To laminate or Not to laminate? That is the question.

[CanadianPitbull]

So I have some of my cards in the hard plastic sleeves and I have been toiling with if I should just laminate my cards as I have a laminator and it would be financially more affordable given the amount of cards I have. I laminated the charts and they turned out great years ago. So has anyone or does anyone do this? Just because hard plastic sleeves are getting more and more expensive. Just to sleeve one of my feds it would be close to $200 dollars or more Canadian. Laminating is waaay cheaper and where I am leaning too to get longevity out of my cards especially with sets that are now out of print.  

[throwingtoasters]

I think it really just depends on if you care about the 'collectability' of the cards and plan to resell them in the future or not. If you don't, laminate away! If you do, the future sale price might be lower. There's a seller on eBay who is selling laminated cards and even the more rare cards are sitting there unsold even as the seller has lowered the price. My guess, and I could be wrong, is that is due to the cards being laminated and not in their original condition.

At the end of the day though, they are your cards! Do whatever works for you.

[CanadianPitbull]

I don't think I would ever sell my cards. Honestly my kids have no interest so I am sure when I head off into the great beyond they would donate them to the local Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity. Just wondering if others had done it and how it works for them.

[Swarm]

It’s your fed, promoter. But more importantly, they’re your cards, promoter.

[on_the_edge]

I do not think you are going to get an answer to your question because I do not think anyone does it.


EDIT: If you decide to give it a whirl I would suggest taking a card you have a dupe of or one you do not use a lot and test it on that card first. Then you can see how it comes out and if you want to do it on the more important cards in your collection.

[TTX]

I recall one or two people who have laminated but I'm not one of them.

[sleazybmartini]

I use plastic protectors for cards in use, then put whole sets in soft sleeves for long term storage or any potential future resale. Would agree that laminating hurts the resale value, but I guess it's a matter of personal preference if reselling at some point isn't in your plans and you can do it without making them unplayable.

[CanadianPitbull]

I think for me it was about affordability in wear over time due to play. I am on the fence about doing it so I was just asking if anyone else had done it or did it and their experience with it or to they just either sleeve them or they don't due to the overall cost due to the sheer amount of cards. I don't think I would ever catch up on the hard plastic sleeves front and that is even with just wanting to put protectors on the cards in my three feds I am running and still have wrestlers in my free agent pool who would still need protectors. I appreciate all who have weighed in on it. If anyone else has suggestions then fire away.

[Chad Olson]

Cory Olson laminates his cards, I used to. We got the idea from someone at GalactiCon 20-25 years ago. Pretty sure there are others who still do it too.

I stopped because my laminator broke and I haven't replaced it. It wasn't a resale concern.

[Cory Olson]

As Chad said, I've laminated mine since about '95. Chad and I bought a laminator together about 20 years ago. (I think this is one he mentioned that broke.) My wife bought me my own for Christmas some years ago and I've used it since. Mine got jammed last year but my mechanical-minded son was able to fix it

I used to use the full laminating sheets and do two game cards on one. But then Chad introduced these sheets to me. They fit the playing cards almost perfectly with minimal trimming needing to be done.

I used to laminate every FG card. But with so many different lines now, I just usually laminate my Legends cards to save on laminating sheets. Since I've started an indie fed (my IPW), I might laminate some of the indie cards I use more often.

As far as resale, I'm not big on reselling things. If I have an extra card that's out of print that someone wants to buy, I will sell it. I sold one out-of-print LOW card to Barry (malicelover) about two years ago and I told him up front that I had laminated it.