Author: Alyx Effron

What Is This Doing To Me?

Presented By All Touch Case Sometimes the most important question isn’t what we call an activity. It’s what that activity is doing in our lives. Within the hobby, there can be a lot of discussion about where the line sits between collecting, entertainment, speculation, and gambling. Those conversations matter, and reasonable people can look at the same activity through different legal, clinical, industry, or lived-experience lenses. But for someone who is struggling, the terminology may

Help Starts Here

Presented By All Touch Case One of the hardest parts of asking for help can be deciding whether what we’re experiencing is actually serious enough to deserve it. Maybe we spent more than we intended. Maybe we’ve started hiding purchases from the people around us. Maybe breaks, auctions, releases, or marketplaces are taking up more of our attention than they used to. Maybe we’ve told ourselves we were going to slow down, only to find

Finding Joy In The Game Again

Presented By All Touch Case And just like that, football season is upon us. For so many of us, there’s nothing quite like this time of year. Saturdays belong to college football, Sundays to the NFL, fantasy leagues are underway, group chats are buzzing again, and before we know it, there’s a game on almost every night of the week. For many people, that means something simple: football is back. For others, especially those of

Collector Spotlight: August 2026

Presented By All Touch Case Sergio Pizzolante, @instapizzo Each month, our Collector Spotlight series celebrates a Collectors MD community member who embodies the very best of the hobby and reminds us what a healthier, more intentional collecting experience can look like. For August, we’re proud to spotlight Sergio Pizzolante (@instapizzo), one of the most active, thoughtful, and genuinely supportive members of the Collectors MD community. Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, Sergio carries an enormous

You Don’t Have To Chase Every Release

Presented By All Touch Case There are weeks in this hobby when it feels like everything is dropping at once. Topps Flagship Football. Motif Basketball. Topps Chrome Black Basketball. Topps Chrome Sapphire Baseball. Another product gets teased. Another checklist drops. Another breaker goes live. Another massive hit shows up on your feed. Before you know it, something that is supposed to be fun can start to feel like a race to keep up. That feeling

Introducing The CMD Framework

Collectors MD is proud to formally introduce The CMD Framework, an approach designed to bridge the collectibles industry with prevention, education, peer support, recovery, behavioral health, and treatment. The framework builds upon the work Collectors MD has been doing since its launch in March 2025, bringing together collectors, families, industry stakeholders, prevention professionals, treatment providers, recovery organizations, and individuals with lived experience to address an emerging gap between two spaces that have historically operated independently

Where The Hobby & Recovery Meet

Presented By All Touch Case For a long time, the collectibles industry and the recovery space have largely existed in separate worlds. One is deeply rooted in culture, excitement, products, communities, and behaviors that drive collecting. The other understands addiction, compulsive behavior, prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and the consequences that can develop when a behavior becomes difficult to control. Collectors MD was created, in part, to serve as a bridge between the two. And

What Is Your Card Really Worth?

Presented By All Touch Case One of the hardest lessons for new collectors to learn is also one of the simplest: a card is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. That sounds obvious, but in today’s card market, determining what someone is actually willing to pay can be far more complicated than it appears. The modern card market moves incredibly fast. Nowhere is that more apparent than with new releases. A

The Future Is In Good Hands

Presented By All Touch Case Over the past three weeks, I’ve had the privilege of attending three very different conferences: Fanatics Fest NYC, the NCPG Annual Conference in Nashville, and The National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago. On paper, they couldn’t have been more different. One celebrated the passion and excitement of fandom. Another brought together the nation’s leading councils, coalitions, clinicians, researchers, and treatment providers. The third represented the largest gathering of sports collectors

Collector Spotlight: July 2026

Presented By All Touch Case Jared Allen This month, we’re proud to feature one of the most recognizable faces in the Collectors MD community: Jared Allen. Since joining Collectors MD in February, Jared has become one of the cornerstones of our community. He’s attended nearly every weekly peer support and Unboxed meeting, regularly contributes to our group chats, has authored multiple Daily Reflections, encourages others through difficult moments, and always makes time to welcome new

Pain Into Purpose

Presented By All Touch Case Last week, I had the incredible honor of presenting at the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) Annual Conference in Nashville. Several days later, I’m still struggling to put the experience into words. It wasn’t simply another speaking engagement. It was one of those rare moments in life where you pause, look around, and realize just how far you’ve come. Eighteen months ago, I was still trying to rebuild my

The Hospital Of The Hobby

Presented By All Touch Case This past week, I had the privilege of attending Fanatics Fest NYC 2026 as part of Collectors MD‘s official media coverage, and I walked away feeling more optimistic than ever about where this hobby is headed. If you watched ABC News’ coverage of the event, you probably caught a glimpse of the excitement. Tens of thousands of collectors, families, athletes, celebrities, creators, breakers, manufacturers, platforms, hobby shops, and industry leaders