When will the bubble burst?

[bravesfan1]

I have been watching the prices of unopened boxes of (mainly) basketball cards skyrocket since the beginning of the pandemic, and as a result have not been able to buy any new product since then. I've still been active on here and ebay, buying/selling/trading singles, and I've noticed that prices have definitely not kept up with the price of unopened boxes.

Hobby boxes of Prizm going for $700, boxes of Flawless going for $8k while a Giannis patch auto sells for $200. I think it's undeniable that we are in the middle of a bubble and people are going to get burned. This is exacerbated by the fact that there are no Zion/Ja equivalents in this year's rookie class, so the chase for a "lottery ticket" from an overpriced box won't pay out as well.

I'm not leaving this hobby regardless; it's just too much fun. But I am being especially wary these days so I don't get carried away with the wave. I'd love to hear your thoughts, regardless of whether you agree/disagree! Happy New Year

[rd69586]

I am in total agreement that prices on boxes have been ridiculous and are pricing out all of the enthusiasts and its just the people in the business that are getting them. I haven't been able to find A blaster of prizm from 2019-20, no gravity feeds, no hangers, nothing....and thats in Dallas! All the LCS have some, but they're $85-$140 for hangers. And I didn't even want to look at their blasters or hobbies. I am puzzled as well about the auto prices on singles and RPAs as well but it looks like RCs and silver prizms have taken their place. I got lucky last year, being in Dallas and Lukamania, I bought one hobby and probably 2 cases worth of blasters at wal mart and target and ended up with 7 RCs and 1 silver, 1 green, 1 pink ice, 1 red ice, and 1 r/w/b, so I feel like I kinda cleaned up for the miss this year. But I have a Timeless Treasures Giannis relic/auto RC that is going for like $400?? Then I go digging around my storage boxes and find 2 hoops Giannis RC that go for the same as the auto. I think basketball is just strange that way as to where baseball is about the auto RC, basketball is about the RC and prizm RC. But definitely stumped as you are.

[BenDenham]

I just started looking through my cards again and it got me excited to get back into it. I started making some trades and looked to grab a few cheap boxes so I had some newer stuff on my trade list and was shocked at the price of even a simple blaster! Hopefully "the bubble" bursts here in the next few weeks when product starts rolling out again. I couldn't imagine paying these crazy amounts for something as simple as Hoops, especially with a weaker class like you said. I will keep checking my local Walmart and Target and hope I get lucky!

[Fido]

I've not found blasters in any of my local stores for at least the past year. I think it is because they sell so well online why post them in the retail stores? I've been getting most of my cards these days from case or box breaks and buying into a team rather than buying the entire box. Prices are that silly crazy. Maybe this year will be another 2016 (wasn't it???) where prices seemed to drop because there was no "big fish" for people to chase with their wallet open wide.