I am officially done cracking wax!

[Yzerfan]

I'm right there with you. I stopped busting anything but Score. I like the idea of only spending $1.00 on a pack of cards and having a CHANCE to hit an auto. Just a couple months ago I bought 5 boxes of Score. That is 180 packs. By the time I was done I didn't even want to look at another pack of cards. I didn't care about resale or any of that crap (mostly because I build the sets and donate the rest of the cards.) I had no remorse because I didn't risk very much. If I recall correctly this is how it used to be. Now we have sets that you can blow the money for a car payment on one PACK. It is stupid and I am glad that people are scaling back. It's time for this house of cards (pun intended) to collapse so that we can get back to collecting instead of gambling.

[Leafsman]

I agree with rydlar99...spending all that money on high-end product with the hope of gaining that money back (or turning a profit) is a losing proposition.

This is the reason I use book value and ignore ebay value.

[clvc0017]

I agree with you as well.

I recently just got back into collecting and I am noticing the same for myself. The odds of getting anything worthwhile are very slim. Personally, I do not sell what I break. And if I did, 99% of the time I will not recoup anything near to what I spent.
So I'm getting stuck with a bunch of cards I have little to no interest in, after spending money on a box.

Just the other day i spent the most I ever spent ($220) on a box of new Dominion, and I was not very impressed.

I really enjoy the hobby, but with the prices today of boxes, I am slowly starting to purchase less.

[sedinfan]

Congrats on taking a step back from busting wax - I'm sure it can't have been easy as today's hobby is built on the addictive / OCD compulsion that a lot of us have, but when it stops being enjoyable for you, that's a great time to re-evaluate and change how you choose to partake in the hobby.

I've also questioned the sanity of my obsession at times - from a player collector perspective the drop in secondary market prices has been a blessing, and knowing that the Sedins likely will retire after their 4-year contract extension at least gives me a finite time frame for my collection (I'm sure there will be various 'retired greats' subsets that they will find their way into, but hopefully the volume will be nothing like it is at the present). Without a finish line in sight I definitely would be questioning my participation in this crazy hobby of ours as well.

I wonder if we'll see some re-balancing of the hobby take place in the near future - there was a very noticeable decline in the amount of product being broken and showing on the 'bay during the 12-13 season, while I'm sure the lockout had something to do with it, I don't believe it was the only factor. The novelty of Panini's new product has worn off, and 22 licensed releases per year is simply too much - the recent move to make Titanium a Canadian exclusive I have to assume is a sign that a lot of the major case breakers are slowing down even more than last year, and pre-orders must have been weak enough in the States for Panini to take this step. Hopefully when the licenses come up for renewal, the NHL and PA will take a long-term approach to the health of the hobby... rather than trying to squeeze the most $ out of the manufacturers in the short-term, I'd love to see them significantly cut the number of products per year and address some of the key issues (eliminate redemptions, get rid of 'photo-shoot'/'event-worn' junk, and finally do something to address patch faking - perhaps some sort of superglue that makes it impossible to remove the swatch without destroying the card?). With less product, and addressing the key integrity issues, I think secondary market values would strengthen, box-breakers would come back, and the hobby would be stronger in the long-term, but if they choose to keep releasing 22 products a year to maximize short-term profits I can see more and more folks following the OP's lead.

[chakhae1]

I quit being a high money spender several years ago and I focus on packs and the rare box. I am still getting killed, but at least i'm not losing as much money as I did in the past.

[joecoolio]

I wonder if we'll see some re-balancing of the hobby take place in the near future - there was a very noticeable decline in the amount of product being broken and showing on the 'bay during the 12-13 season, while I'm sure the lockout had something to do with it, I don't believe it was the only factor. The novelty of Panini's new product has worn off, and 22 licensed releases per year is simply too much - the recent move to make Titanium a Canadian exclusive I have to assume is a sign that a lot of the major case breakers are slowing down even more than last year, and pre-orders must have been weak enough in the States for Panini to take this step. Hopefully when the licenses come up for renewal, the NHL and PA will take a long-term approach to the health of the hobby... rather than trying to squeeze the most $ out of the manufacturers in the short-term, I'd love to see them significantly cut the number of products per year and address some of the key issues (eliminate redemptions, get rid of 'photo-shoot'/'event-worn' junk, and finally do something to address patch faking - perhaps some sort of superglue that makes it impossible to remove the swatch without destroying the card?). With less product, and addressing the key integrity issues, I think secondary market values would strengthen, box-breakers would come back, and the hobby would be stronger in the long-term, but if they choose to keep releasing 22 products a year to maximize short-term profits I can see more and more folks following the OP's lead.

You make some great points in this post. While some of Panini's products have been nice, the hobby interest has been lacking. I can't imagine Panini is making money on hockey and I doubt they will renew when their contract is up. Upper Deck has seen its troubles, but they really are the #1 brand by a long shot when it comes to hockey. ITG is a great brand, but I believe its just been proven that there can only be one licensed manufacturer of hockey out there. A return to a UD only hockey market with 1/2 as many products may be the key to hockey revival.

Another issue we've seen that has been brought up a lot is the dropping values of singles on the secondary market. Some of this may be attributed to more products and more cards. Personally I think it has a lot to do with the group breaking mentality that has taken over the hobby in the past 2-3 years. The more group breaks there are, the more singles that flood the market. Manufacturers love the group breakers because they sell more product, but it really does saturate the market and dwindles collecting interest.

[chakhae1]

I read a couple of more posts and I have a couple of additional points to add. The hockey market in terms of sportscards is the most centralized market of them all as most of it's sales comes from us Canadians. I don't want to put a number on it but let's just say it's over 50%.

I was led to believe that the entire Panini hockey lineup was headed south but with only Titanium being the lone product I think that's a good start to see if a bigger move is worthwhile. Titanium is a mid end product that anyone can afford and has some nice hits in it. It is affordable in that sense.

Group breaks, good or bad are a part of the hobby. Personally they have come boring for me and I only enter the streams to chat amongst fellow collectors. Even a high end, once in a lifetime product like Flawless got boring after a couple of breaks for me and it's the same for every other product.

If there is any reason I would give up the hobby it is the rapid increasing number of shady people that are becoming a part of it since they believe it is easy to make a quick buck. Breakers that I had 100% faith in have been busted for being scammers and that really is a slap in my face and everyone elses face as as collector. Everyone wants to get the big hit and big card and b/c of this collectors lack common sense when they join raffles and breaks and run their money out of control. I consider myself an extremely moral person and the nonsense that goes on in the hobby on a daily basis truely sickens me and I wish more could be done to stop these a holes..

[pacadie]

I stop buying wax about three years ago. Why paying 200 $ for cards that I will probably don't need when I can use this money to buy stuff I need on eBay?

Last fall, I worked a lot. I mean a lot. So, I had some money avalaible. Bought two UD Serie 1. And I have been robbed. 50 % of the bases of the boxes had printing errors (still waiting on UD to fix this). And there were exactly the same bases in the two boxes. Pulled four common white GU and on the 12 YG, 10 were common.

This proves to me that I made the good choice when I decided to quit buying wax.

Now, I bought the occasionnal Nordiques, Habs or ITG card on eBay. I try to build a collection that talk to me, with memorabilia, RC and auto that have a signification for me - and a Jo Blo YG just don't talk to me anymore.

My PC is more about the history of the game and the great players/characters that played it.

When I'll show it to my son (he's two years old, so... I guess he'll see it in two more years) I want him to learn the history of hockey. Not that a guy named Kurt Sauer once had 23 rookie cards...

[Gallinator]

Many of you will not be able to relate with this. "Having a problem with sports cards?!?!" "how does that make any sense?". Unfortunately I was blessed and cursed with an addictive personality, or OCD also alcoholism. I credit my professional success to this trait, it is also the bane of my existence.

I think we all can relate to this in different degrees. I was luckily able to channel my OCD into collecting (comics and cards) and knowing of it actually helped me avoid ever taking any drugs or smoking, as I knew I would quickly become addicted. As a couple of others have mentioned, having an end goal helps; I have decided to keep collecting until I am 50 (seven years from this April) and then take a good hard look at things. I still get great satisfaction from my hobbies, though, and I stick to a budget, so it is not a problem. Like they say in Vegas, when the fun stops, it's time to take a break!

I've never felt that The Cup offered anywhere near enough return on investment to justify cracking it. Same with Prime and Dominion - both of which I like very much, but only expose myself to via group break or the secondary market.

I've also been disturbed by the trend to stretch the "hits" over several boxes, meaning that you need to buy a case in order to guarantee your hits - and now we are seeing some hits seeded at one per two/three/four cases! This means there are way too many boxes out there that return little compared to the purchase price.

Anyway, it's a good decision to step back from the activities that no longer give you joy. I just had a blast cracking 09/10 OPC tins at $6.xx per tin and 11/12 OPC superpacks at $3.xx per pack - got a whole box full of stuff for under $100. I build the RC/Legend/Retro sets over time and sort/sell/trade the rest.

[qwas]

I got a hobby that actually makes a bit of spare change for me. This I use to scratch my collecting itch. I haven't had to dip into my wages in quite some time as a result.