Has it occurred to anyone here

[centrehice]

Ed is correct.

It's not what people are willing to pay for "The Cup" it's the Retail Selling Price that the collusion players like Upper Deck and it's huge warehouse partners are willing to try to dictate.

That is the only fact in this equation.

I really don't care who opens how many cases of "The Cup". I just don't know why some posters are being bent over a picnic table, yet still defend the "Collusion" that got this $275.00 product to a Price Point of in some cases $550.00.

The extended greed at 3 levels of sale with this product is simply repulsive. How can a LCS owner look a good customer in the eye and want $550.00 for this when they have sold it previously at just over $300.00.

[miscs75]

I broke a tin last night. Not sure why but I did get it for $375 which I felt was dirt cheap compared to the $400+ that people have been paying.

[flopfish]

Firstly I think that collectors that are into spending $500 on a pack of cards is great for sports and hockey and collecting.

My thinking (which I may not have expressed well) is that UD is not providing adequate value in the cup to justify the price difference between this product and SPA for example.
Is there really a 5x better quality difference in the patch auto cards in SPA vs cup aside from a slightly thicker card, slightly bigger patch and more foil printing? I think the SPA patch autos are out of 100 and most of the cup are out of 249 if im not mistaken.
My beef is that UD increases the price of the cup ever year to see how much they can charge and people still buy without really increasing the value of the product.
How about having a "Lord Stanley" 1 of 1 auto or James Patrick or even Bettman (LOL).
I think if they are going to put out a super luxury product they should invest in the product outside of what they do for their $100 a box stuff and I really do not see enough of a difference.

It's a business thing. The Cup print runs have been getting bigger since 2005/06, the first year, because of the demand sought by customers. Collectors enjoy it and UD and stores enjoy it. It's a win win. There's no denying the print run has gotten larger. The inaugural cup featured 3 tiers of rookies:
Rookie Autos #/249
Rookie Patch Autos #/199
Rookie Patch Autos #/99
Gold Versions #d to Jersey Number
Platinum /25
Black 1/1

Since then, it's changed to:
Rookies /199
Rookie Autos /199
Rookie Patch Autos /249
Rookie Patch Autos /99
Gold Version /25
Gold Version #d to Jersey #
Black Autos /5 (except non autos) (new this year)
Black 1/1

Base in 05/06:
/249
/25
/1
Patch /10
Auto Patch /1

Now:
/249
/25
/1
Jersey /25
Patch /10
Tag /1
Auto /1

It adds up quickly. For me at least, the rookie patch autos /199 is better than the /249. It does one main thing: Lower the overall print run. Something that has as high of a price tag as The Cup is hard to perfect. You could have a more limited print run, and it'd be cheaper to make at that, but it would end up being marked up more by everyone. It'd be cool if they could enforce something like a maximum price for as long as the redemptions existed. If Canadian buyers are getting it for $400 and some places in the states are selling it at that, you know they are making a profit on it. My 2 cents there...