State of the hobby - what are your thoughts on: Products

[mrmopar]

I represent one aspect of the hobby direction we have taken. There are many others, but I bet a fair number of people can relate to my experience. I started as a kid, buying one brand, the only brand for the most part, Topps. For variety, I bought football, basketball, hockey and a variety of non-sports packs. The year was 1978. I watched as Fleer and Donruss joined the ranks in 1981 and continued to buy as much as I could find. I bought less variety, because there were more baseball products now. Then the oddballs started to come and there was LOTS of variety now. A few more manufacturers showed up in the late 80s and about that time, I personally stopped buying. This was not due to the hobby changing, but more due to my circumstances in life. Many from my time or before kept going strong though, right into the "lottery" times of the early 90s. After trying to keep up with it all through the 90s, I finally had to give it up completely. I no longer wanted to buy packs because I felt it just wasn't worth it. I was low end anyway, but I'd end up spending $60-80 on a box and I'd get a couple hundred base cards and a small stack of inserts that quickly devalued as soon as the newest sets were hitting the streets. I just fought myself to resist the urge to open product and right around the same time, discovered ebay and the internet for hobby purposes.

From that point on, it was pretty much buy what I needed or wanted and let the gamblers rip packs and produce singles for the secondary market to gobble up (me). I continue that trend today, buying only what I want, not buying unneeded/unwanted bulk from overpriced packs and am generally happy with my collecting habits. My only link to the current "wax" hobby is actually collecting Steve Garvey and the trend of putting retired players into the products with current players and not just those cheesy collector and oddball sets like it was back in the day. If I could quit buying the newest Steve Garvey items (and believe me, I know I am fortunate not to collect a more popular player), I would and leave just the older products to fill holes with. For example, i just picked up a 1958 Bell Brand Jim Gilliam. Money much better spent that my 600th modern Steve Garvey certified autograph, but I am still weak in that area and that keeps me buying the aftermarket singles a little longer.

I know buying a single base brand with no chase cards of any kind and simply hoping for an all-star or fan favorite will never work again, but I do miss those times a lot.

 

[mrmopar]

The sad part is that those 6 cards are probably not worthy of that simple dollar. It's just a way for companies to sell off large amounts of bulk crap and still make few bucks. Are there 6 cards in the entire 1990 Score set that anyone would pay a combined $1 for now?

A

I saw this at a Dollar Store too. Along with these...
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[Super Mario]

I've never been a huge topps fan. And if I do buy wax it's gypsy queen or A&G. That's it. I will never spend. 50-500 on a single pack. No matter the possible return. I'm not in it for money, flip or resale value. It's much cheaper to buy what I want then take that gamble. From a player collector standpoint I don't like 95% of what's made for the few players I do collect. not a fan of sticker autos and GU that have vague verbage.
I admit I am a upper deck homer, but really, up to 2005-2006 they did it right. And that competition made everyone (mostly) better before it all blew up for them.



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The problem with this hobby is that 96% of people that 'collect', or maybe participate is better verbiage, are only involved to make a profit.

I've never been involved to make a profit. And I never will.

That's what's wrong with this hobby. Too many wanna-be chiefs, and not enough Indians.

Don't get me wrong, if I pull a Ruth auto or a Cobb barrel, I'm listing it the next day. But I buy for the enjoyment of the pull. Not for the hopeful monetary increase.

 

[mrmopar]

I really wonder what a real percentage of speculators/gamblers is today compared to those who will collect for the fun of it and who will sell nothing or only on rare occassions, such as pulling that once in a lifetime, overly inflated card that you just have to sell because of what it will bring (or better yet, what other cards you could buy with the proceeds). The life of the hobby as I see it now will only survive as long as those gamblers are willing to open new and expensive products again and again, feeding the secondary market deal seekers like me with new singles. A soon as enough gamblers exit (if that will even happen is debatable too), the singles won't be there for the collectors to remain interested and with pack prices too high for their taste, they will find other things to spend money on. Products begin to go unsold, companies shrink back or disappear and eventually the whole thing either implodes or self-corrects.

 

[sportscardtheory]

The problem with this hobby is that 96% of people that 'collect', or maybe participate is better verbiage, are only involved to make a profit.

I've never been involved to make a profit. And I never will.

That's what's wrong with this hobby. Too many wanna-be chiefs, and not enough Indians.

Don't get me wrong, if I pull a Ruth auto or a Cobb barrel, I'm listing it the next day. But I buy for the enjoyment of the pull. Not for the hopeful monetary increase.

It's been the same since trading cards became collectible. Nothing new here. There have always been and there always will be people involved in "hobbies" who make money off those who only "collect". That's just how it works.

 

[Bill Menard]

This is necessary for those who want to get the cheaper base cards and inserts from $500 packs though because you certainly aren't going to open them. We need the gamblers to bring the cards to us on a secondary market. But if these products didn't exist it wouldn't be an issue. Of course, that would revert us back to simpler products. That and as stated before, the gamblers aren't going to stop busting so the packs are not going to stop being made.

PLUS, with the advent of group breaks (also a relatively new concept in the hobby - maybe 5-6 years old at this time), it is easier for a group to get in on an expensive product and that is another way life is sustained to these high end products.

It's been the same since trading cards became collectible. Nothing new here. There have always been and there always will be people involved in "hobbies" who make money off those who only "collect". That's just how it works.