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10-11-2021, 03:28 PM #1Assistant General Manager
The state of the hobby and the future. (my perspective with PICTURE). Your thoughts please.
Just a few points I like to make.
1) Many folks have complained about not being able to get retail. I usually have had that issue over the last year but now it is becoming so much easier to find retail of some products. (Look at how much baseball is left in the pic above). Even some football packs left to be picked up.
Any of you seeing this trend in your area?
2) We say we hate flippers but with the price increases they are not as prevalent. Only the basketball product with Select and Donruss being totally ravished by the early birds. The mega's of both prizm baseball and chrome baseball have been sitting there over 8 hours and still not touched. At $60 a box with tax it not going to fly off the shelves like in the past. So what will happen in the future. Too me it going to be a lot of junk out there of this stuff in the future if Topps, Panini, and Upper Deck keep the pedal to the metal on pumping out product.
I will never hate a flipper because it only natural to want to make money. I will stick to my guns and not buy from others sources when companies or individuals try to mark up the prices.
So do you guys and gals stick to your guns or cave in and buy product when you cannot find it at the flipper price point?
3)Since the demand is there and you can see the amount of retail being pushed at so many sources via card shops, shows, retail stores.
What do you see for the future of the hobby when these products are like 5 to 10 years in the rear view mirror? THOUGHTS?
Just wanted to see what others are seeing in their area and thoughts in general. Thanks and see you on the boards.
DON
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10-13-2021, 02:38 PM #2
The state of the hobby and the future. (my perspective with PICTURE). Your thoughts please.
Crazy how the times change. I haven’t heard about pack searchers chilling in the aisles in years. To me this is just a further evolution. I have no issue with flippers, but I usually buy singles anyway. Bigger issue for me is the 15% seller fees and sales tax on eBay. Im also not a fan of hobby shops selling retail blasters for $40, something I’ve seen with my own eyes. It’s weird to see graded card sleeves at Walmart too.
5-10 years from now I see a new platform for cards or the expansion of COMC or like services. Social media is already playing a role here, but I think we will see new things emerge.
Another thing is the “investors.” Usually younger or newer collectors trying to make money or hedge for inflation etc.. Financial literacy classes are becoming commonplace in high schools today, and I believe the focus on investing in this country is only going to increase. I do not think it is a huge bubble. More people will be looking into card collecting and populations/demand will continue to increase. We’re already seeing the effects in rising prices on 90’s cards that would have been trash 15 years ago.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1998-FLAIR-...-127632-2357-0Last edited by turnpipe; 10-13-2021 at 02:48 PM.
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10-13-2021, 03:12 PM #3Baseball Manager
It’s only going to get worse, us regular Joe collector’s are going to be pushed out by the pricing. The only thing we could afford is the retail stuff, and this past year they’ve managed to take that from us too! It’s not a hobby anymore, it’s a business. Look at the Fanatics deal, the Players union’s saw that .
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10-13-2021, 03:31 PM #4
So maybe they print more and add more numbered sets to keep up with demand and add value? Older stuff is still going to be set in stone and is still going to get more expensive like it always has. Keep in mind every market is out of whack right now. If you said that about housing anybody who doesn’t already own a home would be stuck in apartments for eternity. I certainly hope that’s not the case..
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10-13-2021, 03:34 PM #5Assistant General Manager
The rarer parallels and such are seeing a big increase especially graded. Here is a few issues with your analogy from the way I am looking at things.
1) How many cards do you have that are from the 90's (Think of all the base you had to get a parallel like that). So with that said how many folks held onto those cards and did not just throw them away.
2) Even if you did hold onto the parallels and you can make $10 on the card how many cards do you have that you can now make $10 etc. Say you have a 100 that would be a $1000 but I would bet you probably paid more than a 1000 dollars busting wax as everybody was buying wax etc. So the big question is you spent a dollar amount let say 1000 dollars and you are not making a 1000 dollars. So for holding onto cards for over 30 years your just breaking even. Even if you make 2 or 3 times your money other investments were out there that would probably have performed better and the big bonus no space needed to keep the cards LOL. As we know many folks have had their parents throw them away, damage to the cards somehow, and the list goes on and on.
3) As you say people are looking to invest but is that not the same thing that happened in the late 80's and 90's? Folks thought they would be able to make a ton if they just sat on cards and they would be like those old cards of Mickey, Hank, Willie, and the list goes on and on. Of course that is not the case as we all know. I do not see how the future will be different.
DON
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10-13-2021, 03:48 PM #6
Good point. But what if you bought that card for $1 15 years ago. Today you have a 1000% profit on one of the least successful players in the set. Basketball, which is spreading internationally faster than other major sports, from this set is going even more nuts.
I wasn’t around in the 80’s and 90’s boom so it’s hard to say, but it is easy to see. Those old cards are setting records at auction. There is a huge stigma around the late 80s early 90s that isn’t going to go away until people who went through it are gone. They will continue to disappear like you are saying.
Finally, one thing remains the same.. it’s hard to break even busting wax. Isn’t that sort of the allure though?
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10-13-2021, 06:52 PM #7Baseball Manager
That's what i'm talking about as a collector the value doesn't always matter much to me! I collect what i enjoy or want, value is secondary to me. Most of today's " collectors" care about the value only, which is why i loosely say collector.
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10-13-2021, 08:37 PM #8
I’m with ya brother check me out https://www.sportscardforum.com/thre...-Sooners/page6
There’s tons of ways to collect though, and I think the more the merrier. I posted a collection/mystery lot I got off eBay a while back. That was really fun. Have you thought about going that route?
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10-14-2021, 10:14 AM #9
After seeing this I was curious because I had essentially given up on checking the card section when I'm in a store that carries them after being largely unable to find anything retail over the last year. I stopped by the Target near my house and was slightly surprised to see that while the section was nearly cleaned out they still had 3 GQ blasters and a Topps Series 2 blaster on the shelf. There was a fair amount of non-sports stuff and a handful of Hockey and football but not very much of that either.
I ended up grabbing 2 of the GQ blasters just for fun. I figured I'd keep one to trade down the road and open the other just because I hadn't opened any packs in months. It was a good call. The very first pack had a Ryan Mountcastle auto in it and the GQ cards are always interesting to begin with.
As for the future of the hobby I don't know that it has ever been more cloudy. I keep checking for news and I'm still not seeing much that outlines how the Fanatics deal with roll out. From what I can tell they have a horrible quality control and customer service reputation. I've never dealt with them directly but that part does make me nervous. I think my biggest worry for the hobby going forward is that the combination of products being snapped up as soon as they hit the shelves and flipped for 50% (or more) higher prices is preventing a lot of kids that would be the future of the hobby from even getting started. I know it would have kept me out as a kid even though I loved baseball. Had it kept me out as a kid I wouldn't have found my old collection when I was cleaning out my parents home a few years back and I would have never gotten back into the hobby. But there is always the chance that they manage to handle this well and put out a variety of products to suit collectors from the entry level to the ultra premium level. I'm just not holding my breath for that outcome based on the current data available.
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10-20-2021, 11:50 AM #10
My thoughts are a little different than the mainstream collector, but I have not noticed much of a difference with retail products other than it being more expensive which is the trend across the hobby. Retail product is present at all of the Walmarts that I have gone to over the past couple of months and I have even been lucky enough to get some basketball at Toys R Us. It is all about timing for me and luck I guess and it looks like collectors have stopped getting retail and quite honestly found other things to do.
I used to get a box or two every month, but with the prices that has been limited to a box every few months if even that unless I sell stuff from my PC which I am hesitant to do. Many of my friends have stopped getting wax and joining breaks b/c of the cost so that brings about the question if high priced group breaks and wax and driving away people and setting people into a black hole. In a simple one worded answer, nope.
The hobby has attracted new investors and if we like it not people are driven by the almighty dollar and even though the true collector that focuses on their personal collection might be dwindling, the hobby is a very good place as long as everyone keeps pumping money into it.
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Originally Posted by michigandan 
