what's going on everybody welcome back to stacking slabs this is your hobby content alternative i'm your host brett i collect sports cards i've got several podcasts about collecting sports cards here on the stacking slabs network appreciate you being along for the ride it is so energizing it is so motivating to step into the stacking slabs studio each and every day and and continue to get such positive feedback from the community of collectors continue to see the things i wanna see as a business owner and a marketer more interest in the show across the board we are in the process of building a network that is creating collector focused shows and also creating shows for hobby businesses those who are in this industry it's two sided the more i continue to trudge along in this space the more i want to provide value for the collecting community out there through stories collector psychology specific niche content and then there's also the business side i've been in business my entire life i'm very fascinated about how this hobby works i'm fascinated by the infrastructure i'm fascinated by technology trends how businesses think how entrepreneurs in this space do what they do and so that's my focus and i'm continuing to work tirelessly to be the spot for individuals who want to learn more about collecting or who want to learn more about starting a business in this space and appreciate you being along for the ride got to shout out my good friends at inferno red technology for sponsoring the flagship they're the engineering team behind some of the biggest names in sports and collectibles like dc sports eighty seven commsi collectors upper deck and ebay from ai powered solutions for startups to full stack platforms for industry leaders their team can tackle your toughest technology challenges they build awesome software for the hobby for leagues and fans and for everyone in between see what they can build for you at inferno red dot com make sure you're following the broader stacking slabs network wherever you're listening hit the follow button and tell a damn friend appreciate everyone letting people know what's up appreciate you coming here each and every week and let's get on with it let's get on with the damn program today we are going to talk about second chances and second chances in collecting and this is something that doesn't always happen and i've never really heard anyone talk about it but i got a second chance at a card and it happened quick and my reflection as it all went down on saturday night as i was bidding on this card and winning this card after losing this card and publicly talking about this card i instantly said this has gotta be a flagship and so i talked on january seventh that episode of the flagship about the twenty twenty tyrese halliburton crown royal crystal platinum one of one and a psa eight holder that i lost in that episode i talked about the desire isn't generated by hype it's earned through understanding and most hobby desire is borrowed conviction and i believe research is the elixir i don't didn't want the card because the hobby wanted it i wanted it because my curiosity led to hours of research and that effort turned an object into a relationship i'm not here to try to teach or tell anyone how to buy i want to convey how to want in a way that doesn't hollow us out as collectors in the january seventh flagship i made mention that i was sad i missed this card and i even said i'd pay more for it now there was unfinished business i emphasized that this card pushed against my usual collecting rules part of which halliburton's in a king's uniform not in a pacers and that push and pull became identity rules and new knowledge where meaning in my collecting and or how i think about collecting lives in this episode i'm asking did the second chance confirm that this card belongs in my identity or was it just me reacting to the sting of losing i'm not mad about the money i'm mad that i had researched so hard and i cared so much and i lost if losing was proof what does getting it back proof and that's what i wanna do in today's conversation i want to explore i want to explore from a personal example like surface level collectors rent excitement collectors build relationships a second chance is the perfect test for that renting excitement often dies after the first missed relationship collectors sometimes get more attached this is gonna be fun i have some notes i also have a lot on my mind we're gonna converge those two paths and we're gonna make it happen i think a second chance isn't just an opportunity psychologically it collides multiple systems at once regret and counterfactual thinking if only reference points what it should cost identity what this says about me and completion finish what i started when people miss something that mattered they naturally generate counterfactuals or mental stimulations of what could have been this can sting and i felt this but it also has a functional purpose it helps people learn and adjust future behavior this helps me explain the reason why i did an episode on january seventh and this and it didn't feel like a whatever it felt like a lesson with emotional weight and i i i thought about that episode after the fact and it mattered because i had already constructed meaning around the card because of the work that i've done the work on the research side the work on my own collector identity side i think a second chance can reduce the regret because it creates a credible path to change the outcome in work on regret intensity and lost opportunities regret tends to be amplified when the person feels low psychological closer when the story still finished feels unfinished that's exactly the emotional status of a missed grail the mind keeps replaying the fork in the road i pointed out something important sometimes when the second chance arrives people aren't as excited or they don't even act there's a name decision pattern for this inaction inertia how about that alliteration tongue twister after missing more attract of a missing more of an attractive opportunity people often forego a later opportunity in the same domain even if the later one is still good i can't bring myself to buy it now i should have just bought it then or i should have want it then i've been through that i've gone through that experience i've told myself that in collecting shows up constantly especially when the second chance is worse than the first higher price worse condition less desirable parallel the missed better deal becomes the comparison point that poisons the current option my instance is a case in which psychologically it's interesting because my second chance wasn't worse it was in fact better it was cheaper much cheaper than the last sale and this changes which forces dominate think human beings lean heavily on reference points that's a foundational it's it's foundational in life it's foundational in prospect theory outcomes are evaluated as gains and losses relative to the reference point not pure absolutes a prior sale price in your own max bid both act as anchors starting numbers that shaped what reasonable feels like even when they shouldn't this is why last comp can be emotionally dangerous it's not just information it becomes a psychological magnet getting it cheaper can create deal joy separate from card joy richard thaler's concept of transaction utility explains why paying less than your reference price feels good even if the item itself hasn't changed the brain gets satisfaction from the deal not just the acquisition so we'll talk about the two deals and i think i was very transparent on the last episode january seventh talking about the loss and when i lost this card originally it sold for twelve hundred bucks and some change i was the underbidder i was pissed off when the second time came around when i saw this card it felt like it felt like i should have thrown a party i saw this card and i said a second chance there's no way and so i was there saturday night fired up getting ready to bid and i didn't try to and i try not to do this i try not to look at where the card is in the final moments and think that really holds any weight because this last time on when i lost the card earlier the price was very low and i remember saying like if i put eleven hundred and fifty dollars or whatever it is surely that will give me a good chance to win it and i was wrong someone went ahead of me so this time the card maybe was at four hundred fifty dollars or something and i put in my max bid my max bid i said was gonna be five hundred dollars more than the last time that it sold so i put in a seventeen hundred and one dollar bid now i had a lot of things going on in my brain one of those things was this card just sold like hopefully it goes down in value because the time in between sales is compelling and so i put in the bid and my heart skipped the beat a little bit and then it the you know the ebay had the wheel and you're waiting and the sale price came through seven hundred and seventy five dollars so it previously sold for twelve hundred and some change i put in a seventeen hundred and one dollar bid this time and it sold for seven hundred and seventy five dollars and i'll tell you what you wanna talk about a second chance and good feeling that was great feeling i got the card back and i got it for much less than i experienced i experienced that experience contained two different wins number one and the most important is i acquired the card this acquisition utility it made me feel great i went back and i looked at old scans of the crystal platinums and how unbelievable these cards look and i've never heard anyone talk about these cards this is what i like this is the zone i like to be in and i also experienced the deal as a gain versus multiple reference points like last sale and my own expectation created positive emotion auctions are interesting i'm fascinated by them they add competitive arousal arousal and regret dynamics auctions aren't neutral buying formats they add time pressure and rivalry which produce auction fever commonly linked to this competitive arousal we have as humans and auction outcomes are especially regret rich researchers in auction theory and behavioral economics model both losers regret bidding too low and winners regret bidding too high with evidence that regret considerations can shape bidding there's also a reason second chances can feel less exciting much of the high is in the wanting chase system of it all not just the having and liking there's a big difference between wanting something which can be linked to how our brain works and dopamine and liking or pleasure and they can also come apart a second chance can reduce the novelty you've already imagined the card and you've already lived with the trace which can dampen the spike unless the second chance carries a deeper meaning which penetrates identity closure and redemption on january seventh in that episode i already said it collecting isn't just about objects it's about what objects say about us possessions can function as a part of our extended self meaning people experience certain possessions as identity relevant not merely owned and collecting specifically has been studied as form of luxury or meaningful consumption with deep personal effects that's why a second chance at a grail can feel like more than just shopping or buying a card it can feel like recovering a piece of a story you tell about yourself and i'm telling you right now this story of this card in my life especially as a content creator who produced an entire episode about losing it once hits a little different most second chance stories and collecting have a bitter edge you missed the card and now it's two times three times what it cost and you're stuck in comparing today's reality to yesterday's opportunity that's the inaction inertia territory and often kills the enthusiasm you should have for landing a card that you love but this story flips the script there's three different forces that likely explain why it stayed emotionally powerful the first miss created an unresolved counterfactual and the counterfactual thinking is how people process near miss regret and learn what they do differently next time the january seventh dialogue shows exactly that i regretted not bidding more and felt emotionally invested because the research i was performing worked the card reappearing created closure regret suggested unfinished business and allowed me to stay emotionally active when psychologically closure was low it was an opportunity to change the outcome the price outcome created a surplus emotion through transactional utility i expected a to fight a and set a high ceiling yet the market only demanded seven hundred and seventy five dollars the gap between that expectation and reality is exactly how deal joy got generated specifically in my instance one more practical note that i'd love to talk about here is on ebay when you enter a maximum bid the system bids up in increments on your behalf only as needed up to your limit that's the mechanical reason i bid seven hundred and one dollars and i and can still say that i want it at seven hundred and seventy five that i think is is really important if the card would have sold for seventeen hundred and one dollars and i want it i would be thrilled now it's even better because it feels like i got extra money burning a hole in my pocket i i don't think this price drop had anything to do with the hobby being down or the card is undervalued i just think it was one of those instances where this card just sold it's a one of one and maybe no one because he's hurt right now is looking at tyrese halliburton cards a second chance doesn't just give you the cardigan it reveals what you were chasing this is very important i think the more i think about it the more i can't stop thinking about it i think second chances are where collectors are most vulnerable to doing dumb stuff because the emotional side of there's no way i'm losing it again sounds like conviction but it can turn into a form of competitive arousal we get caught up in these auctions we get caught up in these moments and i felt in that moment that i can afford this price my max bid and this is what i'm willing to pay and if it goes for that i'm i'm alright but if the card in that moment started getting bid up to close to my max bid price would i have done something different i don't know i wasn't in that instance in my case i think i did the right thing mechanically i set a max and i let the platform do its thing i let the action do its thing but i think emotionally i still had to check myself i had to ask myself was i chasing the card or was i chasing the relief of losing losing it for the first the initial time i think relief can be a drug too and the excitement sometimes disappears after you win and will the excitement around this card disappear later i can't forecast that right now i don't have the card in my hand i hope not i am in the process of thinking very differently about how i build and develop my halliburton collection in the new vision that i have for this collection a card like the twenty twenty crown royal crystal platinum one of one plays a pretty damn big role and that mindset and makeup of that card and the structure of that card plays a pretty big role so i set a vision that vision changed now i'm on v two of my halliburton collection and i think about this card and i think this is a pillar card of this collection but i can't guarantee anything i think sometimes we're more in love with the chase than we are with the card and that's just part of it i don't know after this instance and i can never remember another instance where this was so clear cut where a card i wanted i lost and it pops up again maybe two months later and i end up winning it for a percentage it's a case study of being patient it's a case study of making sure that you you look at cards a certain way and at the end of the day that way is to have that card slide in into the collection that you're building and be a key piece along the way i've never had an instance like this pop up in my collecting career but this instance is so profound i had to do this part two i did a part one i lost the card here's the part two i won the card and i think these types of moments and these types of stories make collecting so fascinating i'm so interested by the dynamics why did this card get bought for more than i was going to buy it for and then why does it sell right now like what is going on i don't know but at the end of the day i know i have this card like i'm fired up i'm pumped this card is going to help reframe and reset how i'm building a specific collection in my collection i'll also say this since i bought this card more has happened there's been some change there's been some shift and it's for the better you know when you take a couple steps back and you start to evaluate why you collect certain players why you collect certain sets why you collect certain products the more you challenge yourself with those questions and the more positive answers you can offer as a collector to illuminate your passion for the subject and you get those reminders to me those are the triggers that tell you to not only go but go all in keep pursuing keep being passionate keep going and damn have i felt that this year i can't tell you how many times i have watched highlights of the pacers finals run all the way through the finals last year before that i loved halliburton that this took it to a whole another level i went to the pacers game this a couple sundays ago with my daughter jolene it was her first pacers game and before the game they showed the package of all the eras of the pacers and all the highlights and man when they were highlighting the two twenty twenty era of the pacers i got chills i got goosebumps and i got back home and i opened up my case and i started looking through my cards and it was a on the heels of winning this card at auction and it was a reminder for why i collect what i collect and how fired up i am we need these reminders sometimes oftentimes it doesn't come because of its second chance card but when it does you gotta grab ahold of it and ride that momentum for a while we're all gonna have different instances that result in a second chance it could be a second chance at a card you sold a while ago it could be a second chance at a card you missed it could be there are a lot of second chances that take place you know when you know and when you feel it days weeks months afterwards that's the conviction reminding you how pumped how pumped you should be collecting's so fascinating there's so much going on with it emotional psychological but man it fires me up and i'm excited to get this card in hand i'm excited to share it with all of you appreciate you all supporting stacking slabs your hobby content alternative thanks so much tell a damn friend and we'll talk to you soon