Thoughts for the month (Happy Holidays and reflection on the hobby).

[doniceage]

First of all thanks to all of you for being members from veterans that I have meet personally or interacted over the years or a new member that drops me a pm. The site would not be what it is without you period. A big thanks to all the staff members that truly put some time in making the site better daily. This includes updating the opg side of things, ttm staff for trying to keep that area tidy, the dispute team for handling any bad deals that arise, and of course all the other staff that spend time patrolling their forum and running contest. Members, just remember all of these staffers do this for the love of the hobby and they get burnt out just like us. So, please anytime you have a issue please be respectful and remember this is not a JOB. So please treat all the staff with respect. If you ever have a issue let me know as that is what I am here for especially if your not getting anywhere. On that note if any of you ever want to become a part of the SCF team let me know. Drop me a pm and I can share more on that if your so inclined.


The hobby has changed big time over the recent months. Hobby Boxes and Retail prices have been coming down as I seen boxes come out at 1500 dollars drop to 1300 and continue to go down the months. Retail boxes that flew off the shelves can now be picked up by wholesalers for $12 which were getting full price of $20 on the shelves just six months ago. I truly think the trend will continue as prices come downs from what I seen online for boxes over the year. To me many of the folks who are chasing cards out there are not in the hobby for the love but for the quick dollar. No issues with that here as some folks tend to say it ruins the hobby but hey it helped some of us sell stuff if we were so inclined to make some dollars on stuff we had. Just think it not going to be a change anytime soon as the grading backlog down to earth and the prices are coming down as well unless it the rare card with a top notch grade. Now this is just my opinion but just remember all these social influencers and such are trying us to get us to spend money with the options of being able to buy shares in cards, grading like it the only way to collect (I have graded two cards personally in 40 years), trying to push app's and platform for you to use. Now with that said I would like any member who truly finds something that they think makes the hobby better to drop me a pm so I can share it on the SCF Facebook page. It could be a Q and A on any topic that is about the hobby that is good information for new or old collectors alike, a nice sell or wanted post to help you buy some stuff for your hockey museum, or a website that offers great prices on a item that all the members can use such as a shipping service for trades etc. My main goal is to get the information out there that can help us all but there is so much out on the internet it not always that easy to find one thread or post by someone. So, please share the information via pm if your so inclined.


I just put up 4 reward breaks and I am probably not done with some more stuff to be posted.

2 football listed in this forum: https://www.sportscardforum.com/foru...l-Group-Breaks

1 hockey one listed here: https://www.sportscardforum.com/thre...-reward-points

1 basketball one listed here: https://www.sportscardforum.com/thre...4#post15147734

In addition if your ever looking to spend some of your accumulated reward points check out each of the subforms. Several members list things periodically for reward points. A picture below shows what the forum will look like for each sport.
Screen Shot 2022-12-08 at 3.44.41 PM.png


As always check out the various sponsors as they help keep the lights on and provide some prizes for the members:

ISA has made a new post here with a $15 grading fee and a turn around time in less than a week. In addition they even give free cards randomly to those that get some cards graded. Read this post for more:

AOC. If you like watching ebay for auctions you should give this site a try as they have a ton of items listed everyday and prices can be below market value if you have time to look for deals.

SCI If you subscribe to any type of pricing plan on like Beckett I would take a look at this. Let me share the following information on how they price cards in a screenshot.

How can you argue with that pricing. (Be aware they are new so many cards are not listed but when they do get everything listed this site will be a no brainier).

https://www.sportscardforum.com/thre...rogram-updates!


Hope you all have a Happy Holidays that are coming up in a few weeks. Enjoy the time with the family and if any of you open some nice boxes or get some sweet swag feel free to share it on the forums. If you ever have questions of any kind feel free to lmk.


DON

[cjb]

hobby boxes haven't decreased for hockey

[bakemeister52]

I just wish I could get some boxes closer to home!

Bake

[toddgreen]

Great thoughts. I think a lot of the product is coming down in value because there's SO MUCH product. At least with baseball, it feels like there are new sets being released two to three times a month between Topps and Panini. There are several 2022 products that won't even be released until 2023, according to Beckett. Even more disappointing is that the team sets are virtually identical between products and late release products like Update don't always capture the team's true updates.

[doniceage]

Great thoughts. I think a lot of the product is coming down in value because there's SO MUCH product. At least with baseball, it feels like there are new sets being released two to three times a month between Topps and Panini. There are several 2022 products that won't even be released until 2023, according to Beckett. Even more disappointing is that the team sets are virtually identical between products and late release products like Update don't always capture the team's true updates.

Well there definitely a lot of retail sitting at the stores not being purchased. I know a lot of shops lowered prices on a ton of boxes to move it to bring in new inventory as they had a ton of inventory sitting on the shelves. That not the only product backlogged as it happened to hockey. Not sure on the other sports basketball and football.

DON