What is up? Welcome back to Stacking Slabs. This is your hobby content alternative. I'm your host, Brett. If you have come for some sort of version of some type of collector focused content, you've come to the right place.

If you're new, welcome. On these Wednesday episodes, we like to dig into the psychology behind why we collect. I think psychology is something that drives hobby activity.

I'm fascinated by the psychology of how we collect, and for the last five years, I've been talking about it every Wednesday from my own personal experience. So if you're new, welcome.

You've come to the right place. If you are a returning member of the stacking slabs audience, I do appreciate you. There's a lot happening here at stacking slabs behind the scenes. I try to share as much as I can in real time.

What I am trying to do right now is drive this thing until the wheels fall off. It's the mindset I always have when it comes to building a business, pushing things forward. I want to break what I'm doing.

I want to run out of gas. And part of my mindset and strategy is if we're building a business around content and media, let's freaking go. Let's give some episodes out at a high clip, high quality that are gonna resonate.

Now not everything I'm doing on here might hit, might not resonate with you, but it's the diversity behind how we collect and what we collect that I'm using as a canvas to build out stacking slabs.

And without a shadow of a doubt, this Wednesday flagship episode will always be the foundation. Everything drafts off of this, and that's how I'm building it.

That's how I've always built it. This time, or this era of stacking slabs, I just get a little more time to think strategically about it. I'm thinking a lot about the operations behind stacking slabs.

I'm thinking a lot about the strategy. I'm thinking a lot about the types of brands and people who I want to work with. If you've been paying attention on the main feed every Monday, we've been doing Passion to Profession.

Right? That is a series directly, where I'm directly partnering with eBay to bring eBay sellers on the show to talk about the business they're building and why.

I think we're all entrepreneurial in some way, shape, or form, and the intention of that series is to inspire you to go on your journey, whether it's hit more shows on the weekend to buy, sell, trade, whether it's start a podcast like this one or YouTube channel, whether it's start building that business that you've been thinking about for a long time because you see a gap, the goal of that is to inspire.

Yesterday, or if you're listening to this as this is, on on launch day, on Tuesday, we launched Vaulted, which is a new series I'm doing with PSA.

I've had an existing relationship with the PSA team for a while now. I grade my cards with PSA.

I vault some of my cards with PSA. But the the goal of that series is to talk about technology and talk about decisions that bigger players like collectors and PSA are going all in on to create better hobby experience.

We're doing smashing bin. There's the WNBA card pot. There is a lot happening right now at Stacking Slabs. I have more to do than ever before. I wish I could just come up here and talk all day. That's not how it works.

There is a lot of behind the scenes, formatting, outreach, conversation. It's nonstop. It's not really fun to talk about. It's not really fun to think about. And I'm not gonna get into it too much because it's just not exciting.

But what is exciting is collecting sports cards. It's why we're here. It's what fires us up in the morning. There is so many decisions and things we have to tackle when we're building out our own collection.

And my goal each Wednesday is to pull a piece from my experience and share it with all you. What I wanted to do in this episode is dig into the question because we buy a lot of cards. We sell a lot of cards.

But when we're buying cards, do you love the card, or is it just the chase? Not just on this podcast, but so many other hobby podcasts. There's been a discussion about collectors appreciating the chase more than the card itself.

I gotta point to, my good friend, Iowa Dave, the shallow end podcast. He did a whole series on this topic, and I think I'd I'd encourage you, and I like to do this.

Go check out Dave's podcast. Go listen to those episodes because the way he organized it was around this topic and getting really real stories from collectors.

And so I listened to all those episodes, and it inspires me to think about this from my own personal perspective.

So let's just set the stage like this. Right? You win an auction. You hit buy it now. The card shows up. You hold it in your hand, and you suddenly, you're not sure if you actually wanted that card or if you just wanted to win.

Let that let let's let that sit. Have you gone through that before? Today, I want to explore something we all wrestle with. How do you if you're how do you know if you're collecting for the card or just addicted to the chase?

Neither is wrong, but confusion here leads to regret, wasted money, burnout, and I just think this is a great topic to dig into on the Wednesday flagship.

So let's talk about again, this is a fascinating thing for me as a career marketer and something that I deeply appreciate.

We're gonna talk about the psychology of the chase, and I I think that's a good place to start. And a good place to start is to understand the psychologic principles to build the foundation.

I think I think one of the first thing is that dopamine hit or anticipation. When we get more dopamine from pursuing something than from having it, that's why the hunt is thrilling, and the moment after that win can feel flat.

I'll also say this. They're, my wife's in medicine. She is into science. I am way more I'm on the opposite spectrum where, obviously, more creative writing. Marketing is more my style, but I believe in science.

I think science is important. Although some people might not say that, I think science is really important when we're thinking about the psychology behind the chase. So what does science say about dopamine in anticipation?

Dopamine isn't a pleasure chemical. It's an anticipation chemical. We get the biggest dopamine spike before we get the reward, not after. The thrill lives in the chase, not the catch. So how does it show up?

You're stocking a bin listing, messaging the seller, checking the comps. You win the card. It arrives, and suddenly the spark is gone. You thought you'd feel something, but now you're already looking for the next thing.

And I think this matters because many collectors confuse that dopamine high for meaningful collecting. They end up chasing feelings instead of cards, and this leads to burnout, financial stress, and disconnection from their collection.

I've dealt with that. Hopefully I mean, I don't hope you've dealt with that, but I'm assuming if you're listening to this podcast, you've been dealt with that at some, way, shape, form, or the other.

I think it's important to ask ourselves, do I enjoy researching and hunting more than owning? The next principle would be kind of the slot machine effect or variable reward theory.

You don't know when you'll win. This randomness fuels obsession, especially in auction cycles. Think about that. We don't know when these cards are gonna pop up. Even when they pop up, we don't know when we're gonna win.

It's just random all the time. That's why I talk a lot about being on offense, but sometimes, like, you gotta react. You don't know when you'll win, and that's why you keep pulling it just like a slot machine.

I was in Vegas. I'm not a big Vegas Gambler because they're just gonna take your money, and Vegas is too expensive already. I put $5 in one slot machine, and I was just like I pulled it, and absolutely nothing happened.

And immediately, I was like, I don't know how people do this. If you're a slot player, do your thing, but the randomness of Las Vegas slots isn't for me. You think about the slot machine effect.

What does science say about this? This is a core mechanic of addiction. When rewards are random and unpredictable, the brain stays engaged. It's the same reason social media sports betting slot machines are so effective.

How does it show up in our collecting? When we scroll eBay daily just to see what pops up, we bid on auctions you're not passionate about just because they're ending.

You buy because it's a deal, not because it's a match. Why does this matter? The mechanic is built into marketplaces, especially auction formats.

And if you don't realize it's influencing you, you'll start accumulating cards that don't serve your collecting goals. So the question I ask myself is, do I buy cards because they're what I want or because they're what I found?

We talked about FOMO last week. Really important in this context. The clock is ticking down in someone else's messaging a seller often drives that action, not the card itself.

Someone else might grab it. I can't let that happen. Have you ever felt that way before? I know I have. You look at the science behind it. Right? FOMO isn't just a buzzword. It's an anxiety response.

Your brain imagines a future where you missed out and assigns it disappropriate disappropriate emotional weight. I'll say this. I I would not be able to recognize any of this if I didn't personally go to therapy.

So shout out to all of you who talk to somebody, get help. And if you are have anxiety and you are an anxious person and you need someone to talk to, like, I can't recommend enough how important therapy has been for me personally.

And the side effect of therapy is it's allowed me to think about how this manifests in my own collecting, which in turn has allowed me to put a episode like this together.

So I'm not sure I would ever be able to deliver something like this because I wouldn't reflect and recognize it if it wasn't going for going to therapy.

But how does this show up in collecting? A DM seller says a few others are interested, and now you have to buy it. You justify purchases because the card is rare even even it's it's not meaningful to you.

You panic when you see other collectors land something you passed on. FOMO distorts how we see cards. It turns someone else's card into your emergency.

And when the dust settles, you're often left holding the card that meant more in theory than reality. Reflection here. A question. Am I buying because I want the card or because I want to avoid regret?

Just asking yourself that question can be transformational into your own hobby experience. Trust me. There's also false urgency versus true desire. Is this card if this card were still available tomorrow, would I still want it?

I do this all the time. I ask myself that question, and I will go to bed and wake up the next morning and see how I feel. It's always really good to sleep on it.

You obviously risk the card being snatched by someone else. But, typically, for me, this process happens when a card I know is it's it's it's it's more expensive, and I have to really think about it.

What does science say about false urgency versus true desire? Think when urgency is high, logical thinking gets bypassed by emotional pressure.

Marketers use timers for a reason. They reduce your ability to make rational decisions. It shows up in collecting when auctions are counting down even if the card isn't at the top of your list.

You rush to smash bin just because someone else might do it first. You buy without asking the key question, does it fit in my collection? I think this matters because urgency should never outweigh clarity.

If you give yourself twenty four hours of space, your buying behavior often shifts from impulsive to intentional. A question I ask, if I slept on this card and it was still there, would I still want it?

It's really, really important. These principles are working on us all the time, especially when we spend hours in auction environments, Instagram stories, or DMs with sellers.

Understanding them doesn't make the chase bad. It makes you more conscious of the difference between wanting a card, wanting to win, or just wanting that feeling. When you know which one you're chasing, you begin to take back control.

Signs that I think I see in myself that tell me I love the chase and not the card, you forget I forget about it a week after I bought it later. Right? It's not in my mind anymore.

That's one of the clearest red flags. Click buy it now or win an auction, but my memory doesn't even retain that. Like, the card comes, and I'm like, what is this? Oh, yeah. I bought this. That's not because I have a bad memory.

It's because the moment after the transaction, my brain just moves on. The card never really had an emotional imprint to begin with. You just wanted to win. And I think this part about collecting is so fascinating.

It is really hard to be 100% decisive with the decisions we make when we're buying because of those pressures and if that is gonna be a card that is going to stay in our collection for the long run.

And that's okay. I realized when I get a bunch of cards at once and I can't remember buying a few of those, that's when this is it's a reminder that I, you know, I just love the chase.

If your collection feels like a blur, this is my might be something that you wanna recognize.

Another sign, you never post the card. You never show it off. When we love something, we wanna share it. Not for clout, not for likes, just because it matters.

But if you're buying cards that never see your camera roll, never make it to Instagram, never get pulled out from mail days, there's a good chance they don't really mean anything to you.

If a card doesn't spark a story or a smile, maybe it wasn't worth chasing.

You don't look at it. You just store it. Collectors touch their cards. We flip them over, get a kick out of the details. They move the box. If your card goes straight to the Zion case or a vault and never resurfaces, ask your question.

Are you curating or hoarding? This is especially true with serial number, rare, and parallel base cards. If you don't marvel over the aesthetic foil texture, the shimmer, whatever the effect is, why'd you go after it?

You immediately think about the the next card after acquiring one. The minute your tracking number shows deliver, your mind is already on to the next auction. That's not love. That's compulsion. We've all been there. You chase. You win.

You feel nothing. So you chase again because you think the next one will finally scratch the itch. If every card feels like a stepping stone instead of the definition destination, you may never feel satisfied in your collection.

You justify keeping it with, well, it's a good deal, not because you love it. This is a collector version of staying in a bad relationship because it's just convenient.

You say stuff like, it's comps higher than I that I paid. It's rare. Someone will want it. I can always trade it later. But if your first thought is, isn't I love the card, then it might not belong in your box.

Good collectors don't just look for margin. They look for meaning. Look. We have all had cards like this. Some of them are still in my collection right now staring me at the corner of the case and asking, hey, dude.

You really need me? But the more honest we get with these patterns, the more powerful we become as collectors, not just collectors chasing cardboard, but collectors building something with a soul.

In turn, I think it's important to recognize the signs where you love a card.

What does this true connection look like? You revisit it often. You appreciate the details. You know exactly why it's in your box. Connects back to a broader story you're, collected connect or building.

You feel proud to show it off. You don't care what it's worth right now. You'd regret selling it even if it made sense financially. A key driver is always longevity for me.

Cards that stay in my box for multiple years are those cards that I truly love. I think about my 2,002 finest Peyton Manning x fracture out of 20. That card means so much to me. I love it deeply, intimately. I love when I bought it.

I had to sell off another collection to fund it. I've had the card ever since. It is just one of those cards that I love. And I understand as a collector, I can't just go out and find a bunch of cards that give me that same feeling.

It's impossible. It's impossible. But I think recognizing it and understanding that there is a process and there is a mindset with those experiences and they're not all going to hit, it's really important.

I've been talking a lot about frameworks, and I think a three question framework for you all to run your heads through as we kinda round this out is, would I still want this if no one ever saw it? It's a great question to ask yourself.

Would I trade this card for a random hot card in the moment? Another question or a card that just presents itself. Will this card mean more to me six months from now or less? We're not here to shame the chase.

The chase is fun. But collecting isn't just about momentum. It's about meaning. If you can separate your love for that card from love of the thrill, you're building a collection that lasts and one that feels like you.

Have you ever bought a card just for the chase and regretted it or one you love so much you'll never let it go.

I'd love to hear from you. If you've got those cards and got examples on one side or the other, post it. Tag me at stacking slides on Instagram. A lot more content coming out from yours truly for the rest of the week.

Appreciate you focused in, dialed in. Tell a damn friend. Hit the follow button. Run on over to that Patreon group. Link is in the show notes. All the things, all the plugs. Happy collecting. Talk to you soon.