Need some advice on getting back into the hobby

[markourn]

Hi everyone,

I use to collect basketball cards when I was 14-16 but stopped and sold my collection, fast forward to today, I'm now 30 and the bug to start collecting again has bitten me. The funny thing is, I don't necessarily follow basketball, to be honest I have no idea who the top players are. When I stopped collecting, Allen Iverson was a rookie to put things into perspective. I think what draws me to the hobby is the thrill of finding a rare card and never knowing what lies in the next pack. When I was a kid, I never had the money to buy boxes so I would pick up a few packs here and there but of course I now have the money to purchase boxes. I'm looking for some advice regarding what brands to buy/not buy along with your thoughts on purchasing non current year boxes meaning 95-2010. Is it still a smart thing to purchase cards from a store or is the trend nowadays to purchase from online retailers and if so, is the savings worth it? Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[whalechaser]

Right now, if you want current boxes, the only maker is Panini. Some people like their stuff, others don't like it. I'm in the really don't like it camp. So buying non current boxes is all I do. When buying older boxes though, make sure you know which product has expired redemptions, Topps does not honor expired redemptions while Upper Deck does so for cards with expire date up to 2009.

If you enjoy the thrill of finding a rare card and opening packs, it's actually pretty fun to buy older boxes from when you were a kid. Most of the costly boxes from the 90's are in the late 90's; chances of finding nice cards, however slim, best to stay away from boxes pre-1995 unless you just want to open those for the heck of it.

The main type of cards are autograph, game used, #'ed, inserts, rookies, base. People are mostly about game-used, autograph cards, and rare 90's insert cards right now. People also like Rookie cards of stars and have special liking to products like Topps Chrome and refractors. #'ed cards are good, but for modern years #'ed < 50 are usually more desired and for 90's years you might be good with something decent might be #'ed <399

Buying form a card store is nice to support your local business but generally not very good for your wallet. Everything from boxes to singles is cheaper online. But if you have a store near you, it's nice to go in and talk about cards pick up some cheap singles for your player/team collection, or just pick up supplies, especially if the owner is a good guy. If the owner's is a jerk/shady, you have no reason to support him because everything online is much cheaper and readily available. It'll also be much friendlier to your wallet in the long run and makes for a nicer PC to figure out your collecting goal early and then search for singles of that player/team and just open boxes occasionally, unless you have lots of money to spare and really like opening boxes then go for it.

Top Hot players of the Hobby right now: First Tier: Jordan, Kobe, Lebron James, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, John Wall. Second Tier: Upper Tier Legends (Bird, Magic, etc.), Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, Westbrook. Sure there are more that I'm forgetting

Nice RC's, rare cards, auto's, Gu's of the above players are usually worth decent money.

Hope this gets you started somewhat and have fun!

Also, trading for the most part online is pretty easy and simple, I would say the majority of the people are not scammers and collectors just like yourself, but always be careful if something seems too good to be true. Be sure to protect yourself.

[markourn]

Thanks for the great reply, your advice is going to be very helpful. What happened to the big brands like upper deck/fleer... so on? Also how is it possible that so many old boxes/packs still exist?

[mrveggieman]

Thanks for the great reply, your advice is going to be very helpful. What happened to the big brands like upper deck/fleer... so on? Also how is it possible that so many old boxes/packs still exist?

Fleer was bought out by UD. UD produced nba cards up until 2009/10. Now they only make college cards of recent draft pics as well as current and retired players in their college uniforms. UD has an exclusive contract with michael jordan so if you are looking for "new" jordan cards that is the only place to find him.

[xarzy]

Hey Markourn.
All the big 90s inserts from when you quit collecting went up in value. Now you get tons of numbered cards and plenty of game.used/memorabilia cards and even autographs in the products, unlike when you quit when there was possibly only 1 gu set out.

Jordan is still the greatest and has held the most value.

People like to collect the Top 50 Greatest for PC purposes but if you are looking to make money (risky business) you need to look into rookies and up-n-coming guys who will have big breakout season.

Kobe autos have significantly dropped in value due to overproduction (by panini). UD and TOPPS (the other brand that was a big dog in the 90s) have been 'locked out' by the NBA with their exclusive contract with Panini to make cards. Once that contract is finished the NBA will reopen the flood gates in hopes of increased sales by granting licenses to all 3 companies instead of just 1. When that happens youll see 40 or so set/product releases a year as opposed to 10-12 that panini are doing currently.

[Bkeener87]

when are these 40 product releases expected to happen???

[MGoVictors]

Hi everyone,

I use to collect basketball cards when I was 14-16 but stopped and sold my collection, fast forward to today, I'm now 30 and the bug to start collecting again has bitten me. The funny thing is, I don't necessarily follow basketball, to be honest I have no idea who the top players are. When I stopped collecting, Allen Iverson was a rookie to put things into perspective. I think what draws me to the hobby is the thrill of finding a rare card and never knowing what lies in the next pack. When I was a kid, I never had the money to buy boxes so I would pick up a few packs here and there but of course I now have the money to purchase boxes. I'm looking for some advice regarding what brands to buy/not buy along with your thoughts on purchasing non current year boxes meaning 95-2010. Is it still a smart thing to purchase cards from a store or is the trend nowadays to purchase from online retailers and if so, is the savings worth it? Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Dude, you are exactly me, 15 months ago. I am 31 and stopped collecting after 94-95. It's overwhelming now isn't it? I was like what the crap is a jersey card and whats a friggin patch? And where did all the autos come from. You used to have to bust caseloads to get an auto and now they are guaranteed 2 or more per box, which now can cost several hundred dollars each (and only have 10-20 cards in the box).

I'm still not collecting new stuff. Although I have been forced to learn about it due to my Webber obsession. So I buy only C-Webb stuff post 94-95 with only 1 exception. I'm working on a newer set right now. But I have had more fun than ever literally collecting every possible card between 69-70 and 94-95. Much cheaper and a lot of fun.

Welcome back and have fun.

[markourn]

Dude, you are exactly me, 15 months ago. I am 31 and stopped collecting after 94-95. It's overwhelming now isn't it? I was like what the crap is a jersey card and whats a friggin patch? And where did all the autos come from. You used to have to bust caseloads to get an auto and now they are guaranteed 2 or more per box, which now can cost several hundred dollars each (and only have 10-20 cards in the box).

I'm still not collecting new stuff. Although I have been forced to learn about it due to my Webber obsession. So I buy only C-Webb stuff post 94-95 with only 1 exception. I'm working on a newer set right now. But I have had more fun than ever literally collecting every possible card between 69-70 and 94-95. Much cheaper and a lot of fun.

Welcome back and have fun.

Yeah your right about it being a little daunting to get back into the swing of things, lol. I think whats going to work for me is to focus on collecting the players I knew when I was a teen. With that said, I will be focusing on sealed boxes from 94-2000 and see where it takes me. I think the idea of spending $200 for a sealed box of 12 cards knowing your guaranteed 2 auto's takes away the thrill of the find but thats just my personal opinion. I remember getting any rare insert was a thrill and finding a auto was MIND BLOWING!!! In the town I lived in when I was a kid, a friend of mine knew someone that pulled a jordan refractor from one single pack of tops 96-97, it was pretty crazy.

I just put 2+2 together and noticed you meant Chris Webber when you said C-Webb, that's crazy because Michigan was my favorite college team, the fab 5 were amazing. I still remember when he called timeout vs NC when they had no timeouts left.... I HATED NC!!

[MGoVictors]

I just put 2+2 together and noticed you meant Chris Webber when you said C-Webb, that's crazy because Michigan was my favorite college team, the fab 5 were amazing. I still remember when he called timeout vs NC when they had no timeouts left.... I HATED NC!!

You bet, man! I was 12 when the Fab Five came onto the scene and have been the biggest Michigan Fan since! And that's what got me into collecting Webber at an insane level. lol Here's a few pic of my "Michigan" man cave.......

[markourn]

NICE!!!! you made me jealous lol