An Interesting Thought: Card Companies Selling Singles Only

I just thought of an interesting scenario that I wanted to pose to see you guys'/gals' opinions. Let's say that card companies, like Panini, Topps, etc, all changed their strategy in about 5-10 years to only focusing on exclusively selling singles as their main product and not producing & selling boxes as they do now.

Do you think this would largely impact the overall dynamic of the industry or do you think it'd stay largely the same as it is currently? Would that be a negative or a positive change?

My Personal Opinion:
If this was to happen, one of two scenarios could happen: 1. It would continue to lead to overproduction and over-saturation of the overall market, like the status quo, OR 2. It'd force innovation by the card companies, as that'd be the primary way to distinguish themselves from their competitors' products.

Initially, I think situation #1 will occur, but soon companies will realize that it is not sustainable and the overall industry will move more towards innovation, like it was towards the mid 1990's. The companies that survive will be the ones that are able to constantly adapt their products to meet their consumers' needs and wants, which I think is actually quite important right now. Because of this, I think it'd perhaps be a positive change.

However, reputability could be a big issue as well, as that could lead companies to more fraud as well.

I'd love to hear your opinions agreeing or disagreeing as well!

Nothing could hurt the hobby more. People have enough gripes about Topps selling various 1/1 cards (like the blank backs) out of their ebay store, and people have also had numerous gripes about Razor's way of selling singles.

Not only would it kill it for the average Joe collector who just enjoys breaking an occasional box, selling/trading off singles, and building his collections through buying singles from others who do the same, but it would basically eliminate the chance for shop owners to pick up singles to resale, and also kill it for people who own businesses who might break occasional boxes for card inventory.

The entire hobby would feel the effects, and look nothing like it does today. If there's a hot prospect, a guy with deep pockets could literally purchase every card and demand an insane amount on a resale. Heck, somebody with deep pockets could do that with a crap card and try to command the market to rape set collectors.

Set collectors...hmm. There might not even be any more set collectors. A lot of set collectors like to bust a box (or more) to get themselves started on the set, and that would kill it. Some people only put together a set sometimes just because they busted some wax and got a good start to it. Others build the set in the process of busting wax looking for a big hit.

The thrill of the hunt and finding that one card you need, whether for a pc or set building, would be gone. Long gone would the posts be about "It took five years, but I finally found X card". We'd just see "Check out what Topps listed so that I could expand my effortless pc". As much as we sometimes hate the competition when a card we want pops up, the fact that there is competition is what makes it exciting sometimes. To know that you were more dedicated than another guy to win a card can give you a little more pride for your collection, or spark a letdown emotion should you fall short of a snipe in the last few minutes.

Horrible idea. Instead of being able to pull anything random or worthwhile, you'd be forced to buy every single card you own against millions of other collectors. The bidding would be stupid crazy due to all the collectors of said player, set, or brand, at once being able to bid on cards as they come out. It wouldn't be good for people like me. It also wouldn't help me set build very easily either because chances are...if they went this route then base cards would be a thing of the past. You think Topps wants to produce base cards and then sell them for $0.25 a pop? Doubtful. So now what? All mid- high end?

Trust me, being able to bust a box of baseball cards and pull a card that you wouldn't have to fight tooth and nail over on ebay, or that you might not be able to afford to buy on ebay, or you might not even know exists on ebay, is what makes busting worthwhile anyways. People bitch about busting wax all the time but truth be told...there are few things I see. First of all...a lot of the people busting get ****** because the cards they pull aren't worth a fortune. They are in the hobby for very specific reasons and 9 times out of 10...they are not reasons that correlate well with busting wax. They are in it for the money(not everyone but a lot of people) and don't appreciate the cards or players themselves that much. Others are so hobby specific that they want to only have cards of a few select players. That is cool I guess but back in my day, we kept all the good players' cards. That was what was cool. Getting packs and pulling a Sammy Sosa insert from this set, or a Juan Gonzalez insert from that set. Now people have gotten way too narrow. I'll give them the fact that there is a large amount of stuff out there and it can be overwhelming. But some people don't enjoy busting a pack of cards for the randomness that is truly involved.

I just think its a bad idea. It could really screw up collecting for a lot of people. Besides...if you were loaded...you could corner the market on any given player. You can't even do that as of right now no matter how much money you have. Its an equalizer. One that shouldn't be messed with.

Just Minors does it.

Let me answer your question with another question:

What if we took the cocaine out of crack?

"Hey don't forget about me!"

Sincerely,

eTopps

Nothing is going to force the card companies to do anything unless every collector in the world just didn't buy anything from now until a certain point of time.

Anything they do innovative, will be for their benefit, not the collectors [or even speculators].

coltsfan23 said:

I just thought of an interesting scenario that I wanted to pose to see you guys'/gals' opinions. Let's say that card companies, like Panini, Topps, etc, all changed their strategy in about 5-10 years to only focusing on exclusively selling singles as their main product and not producing & selling boxes as they do now.

Do you think this would largely impact the overall dynamic of the industry or do you think it'd stay largely the same as it is currently? Would that be a negative or a positive change?

My Personal Opinion:
If this was to happen, one of two scenarios could happen: 1. It would continue to lead to overproduction and over-saturation of the overall market, like the status quo, OR 2. It'd force innovation by the card companies, as that'd be the primary way to distinguish themselves from their competitors' products.

Initially, I think situation #1 will occur, but soon companies will realize that it is not sustainable and the overall industry will move more towards innovation, like it was towards the mid 1990's. The companies that survive will be the ones that are able to constantly adapt their products to meet their consumers' needs and wants, which I think is actually quite important right now. Because of this, I think it'd perhaps be a positive change.

However, reputability could be a big issue as well, as that could lead companies to more fraud as well.

I'd love to hear your opinions agreeing or disagreeing as well!

Click to expand...

jbhofmann said:

"Hey don't forget about me!"

Sincerely,

eTopps

Click to expand...

I was wondering why it took more than one post for eTopps to be mentioned.

Talk about a marketing problem.

200lbhockeyplayer said:

jbhofmann said:

"Hey don't forget about me!"

Sincerely,

eTopps

Click to expand...

I was wondering why it took more than one post for eTopps to be mentioned.

Talk about a marketing problem.

Click to expand...

Etopps is run extraordinarily poorly. The assclowns in charge of that program should all be fired, but they won't be because 1) its Topps and 2) the few Etopps collectors that are left, although they ceaselessly bitch and moan about it, continue to put up with the crap and buy their offerings.

cmnkb8 said:

200lbhockeyplayer said:

jbhofmann said:

"Hey don't forget about me!"

Sincerely,

eTopps

Click to expand...

I was wondering why it took more than one post for eTopps to be mentioned.

Talk about a marketing problem.

Click to expand...

Etopps is run extraordinarily poorly. The assclowns in charge of that program should all be fired, but they won't be because 1) its Topps and 2) the few Etopps collectors that are left, although they ceaselessly bitch and moan about it, continue to put up with the crap and buy their offerings.

Click to expand...

Hey I don't bitch and moan (at least not too much)

Its kind of like printing money. Ask Razor how they were percieved after doing it. BG is still around but he made the brand switch based partly on the negative pub from the Metal debacle.

I wouldn't be a big fan of it but it would be a huge change in the hobby and defintely change the resale value of cards.

Mighty Bombjack said:

Let me answer your question with another question:

What if we took the cocaine out of crack?

Click to expand...

I couldn't have described this idea any better than this statement.
Mike