Rationing of 2010 bowman at the card shop?!?? Card ****?

[sigma_chi]

Any shop buying 1 and 1 of this set when topps is the only show in town deserves to be closed.

in wichita there is a shop that has jumbos priced (notice i didn't say selling) at 144 / box.

I went to my local shop (only one around for over 100 miles) to pick up a box but got there only to find jumbos at $150 and hobby's at $85. He has always been overpriced on EVERYTHING but I try to buy from him every now and again just because I have been going there so long and he always treats me good. Needless to say I just couldn't make myself shell out $150 for a box so I bought 3 jumbo packs for $15 each

The funny part was he told me that those boxes wouldn't last long at $150 because dealer cost was already more than that.

 

[brouthercard]

I understand how his replacement costs prohibit him from getting more, but he could have just offered the rest to me at a higher cost, had he chose to do so. It's his choice, but I had cash for the whole lot and he didn't make any effort to sell the boxes to me.

I suppose I could have had my friend go in and buy three boxes, and have my wife go in and buy the rest of them, but what about "saving" it for his other customers.

I get the feeling he wanted to ration me at this time cause usually people don't go into a shop and wipe out your supply in a single purchase. Sure, he's saving boxes for his other customers, but he might be quoting a higher price to them as well, $90 or so, so his motives may have been for increasing his profit as well.

He might have quoted me $80 initially cause he thought I was going to only buy 1 box, based on my slovenly appearance. I think I caught him off guard by wanting to purchase the whole lot, and he froze, thinking man, I'm going to need to make more cash off my last six boxes.

Sure, he wanted to keep the last six boxes for his other customers, but he didn't say he was going to sell the last six at $80, for all I know, the next good customer that walks in might have to buy them at $90.

There was no price tag on the boxes, but they were clearly on his shelf for sale.

He really should keep them out of sight if he is truly saving some boxes for certain specific customers.

 

[Bill Menard]

For what it's worth... I looked within a 20 mile radius at the card shops in my area yesterday. 1 shop had "some packs".... at 4:30pm! Everyone else told me, "Sorry, it's sold out already" and "I've never seen a product this hot." I even hit the mall where I had to pay $100 to get a box. That was the only guy in town with it. He had two boxes - at 5:00pm yesterday. I took one and he put packs out with the other box at $4.50 a pack. They are gone today.

This will be a $120-150 box in no time. Best buy you could have made in a long time for those that got cases early and are going to sit on them for a while. Perhaps these reach 2005 status really soon and you're looking at $200 a box for the stuff.

I was happy to just be able to find packs and the one sealed box. I think it will be $5 a pack at most shops within the week, easily. I'd bet dealers are going to be paying $80-$85 a box themselves to restock it.

Based on all that, I'd say Thank you to your local dealer for NOT letting you buy it all and keeping some for his customers. That was nice of him. All dealers around here just blew it out apparently to a few customers who came in and took all they had. I thought I was relatively quick getting to them too (heck, the UPS truck usually doesn't deliver until around 3:00pm anyway and I was only calling at 4:30!).

 

[brouthercard]

For those who are siding with the dealer, I understand the point about making sure everyone gets a little.

But when I feel like I was treated like Julia Roberts at the fancy Beverly Hills dress shop in the movie Pretty Woman, maybe you'll understand a little better - "I'm sorry, these dresses (bowman boxes) are NOT for sale...they're VERY expensive" :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[NECpilgrims8]

I don't think i've ever been limited to how much I can purchase at a shop. The dealer had nine boxes hobby boxes left for $80, and I tell him I'll take the rest. He then tells me I can only have 3.

I can't remember a product where the dealer had the opportunity to sell all his boxes to a customer on the spot at HIS price, but not want to sell them all.

His excuses- I gotta save some for other customers. His next excuse- I'm selling it to you for cheaper than my replacement cost.

Is Bowman being price manipulated this badly by the distributors?

Another guy told me he would have to sell his hobby boxes for $100 for the next batch and jumbos for $150 if he reordered them today.

crazy.

you assume distributors still have 2010 bowman

that might be assuming too much

Bingo.

Let me explain how distributing works for Topps.

Distributor XYZ gathers information from their customers to determine how many cases of 2010 Bowman that they would like. As one of XYZ's customers, I tell them I want 12 cases. XYZ then places an order with Topps for 2010 Bowman. Let's say they order 120 cases. Topps then gives a soft confirmation of a certain amount. For a hot product like this, they might get 60 cases on the soft confirmation. After Topps adds up how many cases they have allotted from all their distributors, and determine how many more they have left. Then, they notify XYZ that they have 30 more cases available, if they want them. XYZ says they do, and Topps gives them a hard confirmation of 90 cases.

Since XYZ got 75% of their original request (90 of 120) from Topps, I get 75% (or 9 cases of the 12) as well.

And that's it. There isn't any more. Topps doesn't hold any back for a second shipment. If I want anymore, I have to buy them on the secondary market, whose price is no longer set by Topps.

So when your LCS is telling you that they are selling you them cheaper than his replacement cost, he is telling you the truth. This is why Panini is eliminating online retailers like Blowout from their distribution, and focusing more on the card shops and distributors who get their cards in the card shops. Then, you won't see these huge price increases on new releases that you see today, because the cards that are available to buy are purchased by the card shops at the same prices they bought pre-release.

David

Oh David...

Why did you have to get all logical and smart on us?

Pfft.

:ugeek:

 

[Dpanthers14]

I never knew that people didn't want to make money off there wax ::facepalm:: , If he wanted $90 a box tell you that don't be a ***** and limit you.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Thanks, this is interesting. Does this mean that Panini could choose to print more after the initial release in order to meet increased demand? I suppose serial numbering could help limit this, but it seems they could do whatever they wish.

I don't think i've ever been limited to how much I can purchase at a shop. The dealer had nine boxes hobby boxes left for $80, and I tell him I'll take the rest. He then tells me I can only have 3.

I can't remember a product where the dealer had the opportunity to sell all his boxes to a customer on the spot at HIS price, but not want to sell them all.

His excuses- I gotta save some for other customers. His next excuse- I'm selling it to you for cheaper than my replacement cost.

Is Bowman being price manipulated this badly by the distributors?

Another guy told me he would have to sell his hobby boxes for $100 for the next batch and jumbos for $150 if he reordered them today.

crazy.

you assume distributors still have 2010 bowman

that might be assuming too much

Bingo.

Let me explain how distributing works for Topps.

Distributor XYZ gathers information from their customers to determine how many cases of 2010 Bowman that they would like. As one of XYZ's customers, I tell them I want 12 cases. XYZ then places an order with Topps for 2010 Bowman. Let's say they order 120 cases. Topps then gives a soft confirmation of a certain amount. For a hot product like this, they might get 60 cases on the soft confirmation. After Topps adds up how many cases they have allotted from all their distributors, and determine how many more they have left. Then, they notify XYZ that they have 30 more cases available, if they want them. XYZ says they do, and Topps gives them a hard confirmation of 90 cases.

Since XYZ got 75% of their original request (90 of 120) from Topps, I get 75% (or 9 cases of the 12) as well.

And that's it. There isn't any more. Topps doesn't hold any back for a second shipment. If I want anymore, I have to buy them on the secondary market, whose price is no longer set by Topps.

So when your LCS is telling you that they are selling you them cheaper than his replacement cost, he is telling you the truth. This is why Panini is eliminating online retailers like Blowout from their distribution, and focusing more on the card shops and distributors who get their cards in the card shops. Then, you won't see these huge price increases on new releases that you see today, because the cards that are available to buy are purchased by the card shops at the same prices they bought pre-release.

David

 

[Penno]

If I had a limited supply, I would likely do the same thing and spread the product around. I can't blame the owner for not selling it all at once, but I also wouldn't blame some of you who say you wouldn't come back either. I do think it was bad planning by the shop to have so little, but if you wanted a large amount of boxes, it might have been a good idea to plan ahead and preorder.

 

[PeteD]

My buddy ordered a jumbo case and the wholesaler says he can only promise 2 boxes. I was to get 3 boxes out of that case. This happens all the time when a hot baseball product is released. US gets their orders filled first...we get the leftovers. At least i'm close to D&A and can grab some there and face putting up with customs hassles