The Hobby is Dead

[capt55]

Roy's didn't, so why should Price cards stay the same, Dryden's cards are still at big time prices.

[jsokol1626]

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.

I'd bet the farm that the money spent on hockey cards today is far greater than 20 years ago. There was no international market back then and here in the States sales were really weak.

[mikecole141]

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


LOL

Good, he will play for another team...

[RGM81]

Good, he will play for another team...

Well after what happened with Josh this summer, anything is possible. Hmmm maybe OP was right...it's all dead to me now!

[Tanguay]

As a Canadian, I do less and less deals than before, due to the US to Canada shipping prices I guess. THAT hurts a lot. And I can't believe some people are always looking for the big pieces for their low-end inserts and stuff. Example: I want like 4-5 5BV cards for my PC's.. And the guy ask for let's say, my Morgan Rielly FWA Patch /100 BV60.... It's getting ridiculous. It's harder to trade these days because people doesn't trade to help anymore, they only want big cards or else they'll sell.

2-3 years ago it was easier to make deals, people helped each other and were not selling as much.

My two cents.

Alex

[rockband]

One thing that I would declare is: Online collecting habits changed soon after postage rates jumped!

I agreed with this statement... I have stopped trading after Canada Post and USPS spikes the postage rates. I just buy and sell now. If people don't mind shipping in White Envelope to reduce the postage costs, I can see people go back to trading to help each other out.

Another one is the high cost of buying wax. I blame UD for this!!! I tried to get my kid into collecting but it's impossible. There's no way my kid or any regular teenagers can afford to bust wax. Especially UD products... a $100 wax yield $10 in the box. You can't attract new people into the hobby when Upper Deck only care about MONEY !!!

With a weak rookie class coming up in 2014-15, I won't be buying any new wax. I will chase 13-14 especially value creation wax like National Treasure. I know I won't lose 90% with NT.

[Camarotuner]

You're upset that the cost of the boxes is high and return low because ud only cares about money. Your solution is to bust the most expensive product in the hobby (what?) because it's a revenue generator.

so to protest what you dislike you will partake in the hobby practices that lead to it being this way? Odd

[RGM81]

You're upset that the cost of the boxes is high and return low because ud only cares about money. Your solution is to bust the most expensive product in the hobby (what?) because it's a revenue generator.

so to protest what you dislike you will partake in the hobby practices that lead to it being this way? Odd

It's kinda comparing crappy wine and really good wine, though.

Like yeah I can go to the store and buy a cheap box of wine and get a quick buzz on it but at the end of the day am I really satisfied? It doesn't taste as good as the really good stuff, and sometimes you want to feel nice & classy so you splurge for the higher-end wine.

I guess that's not the best analogy for getting teenagers into the hobby. LOL

But he's got a very valid point. The average price of an average mid-level box of cards right now is pretty close to $100 across the board these days. Heck, even Score morphed into a $12 per pack product this season! Does Black Diamond at $90 give you the value in return--if you luck out with an Ice /99, but that's not an option going forward. If you drop a brown bill (that's a $100 for you non-Canadians) for UD1 and get six common YG's that's a pretty severe kick in the groin. Wanna drop $60 on two random packs of SP Game Used? Here's two plain jersey cards for your dollar bin. And let's just not talk about Ultimate Collection and how badly some people get slaughtered on that one.

The premium products--Prime, Dominion, Cup, NT--those stand alone and separate from the regular entry-level stuff. Those big ticket boxes are for the big kids, not little Billy scrounging up money on his paper route (is that still a thing?) to go to the card store and get a few packs of cards.

[odjickfan]

MVP is pretty good for the money this year. A blaster of 12 packs for less than 15$ Can, with a bunch of cool Silver Scripts, some SPs, some RCs, probably a 3-Stars inserts (cool looking), and maybe a Gold Script /100 or some long-odds hit.

[rh710]

Oversaturation is what is killing it for me. Saved up forever for a 220 dollar pack of prime. Hit a Lemieux auto /5. Sold for 75 dollars. The 2nd or maybe even greatest player in the history's auto, limited to 5, in a 200 dollar pack. sold for 75. Felt like a punch in the gut at how little things are valued anymore.