Well Done Upper Deck

[cygnusx1]

I've always found the concept of buying wax fascinating. For something like UDS1, it's basically gambling with a near 0% chance of profiting. It's well known that you could just buy/trade for all your wants at a significantly lower price.... so why even buy a box? Sure, it's fun to open packs, but significantly less so when you know you've already been gouged prior to opening

[10-4 collector]

Maybe $95??

And and LCS should not run solely based on Hockey cards. He does all sports, all TCG and figures / Warhammer.

Point is, its not the Distributor gouging stores, its your friendly LCS owner gouging you.

I bought 2 boxes today at $125 a piece …. no reason other LCS's are charging $200CAD a box

On a side note, his shelf price is $149.99 + tax. But when you buy from someone for years, and provide them a lot of retail spoils … where you make a little and they make a little ….. you get a little better deal

Ahhhh! I knew 125$ all in was impossible, 149.99 is still a better price than what I’ve seen online.

[10-4 collector]

I've always found the concept of buying wax fascinating. For something like UDS1, it's basically gambling with a near 0% chance of profiting. It's well known that you could just buy/trade for all your wants at a significantly lower price.... so why even buy a box? Sure, it's fun to open packs, but significantly less so when you know you've already been gouged prior to opening

If you purchase a box of series 1 20-21 at 200$ your chance of breaking even is something like 10%. You can pull a Lafreniere YG, Canvas exclusives... The chance of pulling a big big card is probably closer to 0% though! :)

[canucksfan007]

Ahhhh! I knew 125$ all in was impossible, 149.99 is still a better price than what I’ve seen online.

I mean, I feel all LCS's have their better prices for their regulars / people who scratch their back as well. Ive provided a ton of Mosaic / Chronicles / Illusions / Hidden Fates / Evolutions / Shiny Star V to him for a fraction of what I could have made on the open market, in order for him to give me a far less of a markup on the up coming Hockey releases. Saying this, its crazy what people will pay for sealed "hot" wax when its coming from an LCS. $180 for Evolutions Kanto Power Boxes, $85 for Chronicles Hangers, $350 for Mosaic Megas ……. $40 a pack for Shiny Star V.

After the regulars were done with the cases he had, he had less than 5 boxes for the shelf.

I feel like you have to be on the "in" with your LCS to not feel like everything is sold out or jacked up in price. No, I couldn't have bought 5 cases of the stuff as he gets allocated like everyone else, but I feel the LCS owner / local consumer relationship most likely goes without any thought. Know and be in the good books with the right people anywhere can move you forward …. simply by showing youre thinking of them / looking out for them, they will likely do the same.

[canucksfan007]

If you purchase a box of series 1 20-21 at 200$ your chance of breaking even is something like 10%. You can pull a Lafreniere YG, Canvas exclusives... The chance of pulling a big big card is probably closer to 0% though! :)

Another box that was available for $120 a box on release day =P. At $200 on UD1 and Artifacts ….. im not sure why anyone is touching the stuff! Especially when you know the Walmart 50% off Megas wil be right around the corner.

[RGM81]

A quick note - UD did raise the source price of Series 1 by a buck a pack. That's $24 per box right there. Anything else since then is a result of a combination of the insane demand, a little profiteering, and the mysterious yet happens every time "scarcity" out there. As @canucksfan007 astutely points out, this is a current hobby-wide trend that is not limited to hockey. Prices in the other sports (which have always had a larger following in the US) are insane right now due an influx of new hobby participants and increased demand. There's little glimpses of it everywhere - my LCS runs 2x/week live auctions on Facebook, and there's guys there who have never bought cards before (at least not to this extent) getting in almost every night and causing higher bids on cards that two years ago would have almost been an afterthought. Some of that is a bit of hobby naivete but in the end, it still causes the price to go up on singles and the secondary market. Look at how quickly players see spikes -- Tyler Toffoli pops a hat trick against the Canucks and his YG shoots up from $10 to $40 overnight. The market is literally reacting game-by-game right now. We've never seen anything like this before. Will it be sustained? I don't know, but I'm really glad I got my new Habs stuff before this madness started. LOL

[mq13]

I will no longer buy boxes from UD for a few reasons and not because of cost.

1) Collation of the packs. Bought a Mega Blaster and got doubles in 30% of the base
2) Card condition this year is horrible
3) Since they have no other companies to vie with, they continue to do the Same Old thing
4) When UD1 hits ePack, it will drag down the prices of the Hot cards

[cjb]

Is it really upper deck's fault or is it the middle man.

I know for a fact you still could have pre ordered hobby boxes for about 100 bucks. Plus the price of blaster boxes and tins compared to last year are relatively the same if you go to London drugs or walmart. It's when you start buying on amazon and ebay is where you run into trouble.

[Taxi]

Well UD did just replace all my rounded corners Young Guns, so I do have something positive to say about them. I do think some of the issues with quality control and scarcity are covid related. I also see why the individual stores are doing what they are. Owning a hobby store for years has been a rough way to make a living. Now that are cashing in.

I do wish UD would do away with the wholesaler system and sell directly to stores, cutting out useless middle men. In this day and age with the way the internet has changed distribution chains, the wholesalers serve no purpose.

[30ranfordfan]

Well UD did just replace all my rounded corners Young Guns, so I do have something positive to say about them. I do think some of the issues with quality control and scarcity are covid related. I also see why the individual stores are doing what they are. Owning a hobby store for years has been a rough way to make a living. Now that are cashing in.

I do wish UD would do away with the wholesaler system and sell directly to stores, cutting out useless middle men. In this day and age with the way the internet has changed distribution chains, the wholesalers serve no purpose.

Wholesalers do server a purpose though.

Clearly, Upper Deck doesn't want to be in the distribution business. There's a lot of effort that would go into the distribution of their products across North American (and the world, really). It takes a lot of staff.

It's why the middle man exists in so many industries. Companies don't want to deal with that aspect of things themselves.

Not only that.... but having the middle men ensure that product is out of UD's hands quickly, and products are "sold out".