Box break vs group break vs singles..

[KingKuba]

Using 2013-14 spa authentic as an example. Typical $120 box..

Box:
sott hickey, two average FWA's, some base and some filler inserts.

Group break: wild, blues, sabres for $120 cost
Coyle/granlund/fontaine/tarasenko/girgensons FWA's
All the filler inserts for the teams

Singles:
20 FWA's, toffoli, etem, Forsberg, etc.
MAF retro die cut auto
Andy moog base auto
Malkin base parallel auto
pieterangelo base parallel auto
Shipping


Results may vary but going by typical returns....

[LecavalierFan]

Individual box breaks are always going to be a gamble. You may not hit anything worth while, or you may hit a Gretzky auto and MacKinnon FWA in the same box. You just never know. Similar deal with group breaks, just lower risk/lower reward, as you only get hits for the teams you get. Singles, if you are looking for only specific things, is more than likely going to be the cheapest way as you know what you are getting with the money you are putting up for it.

[KingKuba]

You won't hit gretzky and mackinnon in same box. That's after watching 50 cases....

But I get your point. Gamble. Risk vs reward.
I still break boxes all the time.

Buying singles can be a nag with shipping/exchange and scammers/damaged cards.

Unless one dealer has all you want shipping will kill you.

100 cards... = $300-400 in shipping over time.
Insane...

[cygnusx1]

And the point of this is......?

[ravens_creed]

I think the point is to show how little value, or what a huge risk it is, to break boxes.

This is why I buy singles almost exclusively now. In the long run, including the shipping involved, I know I'm getting what I want for a lot less than if I were to try and acquire the same cards through breaks of any kind. I don't like throwing my money away, personally.

[cygnusx1]

But the way it's broken down here isn't realistic. You're looking at basically the worst box possible there, and the singles that were listed would have to be picked up at roughly $1 plus shipping for each card in order for it to add up properly. Those cards routinely sell for more than that, so you'd have to be lucky to find them at those prices, much like you'd be lucky if you had a good box break.

Any argument can be made to look valid if you're looking at it from a biased standpoint.