Be Careful Buying Retail

[Wickabee]

I know most people here know the signs, but I thought I'd let everyone know anyway.
I was in Walmart the other day looking through blasters and I noticed one of the 10-11 series 1 didn't have the UD logos on the wrapping. I picked it up and noticed several others lacking the logo. I grabbed one of them and a blaster of 11-12 that did have the logos. 10-11 was thick with a somewhat amateur looking seal on the corners. 11-12 (w/ logos) was thin as I'm used to and had professional looking sealing. Every one of the 10-11s was slightly dinged as well.

I think you know where I'm going with this. I spoke to a manager and explained to him that I thought these had been searched, resealed and returned. He said that was possible, but he knows (for what it's worth) they rarely get cards returned. He then went to the back and came out holding a couple more 10-11s with the same non-UD wrapping.

Now, maybe I'm crazy, but I've never seen anything come from UD without the logos on the outter wrapping. If my Walmart is getting these by the case, I imagine it's a distinct possibility others are too. Just wanted to let everyone know it's possible searched blasters are going to stores from the distributed.

Just a heads up. I'm not telling anyone where or not to shop.

[dmaksymyshyn]

'nuff said - not to mention the odds of any hits make it soooo not worth it.

[Wickabee]

Yeah, we know that. A lot of us still pick up retail now and again though.
More importantly, kids buy retail.

And for the record, I've had some decent hits from retail purchases.

[dmaksymyshyn]

BAP Kane auto once...the oddball ok young gun...but that was it. stopped buying retail years ago. I figure a blaster of retail will cost $20ish...plus tax, so 3 blasters @ $60 plus tax is WAY less value than a hobby box @$60. If you have no options, i could see it, but it is worth the trip to the hobby shop or waiting until that option is available.

[Wickabee]

BAP Kane auto once...the oddball ok young gun...but that was it. stopped buying retail years ago. I figure a blaster of retail will cost $20ish...plus tax, so 3 blasters @ $60 plus tax is WAY less value than a hobby box @$60. If you have no options, i could see it, but it is worth the trip to the hobby shop or waiting until that option is available.

Oh, I agree, though I'd add "$20 burning a hole" to reasons to buy retail.
I've actually had an insane run on YGs from Walmart. I don't even want to start listing them off, frankly, I doubt you'll believe me. I hit a Gretzky quad jsy in a BD blaster, but I've gotten enough empty ones since then to stop buying BD blasters. Artifacts too.

[CoolHandLuke]

I had luck with Serie 1 blaster only and keep buying some here and there. Last year I bought 4 2011-12 serie 1 and got 2 RNH yg. So the blaster were great from me and this year I only bought three and got one of the 40$ rookie. so I usually do good but only with serie one. Also you get the oversize and I do move some from time to time so this add up when you do to the value.

[Wickabee]

It just bugs me that kids who have to save up or beg mom are getting ripped off. If I lose $25 I'm mad, but it's not as big a deal as Johnny's birthday money.

[odjickfan]

I once got a UD blaster with clear plastic seal, and there weren't YGs in them.

Always buy the blasters with marked plastic seal.

[Wickabee]

For sure. I'm concerned by the fact he had a case of unmarked blasters in the back. If these are going out from a distributer like this, they could be anywhere and everywhere.

[Drewk86a]

For what it's worth, the Walmarts in my area (Pennsylvania) do not stock sports cards directly. They have a local contractor who runs a wholesale distributership. HE brings the cards in and puts them on the shelves. HE decides what gets put out and what does not. I guess it's sort of a consignment deal.

I would not be surprised to learn that this guy searches the boxes and reseals them before he brings them in.

I have bought a number of UD blasters some with the UD seal and some without. Because UD retail (and blasters) are so sad to begin with, there is not much to "search" out of the boxes. My experience with the majority of UD blasters has been zero parallels, zero Young Guns, zero memorabilia, zero autographs, zero big hits and only the ocasional low value insert.

I have actually done better with the repackaged boxes of 16 - 20 random packs at Kmart and Target