative to the first set.

4. Never buy individual cards until you only need 5 or 10 (at most) to complete a set. You'll get back your costs for the key cards, but not for things like the junk rares.

5. Sell your extras only when it can make a little money for you. And find creative ways to add a little value. I used to build common sets out of the extras I had. I've had extra rares and uncommons suddenly spike in value, some of them spectacularly. While they were sort of worthless when I built them, even Ice Age and Fallen Empire common sets now carry a bit of value.

6. Build enough sets so you never feel the need to actually finish one. Any time you get an overwhelming desire that certain sets NEED to be finished, you can almost guarantee you will pay too much to make that happen.

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Originally posted by hammr7:
I've built sets for years, and have manged to keep it slightly profitable. But it hasn't been easy. There are a few rules you need to follow:

1. Never actively build any set that hasn't rotated out. The costs are just too high. If you wait until after sets have rotated out, you can often get full or near sets at a decent discount from players who just want to be rid of them to get $$$ for new playables.

2. Buy collections to get the bulk of the less valuable cards you need. The difference between profit and loss is usually whether you have to pay for the "lesser" cards. So a few well placed purchases of collections where you are only paying for the key money cards can save you a fortune.

3. Consider building multiple copies of the same set. I quickly learned that in trying to get one full set, I would also accumulate many partial sets. I ultimately settled on building 4 of each set, and the 2nd and 3rd sets were minimal effort relative to the first set.

4. Never buy individual cards until you only need 5 or 10 (at most) to complete a set. You'll get back your costs for the key cards, but not for things like the junk rares.

5. Sell your extras only when it can make a little money for you. And find creative ways to add a little value. I used to build common sets out of the extras I had. I've had extra rares and uncommons suddenly spike in value, some of them spectacularly. While they were sort of worthless when I built them, even Ice Age and Fallen Empire common sets now carry a bit of value.

6. Build enough sets so you never feel the need to actually finish one. Any time you get an overwhelming desire that certain sets NEED to be finished, you can almost guarantee you will pay too much to make that happen.

Edit: - a case in point - I just saw the recent banning/unbanning list. My 6 extra Time Spirals will probably help me finish at least another set or two

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The above has a lot of great advice, especially the one about buying collections for cards (usually Craigslist or Gaming conventions can sometimes be a great source for quantity of cards at discount). I have acquired a lot of collections, made or completed sets for my own collection or to sell. Most people only look at their key cards. Sometimes their key cards don't add up to anything (can I say Homelands, Chronicles, Fallen Empire), but as a set they sell more than the parts as most of the cards are total junk.

Find someone else who likes to collect and work trades to improve both your collections. If you have junk rares that are extra and they need them, trade the junk for junk. Just need to do this in bulk to make the shipping worth it if online trade, but it can work.

Patience is always key in collecting and not squandering your funds.