Sticker Autos - Bad or Don't Care?

[stop__dreaming]

I just have a question about the sticker autos that a lot of companies use on the cards.

Do you think they look unpleasing on the eye and does it 'de-value' the card as such in any way as it's not on 'on-card auto', or do you not care and don't mind them?

Thoughts?

[ziadefan]

I think it depends on the set. Some cards just look horrible with the sticker on there because it sticks out like a sore thumb (ex. 06-07 Fleer Flair Showcase Inks, 08-09 BAP) but some look quite nice (I love the way the 10-11 SPGU Significance autos look, and they are stickers).

I think people look at sticker autos like they aren't real or something. If I had to choose between 2 similar cards, 1 sticker and 1 on-card auto, I wouldn't pay more than 15% more for the on-card, if that.

[FFIMSMSI2007]

My take on the sticker auto's vs. hard signed auto's.

Sticker auto's:
These are OK with me, I dont mind pulling them from a pack.
They are holo-gramed and certified auto's, etc...
The thing is, if I am BUYING an auto, the thing I look for is, RUN-OFF's,
This happens more than people realize.
The player, has a VERY Limited area to sign their name on.
Which ends up causing RUN-OFF's, where the pen leaves the edge of the sticker and the auto is NOT complete!
Perhaps you too will start looking for this when buying auto's, if not, you'll be aware of it.

Hard-Signed auto's:
You can't beat a Hard-Signed auto.
The player actually touched & held the card & then personally signed the card you are now holding!
It's about as close as you can get!
These too have Run-Off's, but they are fewer than the sticker auto's.

Either way, there are many characteristics of either auto you should look for.
Clean auto, is there any smudges, smeares.
Complete auto, is the ink solid thru the auto, skips in ink, run-off's.
Clear auto, can you read it, jersey # looks like a #.
Color auto, is there a Color variant, yes I seek these out & they do happen.
Inscription auto, is it something variant than regular issue.

[centrehice]

Absolutely horrible, and a cheap way out for card manufacturers that are lazy and not caring about value.

[RGM81]

An unfortunate necessity in today's hobby - with all the demands on players' time there's no other way to get so much autographed content in products.

[centrehice]

An unfortunate necessity in today's hobby - with all the demands on players' time there's no other way to get so much autographed content in products.

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As I've said on countless other threads. It's Paramount for the card companies to be pro-active. Get some soldiers out during the off-season, or when teams are on road-trips in the early part of the season and get these signed.

Players are obligated through the NHLPA to get this done. It's supposed to be in a timely manner, but the NHLPA obviously does not enforce this.

If you are a card company, you answer to the consumer, not at the beck and call of players that cannot be bothered.

[Fred Bear]

I think it depends entirely on the card/set/etc. and is one more area which is wholly dependent on a personal preference, i.e. there is no right answer.

Personally, I prefer hard-signed autos for my PC, but I rank card aesthetics higher in my list of priorities. If I can't find a really nice looking hard-signed card, I won't shy away from a well-designed card just because of a sticker auto.

As long as our hobby is 'hit-driven', I believe they are a necessary 'evil' (I'm personally much happier to see manufacturers release sticker autos of players in their current uniforms than outdated imagery with hard-signed autos in new releases - does not apply to HOFers). When used for good, ITG releases all products with a strict 'No Redemption' policy, they are no different than hard-signed. I especially like that ITG has maintained a small reserve of stickers from deceased players so that we still find the rare inclusion of Gump Worsley, Bernie Geoffrion, and even Luc Bourdon in new products. On the other hand, as we all have suffered through cracking redemption after redemption for sticker auto parallels with Panini this year, I can fully understand the other side of the argument!

In terms of value, I don't think it matters one bit. It's unfair to compare a hard-signed Sidney Crosby auto with a sticker auto of some no-name defensemen (there are way more no-name sticker autos flooding the market than no-name hard-signed autos which leads to a perception of stickers being 'less' valuable). I sold a 2010-11 Autofacts Crosby for over $100 and that's on par with other non-numbered, new hard-signed Crosby stuff. Again, value is too personal and too specific a concept to make generalization. Remember, hard-signed autos of nobodys aren't valuable either!

[mingus_md]

I think most of us would prefer that all autos be on-card, but if this were the case, there would be much fewer autos in each set. With all the new products every year, it would be extremely difficult to get every player to sign all of their cards for each release. I really enjoy collecting auto cards of New York Rangers players, and I have been having fun buying the auto parallels from all of the Panini products this year, which have all been sticker autos. As long as there are autos in the new products, I'm happy and sticker autos beat redemptions any day.

[durangatang]

A few sets look fine with sticker autos, ice signings, BTP autos. I prefer hard signed, but sometimes it is not possible. The one good thing about stickers is that a star auto is a little more attainable because stickers are not as desirable.

[RGM81]

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As I've said on countless other threads. It's Paramount for the card companies to be pro-active. Get some soldiers out during the off-season, or when teams are on road-trips in the early part of the season and get these signed.

Players are obligated through the NHLPA to get this done. It's supposed to be in a timely manner, but the NHLPA obviously does not enforce this.

If you are a card company, you answer to the consumer, not at the beck and call of players that cannot be bothered.

Easier said than done, though, and it would force the companies to basically have every card set done and printed by the time training camp rolls around. We know from previews that Panini gives us that they're still designing stuff halfway through the season. That would open up another catch-22 as well - what if a player gets traded? Those cards that were done & signed in August/September are now pretty much useless, and in order to remain as current as possible the company would then have to do a second batch of cards and chase down the player all over again.

If we want autographed stuff, there's really only two feasible ways to make it workable throughout the course of a season that includes 22 products: stickers and redemptions. Sad but true.