What does a good product need?

[Casebusters]

Opening all types of baseball products for 10+years. This is what I would think would make a better product.

Bring back sets like UD 40 man & Topps Total but make it on a little better cardboard..
900 card sets of everyone on the team, so you can really make a "team" set.
Could have Glossy or chrome versions with each card have different picture variations to various numbering.. Have nice selection of inserts, Don't put the same insert in every pack and have 30 players (Topps Town).. If they are one per pack of the same type, make it 100 card insert set. Inserts are supposed to be a chase so if you open 1 case of cards, you don't get 30 inserts of the same player..
And keep memorabilia and autos to the guys who basically play all the time.. Not bonehead scrubs that have been rookies for the past 5 years..

Thats it for now..Still have more ideas

 

[masonphillip]

Opening all types of baseball products for 10+years. This is what I would think would make a better product.

Bring back sets like UD 40 man & Topps Total but make it on a little better cardboard..
900 card sets of everyone on the team, so you can really make a "team" set.
Could have Glossy or chrome versions with each card have different picture variations to various numbering.. Have nice selection of inserts, Don't put the same insert in every pack and have 30 players (Topps Town).. If they are one per pack of the same type, make it 100 card insert set. Inserts are supposed to be a chase so if you open 1 case of cards, you don't get 30 inserts of the same player..
And keep memorabilia and autos to the guys who basically play all the time.. Not bonehead scrubs that have been rookies for the past 5 years..

Thats it for now..Still have more ideas

I agree, it hurts a lot to get your "hit" and realize that it is a $.50 auto.

 

[kentuckyderby]

it sucks opening packs for $7-10 and the auto you get sells for less than your shipping price

 

[starwarsfan2003]

The way I perceive the market today, this is what I think needs to get done for a healthy card release:

1- Mixed card set, HOF'ers, rookies, veterans, foreign WBC type players, full 40 man roster, base set of at least 500 cards.

2- INSERTS!!! The hobby desperately needs to bring back the innovative inserts of the 90's. Truly rare inserts that are 1 per 300 packs and up. Unfortunately, this may be a problem for today's market, as most offerings are "printed to order" according to pre-sales if im correct. Please correct me if im wrong on this one guys.

3- Limit GU offerings per box, and make them a little more eye appealing and bigger, Absolute memorabilia type huge swatches, and limited to one per box. Add some chase to it.

4- Limited amount of base parallels. The true chase should be for the chase and insert cards, not the 30+ base set parallels. While we all loved Heroes, but we all know how the thrill of the hunt just ended up being frustration. Limit it to 3 parallels at most, and make them variations instead of different foil coloring of something stupid like that. (This does not count toward Bowman Chrome type sets, ie Finest,Chrome,Sterling etc.)

5- Printing plates should be redemption only, and for all four plates at once. Nothing frustrates a player collector more than searching for years for all 4 plates, probably never seeing them all. Adds tons of value to a redemption, and actually makes them collectible, a valuable pull, which would lead to great sales numbers on the secondary market. How does a $500 Pujols 4 plate redemption sound?

6- Relax with the 1/1's. In my opinion, unless it's a superfractor, a unique 1/1 that is completely different from the base card design, a super patch/auto/letterman/logo card, dont make it. We dont need it. Make the 1/1 truly unique and collectors will pay a premium for it.

7- Add Gum to the damn packs. There's certain things that just scream no brainer. As a kid, I used to love getting a stick of gum in my pack. Wont cost all that much, and hell charge me the extra 25 cents per pack for the gum. It the little things that get buyers excited, the added value. Want kids to come back to card collecting? Give em candy.

8- ON CARD AUTOS!!!! This cannot be stressed enough. Lower your profit per box and get your act together and get the damn cards signed. Can't get the guy to sign, pull his ass out of the product.

9- Add a little more variety to your GU. I dont know about other collectors, but I'd like to pull a GU glove, batting glove, hat, sneaker, heck even a ball or base piece if its designed correctly.

10- I know there's a ton more stuff that I cant remember now, but I think price point between $75 and $90 would be optimal for a product like I listed above. One GU or auto per box, 24 packs a box, level 1 insert per 6 packs, level 2 insert 1 per box, level three and above inserts 1 per multiple boxes or cases.

 

[matchpenalty]

I'd like see Oval Office type baseball product. The pack would have 6 cards in it.
1 cut auto BGS encased from deceased HOF/Legend type
I autograph inscription auto with unique inscriptions to the player limited to 10 or less
although I can't stand the game used card gimmick/scam
I would do one patch card, with a photo of the jersey before being cut on back and the MLB AUTHENTICATED hologram serial info on the back on back. Where you can look up the jersey info on MLB.com certification data base and know that a pretty good chance this is a legit jersey piece. Also the company producing product would keep photo of cards to be looked up.
2 Prospect auto limted to 99 or less
one base card limited to 99 or less

Every card besides the BGS encased cut auto would be in uncirculated sealed case.

 

[rymflaherty]

How about player pairings that are desirable to collectors, or at the very least make sense.
I don't think that is too much to ask.

This seems to be a problem in a lot of releases, as evidenced by the bad combinations thread about BallPark Collection the other day.
I was also checking out the checklist for SP Signature FBall that's coming out and it is stuffed with multi-sig cards of borderline starters (if that) that seem to be randomly thrown together (the only link usually by position, or draft year). IMO these cards will basically be worthless, as I'm not going to overspend for a backup linebacker on the Dolphins because 3 other people I can care less about are on the card......It COULD be cool to put in players that don't have a ton of auto's, but all they had to do was group them by team and (at least in my case) it would be a desirable card for a team collector.

 

[All The Hype]

I agree with all you have pointed out.

I think the most important thing is value potential. Busting wax is a gamble. It's expensive and often leaves you with less value than when you started. But pulling a nice hit every now and then is what keeps it fun and exciting and keeps people coming back.

 

[011873]

The super large sets with no GU or autos have proven to be bad sellers. That is why you rarely see them anylonger.

Despite what many say, GU is NOT dead. GU cards SELL products (with the help of other factors). Take it from a store owner, the first thing EVERY BODY asks me is "how many GU per box"

Yes, most GU sell for nothing but they SELL WAX and thats one of the big things that drives the Hobby. No wax breakers means no singles.

So, a product should have a nice mix of GU and autos per box. The rookie cards/ prospects should be "quality". In other words, just because the companies CAN slap the MLB RC logo on Brad Nelson, Chip Ambres, Choo Freeman, Ken Ray, Dennis Dove doesnt make the "rookie card" selection good and just because Chaz Roe, Luscious Van Mill, Matt Harrison etc have an auto doesnt make the BC auto checklist good either.

I do totally agree with bringing back quality 90's style inserts but make sure they arent too easy to find.

I think most collectors like numbered cards, but too many becomes overkill.

A mix of current and past players would be great but not in all the releases. We dont see this now because of MLB's rules.

Stickers dont bother me, but dont slap them on retro sets.

 

[masonphillip]

The super large sets with no GU or autos have proven to be bad sellers. That is why you rarely see them anylonger.

Despite what many say, GU is NOT dead. GU cards SELL products (with the help of other factors). Take it from a store owner, the first thing EVERY BODY asks me is "how many GU per box"

Yes, most GU sell for nothing but they SELL WAX and thats one of the big things that drives the Hobby. No wax breakers means no singles.

So, a product should have a nice mix of GU and autos per box. The rookie cards/ prospects should be "quality". In other words, just because the companies CAN slap the MLB RC logo on Brad Nelson, Chip Ambres, Choo Freeman, Ken Ray, Dennis Dove doesnt make the "rookie card" selection good and just because Chaz Roe, Luscious Van Mill, Matt Harrison etc have an auto doesnt make the BC auto checklist good either.

I do totally agree with bringing back quality 90's style inserts but make sure they arent too easy to find.

I think most collectors like numbered cards, but too many becomes overkill.

A mix of current and past players would be great but not in all the releases. We dont see this now because of MLB's rules.

Stickers dont bother me, but dont slap them on retro sets.

The bolded is interesting, I would have thought that it was the autos selling the wax.

 

[Fandruw25]

Some good points but I think getting going back to the ways of the late 90's and early 2000 with game used and inserts will really hurt the companies. Sure you had on-card auto's, rare inserts, 1/1's meant something and game used were hard to come by but do you really think going back to all that is good?

The market has been flooded with GU/Auto's/1of1's/inserts/parallels over the last 7-8 years that going back would hurt the company because the collectors already have enough stuff in the marketplace to choose from. Sure everyone wants to hit a griffey auto, and if you pulled one now how much would it sell for as compared to 2000? I know there are some cards that defy that logic, but on average I would guess less because there are more griffey's in the marketplace. If UD decided to not release any more griffey auto's would his prices go back up drastically? Probably not.

Going back to "the way it was" isn't the answer and I for one like the way it is now because lots of inserts I couldn't afford in the 90's I now can because the market has become flooded.

One more thing, you can't dump all the scrub auto's and only keep star player's while maintaining a low price point; At least not if you want to be profitable.

 

[Labratt21]

And here's what everyone's dream product looks like!

 

[justinmandawg]

I would love to have a piece of a truly historic ball, not just some random ball.

Nothing from the following list: Things from extinct animals, batting box dirt, mound dirt, outfield warning tack dirt, other creepy DNA, Rip Card girl's autographs, scout autographs, game-used base pieces, game-used ball pieces, sticker autographs, redemptions.

I believe 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars incorporate the kind of concept you are talking about.

Honestly, how do we know any piece of game used is actually from a historic piece, let alone an actual jersey the player wore. Sure, they have some documentation on the card backs, but how can you actually prove they are lying?

My idea for a better product?


Kill game used or reduce it by alot. Game used is dead.

How do we know Adam actually posted this? It takes some belief that what we see is real.

 

[MOFNY]

Bring back Gold Label or Topps HD or E-X. There's nothing better than thick card stock and vibrant cards.