PWHL Cards: Buyer Beware

[Pheebs888]

Hi all,

I don't collect all that much anymore but there are certain cards and products that still hit the spot for me. It was the case for the first series of PWHL cards and I was excited about the second release, but I'm not anymore and here's why: https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwh...e4c24yK8B6zPb0

Would you spend $350 for that product, providing you were into PWHL hockey, of course, I'm not fishing for discriminatory comments here, please.

Thanks,
Karine

[RGM81]

The price increase on this product is crazy. I’m sure that the autographed content drove up the price, but it’s not a guaranteed auto per box so I just don’t understand what they’re doing here. Lowering the YG hits is also a bold move.

much like many of the NHL products I will stick to buying singles this time around.

[FallenAngel]

I love Pwhl cause of Hilary knight still want to get her cards wasn’t able to get any from first release but that is steep for the second

[doniceage]

The price increase on this product is crazy. I’m sure that the autographed content drove up the price, but it’s not a guaranteed auto per box so I just don’t understand what they’re doing here. Lowering the YG hits is also a bold move.

much like many of the NHL products I will stick to buying singles this time around.

That is what I keep saying about THE CUP every year it keeps going up. 20 years and it gone up from probably 200 to now being a 1400 to 1500 a box. If that pace continues will folks even collect cards anymore.

Don

[RGM81]

To be fair, The Cup has always been the highest of high-end hockey products. Comparing that to the PWHL release isn't quite apples to apples. The great majority of hobbyists have never opened Cup and probably never will, particularly as the price increases year-over-year. The guys who have been grabbing cases of Cup annually aren't going to be as impacted by a $50-$100 increase as much as people who are on the lower-end of the purchasing power spectrum will feel the squeeze of a $100 product or a $150 product suddenly becoming a $200 product. Karine told me that her LCS has the new PWHL at $350. Even factoring in the exchange rate, tariffs, whatever other excuse UD & the distributors want to use, that's literally double the price of the first release here in Canada.

What's problematic here is that PWHL is supposed to be the entry-level gateway product for new collectors. If it succeeds (as the first one did overwhelmingly) that opens up the door for PWHL SP Game Used, SP Authentic, and more. It it fails, it becomes an excuse that "women's hockey products don't sell" and they won't put in the effort to make it viable to have 2-5 releases per season. And if/when that happens, they'll have killed a potential cash cow. When they put PWHL up on E-Pack it sold out in one day. The demand clearly exists.

[doniceage]

To be fair, The Cup has always been the highest of high-end hockey products. Comparing that to the PWHL release isn't quite apples to apples. The great majority of hobbyists have never opened Cup and probably never will, particularly as the price increases year-over-year. The guys who have been grabbing cases of Cup annually aren't going to be as impacted by a $50-$100 increase as much as people who are on the lower-end of the purchasing power spectrum will feel the squeeze of a $100 product or a $150 product suddenly becoming a $200 product. Karine told me that her LCS has the new PWHL at $350. Even factoring in the exchange rate, tariffs, whatever other excuse UD & the distributors want to use, that's literally double the price of the first release here in Canada.

What's problematic here is that PWHL is supposed to be the entry-level gateway product for new collectors. If it succeeds (as the first one did overwhelmingly) that opens up the door for PWHL SP Game Used, SP Authentic, and more. It it fails, it becomes an excuse that "women's hockey products don't sell" and they won't put in the effort to make it viable to have 2-5 releases per season. And if/when that happens, they'll have killed a potential cash cow. When they put PWHL up on E-Pack it sold out in one day. The demand clearly exists.

Richard,
That 50 to a 100 is not the average. What was box last year price point 800 or 900? 400 or 500 more this year is probably more like it fir year average. I bet that effect a lot of individuals buying hence steering folks toward breaks.

Is this the same price we are talking about at under $200 a box in the U.S. That is a far cry from $350 even when the exchange rate is taken into consideration. Thinking it would be around 275. Not sure what the boxes were sold at price point last year in Canada but the U.S. was purported be 90 or so with it doubling in a few weeks due to the first Yg’s for many of the women.

Don


don

don

[RGM81]

Last year was a bit of an anomaly due to the Bedard Tax; we know prices won't really come down much from that, but an outlier for sure.

When I bought my box of 2024 PWHL it was $169 CAD. Then it spiked like crazy, as high as $400 CAD. When it was on ePack for a day it was quite reasonably priced, almost the original MSRP. But everywhere I've seen online in Canada is $350. That's just an insane markup.

Of all the things I hate about COVID's impact on the hobby, the final passage to it being a breaker-based system is probably tops on the list.

[30ranfordfan]

Similar niche product that has been around for quite a few years now, and I've been into, is Upper Deck's CFL releases (I have bought a box once, I normally stick to singles I want).

The price keeps going up and up, and IMO the quality of the product has diminished in a lot of ways. I just picked a "not long ago" year, and will say that the 2020 set had a 200 card base set. For me, what I've been doing is trying to collect a "mid-tier" parallel team set of my favorite team (Hamilton). Parallels have gone from unnumbered, to #/165, to #100. That kind of range. It was always a fun team set to build, because a lot of players are included. 2024? The base set had been reduced to 80 cards.

There are nicer autograph and memorabilia hits available now than there used to be, but the content has become so small..... and the prices of boxes have a lot of people saying "nope". They've done two CFL SP Game Used releases (2021 and 2023). The second release was about 50% more expensive than the first, with a smaller checklist, and nothing in it to make it "better".

This isn't a league with huge wide spread appeal, and they're going to kill whatever market they do have, by making it too expensive for to little to collect.

Sounds a lot like the PWHL problem.

[doniceage]

Sent you a pm about the prices Karine.

Don