This year with the lock down my LCS was closed when Opening Day was released. They eventually started doing curbside pickups but I didn't think a box of Opening Day was worth the trip. The first weekend they opened back up I made a trip hoping to pick up a box and they were sold out. The owner indicated they were very hot this year and he didn't think he could get anymore in at a reasonable price. This is the lowest of the low end, what is going on?
Fast forward a week to this past weekend and I decided I wanted to pick up some retail Bowman. I knew that hobby prices were going crazy so a blaster or two of Bowman would scratch that pack ripping itch. I stopped by my local Targets and Walmarts throughout the Memorial Day weekend and there were none to be found. A little reading on Facebook led me to discover that people were buying up and buying out all the Bowman retail and reselling them at crazy prices.
I am not sure where this hobby will settle but right now it is a little too crazy for me. New products are selling at ridiculous prices. Trout rookies are worth more than vintage Mantle and Ruth cards. Topps Online cards sell for $20 then 2 weeks later are reselling for hundreds. I am going to refocus my buying habits on some of the things that aren't spiking out of control and hope some of the other stuff stabilizes at a reasonable level.
I shared in an earlier post that I was going to forego building a Topps flagship set this year but realized that my crazy retail purchasing got me to within 70 cards of the Series 1 set and that I had all the main rookies. I made a post on Facebook to see if I could pick them up from someone and a guy offered me all 70 for the low low price of $40 delivered. A quick look on eBay showed me I could get the entire set for about $25 delivered. I had to pass. (BTW, if you have Series 1 laying around check out my want list and let's make a trade).
Let's circle back to the start of this post with 2020 Topps Opening Day. Apparently there must be some chase cards that people are doing after because after my failed attempt at a hobby box I found a full set including the 5 insert sets for $34 delivered - about the price of a box. It wasn't as fun as ripping packs and seeking out inserts through purchases and trades but it did fill a collection want for me and saved me a few bucks.
Here is an overview of all the cards I picked up in my purchase:
I decided not to share much of this set since it came out quite a ways back but I had to showcase the first 5 cards in the Spring Has Sprung insert set - the photos are awesome and ones I don't ever recall seeing.
I really hope this is a temporary shift in the hobby but I have a sneaking suspicion that
we will see some lasting changes. Any thoughts on the state of the hobby?
This is inflation. Even junk wax box prices have climbed within the last few weeks. I'm sorry, but that 88' Topps baseball box only yields about $8 worth of cards, not the $30 you bought it for.
ReplyDeleteWhen the reality of how much these cards are really worth sets in, it will drop back down... hopefully.
I've been watching those newly released Bowman prices. Absolutely absurd. I was wise, I waited and waited and finally got my Braves mostly .18-.25 cents on sportlots. Only 2 Braves in the main (paper) set, and 5 in the prospects. I did have to get the Acuna on Ebay, but got it delivered for $2.00. I also grabbed the 90 Bowman inserts, and Top 100 off Ebay for the .18-.25 a piece. Those prices are crazy. Same goes for the 2020 Panini Select, which I have yet to catch for cheap anywhere. But......I will.
ReplyDeleteUPDATE. I do have my Select Braves in my cart .20-.50 except for Acuna $3.00
DeleteAlready declared my love for the Spring Has Sprung inserts.
ReplyDeleteNo 'state of the hobby' thoughts other than, it's timed perfectly with me pulling away from current cards. Oh, will I ever get my 2020 Bowman Dodgers? *yawn*
SportLots.
DeleteI wonder if it's the Luis Robert SSP that's driving the prices of the Opening Day boxes? Even if it's not the fault of the SSP, why does Topps have to do that to their cheapest and most kid friendly product? Putting a chase card in a set could potentially price out many young collectors is an unfortunate decision by Topps. SMH.
ReplyDeleteThe hobby is in some weird state right now that we've never witnessed. There's always been hyped prospects and rookies, but the big name right now is Jasson Dominguez, who turned 17 in February. I remember everyone chasing big rookies before: Strasburg, Harper, Bellinger, Judge... but they were rookies... this guy still hasn't played in one game as a professional yet.
I think everyone is trying to make a quick buck. Go no further than the latest Griffey Project 2020 card earlier this week. Everyone was exclaiming how they were making such big profits on the secondary market with Project 2020 and all of a sudden one of the least popular artists went from AVERAGING around 3,000 cards per print run to selling 99,000+ on his Griffey offering.
Supply and demand. There's a study in here somewhere I'm sure of it!
It's pretty insane. Luckily for me and my collecting habits and goals it doesn't really affect me. But we'll have to see when Series 2 comes out since that's the only set I'm putting together this year. I figure the current state of the market is boredom from lack of new products, in flux of flippers from the Gary Vee mindset, the new breaker culture, and of course 2020 Topps is a whole other bag with its cross appeal from card and art collectors, plus mix in the low print runs of the earlier cards and people just now jumping in. Yeah I'll it back and finish sorting my monster box of 87 Topps into teams and scratch my ripping itch on Youtube watching people spend way too much money on boxes and breaks.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank goodness for Youtube box breaks! Some have excellent editing skills and entertaining commentary... helps me to get my fix and so much cheaper!
DeleteThink the hobby is having some kind of insane bubble right now. The question is what happens when it deflates.
ReplyDeleteCraziest thing going on right now is how many long-time collectors all agree that it's a bubble and it's time to stay out of the way for a while. Makes me think that things are going to blow up as soon as the next shiny object shows up.
ReplyDeleteIt very much looks like a bubble to me. $45 for a blaster is not going to be sustainable. I think that there are people out there trying to "get that fix" from sports cards and are going to pay what it takes. The rest of us will transition into trading or adding to our other collections. Perhaps this time will be spent on organizing and cataloging rather than accumulating.
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ReplyDeleteI wasn't around during the first overproduction era, but I imagine it looked something like what's happening now. Non-collectors buying up cards and trying to swindle the rest of the herd. Luckily for me I don't have a remote interest in the Project 2020 or Bowman prospects or that kind of high-dollar stuff anyways.
ReplyDeleteThe hobby is crazy. But I'm not complaining. It's kind of nice to see so much attention being paid to card collecting. I'm just choosing to focus on what I already have, wrap up some sets, and pick up some singles without getting into any crazy bidding wars.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Great deal on the set. If I could find that deal, I'd consider snatching it up.
DeleteThe weird thing with Opening Day has been that there's some super rare inserts the past couple of years. I'm not sure that's a good reason to drive up interest, though.
ReplyDeleteI might be able to help you out a bit with Series 1. I've bought a fair amount of it while chasing the Turkey Red cards.
You mean people actually do buy silly quantities of retail just to find those impossible SSP's? They really do that? I've got decent spare cash for cards, but that's still a waste to me. No way I'd ever end up pulling anything like that. And if I did I'd sell it and be back to square one anyway.
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