I will never understand you prospectors

[cstmleather]

Not much different than player collectors shelling out huge amounts for rare inserts. I've seen a few Salmons go for a lot more than I'm willing to pay. They eventually pop back up and I get them for a fraction of what they went for.

Today's mailday is a good example. Just recieved a 1998 SPx Spectrum Power Explosion /50 for $12.50 DLVD.

 

[flightposite]

Rather than mention "you prospectors", which the majority of the board will take offense to (why they are so defensive, i'll never know), I think the OP was trying to say, why do people buy when the hype is so high. This is not limited to prospecting. It is the same as buying when a player throws a perfect game, wins a world series, or George Bush is poorly photoshopped onto your card and the general public hears about it, or a person dies, or the tickle me elmo is the hottest thing on earth. It's more of a question of immediate gratification. Do I need to buy my Buxton now, when some people view him as the next greatest player of the generation or can I wait a few years and get it for half the price? This is why I've bought and sold so many Joe Mauer Gold Refrator auto RCs. I want to have one, as I am a Twins fan, but he's had so many large spikes, that the smart play is to always sell during them and replace later on.

Potential sells so much better than production. It's a thought that I HAVE to get this now, because I won't be able to afford it when he's a stud. The truth is, even if a player lives up to his potential, the card will sell at a lower rate when he actually achieves that potential than before.

Another good example is football cards. Everyone knows the releases get better throughout the year, with the best products capping the season. So why does the same thing happen every year where people continue to buy in high when each new product comes out? No matter the players successes (outside of a jump from unknown to star), the card you buy from an early release is going to lose up to 50% of it's value, simply because of time. Press Pass used to bring big prices when they first came out because they were the first product to have the new draft guys, then, slowly, as each new release would come out, all of the cards would start losing value because better options were available. This is a post about realizing that that is going to happen and not buying in at the start. (If I'm misunderstanding the original poster, then oh well).

 

[henderson939]

I dont get it either. Seems like a waste of big money on guys who never did a thing in the bigs. Some of the prices are insane.

 

[lisu]

Not much different than player collectors shelling out huge amounts for rare inserts. I've seen a few Salmons go for a lot more than I'm willing to pay. They eventually pop back up and I get them for a fraction of what they went for.

Today's mailday is a good example. Just recieved a 1998 SPx Spectrum Power Explosion /50 for $12.50 DLVD.

Huh, I didn't realize that Tim Salmon had that big of a following. I have a 1/1 patch card of his that I just kept because I've always liked him.

 

[RStadlerASU22]

I have never got into it with non major league players as in all honesty I don't want to be the guy holding the card at the end. I'm not talking the $50 and under type stuff, I'm talking the $500+ type cards of non major leaguers. More power to those who take the risk, but it's not for me

Ryan

 

[AmishDave]

Variety is the spice of life.

 

[Crewfan82]

To each his own.

Some like to spend their money on young kids who have never seen the majors while others like to spend it on dead guys they have never seen play. In my case I spend it on an average pitcher for the Brewers. Who cares, people buy what they like, and do what they want with those cards. I don't care or ever want to understand why.

 

[All The Hype]

Rather than mention "you prospectors", which the majority of the board will take offense to (why they are so defensive, i'll never know), I think the OP was trying to say, why do people buy when the hype is so high. This is not limited to prospecting. It is the same as buying when a player throws a perfect game, wins a world series, or George Bush is poorly photoshopped onto your card and the general public hears about it, or a person dies, or the tickle me elmo is the hottest thing on earth. It's more of a question of immediate gratification. Do I need to buy my Buxton now, when some people view him as the next greatest player of the generation or can I wait a few years and get it for half the price? This is why I've bought and sold so many Joe Mauer Gold Refrator auto RCs. I want to have one, as I am a Twins fan, but he's had so many large spikes, that the smart play is to always sell during them and replace later on.

Potential sells so much better than production. It's a thought that I HAVE to get this now, because I won't be able to afford it when he's a stud. The truth is, even if a player lives up to his potential, the card will sell at a lower rate when he actually achieves that potential than before.

Another good example is football cards. Everyone knows the releases get better throughout the year, with the best products capping the season. So why does the same thing happen every year where people continue to buy in high when each new product comes out? No matter the players successes (outside of a jump from unknown to star), the card you buy from an early release is going to lose up to 50% of it's value, simply because of time. Press Pass used to bring big prices when they first came out because they were the first product to have the new draft guys, then, slowly, as each new release would come out, all of the cards would start losing value because better options were available. This is a post about realizing that that is going to happen and not buying in at the start. (If I'm misunderstanding the original poster, then oh well).

Very good post, this pretty much answers the question perfectly.

The only thing I disagree with is that if a player truly lives up to the hype, THAT is when you see what happened with Mike Trout cards last year, where a base chrome autograph (not an SP of any kind) couldn't be had for less than $300-$400. They still sell extremely high.

That being said, keep in mind what it took for Trout cards to do that...as he had one of the best rookie seasons in baseball history. Most players could go up to the Majors and be above average or even occasional all stars and their cards still would drop way off from "peak of hype" pricing.

Matt Wieters is a great example...formerly the #1 prospect in baseball and he has been a great catcher for Baltimore and made two consecutive all star teams with a chance at #3 this year.....but the hype was expecting him to be the next face of baseball, the next superstar, the next Piazza, etc.; and that hasn't happened so his prices are about a fifth of what they once were.

 

[RiceLynnEvans75]

I just assume people are paying a price they are alright with and that's fine by me.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

One thing's for certain: any kind of investment, including prospecting, makes cards more expensive. When prospectors and investors leave card values decrease.

Fewer investors means more affordable cards... means fewer people needing to sell cards to buy cards.

 

[glewis22]

You mad bro?

 

[moxacaine]

I agree with the OP and flightposite pretty much nailed it with his comment.

Rather than mention "you prospectors", which the majority of the board will take offense to (why they are so defensive, i'll never know), I think the OP was trying to say, why do people buy when the hype is so high. This is not limited to prospecting. It is the same as buying when a player throws a perfect game, wins a world series, or George Bush is poorly photoshopped onto your card and the general public hears about it, or a person dies, or the tickle me elmo is the hottest thing on earth. It's more of a question of immediate gratification. Do I need to buy my Buxton now, when some people view him as the next greatest player of the generation or can I wait a few years and get it for half the price? This is why I've bought and sold so many Joe Mauer Gold Refrator auto RCs. I want to have one, as I am a Twins fan, but he's had so many large spikes, that the smart play is to always sell during them and replace later on.

Potential sells so much better than production. It's a thought that I HAVE to get this now, because I won't be able to afford it when he's a stud. The truth is, even if a player lives up to his potential, the card will sell at a lower rate when he actually achieves that potential than before.

Another good example is football cards. Everyone knows the releases get better throughout the year, with the best products capping the season. So why does the same thing happen every year where people continue to buy in high when each new product comes out? No matter the players successes (outside of a jump from unknown to star), the card you buy from an early release is going to lose up to 50% of it's value, simply because of time. Press Pass used to bring big prices when they first came out because they were the first product to have the new draft guys, then, slowly, as each new release would come out, all of the cards would start losing value because better options were available. This is a post about realizing that that is going to happen and not buying in at the start. (If I'm misunderstanding the original poster, then oh well).

 

[glewis22]

Sounds like you got burned a few times. Besides I did not buy a card of my dog it was made free of charge. People that pay that kind of cash on an unproven player need to be BASHED! Its called tuff love. A wake up and smell the coffee type of thing.

lol - love your thought process. You are quite funny man.

 

[shayscards79]

One thing's for certain: any kind of investment, including prospecting, makes cards more expensive. When prospectors and investors leave card values decrease.

Fewer investors means more affordable cards... means fewer people needing to sell cards to buy cards.

You seem to leave the product cost out the equation. As an example, I bought $670 worth of playoff contenders football with hopes of pulling an Andrew Luck auto.
Never happened. I could have spent half that on the card in the first place and I would have made out like a bandit in retrospect. Sure investers drive up the price because of what they are willing to pay, but it's all still relative based on new product costs. Not everyone wants to buy a case of Bowman chrome with hopes they'll pull a $50 or $100 card they are shooting for. That's why people sell cards they pull to pay for the cards they want.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

You seem to leave the product cost out the equation. As an example, I bought $670 worth of playoff contenders football with hopes of pulling an Andrew Luck auto.
Never happened. I could have spent half that on the card in the first place and I would have made out like a bandit in retrospect. Sure investers drive up the price because of what they are willing to pay, but it's all still relative based on new product costs. Not everyone wants to buy a case of Bowman chrome with hopes they'll pull a $50 or $100 card they are shooting for. That's why people sell cards they pull to pay for the cards they want.

This is an interesting point - gambling is essentially a form of risky investment - even if the odds of getting what you want to pull are low, regardless if what you want to pull is for your PC or for resale. Some people just enjoy gambling.

 

[RandomH]

The only thing that blows my mind is with that money you can pick up a REALLY nice HOF piece.
Example - Mickey Mantle Mint Signed JSA Cert American League Baseball Authentic Autograph | eBay
You could get a baseball signed by one of the greatest to ever play for the money you toss down on a guy who has yet to have a major league at bat and will probably never will live up to be a Mantle type player.

Let me rephrase the title. I just do not understand the people Buying these cards from you prospectors. So what are their Stephen Strasburg, Mike Trout,Bryce Harper ETC..ETC.. Worth now? How about Albert Pujols cards, sure they have taken a huge DUMP.

These prices to me are a HUGE JOKE,Sure its "their" money BUT.......Just the numskull of it all.


2013 Bowman Chrome Dual Auto Carlos Correa Byron Buxton 11 25 1 and 2 Draft | eBay

2013 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor Byron Buxton Rookie RC Signed Auto 13 50 | eBay

2013 Bowman Lucky Redemption 4 Yasiel Puig Auto Refractor | eBay

2013 Bowman Lucky Redemption 4 Yasiel Puig Blue Refr Auto 100 | eBay

 

[BBCgalaxee]

I can understand both sides.

For me, I just can't get any excitement out of buying a mantle ball or even a jeter rc (& yanks are my team).

To me, you can always, easily pick those up & generally the value wont go up much.

But scoping out the next hot prospect BEFORE the rest of the hobby does, now thats exciting.

Watching jose fernandez's cards skyrocket as he dominated the minors & into mlb knowing that I picked up his autos for a few bucks prior is fun & exciting.

 

[predatorkj]

All I can say is I know, or have known, people that hate baseball or even love it and buy thousands of dollars worth of product just to turn around and flip it or take a loss. I also know people who love certain teams but absolutely refuse to keep any card they pull as long as they can make a buck on it. I know people who keep everything they pull and I know people who collect only HOF stuff. I also know folks who only player collect and I mean it. They collect no other player no matter what they miss out on. I also know people who only do certain teams or guys born in their state they live in or who played for their Alma Mater. There is also folks I know who collect only sets and that's it. I also know people who collect or sell prospects and couldn't give two craps about anything else. Oh wait, that's here. Welcome to freedomcardboard.


All I can say is this is a weird hobby. All you can do is roll with the punches. Otherwise you'll have a heart attack trying to figure out what others are doing or why. Then, you'll start questioning why you even collect what you do. Because honestly, a lot of the things a lot of you do is weird to me. Or you guys might collect in a way I couldn't or wouldn't. So to me, it's cool because at least everyone can be in the hobby but have their own experience or fun and joy without having to be accountable to any standardized rules. It's a hobby. It's not like work or school or sports where you have to perform or meet a certain level to keep your spot, not fail, or not get fired. You can do whatever the hell you want, when you want, and to hell with everyone else and what they think. But I do reserve the right to think people are crazy for spending hundreds of dollars on kids still wet behind the ears and fresh out of high school. But hey, if the player is from Texas, I might do it too. So whatever!

 

[Dmscards]

All I can say is I know, or have known, people that hate baseball or even love it and buy thousands of dollars worth of product just to turn around and flip it or take a loss. I also know people who love certain teams but absolutely refuse to keep any card they pull as long as they can make a buck on it. I know people who keep everything they pull and I know people who collect only HOF stuff. I also know folks who only player collect and I mean it. They collect no other player no matter what they miss out on. I also know people who only do certain teams or guys born in their state they live in or who played for their Alma Mater. There is also folks I know who collect only sets and that's it. I also know people who collect or sell prospects and couldn't give two craps about anything else. Oh wait, that's here. Welcome to freedomcardboard.


All I can say is this is a weird hobby. All you can do is roll with the punches. Otherwise you'll have a heart attack trying to figure out what others are doing or why. Then, you'll start questioning why you even collect what you do. Because honestly, a lot of the things a lot of you do is weird to me. Or you guys might collect in a way I couldn't or wouldn't. So to me, it's cool because at least everyone can be in the hobby but have their own experience or fun and joy without having to be accountable to any standardized rules. It's a hobby. It's not like work or school or sports where you have to perform or meet a certain level to keep your spot, not fail, or not get fired. You can do whatever the hell you want, when you want, and to hell with everyone else and what they think. But I do reserve the right to think people are crazy for spending hundreds of dollars on kids still wet behind the ears and fresh out of high school. But hey, if the player is from Texas, I might do it too. So whatever!

+1

 

[hive17]

I will never understand why anyone cares what another person pays for a card that they want. Want cards, pay price, get card. Anyone who has something negative to say is usually dealing with their own issues and are jealous of the means of the person spending that money. It's the same with cars, houses or anything else; you don't NEED to spend 70% more on your car than mine (they both mean the same thing in the long run), but I'm only going to crack on it if I'm a hater.