Is the price hike a new trend?

[michaelpatko]

$120 US on release day for series one??

A few years back when The Cup went from @ $450 to $700 when it came out, I thought. Not cool.

We have Hobby, e-pack, retail, blaster, fat pack.

We have Alexis. There's gotta be TONS of this stuff produced!!

This should be $80ish , just like every other recent year!

Angry face emoji!

[penguinsChief]

I had not seen that until you posted and just went out to look and man this sucks! Basically $5 per pack is where UD thinks they can go. This also explains the lack of breaks over the first couple of days. I also saw that D&A had the base price at $139.95 (USD), no way I am going to buy into this. I will always buy a couple packs, but nothing more, I will just buy PC items I want.

[RGM81]

It's a relatively recent trend, but yes it looks to be one that's staying around. If you don't pre-order the product, you're going to pay extra $$$ to get your hands on it. LCS are always telling people "get it early before the price goes up" because it always seems to these days. The initial production allocation from the distributors mysteriously dries up, they mysteriously get more a couple weeks later, increasing the price to the LCS who has no alternative but to pass that price increase on to you, the lucky collector who isn't on the email distribution list who didn't pre-order.

[30ranfordfan]

It's a relatively recent trend, but yes it looks to be one that's staying around. If you don't pre-order the product, you're going to pay extra $$$ to get your hands on it. LCS are always telling people "get it early before the price goes up" because it always seems to these days. The initial production allocation from the distributors mysteriously dries up, they mysteriously get more a couple weeks later, increasing the price to the LCS who has no alternative but to pass that price increase on to you, the lucky collector who isn't on the email distribution list who didn't pre-order.

^^^^^^^ THIS!

I've thought for a long time, it's the distibutors playing games. They short the shops, then magically get more in a couple of weeks later - but with a price hike.

With some of the posts I've seen today, showing miscuts and overall poor quality control - I do kind of wonder if UD rushed this one out..... and the supply to companies like Universal or Grosner really is less than expected (meaning shops got shorted too).

I'm sure in a couple of weeks, there will be a fresh supply. The price will be higher, and the quality will be normal.

I had no intention of buying any of Series 1 - but if Wally has blasters at a reasonable price, I might roll the dice on a few.

[michaelpatko]

I will be buying ZERO of this.

[odjickfan]

^^^^^^^ THIS!

I've thought for a long time, it's the distibutors playing games. They short the shops, then magically get more in a couple of weeks later - but with a price hike.

With some of the posts I've seen today, showing miscuts and overall poor quality control - I do kind of wonder if UD rushed this one out..... and the supply to companies like Universal or Grosner really is less than expected (meaning shops got shorted too).

I'm sure in a couple of weeks, there will be a fresh supply. The price will be higher, and the quality will be normal.

I had no intention of buying any of Series 1 - but if Wally has blasters at a reasonable price, I might roll the dice on a few.

That's my plan for UD1 too. I'm hoping the quality control will be better for retail.

[volkov956]

Wish my walmarts would put blasters on sale all 4 near me seem to like 31.99cnd and just 7 packs guaranteed 1 Young guns no thanks same was with 2019-20 blasters as well.

The price hikes wouldn't happen if we didn't buy into preorder....

Yea the Quality of cards in 2019-20 boxes retail and hobby seemed to be random i have a large assortment of miscut cards lol hoping this year aint the same i rather not fill a binder with miscut cards

[30ranfordfan]

Wish my walmarts would put blasters on sale all 4 near me seem to like 31.99cnd and just 7 packs guaranteed 1 Young guns no thanks same was with 2019-20 blasters as well.

The price hikes wouldn't happen if we didn't buy into preorder....

Yea the Quality of cards in 2019-20 boxes retail and hobby seemed to be random i have a large assortment of miscut cards lol hoping this year aint the same i rather not fill a binder with miscut cards

It's been a few years since I bought the retail from Walmart. I think 2015-16 was the last time (but I bought a lot of those, lol).

They were 8 packs, plus a bonus parkhurst pack back then..... you're telling them they only put 7 packs in the blasters now?

When it was 8 packs per, they were great. You'd get two YGs, but typically paid about 25% of the cost of a hobby box. If you didn't care about the higher end inserts or parallels, it was a very cost effective way to put together a big chunk of the set. They'd put them on sale too.

[piper1]

Distributors will gouge as deep as the buyers are willing to go. This isn't the only industry with that feature. More often than not I wait for the blowout sales on the stuff they want to get rid of.

[sparty07]

I'm surprised there hasn't been any lawsuits against this cutting allocation, then magically getting more product for more money a month later. Seems rife for a anti-competitive monopoly challenge.