2010 Bowman Sterling Boxes, Prices and Print Runs

I have been looking to buy a few boxes or even a case of 2010 Bowman Sterling Baseball. I think it is going to be very good, except I am tired of all the USA stuff. Why does Topps think they have to put it in every product? Don't they know or care that it's watering down the USA market?
I did some calculations and it looks like they doubled the production from last year. 2009 BS only had 6,125 boxes made, while for 2010 they are making 12,096. This is still much lower than most other products, but is expected for a higher end product.
I saw on Ebay that 8 box cases are going for as low as $1,050 shipped! Most of the cases are being sold by a seller by the name of mama_bear. I can't help but think this is a scam. Those prices are way too low. I think I might wait until this stuff comes out. I don't anticipate the price increasing at first. Only once the product starts to dry up months later will it increase in price.
I saw a preliminary checklist and the rookie autos and prospect autos look pretty solid, much better than last year. The only down part is with doubling the production run, it will be harder to get the low numbered hits. There are more autos in the checklist this year and the checklist has better players, so that should counteract that a little bit. Either way you will have a better chance of a low #'ed auto of your favorite prospect than you would in Bowman Chrome that's for sure, but then again you should due to the price difference.

there has already been a small jump in pricing on 2010 Sterling. The added hit is the Harper Topps 60th Anniversary card. Sure there are only 60 of them but its a huge hit/addition

This will be a solid product.

I think it will be a solid product, but with that many cases hitting the open market at the same time, I'm pretty sure it will dip in price. 2009 Bowman Sterling dipped right away, and it didn't really recover until some of the players started playing well. The Bryce Harper does have an intriguing effect on the pricing however. I can't see how it can maintain its price, given that they have increased the supply by such a large amount. Look at the last few releases of Topps; 2010 Topps T-206, 2010 Topps Chrome, 2010 Bowman Chrome, 2010 Bowman Draft and 2010 Bowman Platinum. They all had increased print runs, and all could not hold up in the open market. There are also rumors that Topps is putting pressure on distributors not to sell at liquidating rates, or they will not be given allocations to future products.

I see this product being a solid product, with high quality autographs, and a chance at a huge hit in the Bryce Harper card, but it cannot maintain its MSRP in the near term. However, like all the other Sterling products that came before it, it will depend on the quality of players that are included in this checklist. Would 2007 Bowman Sterling be the product that it could be without the likes of Tim Lincecum, Jason Heyward, Evan Longoria, Josh Hamilton, David Price, and Matt LaPorta (Maybe?)? Before Buster Posey came out and played the way he did, 2008 Bowman Sterling was dropping in price because Gordon Beckham had a sub-par early 2010 season. A set can have great design, but if its overproduced, it will be tough to maintain a high price point.

The one positive that Topps has been able to maintain, is that it is being released without another comparable sports product coming out to compete against it.

For what it's worth, mama_bear is legit. Her name is Jen and she does deliver the goods. She is a little slow. I bought some stuff from her that was "guaranteed" delivery in time or x-mas, but I didn't get it until after x-mas. She was prepared to give me a full refund and cover the cost of return shipping, so she is, in my book, a stand up seller.

Bill Menard said:

For what it's worth, mama_bear is legit. Her name is Jen and she does deliver the goods. She is a little slow. I bought some stuff from her that was "guaranteed" delivery in time or x-mas, but I didn't get it until after x-mas. She was prepared to give me a full refund and cover the cost of return shipping, so she is, in my book, a stand up seller.

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That is good to know, because her prices were so low it seemed to good to be true.

All In Cards said:

there has already been a small jump in pricing on 2010 Sterling. The added hit is the Harper Topps 60th Anniversary card. Sure there are only 60 of them but its a huge hit/addition

This will be a solid product.

Click to expand...

But how many are in Sterling? Ten?

Hmm, I actually want to buy a box of this, but no one is selling boxes at anywhere close to the mama_bear** breakdown ($170/box, realizing that I will have to pay a bit more for an individual box, still no one close.)...guess i'll wait another week or so.

vwnut13 said:

All In Cards said:

there has already been a small jump in pricing on 2010 Sterling. The added hit is the Harper Topps 60th Anniversary card. Sure there are only 60 of them but its a huge hit/addition

This will be a solid product.

Click to expand...

But how many are in Sterling? Ten?

Click to expand...

60, they will all be in Sterling

3 different ones , 20 each

marterburn said:

Hmm, I actually want to buy a box of this, but no one is selling boxes at anywhere close to the mama_bear** breakdown ($170/box, realizing that I will have to pay a bit more for an individual box, still no one close.)...guess i'll wait another week or so.

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probably looking around 230 a box

I am thinking about boxing out a case and packing out some boxes.

All In Cards said:

marterburn said:

Hmm, I actually want to buy a box of this, but no one is selling boxes at anywhere close to the mama_bear** breakdown ($170/box, realizing that I will have to pay a bit more for an individual box, still no one close.)...guess i'll wait another week or so.

Click to expand...

probably looking around 230 a box

I am thinking about boxing out a case and packing out some boxes.

Click to expand...

This is probably a more realistic price and no doubt better than you are going to find from the large distributors like blowout and atlanta. mama_bear must have some sort of unbelievable deal coming from someone to be able to sell this stuff at her prices. I don't really know, but it's amazing how much cheaper she is on everything, even stuff that makes no sense (for example, there is no logical reason to be selling boxes of this at the $160 range when people would still consider it a deal at $200). I think she is even lower than factory cost on stuff, pre-sale. Weird. I can tell you she drop ships stuff. So when you buy from her, what you receive isn't actually shipped by her. She's in FL. My stuff from her came from a distributor in AZ.

It makes no sense. She is leaving a ton of money on the table. Draft and everything she has sold has been below factory.

I just got a box off Ebay for $185, but I had $30 in Ebay bucks, plus I signed up for Bill Me Later and got another $10 off, so I only have $145 of my own money invested in this box. Can't wait for this to come out, should be prety solid.