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SET BUILDING TIPS AND OPTIONS
In my opinion, the most cost effective way for someone to collect is to buy by the case and then sell or trade off all the spare and unwanted Costume and Autograph Cards, and extra base and chase sets (you should get 2-3 of each chase set per case and 15-20 base sets). But it's A LOT of tedious work to sort out all those cards, scan, list, package, and then ship them. You'll probably save money this way, and have a lot of fun opening the packs, but it's not easy to sell and takes A LOT of time. Cases don't come cheap and there is the risk of getting a "bad" case, so this option takes serious committment.
A quick and easy option is to just buy a Master Set if you know you want and can afford one of EVERYTHING. (Master Sets are NOT cheap!) This will save A LOT of time and some money, but it's not as much fun because you can't customize your collection and pick and choose variants and costumes one by one yourself.
A more affordable way to go is to buy a Mini-Master Set to get the cheap stuff out of the way, and then pick and choose the costumes and autographs you want...trying to find bargains as you go.
Probably the most popular option is to buy at least 3-4 boxes to make your own Mini-Master Set, hope to get a rare autograph or costume in the process, and then buy the remaining cards one by one. Keep in mind though that it's very possible to not complete a Mini-Master Set even after 3-4 random boxes and to pull duplicate autograph and costume cards.
BUYING/PRICING - What you can expect to spend and why....
There are several factors that go into pricing, but the two most important are rarity (odds per pack/box) and popularity (main character are in higher demand than side characters of course). It's like the lottery: the higher the odds, the more money it's worth.
That's why chase cards/sets are so much more expensive than base cards/sets, even though you get so much fewer chase cards. It takes AT LEAST 3 boxes to complete a chase set from Inkworks, while you can get at least one complete base set from just one box.
Because card manufacturers don't usually state the individual odds beforehand, it's impossible to know the individual odds of specific costume and autograph cards until A LOT of boxes/cases are open. That's why pricing costumes and autographs for Pre-Order can be difficult and is mostly guesswork.
You can usually make educated guesses on pricing just based on how popular a character is, but don't forget how big/tall the actor is and what the actual costume material is. For example, an Alice costume should be rarer than an Emmett costume card just because Alice is so much smaller than Emmett. However, if it was Emmett's Tie vs. Alice's Dress, then the tie should be rarer.
Another factor into pricing are Variants. Let's look at the Victoria Costume Card:
The shirt is mostly green, but there is also some white on the front. Because the white portion is less, it's considered the variant. From a Box, you could find a variant white or a common green costume card (or a white AND green piece). If you get a Variant white costume card, it'll be rarer and therefore more valuable than the green. In this example, the white's not that rare so it won't be that much more valuable (maybe $40 vs $20), but on some cards, the variant is VERY rare and could sell for $200 while the common version sells for $10.
So if you plan on buying cards and sets individually, you can expect to pay more for the rarer cards and sets. If you buy by the box/or case, it's a gamble and you could get a great bargain or you could overspend. For example, at $50 for a box, you will get 1-2 Base Sets, 4-6 Chase Cards, and 1 Costume Card. If you get just a Laurent Costume, you probably overpaid, but if you get a Variant or an Edward Costume, you got a deal.
Also, keep in mind the Hobby boxes are limited, so once they're gone, they are gone.
Good Luck and Happy Collecting!!
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