frozenheroes

Boy oh boy since joining some of these online groups I am baffled by how some people are so messed up with how things work and function. Lots of questions, beliefs, falsehoods and lots of out and out misinformation.

First question that topped the charts was my thoughts on Upper Deck being the sole provider of NHL licensed cards. We addressed this question awhile ago when it was first announced but we can go through it again. First let me say that I don't believe that a monopoly in anything is good. Competition keeps people trying to do better. Who made the move to do this is up for debate but my money is on Upper Deck. The heat from Panini was starting to really cut into Upper Deck's wallet not to mention the losses UD was taking from lawsuits. Upper Deck needed to do this to survive. There product was getting worse and sales were declining. Having Upper Deck as the sole provider of NHL licensed hockey cards is one of the biggest mistakes the hobby has seen in a lot of years. You are now stuck with there product or nothing. Wholesale prices have escalated and lets be honest since they took over the products coming out have been less than stellar and resale prices of single cards for the most part have been flat. One of the saddest things the hobby has seen.


Next one up is Beckett pricing. If you think that eBay sales affect the prices you see in or on Beckett for the most part you are mistaken. There are far too many issues with using eBay for Beckett guide prices. That being said if you see a one of one sold on eBay then Beckett might take notice. For the most part Beckett uses its own 'in house' information for pricing. They control all of the formulas they use to figure pricing out and that allows them to be as accurate as they can.


Facebook hockey card groups and the various things they do. Well I addressed this briefly a day or two ago but I'll take the time now to be more specific. First I haven't been thrilled with the way most of these things are done as generally the 'price' is more than they could ever expect to sell the card for on eBay. Prices are set and spots are sold at a fraction for the chance to score a fifty dollar card for five bucks. The bottom line is that this card would sell for ten to fifteen bucks on eBay so rather than doing that they raffle it off and get fifty bucks or fifty percent more than eBay would have netted them. Most don't think that giving up five bucks for the chance to win is an issue but every loss adds up. There is also the payment thing that concerns me because if you win and don't get the card you can't go after them. It is putting a lot of faith in someone or something that can change names in a heartbeat. The other aspect of these groups as far as sales go is the fixed asking prices. There are a lot of cards being over valued or misrepresented. We use a service that tracks sales prices so we can see what the highest price was and what the last card sold for and seldom does it ever come close to the claims being made by some. There seems to be some very inventive pricing going on too.


This one was an eye opener. We have pre-sold boxes for many years and it is an accepted practice among sellers. There have been a few sellers pre-selling boxes that they never were going to get and that is a bad thing but to see someone pre-selling a single card is a bit of a stretch. To me this was done to pay for his cases that he couldn't afford to do otherwise. I really think that this type of thing is stepping on the wrong side of the ethical line not to mention those who bought these seriously overpriced cards. They are seriously in need of a reality check.

Happy collecting !


I'll be posting these comments on our blogs as well.