The Hobby is Dead

[ChuckNorrisFearsS]

Personally I feel the hobby is nearing a point of make-or-break. What I care more about is how we can generate more traffic on the forums. I've suggested SCF biz cards for flyers that those of us who sell on eBay could put into mailers or possibly drop off at local LCS. Whether UD goes belly up or not the cards that exist now, will exist then, and trading will be more important than ever. I just would like to see more activity on the forums, more new members, etc.

[Billwinkle]

The hobby isn't dead but the speculator are making it very sick. I am an old guy and there was a time when people collected cards for the joy of collecting their team or favorite player or set. Everyone want a full year set or all the cards from a certain player which were both economically and physically possible then. There may have been one or two rookie cards for a player because the number companies were limited. How many different McKinnon rookie cards are there? Nobody cared what this card or that card was worth. It was a HOBBY much like woodworking, stamp collecting, model collecting and so on. Now it seems like everyone believes they are going to strike it rich with this card or that card. ALL the new cards loose their value quicker than a frog eating a fly. What you paid $1000 for yesterday you will be lucky to sell for $500 next month. In my opinion the only safe bet is vintage (and I don't mean 1990 cards). The market is steady and values are holding and in some cases climbing. Take that same $1000 buy a 53-54 Beliveau RC and a 51-52 Ted Lindsay RC keep it a few years and you will at the very least break even. Try that with a new card!
I collect vintage so of course I am biased toward it. Sorry folks just my opinion.

[odjickfan]

I think that this upcoming year will be really rough. Their are no true top rookies to chase. Unless Droiin absolutely tears the league apart. I will look on the bright side though and hope that collectors switch more from chasing rookie to chasing star players.

I'll be mostly breaking discounted ITG and Panini products this year. Not many good rookies to try my luck for.

[AndrewZachary]

I recently got a new job in a new city and had to clamp down financially, so I have been absent from the hobby for about three/four months now. Now that I'm settled I decided to log back on to the board and get back into things...It seems I missed just about nothing, which leads me to believe the title of this thread is somewhat true. Paying absolutely no attention to the hobby for four months, I decided to log on to ITG's site and see what new products were coming up.....nothing since draft prospects, the last box I bought. Seems it is rather dead :(

[RGM81]

ITG's operations have been transferred over to Leaf. So there was that big piece of news you missed. LOL

[eliteco3]

I am new to hockey and just started to collect NHL cards last year. I enjoyed both UD & Panini products from 13-14. The class from last year seems to be filled with future stars. I am not sure if 14-15 can match that hype but Drouin will help. I am a little surprised that 13-14 hockey boxes are as low as they are with all of the talent in that crop. I guess it is more for me to break lol. I would like to trade more on this site and sell but I am waiting for my must send first label to come off. I have a lot of hockey cases that I am setting up for group breaks on my website to be busted on breakers. I buy them and break them for fun as this is a hobby. I hope to break even or loose a little while having fun and brining cool cards to collectors.

[AndrewZachary]

ITG's operations have been transferred over to Leaf. So there was that big piece of news you missed. LOL

This happened right before I took a break and I purchased a box of Draft Prospects, so I didn't miss that...but wouldn't ITG still update their site?????

[Leafsman]

The hobby isn't dead but the speculator are making it very sick. I am an old guy and there was a time when people collected cards for the joy of collecting their team or favorite player or set. Everyone want a full year set or all the cards from a certain player which were both economically and physically possible then. There may have been one or two rookie cards for a player because the number companies were limited. How many different McKinnon rookie cards are there? Nobody cared what this card or that card was worth. It was a HOBBY much like woodworking, stamp collecting, model collecting and so on. Now it seems like everyone believes they are going to strike it rich with this card or that card. ALL the new cards loose their value quicker than a frog eating a fly. What you paid $1000 for yesterday you will be lucky to sell for $500 next month. In my opinion the only safe bet is vintage (and I don't mean 1990 cards). The market is steady and values are holding and in some cases climbing. Take that same $1000 buy a 53-54 Beliveau RC and a 51-52 Ted Lindsay RC keep it a few years and you will at the very least break even. Try that with a new card!
I collect vintage so of course I am biased toward it. Sorry folks just my opinion.

AMEN...this is a HOBBY, not a profit-making venture. Those concerned with "return on investment", "profit" and "loss" and treat this like a stock market, well, they should be a stock broker, not a card collector. If you pay more money for a box or case than you get when you sell the cards you get from that box or case, I think you should seriously consider forgetting about buying those types of products. If you want to make money, sports cards isn't the way to go.

I don't give a flying fadoo what a card "sells for" on ebay.

The general philosophy of card collecting went from "can I finish my set?" to "how much can I get for this on ebay?" Even when trading I don't understand why some collectors ask for more than BV because a card has a crazy 5 or 6 color patch. It's a piece of FABRIC for gosh sakes.

For the most part, the "hobby" in and of itself IS dead (or at the very least, on life support) but the greed lives on.

I know this might not be a popular statement and that is fine. There is no need to roast me.

[Leafsman]

I'll be mostly breaking discounted ITG and Panini products this year. Not many good rookies to try my luck for.

Not many good rookies?

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Mark Visentin, Teuvo Teravainen, Calle Jarnkrok, Brandon Gormley, Markus Granlund, Oscar Klefbom, Johnny Gaudreau, Vincent Trocheck...not to mention the 2014 draft picks that stuck with their teams like Aaron Ekblad and Leon Draisaitl.

[JEG]

Not many good rookies?

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Mark Visentin, Teuvo Teravainen, Calle Jarnkrok, Brandon Gormley, Markus Granlund, Oscar Klefbom, Johnny Gaudreau, Vincent Trocheck...not to mention the 2014 draft picks that stuck with their teams like Aaron Ekblad and Leon Draisaitl.

Dont forget Duclair, Severson and Karlsson who are all playing great just because there is no hype doesnt mean there are no good players. Think of some of these guys as lets say Pk, he went in the 2nd round and I would say he is an impact player and a vaery collectable player.