Is baseball card collecting almost Dead??? What's your take on it??

[WATER_DOG007]

Hello Everyone, As title states "is baseball card collecting almost dead?" I have been out of the loop of & on. for collecting baseball cards. I decide to seriously dump my collection. I started out with price a lil high with a OBO, of course. Over the past several days I have been changing sale price as much as $100 a day on a few diff cards, with an OBO and still no offers. I'm curious on what everyones take is on this? Here is a few reasons I think this is happening.

1.Economy- but it's been like this for years now.
2. End of season- Yes but wouldn't buyers/ collectors want to hover around & find those great/cheap deals during this end of season.
3. People just flat out changed hobby's, tired & moved on to other areas of collecting, -idk-maybe.
4. Holidays coming up, maybe?

Any feedback from you guys would be great. I mean for goodness sake, example I have a Fielder Black sterling auto /25 (lowered price way down), Miguel Cabrera Auto- BUTTON EX card 2/6, Jared Weaver 2005 Black Sterling /25 graded 9.5 and i have that listed $199 OBO.

Thoughts anyone?


Thanks guys!!
D

 

[IndiansFan]

Economy is definitely a big part of it. Sellers want more money to pay bills and buyers want to save money to pay bills.

 

[fordman]

Its a couple things, hi end and graded cards have caused pricing spikes, in turn causing collectors out of those markets. With packs of base topps at $2.00 plus means kids can't afford them. Opening Day at $1.00 is still too much for 8 cards in a pack.

Just a couple reasons that could be hindering the hobby.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[rsmath]

might also be that topps is or has released about 3/4 of their release calendar in the last few weeks! (yes, I'm exaggerating the amount of the release calendar).

People are likely tapped out from all the new wax or saving money for the higher end release coming out shortly.

 

[Halonut]

Pricing may be a big reason...listing high with the OBO option scares some buyers away as they feel the seller's expectations are unrealistic. The Weaver for example is a $80-$100 card tops. Raw copies generally go for $35-$45. Best of luck with your auctions!

 

[ballerskrip]

This isn't meant to be a shot at you, and hopefully you don't take it personally.....But I saw one of your threads that had some nice Red Refractors, and low #d chrome parallels. Problem is, those guys are not "hot" anymore and you will never recoup what you paid on them. They were a good sell 3 years ago. In the prospecting game, you can't take time away and hope that the prices will still be realized. Timing is absolutely everything. If you want to move your collection, put them on ebay for 10 day auctions and let them run.

 

[Hawk8]

The hobby is not dead, it is just on long term life support

 

[dbacksfan4life]

The hobby is not dead, it is just on long term life support

This!

 

[elmalo]

Cards are too expensive to collect.

 

[chromerookies]

Cards are too expensive to collect.

says the guy with a sick Kevin Russo collection!!!

 

[WATER_DOG007]

Thanks guys! Guess I took to long to re-sell. I hate listing them on Ebay ( screwing us with High priced fees), but I really have no choice-gotta sell.

To Halonut- If you want that Weaver for let's say $90 (meet in the middle?) then lmk? Heck, I'll cut you good deals on everything I have listed (check my ebay-same user name).

Seriously, thnx to everyone who responded.

 

[WATER_DOG007]

To ballerskip- thnx for the honesty. Although I do have a boat load of past rookie failures, I do have players that are currently hot, which are in playoffs now. Like Miguel Cabrera, hanley Ramirez, prince fielder (not hot but on a team in playoffs), Verlander, Beltran, a Jon Jay 1/5 and i could keep on going. So if these are not considered hot right now then who is? Thanks again guys, feels great to hear other members Opinions.

 

[smapdi]

It's not the economy. If it was, videogames, music and movie downloads, Magic, Yugioh, and Pokemon, etc., would also be way down, but they aren't. The fact is, baseball cards are artifacts of an era that is over. The current situation with a single MLB/MLBPA licensee has lead to stagnation in "innovation" (though really, the last innovation that was popular was game-used cards) and general disenchantment with the hobby for a lot of people. Cost of boxes is higher than ever and what you get out of them for the price is worse than ever. The whole ROI mentality for what constitutes a "good" product has skewed all enjoyment of collecting new products. There is too much choice and not enough, both at the same time. I guess that means there just isn't the "right" choice, at least for me.

Local dealers are barely hanging on, and local shows are a thing of the past. A three-hour drive to Tri-star shows in Houston or Dallas a couple times a year possibly, or San Antonio to a drastically atrophied regional show, is my only "live" access to anything new. Local shops won't open more than a pack or two of any new product, so seeing anything new and noteworthy in their showcases is rare, unless they bought it from a customer for a ridiculously low price. And without shops, people simply don't see baseball cards anymore. You rarely see them in traditional outlets like convenience stores, drugstores, etc. Wal-mart and Target have them, but those aren't places 8-year-olds ride their bikes to in a neighborhood.

The high end of the hobby is stronger than ever, with 4-digit prices realized on all sorts of cards every day on ebay, in live auctions, and in some lucky shops who are brave enough to rip their own boxes or buy from customers who do. Rookie prospecting is as strong as ever, with tons of discussion and extremely strong pricing on the first, best cards of the top guys. Prospecting supports several products from Topps, and for many people it seems that is their only interaction with the hobby.

However, set building, team building, type collecting, and, in some ways, player collecting is at an all-time low. Except for base Topps, Heritage, and A&G, you only see occasional random threads on the BST board for people working on sets. Interest in all the traditional ways of collecting is simply petering out, and people leave for more interesting hobbies.

And I suppose the PED thing has to have affected at least some people. Imagine collecting Palmeiro, McGwire, A-Rod, etc., only to have it all come apart so badly. If people get turned off to the sport, they are likely turned off to the cards as well.

Speaking for myself, I have limited my collecting to a couple players and a couple projects that never seem to end. I've taken on zero new projects with any seriousness in the last two years. I watch, I read this site every day, I try to envision building a set of whatever or chasing a particular player, but anything desirable is too expensive or rare to realistically acquire. So I let it go. And in doing so, I'm slowly letting the whole thing go. I think this is a common thing. People just drift away for one reason or another. The price of entry into the hobby, and the overall lack of visibility in the marketplace, and the generally staid and static nature of a simple baseball card in today's animated, online world makes it very hard to replace them.

 

[BiggioBrooks755]

People, esp kids, don't care about it anymore

What do kids care about nowadays? Video games, texting, taking pics on their phones, girl/boy friends ect ect

Do they care about cards? Nope

 

[gracecollector]

Baseball cards were always about hero worship. There's just not enough heroes anymore. Heroes arose by doing great things and playing the majority of their career with one team, so that average Joe's and their kids came to take pride in the men that represented their city or favorite team. Free agency, baseball strikes and performance enhancing drugs killed the hero worship for many.

Plus, baseball just isn't America's Game anymore. Football is. Baseball has done a poor job of remaining relevent with today's youth - especially urban minorities. It's not the 1950's anymore, when seemingly every boy played baseball. Schedules are too hectic, teams too hard to organize, equipment too costly. Easier to play basketball or football. When popularity of a sport falls, naturally so will sales of souvenirs of that sport.

Baseball card collecting today is mostly an over-40 men's pursuit. It needs to involve youth more to survive.

Frankly, it's the $200 cards you are trying to sell and the prevalent "investment mentality" that are killing the hobby. The hobby has been doomed to become an antiques collectible vs. a thriving modern collectible ever since it went from a boy's hobby to a man's hobby in the late 80's - with huge increases in pack prices and manufactured scarcity (inserts, memorabilia cards, low-numbered serial cards). Baseball cards mostly lost their sentimentality and heart, and became investments instead. A little more heart and lot less investment mentality is needed to save the hobby.

 

[elmalo]

says the guy with a sick Kevin Russo collection!!!

Its bigger than your Gary Gaetti chest hair collection.

 

[digicat]

Last summer I sold off most of a post-war PSA graded baseball Hall of Fame rookie card collection that I had been working on for about 4 or 5 years, and ended up with a handsome profit (even after fees and inflation are taken into account). Seems to me that the vintage market is doing just fine.

I've noticed that 70s and early 80s unopened stuff is selling very well too.


I don't make a living selling cards, but my hobby has kept itself self-funded for years (buy here, sell there).

 

[WATER_DOG007]

It's not the economy. If it was, videogames, music and movie downloads, Magic, Yugioh, and Pokemon, etc., would also be way down, but they aren't. The fact is, baseball cards are artifacts of an era that is over. The current situation with a single MLB/MLBPA licensee has lead to stagnation in "innovation" (though really, the last innovation that was popular was game-used cards) and general disenchantment with the hobby for a lot of people. Cost of boxes is higher than ever and what you get out of them for the price is worse than ever. The whole ROI mentality for what constitutes a "good" product has skewed all enjoyment of collecting new products. There is too much choice and not enough, both at the same time. I guess that means there just isn't the "right" choice, at least for me.

Local dealers are barely hanging on, and local shows are a thing of the past. A three-hour drive to Tri-star shows in Houston or Dallas a couple times a year possibly, or San Antonio to a drastically atrophied regional show, is my only "live" access to anything new. Local shops won't open more than a pack or two of any new product, so seeing anything new and noteworthy in their showcases is rare, unless they bought it from a customer for a ridiculously low price. And without shops, people simply don't see baseball cards anymore. You rarely see them in traditional outlets like convenience stores, drugstores, etc. Wal-mart and Target have them, but those aren't places 8-year-olds ride their bikes to in a neighborhood.

The high end of the hobby is stronger than ever, with 4-digit prices realized on all sorts of cards every day on ebay, in live auctions, and in some lucky shops who are brave enough to rip their own boxes or buy from customers who do. Rookie prospecting is as strong as ever, with tons of discussion and extremely strong pricing on the first, best cards of the top guys. Prospecting supports several products from Topps, and for many people it seems that is their only interaction with the hobby.

However, set building, team building, type collecting, and, in some ways, player collecting is at an all-time low. Except for base Topps, Heritage, and A&G, you only see occasional random threads on the BST board for people working on sets. Interest in all the traditional ways of collecting is simply petering out, and people leave for more interesting hobbies.

And I suppose the PED thing has to have affected at least some people. Imagine collecting Palmeiro, McGwire, A-Rod, etc., only to have it all come apart so badly. If people get turned off to the sport, they are likely turned off to the cards as well.

Speaking for myself, I have limited my collecting to a couple players and a couple projects that never seem to end. I've taken on zero new projects with any seriousness in the last two years. I watch, I read this site every day, I try to envision building a set of whatever or chasing a particular player, but anything desirable is too expensive or rare to realistically acquire. So I let it go. And in doing so, I'm slowly letting the whole thing go. I think this is a common thing. People just drift away for one reason or another. The price of entry into the hobby, and the overall lack of visibility in the marketplace, and the generally staid and static nature of a simple baseball card in today's animated, online world makes it very hard to replace them.

VERY VERY well said!! Unfortunately this feels / sounds like the total "GOSPEL"...

 

[ThoseBackPages]

i find it funny when people complain about eBay's fee structure. where else can you get that kind of exposure to sell your crap?

As for the "hot rc's" the OP mentioned, you need to have those players best rookie year cards to move. Cabrera's 2000 TT Auto is always easy to sell.

 

[koal]

topps XXXXed everything up