Results 71 to 80 of 112
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06-20-2009, 08:29 AM #71Assistant General Manager
Not really if it a 2nd party they hire. It just like a contractor you hire them to take the liability. I just know many times we hire outside contractors and vendors so we can hold someone liable if something should go wrong with the service they provide. Much like UD will do to these authenticators etc. Of course that only on some of their stuff more higher and specialized products.
DONCard Supplies
Toploaders 60 point $4, 100 point $7, 140 point $4, 190 point $3, 240 point $3
Soft Sleeves Standard $1 and Thick $1.50
TOP-LOADER 3X4,100 CT PENNY SLEEVES INCLUDED $11
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06-20-2009, 11:11 AM #72
Don, is exactly right. When UD loosely words their terminology or gets things from random sources, it opens the possibility for anything to be true.........who knows? It sucks for us as collectors but not as bad if you don't drop tons of money of their stuff. It'll hurt even less if/when the truth about some of their shady practices comes out..................
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06-20-2009, 12:40 PM #73
The thing is, their "shady" practices have already been revealed to a great extent, but they continue to survive, and thrive regardless.
Going back to the UD french debacle in the early 90's, to printing off additional runs of "error" cards so execs could sell them at a premium, and all the other things that Upper Deck does...so far none of it has bitten them on the arse hard enough to change much.
You mentioned several times in this thread that UD is in financial distress at some level. I'd really like to hear your source for that. For the last 20 years, no matter how poorly UD has treated their customers, and no matter how "shady" their practices have been, they've managed to thrive. What is it about this time around that has you convinced their is finally a crack in the facade?
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06-20-2009, 12:52 PM #74
The "obvious" stuff is there for all to see. If look at the fact they have cut loose their basketball card license and have been blowing out their UD store items that right there signals a need to move stock and create a cash influx.
Currently they seem have a dynamic downsizing program for their company from employee head count down to products and production numbers. The demand for their stuff, like everything else in this economy, has sagged considerably.
I think people, at least the smart ones in this hobby, are choosing a solid grocery store trip over a box of crapola.
As far as yet to be disclosed shady practices? Haha, I don't wanna go there right now..............................
And, like I said to others, if they weren't the only player in this game, they would get run off the map right now and not thrive. ITG would OWN them, no joke.
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06-20-2009, 02:11 PM #75
I'd hate to think that UD is just going down to the local sporting goods store when they need a jersey to cut up for cards, but i do think the reality is that a lot of the material they uses has never even been on the ice. Maybe the player picked it up the the clubhouse and wiped his face with it, or in the case of a stick, they had it out in the parking lot behind the stadium, flicking rocks for a few minutes. I think we would all be pretty naive to think that all of this stuff is game, or even event used.
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06-20-2009, 02:34 PM #76
While there was not only a lot of truth in your statement, I also found it pretty darn entertaining. Flicking rocks behind the arena........LMAO
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06-20-2009, 02:56 PM #77
this gives a great mental image of a guy like hossa after game seven firing rocks around back at joe louis arena in disgust...
great stuff
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06-20-2009, 04:46 PM #78
Ice seems to do just fine with non-autographed, non-memorabilia RCs. I do not really see the fresh threads or super rare autographed patches as driving the sales of those boxes. Lets be honest, when someone posts a break of Ice everyone is wishing them luck hitting the RC/99.
Another thought is to spread the memorabilia rookie cards out over several sets. Every rookie does not have to be in every set. Just another little something to add some value to each product.
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06-20-2009, 05:11 PM #79
Exactly. Ice RC's /99 and things like the Young Gun HG's are extremely popular and retain their values and they have no auto or memorabilia. In fact some of my favorite sets of all time are ones where I could care less about the jersey and auto inserts that they insert as "hits". I would say that Upper Deck could be equally successful with a product that has little or no auto of jersey cards if done properly. Champs and Masterpieces could have been released at a slightly lower price point, void of the jersey and auto stuff and still had market appeal since they were unique concepts. Look at the success of the last few years of OPC. Collectors love this product and it definitely is not because of the jerseys and autos. It's a great set with relevant and interesting parallels, not just 4 different parallels distinguishable only by some tiny serial number variation (cough....Artifacts).
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06-21-2009, 02:41 PM #80
In my opinion, less memorabilia cards is more. Does anyone remember when pulling a jersey card meant something? Even the one per box variety from the early part of the decade. Back then, the cards had value and there was no question about whether the memorabilia was game used or if the player on the card was the one who used it. Sometimes I think the best thing for the hobby would be to reduce the amount of memorabilia cards made per year. Personally, I would much rather pull a memorabilia card of someone I have actually heard of than a guy that played 4 games on the fourth line of the worst team in the league. It might also encourage competition on the swatch size and, gasp, design. I miss the Be A Player releases from 1998-99 and 1999-00 where the swatches were large.
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Originally Posted by dirtydistance 
