The Hobby is Dead

[Camarotuner]

When shields first hit it was OMG must have so amazing. Now if it's a low tier player in a high end release a shield may not cover the cost of the box. Collect because of your passion for hockey not money. These things make horrendous investments.

[bluesfan6]

See my other posts in the thread. But congrats on a magnificent click-bait title.

I actually think it was a thought worthy of discussion. Maybe its attitudes like this that are contributing to the decline of this great hobby. I have seen people reference his feedback as a reason his opinions should be ignored.

[thehip66]

I actually think it was a thought worthy of discussion. Maybe its attitudes like this that are contributing to the decline of this great hobby. I have seen people reference his feedback as a reason his opinions should be ignored.

Maybe all the negative "discussions" are growing old ???? But that is just my opinion

[habscards]

To me the hobby is actually thriving. It has just evolved a whole lot with the times.

Sure I will agree with the original poster that these message boards have fewer posts. It has all changed to online live feed group breakers. I will use cloutsnchara as my example. They are the biggest hockey card breaker online. Sure their are plenty of others who do a great job but CnC is on nightly. They sell cases worth of cards each and every night. I would care to guess that they have one hundred people watching most nights. All of those people can discuss and watch cards being opened in real time. Why would you read about something when you can do it interactively live. That is with just one group breaker as their could be numerous breakers on the same night. I just think that a lot of the message board people have converted to watching live feed people.

That leads me to sales. I will not go on and on again about shipping prices. That has been covered numerous times through this post. If you sell a card on eBay or another forum you can have the buyer cover the shipping cost. You are not out of money when you sell. Now when you trade you are out your shipping costs. No one makes a trade and agrees to send "X" amount of money in paypal to cover shipping. That is why trading is down. If someone from the States makes a trade with someone from Canada it will cost them $7 to ship. They either have to make the trade big enough to make it worth their while or they feel as if they have to come out ahead in the trade to cover their shipping price loss.

I will use people who buy into group breaks as an example. Say that you PC a certain team or player. A team select group break is your best way to go. You can buy into a group break for a case for the fraction of a box price. Depending upon your team but it is low risk/high reward. You get your cards from the break and then the cards that you do not want you just sell them on eBay to try again in another break.


I can can tell you just from a personal side that I do not like to do group breaks as I prefer to just buy a box and get what the box yields. I also much prefer to buy and sell as opposed to trading. With buying or selling you just go back and forth with numbers until both sides are happy. It can be a much easier and quicker process. With trading I will have to go through folders on someone's photobucket and list what I like. It is time consuming doing that. Then we have to agree on values (book value traders VS sales value traders). Then you have to match cards up in a trade and the trade has to work for both sides. I just find that trading can be very time consuming and can be a lot of back and forth. Sometimes it works out fine and simple but sometimes not.

[RGM81]

I actually think it was a thought worthy of discussion. Maybe its attitudes like this that are contributing to the decline of this great hobby. I have seen people reference his feedback as a reason his opinions should be ignored.

I do not at all agree with the suggestion of "the decline of this great hobby."

I don't buy into the idea that we're shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

I've made approximately 35 transactions in the course of the past 60 days at this and other hobby sites. I am connected to people across the continent that are having more fun right now than they have in years. Whether they're purchasing large collections, harvesting great hits from National Treasures, adding some great PC cards, or just talking shop, or helping me prepare the next great series of contests on SCF (yes, folks, get ready for the 2014-15 season!) there's so much to enjoy and celebrate.

You want to be doom and gloom? Have at it. But don't expect a) many to agree with you, or b) a positive reception from those who are of the opinion that the demise of the hobby has been greatly exaggerated.

[habscards]

One thing that I had forgot to touch in is that I partially blame TV. Their are now so many reality based shows on people making money buying and reselling items. Flipping could be the correct term. So many people have brought that type of thinking into hockey cards. Sure you can make money dealing with cards but it is quite difficult to do. So many people give it a try and they tend to be the ones that are difficult to deal with.

I mean we all like to win a trade don't get me wrong but some trade offers that I get I am not so sure if the other person is serious or just kidding around.

[jsokol1626]

Although trading has decreased I still enjoy it very much. It's fun to help each other and to get the occasional package in the mail. I have never felt the need to own the rarest rookies or the high dollar super short prints. I'm fine with products like UD1 & 2, they are much easier to deal in trade.

[Rraincock]

Awesome input most everyone!

[FrankToronto]

Great thread!

I think the bottom line is the hobby is in a state of flux and going through changes. Even the card manufacturers are trying to figure things out and they haven't nailed it yet. Over the past 20 years, there was certainly a decline but also a re-emergence yet a far cry from the boom days. The hobby today is a complete contrast from what it was back then but so is practically everything else, especially with the technological advancements that are still evolving. The hobby is far from dead but hasn't fully found itself yet either. I think we should take a different view and start paying attention to the potential upside that exists.

I wonder what a thread about the state of the hobby will look like 10 years from now.

[RGM81]

I wonder what a thread about the state of the hobby will look like 10 years from now.

"Will Carey Price's Cards Stay Valuable Now That He's Retired With 5 Stanley Cups?"
Thread Starter: RGM81


LOL