Question for Case Breakers

[Samuwry7]

What $$ percentage of your cases do you usually recover, while still keeping 1 or 2 of the killer hits you were hoping to get in the first place? Are new-release cases the best or is there better value in cheaper case clearance cases from years past? I'm curious what the real cost of this practice is, roughly.

[theboxbreaker96]

Yes New release is the best time to open a case. If you have your hits up for sale on the release day you will pretty decent. Usually I get 3/4 of it back. I have opened 2 cases before. 1 of 11-12 SPA on release day and one 13-14 SPA on release day. Both times I got around 3/4 or it back. I came real close to getting most back on 11-12 had a few nice cards.

Anyways if you end up keeping 2 of the big hits then you will be around 1/2 percentage back give or take. If your opening Ultimate, Cup, National Treasures the its different and I cant help you there.

If you don't open near the release day you will get burned pretty badly. If you were to open SPA now you would be pretty lucky to get any more than half back.

[thehip66]

There are a lot variables to how much you will get back .... Big one is luck , second is the price and research the products for the older releases , then also depends on how you sell your hits for example if you list on ebay or here with fixed prices or you try to quick flip of auctioning them all of on ebay ... but never ever count on getting your money back or dreaming of profiting .. very rare IMO

[AndrewJacobson]

I've made a profit very few times with case breaks and that is when I hit a huge hit (Carey Price Cup Rc 31/99, Humphrey Bogart Cut Auto 1/1, things that are crazy hard to hit...) Anyways I think 08-09 UD Black was my best break as far as resell, I made around 87% back and got to keep a 1/1 cut from it. Most breaks I have done in the last few years have been terrible and I recoup maybe 60-70% with keeping maybe one card if that and I will usually break product within the first month. Not much value though in busting wax anymore unless you hit some crazy hit.

[netsinah]

NEVER expect to open wax and recoup your money, since getting your money back or close to it, is rare. As well, keep in mind you have to spend time to sell the cards later to try and recover your money (your time is worth something, contrary to what some buyers might think) and you'll usually pay a fee to sell (ie. ebay fees, postage, something for the top loader, envelope, etc.). ONLY open if you enjoy the thrill of gambling and have spare dough to lose money on cards and will truly appreciate having the cards later. Hopefully, whatever you do you'll enjoy this hobby and not look back with regret at any decisions you've made.

Having opened lots of wax in the past...and sometimes because I've gotten "on a roll" (ie. multiple Cup cases in more than one sitting)...and having seen many "high-end collectors" join and leave the hobby over the years...it's good to keep your goals with the hobby in perspective and revisit where you're at from time to time, to ensure you're satisfied with your collecting habits.

[JoelCarry]

First of all good to see Vaughn you are still alive and kicking.

To be honest like others have said busting cases is just gambling. Sure there are people who still break cases to sell and hope to recoup their funds although a lot fewer then there used to be
in the Hockey hobby. I open cases not to flip and make my money back in the short term but for the thrill of opening high end product. Plus you would be surprised what awesome cards you can acquire
if you have the right traders. I never look at it as what percentage i can get back from a case i open.
It is getting tougher to land a case hit that will even cover the cost of one tin/pack of a high end release.
I have curbed my case opening some and realize for me i am better off to just buy case hits or what ever nice cards come from the product.
Also i spend more on group breaks as well which has landed me some sweet cards for sure (another form of gambling)
There are others who open cases that may be able to give you a percentage but not me.

Cheers Joel

[doniceage]

I open cases and charge as close to cost as possible so members can get the big hits. I do not keep any hits but sell the base once a year at the Nationals to help fund the table. Think I sold 9 3200 counts boxes for $180. Definitely not a profit making venture lol.

Personally, if your reselling you need new products as that what people will bid dollars on even lower game used and base cards and pay a decent amount. Before companies put there new policies in place there were some places that landed product a day of two officially before release. These ebay sellers made a killing in the past. I would bet they easily recoiled the case price over easily. Nowadays, it a lot harder.

A great question and look forward to see the percentages posted by others.


Don

[rydlar99]

As (formerly) one of the larger / higher volume group breakers out there, I'll chime in on this. Unless a MEGA hit comes out, usually you lose on a case break or any sort of multi-box break (unless the stars are aligned). The market is so flooded with product that unless you piece out every little thing like base cards, sets, team sets on release day it just doesn't work out. IMO the last great case out there was 11-12 Dominion 3 Box Cases... exceptionally stacked cases, and even when they were available in Canada 6-9 months after release you could break-even selling the hits. If you ever get a chance to pick one up, I highly recommend it. Or just watch some of my Youtube videos, they're just plain ol' nasty.

[habscards]

I have opened a few cases in my time so I will chime in here. It is very, very, very difficult to make money on a case.

I have only opened five cases in my life and made money once. It was from 2011-12 Between the Pipes. I also did it around release day at the Expo where you got a redemption /10 for every box you opened. as for redemptions I got a Price patch /10 (great patch) which I sold for $100 and an Irbe glove or pad that sold for $120 or $125. I also pulled the Edmonton Oilers Shooting Gallery six jersey gold version 1/1 that sold for $300-350.

After those three hits I listed everything on eBay and sold stuff off here and there. When everything was said and done I made about $100 profit after fees. That is with getting ten bonus redemption cards as well and hitting a really big card. If someone is looking to go an make money off of buying case I would much suggest that they just go and work a few more hours. For me to make that $100 I had to scan and list all of the cards. Then when they sold I had to package all of the cards up and ship them at the Post Office.

With all of that being said I am tempted to buy a case of National Treasures. I can get a case for $1,740 after tax. Now I have not shopped around to see if I can get a better price but that is what my LCS quoted me as when I emailed them. The product does look loaded but in all reality you would still need to hit at least one monster of a card to break even. Do not forget that eBay is the best place to sell cards for top dollar but if you sell with a Buy it Now/Best Offer you pay 12% in fees. That means that you would have to make $1,949 in sales just to break even. So the bigger statement is that if you pay $400 before tax for a box, you need to get $488 worth of cards in sales just to break even.


I do actually think that if I were to try to make money busting a case I would do it with an older product at a very reduced rate. Just going on Steel City Collectibles I would suggest these cases:

2010-11 BTP 20 boxes for $770
On average you will get five autos/jerseys per box. 100 total hits. If you hit something pretty major you will put a big dent in your $770. The problem is that you will get a lot of very low end autos and jerseys that are hard to move.

2012-13 ITG Ultimate 2 box case (10 packs) for $615
If I lived in the States I would jump all over this. I am guessing that this would be a really good return on investment. Each case should have at least one really good hit that has a sales value of $100-150. That would be $200-300 in just two cards and then you would have the other 28 hits to hopefully hit something else really nice.

[S4Kh4r0v]

(...)
2012-13 ITG Ultimate 2 box case (10 packs) for $615
If I lived in the States I would jump all over this. I am guessing that this would be a really good return on investment. Each case should have at least one really good hit that has a sales value of $100-150. That would be $200-300 in just two cards and then you would have the other 28 hits to hopefully hit something else really nice.

Holy cow this is ridiculously cheap! I concur, americans should be all over this.