Buying a case of Upperdeck cold feet.

[JesseJames77]

Hello all! I'm new here. I signed up because I have found my self at a fork in the road concerning buying a case of hockey cards.
I've been collecting cards off and on my whole life (mostly football), and have saved up some extra cash and was all excited to buy a new case for the first time ! of Upper deck series 1 - 2015-16 (or something else ) to try and get some Mcdavid rookies etc.
So I went online and started watching case break vids on YouTube. (All the ones I could find). And here's the issue, The case costs $1700 CAN (approx) and in every break I saw you are lucky to get 2 Mcdavid rookies. $200 US each value in beckett, and then maybe you get $150 worth of other rookies and incerts. ™™™!? So you're lucky to recoup $ 600 of your $1700 .
How is the price of cases justified? Yes, I can pull some 1 in a million card that I will never hit but c'mon! I was hoping to keep all the habs out of case and sell the rest off on ebay or something and try to get some of investment back...but that seems impossible! ! Like, not even close! How the heck is anyone making money selling cards!? (Besides upperdeck.) ?
Has anyone any advice on a better way I could do this that Im missing? ?
Anyway...thanks for any advice.
Goodluck in all your packs.

[creasecollector]

I would say if you don't like the value then don't buy. Take the money and buy some McDavid's instead. Sure you may miss out on a sweet High Gloss or something, but the gamble is too risky for you it seems. Don't try and make money off of hockey cards, you'll more than likely end up very, very disappointed.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do. I would say If you're set on buying a case of something, maybe try other (cheaper) options instead if you can.

[30ranfordfan]

You get 6 YGs per box, and I believe 12 boxes per case. That's 72 YGs. You'll get a complete set (50) and 22 doubles. McDavid might be one of the doubles.

In a case you should hit a few other case hits... patches, day with the cup... a High Gloss of someone... plates... whatever (you won't get all that stuff, but you'll get some of it).

Your math is pretty sound though. If you bust a case of UD Series 1 & get half your money back selling the singles, you'll be lucky. If you're busting that case for profit, I'd look towards something else.

[R39]

if you are going to break a case to make money/hope to break even, walk away now, it will almost never happen unless you hit a McDavid exclusives/High gloss. From what you just described, you are better off trying to find the Habs in a case break where you get all the Habs related stuff for a portion of the case price, honestly 15-16 series 1 been out for so long and with Epack further killing its value, you might be better off just buying every single you want from the Habs, other High gloss stuff you can pretty much find everything at all times for dirt cheap on ebay/comc.

[steelers6]

Jesse- R39 is spot on. You are better off getting into a case break and picking a team, either your Habs or Oilers if you can to try and hit a McDavid. Save yourself the money, the nerves, an ulcer whatever and just get in a case break and get whatever come to you. Good luck.

[canucksfan007]

Your also looking at a case that is inflated in price wax wise, and down in price on the secondary market.

If you want McDavids and Habs, and have $1700CDN to spend ... spend it on ebay. You'll get a lot of nicer cards ( much nicer than what you would get out of 15/16 Series 1 ).

If you want to break a case and re-coup as much money as possible, your next chance is 16/17 UD series 2. Sure, you'll basically get the same general stuff as 15/16 UD1, but at least the majority of collectors will be looking to chase something from the newest product released.

[JesseJames77]

alright. thanks for the advice everyone. It was all sound advice that makes perfect sense. Ive taken it all in and decided to ignore all of it. I got myself all riled up to crack a case and so a case I will crack.
So, let me steer this thread in another direction.
If you were going to buy a case, (hockey or football), from the last few years or current, and your goal was to keep the cards from one team (and also pray to the card gods for a monster hit), and sell the rest in an attempt to recoup or even make money, as un-likely as this may be...which case would you buy?
which case has the most potential "bang" for my buck? where would you roll the dice right now??

[creasecollector]

alright. thanks for the advice everyone. It was all sound advice that makes perfect sense. Ive taken it all in and decided to ignore all of it. I got myself all riled up to crack a case and so a case I will crack.
So, let me steer this thread in another direction.
If you were going to buy a case, (hockey or football), from the last few years or current, and your goal was to keep the cards from one team (and also pray to the card gods for a monster hit), and sell the rest in an attempt to recoup or even make money, as un-likely as this may be...which case would you buy?
which case has the most potential "bang" for my buck? where would you roll the dice right now??

Best of luck!

As stated earlier, Series 2 would be the "hotter" product if you were to break a case of that in a month, so player/team/set collectors will want a lot of the hits, even the "lower-end" hits because it's very new and UD Series 2 (like series 1) is a very collectible product in general.

Aside from that, SP Authentic is a solid product in my opinion. They changed the odds this year from 3 guaranteed autos to 2, so it may be less hits, but again, it's also a very collectible product from the get-go. If you decide to wait awhile for some new products to be released, 16-17 O-Pee-Chee Platinum will also a nice product if it's anything close to previous years. Super nice parallels, hard signed rookies, good stuff.

The choice is yours, but considering the price I'd say the above is some good choices. Series 2 if you want to break soon (Series 2 releases in February), and SP Authentic / O-Pee-Chee Platinum if you want to wait a little while for new stuff to come out.

Again, best of luck! Hope you hit some monster cards!

[JesseJames77]

Best of luck!


As stated earlier, Series 2 would be the "hotter" product if you were to break a case of that in a month, so player/team/set collectors will want a lot of the hits, even the "lower-end" hits because it's very new and UD Series 2 (like series 1) is a very collectible product in general.

Aside from that, SP Authentic is a solid product in my opinion. They changed the odds this year from 3 guaranteed autos to 2, so it may be less hits, but again, it's also a very collectible product from the get-go. If you decide to wait awhile for some new products to be released, 16-17 O-Pee-Chee Platinum will also a nice product if it's anything close to previous years. Super nice parallels, hard signed rookies, good stuff.

The choice is yours, but considering the price I'd say the above is some good choices. Series 2 if you want to break soon (Series 2 releases in February), and SP Authentic / O-Pee-Chee Platinum if you want to wait a little while for new stuff to come out.

Again, best of luck! Hope you hit some monster cards!

Hmmm...I'll check these options out right now. Thanks for the advice. I'll post here what I go with and give a breakdown of what I end up pulling with a cost vs value break down... I was looking at panini hockey anthology cause it had lots of hits...but after a little research I don't like the product that much or the checklist. Cards with no pictures...no thanks.

[creasecollector]

Hmmm...I'll check these options out right now. Thanks for the advice. I'll post here what I go with and give a breakdown of what I end up pulling with a cost vs value break down... I was looking at panini hockey anthology cause it had lots of hits...but after a little research I don't like the product that much or the checklist. Cards with no pictures...no thanks.

Nice, keep us posted. Would love to hear about your sweet hits! Keep in mind if you're planning on recouping some of the cost, newer 16-17 products will sell faster because it's, well, newer. You could break an older product with some neat cards, but you may be holding onto those cards for a while and they'll be tougher to move, depending on the player(s) you hit. Anyways, I hope I'm making sense.

Good luck !