Is It Just Me?

[doniceage]

Yes my point exactly so it would be hard to know truly if someone has gone through them or not...very unfortunate

If you want to know if a dealer go thru them you can do the following:

1) Buy a random box that has a pack out of it. If you hit the box hit or the case hit you can be rest assured this dealer is not searching all his boxes and peddling the hits.
2) Go in and bust a few packs out of a fresh box. If you know how many packs are left you could tell a friend and he could come in minutes after you leave and by the remaining packs. If he has no hits either there something fishy going on.
3) Ask a dealer if anything been hit out of a box. Many dealers will tell you nothing been hit if nothing has as that only adds fuel to the fire for a collector to burn thru the remaining packs to hit the hit. Of course I seen collectors spend money on a fresh new bo and not hit anything and a lucky collector waiting just dropped in after for the hit goodies. Kind of like waiting for a slot machine that not had any hits for a long time.

Many eon's ago you could search for the hot boxes reportedly from UD products. I had some dealers say this was true but I never bought a case to find out as I was small time back then. They mentioned the hot boxes had the ud decal placed on by hand not buy a machine. So it would never be exactly the same as the rest in the case hence a dealer could get not just a box hit but the case hit. The companies are always doing more to make these practices harder to do. Just like some folks used to weigh packs on a scale for the hits. If there money involved there will always be folks out there looking for a way to manipulate the situation to their advantage sad to say.

If it really irks you be a champion for change or the education of bad practices (try to educate people).


DON

[30ranfordfan]

LCS near me.... some of my best hits ever were from single packs. I trust them completely.

I would suggest that people busting single packs (or 3 packs of UDS1 type thing) are posting when they hit something nice. If they bought 3 packs of UDS1 5 times.... hit nothing 4 of those times, and hit a Matthews on the 5th - they's the one they're going to be excited about, take a scan of, and post.


Back to the pack searching... you have to be able to trust the people you're buying from. If searching is happening (and it'd be easy, even with UDS1/2) people will figure it out quickly enough though. If an owner and a few regular customers get all the good hits, and nobody else does... well, it's going to be suspicious, and people are going to stop buing there.

[chakhae1]

LCS near me.... some of my best hits ever were from single packs. I trust them completely.

I would suggest that people busting single packs (or 3 packs of UDS1 type thing) are posting when they hit something nice. If they bought 3 packs of UDS1 5 times.... hit nothing 4 of those times, and hit a Matthews on the 5th - they's the one they're going to be excited about, take a scan of, and post.


Back to the pack searching... you have to be able to trust the people you're buying from. If searching is happening (and it'd be easy, even with UDS1/2) people will figure it out quickly enough though. If an owner and a few regular customers get all the good hits, and nobody else does... well, it's going to be suspicious, and people are going to stop buing there.

For sure no one is going to scan and post images of their duds so I understand what you are saying there. What you say about trust is the main point here. I don't want to get into the greed discussion b/c it has been beaten to death, but there still lurk collectors out there that are in the hobby just to make a fast buck.

[chakhae1]

If you want to know if a dealer go thru them you can do the following:

1) Buy a random box that has a pack out of it. If you hit the box hit or the case hit you can be rest assured this dealer is not searching all his boxes and peddling the hits.
2) Go in and bust a few packs out of a fresh box. If you know how many packs are left you could tell a friend and he could come in minutes after you leave and by the remaining packs. If he has no hits either there something fishy going on.
3) Ask a dealer if anything been hit out of a box. Many dealers will tell you nothing been hit if nothing has as that only adds fuel to the fire for a collector to burn thru the remaining packs to hit the hit. Of course I seen collectors spend money on a fresh new bo and not hit anything and a lucky collector waiting just dropped in after for the hit goodies. Kind of like waiting for a slot machine that not had any hits for a long time.

Many eon's ago you could search for the hot boxes reportedly from UD products. I had some dealers say this was true but I never bought a case to find out as I was small time back then. They mentioned the hot boxes had the ud decal placed on by hand not buy a machine. So it would never be exactly the same as the rest in the case hence a dealer could get not just a box hit but the case hit. The companies are always doing more to make these practices harder to do. Just like some folks used to weigh packs on a scale for the hits. If there money involved there will always be folks out there looking for a way to manipulate the situation to their advantage sad to say.

If it really irks you be a champion for change or the education of bad practices (try to educate people).


DON

There have been lots of secrets in the past to how to get all the hits out of a box or a case and one of the more common ones was looking at the serial number on the hologram. SPX I believe also used to place all their hits on one side of the box and the list goes on and on. I used to buy packs from my lcs b/c I didn't have the patience to save for a box. That was a couple of years ago and I have realized that saving up for a couple of boxes is much more rewarding.

I think for the most part, stores and dealers at shows have the pack searching issue under control, but from time to time when I go to Walmart, I do see boxes that have been tampered with.

[habsheaven]

I opened 2 boxes of SPx. Am I to believe the Santini Shadowbox jersey numbered to 149 was a hit? I much preferred the Stamkos patch /25 and the Nylander /99 Patch auto redemption.

[ReimerFan]

I have been educating the walmart and Toys R Us staff in my area about theft. There are a lot of shrink wrapped boxes (s1 parkhurst blasters in particular) that don't have the UD logo on it anymore. They're buying the boxes, opening the packs, taking the big hits and then sealing up the packs and box and returning the blasters for a refund.

I go through them about once a week and pull all of the tampered boxes from the shelf. Flag down the store manager and explain to them what is going on. I also chat with the Customer service manager and let them know not to accept the boxes back. Hopefully they will also call the authorities. It infuriates me that a kid could save up $50 to buy a box only to be cheated out of a chance at a good card. It's hard enough to get good value out of an un-tampered box.

If you see a tampered with product please take it to the front and let them know. This has to stop!

[doniceage]

I think for the most part, stores and dealers at shows have the pack searching issue under control, but from time to time when I go to Walmart, I do see boxes that have been tampered with.

I concur.

DON

[doniceage]

I have been educating the walmart and Toys R Us staff in my area about theft. There are a lot of shrink wrapped boxes (s1 parkhurst blasters in particular) that don't have the UD logo on it anymore. They're buying the boxes, opening the packs, taking the big hits and then sealing up the packs and box and returning the blasters for a refund.

I go through them about once a week and pull all of the tampered boxes from the shelf. Flag down the store manager and explain to them what is going on. I also chat with the Customer service manager and let them know not to accept the boxes back. Hopefully they will also call the authorities. It infuriates me that a kid could save up $50 to buy a box only to be cheated out of a chance at a good card. It's hard enough to get good value out of an un-tampered box.

If you see a tampered with product please take it to the front and let them know. This has to stop!

Keep it up!

DON

[chakhae1]

I have been educating the walmart and Toys R Us staff in my area about theft. There are a lot of shrink wrapped boxes (s1 parkhurst blasters in particular) that don't have the UD logo on it anymore. They're buying the boxes, opening the packs, taking the big hits and then sealing up the packs and box and returning the blasters for a refund.

I go through them about once a week and pull all of the tampered boxes from the shelf. Flag down the store manager and explain to them what is going on. I also chat with the Customer service manager and let them know not to accept the boxes back. Hopefully they will also call the authorities. It infuriates me that a kid could save up $50 to buy a box only to be cheated out of a chance at a good card. It's hard enough to get good value out of an un-tampered box.

If you see a tampered with product please take it to the front and let them know. This has to stop!

Are you serious? This seems like a bit of a stretch to me b/c what good hits can you get from a blaster? Nothing much unless you hit a Matthews young gun or something. Sigh. I think it is a little ignorant on the part of the staff of these retail outlets, that they seem to have no clue that theft and tampering does go on. The blaster section at Walmart, the boxes aren't even sealed back up and they are just left open with the hit gone. Really, really sad.

[chakhae1]

I opened 2 boxes of SPx. Am I to believe the Santini Shadowbox jersey numbered to 149 was a hit? I much preferred the Stamkos patch /25 and the Nylander /99 Patch auto redemption.

i saw your break and the boxes are really random. some have 2 autos, others have one. i even saw one with just one game used hit. those are the breaks!