How many collectors are there?

[piper1]

This is a really good way of putting it.

If you look around online, you'll find people that still build sets, there are player collectors, there are "I collect big names, because I'll be able to flip these for cash quickly" collectors. There are rookie card collectors, there are team collectors, there are autograph collectors, and game used collectors. Probably a few other types I'm not thinking of.

Team Collectors: No way, no how, that anyone is trying to collect all cards of a particular team. Maybe from a specific release, but all releases? It's impossible.

So who is chasing that card /199 ??? If there are few set collectors chasing it, that creates demand for a few copies. Player collectors? After that, there is likely nobody putting it on a list of cards they really need to own.

Upper Deck's shift to catering towards "rip & flip" products - they also ensure that a high percentage of copies of a card end up online, for sale. If a card is limited to 199 copies - yes, that's relatively scarce. If there's no more than 30 people actively searching for that card, and 120 people have one and want to get rid of it.... the prices aren't going to be particularly high.

I wasn't going to weigh in on this thread because I knew that may of you consider flippers to be collectors, so has this thread perhaps become more about not being able to sell the cards in question. Personally I have no problem trading those type of cards for the ones I want. If your Price, Giroux and Couturier cards aren't selling check out my want list and my traders and maybe we can help each other out. Have a great collecting day.

[Joan P]

As a Buffalo Sabre collector I just want OPC base from every year.For the years back to 1990 I add one other set per year that strikes my fancy, maybe Pinnacle, Stadium club ,whatever. . With my non sports cards it's even easier to simply buy what I like ,I also appreciate the fact that there aren't a million cards of each character out there to chase

[Stryfex]

This thread reminds me of a few things.

1. When brad from C&C noped out of the company he did an AMA on reddit. This guy has alot of really intimate and unique insight into the industry and he said that the number of collectors is WAY down and was dwindling to the point that he didn't feel there would be a sustainable future for the hobby as-is

2. I had a thread on this exact sub-forum a bunch of months ago about how set-builders are the health of the hobby (as-is) and as products cater more to breakers and less to set builders the hobby will continue to wither. I strongly believe that if UD and other companies find ways of attracting and retaining set builders then the hobby will be healthy for all collector types for a long time to come. Oddly tim hortons and canadian tire have this figured out as products better than core releases.

[Manny]

Yes, most products (not all) are about hitting that 1:1000 packs hit, dump the rest for close to nothing. It's all about impulse!
So naturally, prices are dropping fast.

[RGM81]

Yes, most products (not all) are about hitting that 1:1000 packs hit, dump the rest for close to nothing. It's all about impulse!
So naturally, prices are dropping fast.

This is the essence of the problem these days. I'm a Carey Price collector. He's known for being pretty popular. I've gotten used to competition over the years and know I'm not gonna win 'em all, so I've gotten fairly strategic in terms of what to add to the collection. I'm also cool with SP'ing his cards to a certain extent--it keeps the good stuff rare, it keeps things fresh, and it avoids him getting burned out from signing (in addition to everything he has to do in Montreal all season). But this year's SOTT is a 1:50,000+ pack hit. There's just no chance of that coming up on a small-scale break. When it does come up on the eBay, the sale price is crazy high. I've got most of his SOTT since his career started, but this year is going to remain a gap in my PC because I'm not spending $300 on a card right now. Takes the fun out of it for sure.

It's good that they're getting more of the stars to sign these days, but they need to start pushing guys beyond just McDavid and Matthews all the time.

[webottew]

This thread reminds me of a few things.

1. When brad from C&C noped out of the company he did an AMA on reddit. This guy has alot of really intimate and unique insight into the industry and he said that the number of collectors is WAY down and was dwindling to the point that he didn't feel there would be a sustainable future for the hobby as-is

2. I had a thread on this exact sub-forum a bunch of months ago about how set-builders are the health of the hobby (as-is) and as products cater more to breakers and less to set builders the hobby will continue to wither. I strongly believe that if UD and other companies find ways of attracting and retaining set builders then the hobby will be healthy for all collector types for a long time to come. Oddly tim hortons and canadian tire have this figured out as products better than core releases.

This. All day, everyday.

I've always said similar thoughts that Set Collectors are the canary in this Hobby mine shaft. Set Collectors bring balance to the ecosystem, creating demand for the lowest of the low end just to complete sets.

If cards /500, /200, even /100 don't have any demand and linger in the Dollar Bins, then that means there are not that number of collectors chasing the set. I realize our Hobby does not have a lot of participants. But come on. Not even xxx collectors chasing the set?!?! If that's the case, why do manufacturers produce these unwanted subsets? They may as well be decoy cards, but then the boxes would not sell. And therein lies the true concern of the manufacturers. They are only concerned with 1% of the cards in the product to generate enough demand to sell 100% of their cases. They are not concerned with the remaining 99% of the cards after the cases are ripped open, and flood the market downstream. They made their $, and move on to their next product.