Angry Chris left some harsh words on another post. So I decided to take on the card industries. Well sort of . . . To be honest, I want them to crank out set after set, box after box of high priced crap. And I want the Joe collectors to go out and buy $100 box after $100 box of wax and list their sweet mojo. I love pack searchers who go out and find the best packs at Walmart and after 60 seconds of looking at the hit list it on eBay. Do you want to know why?
Because eBay is the only market for our hobby. Dealers don’t know it yet but they can’t beat the prices on eBay. Some dealers just work exclusively though eBay (they are the ones who get it). But go to a show and try to haggle, it just doesn’t work. That’s why I stopped going to shows, they are a rip off, plus they have the gall to charge you just to enter, eBay doesn’t charge me to enter their site and look. Every card show I went to up until the last one in May had been getting smaller and smaller. While the entry fee went up each time.
I love packsearchers, if you are dumb enough to buy the “hot packs” on eBay you deserved to get ripped off. I also enjoy buying their game used and autographs for a dollar more than they paid and I didn’t have to look like a loser sorting through the wax at Target and Walmart. I used to hate packsearchers, but when you start seeing videos like this, it’s hard to feel bad for kids since they are doing it too.
Topps and Upper Deck – Quit your gimmicks. Go back to the basics and offer autographs of all the players, not just rookies and super stars. Sometimes I want an autographs of regular players. Guys like Mike Loretta or maybe someone like Carlos Pena. You’ve been getting away with this crap for years. Throwing swarms and swarms of signed rookie cards at us, you do it because the price per signing is cheap. Why pay a Jason Marquis 2-3 bucks a signature when you can get some AAA schmuck 50 cents a signing, then guarantee 2 crap autographs a pack.
For me I am just going to do what I keep doing. I like collecting older wax and mainly Topps base sets. I love autographed and game used cards. I have lots of superstar’s autographs Mantle, Mays, Clemente, Aaron, Rose, DiMaggio . . . what I don;t have are the players no one cares about anymore. The guys that make up the other 20-23 roster spots on a baseball team. Guys that no one remembers anymore like Jim Rice and Gorman Thomas. Maybe a signed Lee Smith card or Bobby Grich. Would you say no to a Paul Konerko or Pat Burell autograph because they aren’t the hot rookies? Or maybe you would say no to a Zach Duke or Brian Bannister card? I think about all the players that I would love to get thier signed cards. The non rookies and the non superstars. Why can’t Topps and Upper Deck get those cards? I bet people would feel better about guaranteed hits if they got players who actually are in the majors.
I don’t think there is much the bloggers out there can do about the industry except vent. What you can do is stop buying the new boxes, stop going after unproven rookies who will never become superstars (johnny Cueto). Collect what makes you happy, stop throwing away money at guaranteed hits. Go on eBay and get your own guaranteed hits, the ones that make you happy to be collecting cards.
Let the card companies do what they do, let Joe Collector go out and blow his cash on crap. Just sit back and buy his crap on eBay, make him feel ashamed for blowing hundred on boxes and getting $20 in return. Collect your Zach Dukes and Jason Bays and be happy. Just collect the things you like, stop blaming the card companies and Beckett, and rejoice in what you win on eBay after all isn’t that what this hobby is all about? Person tastes? Enjoy the rest of your weekend and stop outbidding me on cheap autographs.
I’ve been collecting cards since 1985. There have been pack searchers since at least that time. I don’t see them going away and I don’t see them hurting the hobby. I’ve even seen a few of them at Target. It hardly seems worth the effort. As you say eBay is the marketplace. If there is a particular card you want, you can eventually find it on eBay. And it will ultimately be cheaper than buying a bunch of packs hoping to get what you want.
There used to be a card shop near me down here in Texas. He had a great shop and was the only shop within a reasonable distance from home. We pretty much sold at Beckett price and didn’t haggle. But he carried a lot of wax and always had a big box of singles at a reasonable price. I once asked him if he had ever considered selling on eBay and he said no, he thought he couldn’t make a profit on eBay. He was out of business within about a year of telling me that. My card buying options now are blaster boxes (and the occasional single pack) at Target and eBay.
Wow, the term “joe collector” has really come full circle!
Good post. The way things are going with boxes and gimmicks, really the best way to collect nowadays is let the case busters rip the wax and just buy up the cheap stuff on ebay. I’d also love to see more regular joe autographs instead of just rookies. Topps and Upper Deck base have a few, but the number of rookie card autos this year has gotten ridiculous. It’s the same 20 guys in every product too.
Actually, this is the best written, most well reasoned post on the whole subject that I’ve seen yet. Good going.
Thank you!!! I think your last paragraph sums up everything I want to say to people who complain about not getting the “value” they feel they deserve when they choose to buy high end product. And regardless of how much they gripe, they will continue to do it.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama