How much disposable cash do we all have? If you're anything like me, not a lot. Like everyone here, trading cards are a part of our lives, and it's particularly disappointing when you hear of a set no longer continuing because of poor sales. Maybe the companies should look at their products. To me, a set is too large if it doesn't all fit in one binder. For those of us that have invested in continuing seasons of a set, only to find out there won't be a conclusion, it's like the companies have said we should have spent more. We can only support the hobby for so long until it gets to the stage where a pass is more likely than a buy.

Which set/title are you talking about here?

To me, and this is just my own opinion, card manufacturers have altered the whole structure of this hobby by designing sets for first the benefit of the distributors/dealers, with the card collectors as the secondary concern.

The card makers will say that they are forced to do this to stay profitable and in business. They may be right, but it has resulted in a shift that leaves collectors on the short end of the stick. Manufacturers need big orders from big distributor/dealers to sell out product, so they add incentives to make the sets attractive to the bulk purchasers. Than the dealers and distributors have to move the inventory, relying on the "free" incentives to cover any discounts or shortfalls, while increasing the profits if the cards happen to be in demand after release.

Designing for maximum dealer profit is very different from designing for maximum collector interest, although you might assume that one is the same as the other. Just look at how box/case prices are climbing.

Collectors keep complaining that they are spending too much on boxes for the value of the cards in them. So what happens? We get super premium sets so that we are expected to spend even more on blind boxes. The average SRP on non-sport main stream titles is just under $100 and the average premium hit is still around $10.

So what happens? Collectors decide to turn to the secondary market to pick up the hits cheaply, rather than take the increasing value loss on boxes. This is no good for the hobby because it means that the dealers are going to have to break the boxes they are buying and take their chances at pulling $10 hits or big ticket items. Smaller dealers who don't spend enough to earn all those incentives can't afford to lose money either.

So if a product or title does not perform well for the distributors/dealers they reduce their orders and the maker will eventually stop making that title, even though card collectors may be buying it well at cheaper prices on the secondary market.

Don't know how well I explained my thoughts, but I hope my meaning made some sense. We're just not working under the old system anymore and a lot of what we have now has evolved in an effort to keep the hobby alive, but some of it has had the opposite result.

No more Gotham or Arrow.

quote:

Originally posted by Graham:
No more Gotham or Arrow.

Really? I didn't see that mentioned yet. Did it come out of Cryptozoic at the Philly show?

Must say I'm surprised. I don't collect either title, but everything I read on the forum from others has been pretty positive and the autograph cards have been nice looking, especially those with inscriptions. Plus the shows are still running, so somebody's watching them.

I don't know about poor sales, I didn't think they had a problem, but maybe it just goes back to what I was saying. Collectors can't afford to try blind boxes of various titles at $75 - $85. Sell at $40 - $50 and collectors of that title will be more inclined to try for that big pull. Otherwise they will just pick up selected single cards you know where and the sealed boxes won't move.

Yes, Cryptozoic confirmed at the Philly Show, that Arrow Season 4 would be the last and there would be no more Gotham.

To answer the question of how much disposable cash for the hobby, each year it is getting less and less.
I used to set aside enough for one to three Inkworks boxes a month.
Then it was about enough to buy a box a month.
Now I don't bother with saving up at all. If I see a product I like I will make a note and then if I find it at a price I like I will get it then. I almost never buy a product on first release anymore.
It took me almost 4 years to make a master set of Downton Abbey (All inserts, all costumes, all promos, all autos and one of each of the two sizes of sketch cards). It was a slow process but I enjoyed the effort .

In my case, it's more like a 'windfall'. Extra cash is almost nonexistent, being married does not help! LOL

Add to the fact that my purchases need to be affordable, and, they need to be available. I'm pretty specific about what I'm looking for- 95% of my wants are old material, not new.

Getting all those factors to line up to a purchase for me- pretty tough!

Discontinuing 'running' sets are a pet peeve of mine. Or being short changed eg Smallville 7 - 10 when previous sets were individual seasons.

But being out right 'cancelled' (Think that happened with Once Upon A Time sets?) just annoys me. My collector OCD goes into over-drive.

As for disposable cash not having any of it caused me to quit collecting for a few years. Now I'm back into it. Sometimes I do wonder though the fine line between collecting, hoarding and 'gambling' on packs and boxes.

When i'm short of cash i do 'weep' metaphorically at the money I've spent on cards which really could have been saved or spent on more lifes 'necessities'. Particuarly when it's sets I collected for the sake of it or boxes which didn't break even in value or simply sets I ploughed lots of money into and now no longer own.

But I guess that's the nature of the beast and I'll always have a special place in my heart for trading cards especially the Non-Sport kind.

wow this was not the thread i was expecting. i thought this might be about what to do with more disposable income i've just bought the first box of my life because covid means i can't go out and socialize which is where my money went before, and i'm always online now, where you can make money.

but i would like to say that my opinion is that disposable money is just that. and especially as a child it's all disposable. i moved country at the start and end of my teens and left behind things i thought were childish, including all but 2 binders of cards. but i had fun collecting them and always try not to cry over spilt milk. some of the other stuff i've lost were worth thousands on their own. stuff like a set of 8 original wheat paste advertizing posters for pink floyds last ever show that i forgot were wrapped in with a bunch of worthless posters i'd collected.at that same departure i'd also forgotten i'd hidden a $3000 bottle of absinthe in my mum's attic.(which she must have enjoyed by now) every x file comic,loads of xmen comics,spawn comics. every nintendo magazine. Gen 1 transformers. 1000 cards from the first ever release of magic the gathering before i even knew that there were rarer cards i gave them all away.
i'm going to enjoy reading through a lot more threads here and finding out wether i should be trying to go back and recollect old sets i enjoyed or find one of these new sets that i would really like to collect in entirety and spend the $1000 on a case to start me off.
it's a big investment for me on one item,
but
the secret is to have 2 bank accounts. one's just for disposable income. i put $100 a month into mine and every few months find something that i would not buy as a neccesity or investment and so the disposable visa card comes out.