I won't give the exact location, but a few weeks ago when the FCBD Liberty Comics promos came out, I went to a comic store near where I went to college. I had not been to this place in many years

The owner offered me all 50 of the promos, for free, and told me (in his words) "no one is interested in this stuff"

And he has a pretty good business, too. But 99% of it is comics, not cards

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
I won't give the exact location, but a few weeks ago when the FCBD Liberty Comics promos came out, I went to a comic store near where I went to college. I had not been to this place in many years

The owner offered me all 50 of the promos, for free, and told me (in his words) "no one is interested in this stuff"

And he has a pretty good business, too. But 99% of it is comics, not cards

That's sad,but good for the rest of us who want these cards. I guess?

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
I won't give the exact location, but a few weeks ago when the FCBD Liberty Comics promos came out, I went to a comic store near where I went to college. I had not been to this place in many years

The owner offered me all 50 of the promos, for free, and told me (in his words) "no one is interested in this stuff"

And he has a pretty good business, too. But 99% of it is comics, not cards

Well, you can't really gage the future of the hobby with just one location especially when the majority of their sales is based on non-cards.

- Lak

quote:

Originally posted by btlfannz:
I've just finished some research of my data base and, I am open to correction on this, but the first auto card was that of Chuck Jones from Comic Ball Ser.1 which was issued in 1990. Prior to that I do not record one. Even then they didn't become popular until 1993.

Sketch cards are even rarer with the first being a 1993 set called Defective Comics. After that there doesn't appear to be another until the Marvel Creators Collection '98 which had dozens of them. However, the concept didn't catch on and I don't record another sketch card until 2000.

according to the boxes, Warriors of Plasm and Dark Dominion had Steve Ditko Sketch cards in them. Ive never seen or heard of one, but the advertising claimed they existed if i remember correctly. But the odds were impossible as there were supposedly 10 for each set made in total.

Those of course, would be the most valuable non sport cards of all time IMO. Signed Ditko sketch card, from a man who has been photographed i think like 5 times in the last 50 years, who defined the shadow side of marvel comics. God, that would be something neat to have. Sidetracking, sorry.

In my city as far I know is only one Comic Book Store and last time I was there I don't see trading cards.

I believe the same like somebody said: "non-sport collection died in the end of the '90s". When I was in Junior High School, I have a lot of friends that collect non-sport, sport, and card game cards. In my days in the University never meet a collector just only ex-card game players.

Four years ago, I was in a table selling some of my extra card sets. Only 2 people buy my sets, but a lot of people look like strange the cards and ask if I was selling them as singles.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sci-FiPlanet:
Oh and don't get me started on comic shops... Comic shops should be a haven for these types of products yet they are not stocked, again this is a distribution issue, specifically Diamond, seriously they are just awful to deal with, and they want 70-80% deep discounts of which they will pass on perhaps 5-10% to the shops, this means comic shops have no incentive to order cards from Diamond, and lets be honest for a moment, people who own comic shops didn't get into that field because they are known to be active and outgoing... for the MOST part they are no going to seek out new products, they have a catalogue and they order from it, if you don't like that, then the majority of comic staff will just tell you to shop someplace else. So now we don't have cards in comic shops, with some rare (often overpriced) exceptions...


QUOTE]
As a former owner of a comic book shop I want to point out that there is truth in it is hard to get cards from Diamond but if you wanted to (and I did) you could find a card distributor with no problem. I worked with Southern Hobby Supply. I would order non-sport product from them. I would stock non sport cards and what would usually happen? A product would be released. A customer or two would come in, tell me that could buy it off the internet for 15 dollars cheaper than I was selling it for except if I dropped the price by 10.00 I would make 0 dollars on the product and tell them I could cut the price by 5 dollars and get told "no". Since I owned the shop, I would get bored of looking at a non-sport box that has been sitting on the shelf for 6 months and open it. I was the non sport card customer. So, I would not knock ALL comic book shops too hard. You just cannot afford to have stock that does not move and if you figure out you can't move non sport cards. There is no reason to have them.

I would love of if these card sets would go back to the way they were in the 90's. Personally I could care less about all these auto/sketch/costume whatever cards. I feel they make the sets too expensive to collect for an average person. I'll take a nice hologram card of that stuff any day.

@ Alex Johnson Yay! A kindred spirit!(but get used to it Alex, we are alone in this world!)

quote:

Originally posted by btlfannz:
@ Alex Johnson Yay! A kindred spirit!(but get used to it Alex, we are alone in this world!)

No your not.

What? Is that the faintest whiff of a revolution I can smell in the air? An insurrection? A rising up of the old time collectors who think that a black & white set of Daktari or McHales Navy is worth any amount of little bits of cloth stuck to a board. That any Batman (red or blue bat) is much more sought after for it's beautiful artwork than any old hand drawn sketchboard?
No, I didn't think so (sigh)

quote:

Originally posted by Alex Johnson:
I would love of if these card sets would go back to the way they were in the 90's. Personally I could care less about all these auto/sketch/costume whatever cards. I feel they make the sets too expensive to collect for an average person. I'll take a nice hologram card of that stuff any day.

But generally speaking, modern sets still do offer what you want. If all you're after is the base and chase just give the autos/sketches/costumes a miss, no-one has to collect expensive cards they don't want.

IMO, one of the best things about modern products is that while collectors are busy picking up the many high-end inserts, all the base and chase cards are available for next to nothing. Whereas in old sets the base and chase were overproduced yet used to cost A LOT more!

quote:

Originally posted by X:

while collectors are busy picking up the many high-end inserts, all the base and chase cards are available for next to nothing.

This is true in the normal boxed releases but not in the premium packs releases. Premium packs have shut out the collectors who used to only collect the cheap base and chase cards. Dealers have to pay a lot for the premium packs but only get one base set so that is now more exspensive than a lot of the autograph cards and simple base set collectors cannot afford them.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by X:

while collectors are busy picking up the many high-end inserts, all the base and chase cards are available for next to nothing.

This is true in the normal boxed releases but not in the premium packs releases. Premium packs have shut out the collectors who used to only collect the cheap base and chase cards. Dealers have to pay a lot for the premium packs but only get one base set so that is now more exspensive than a lot of the autograph cards and simple base set collectors cannot afford them.

You are right, but it seems the manufacturers can't win whatever they do. They either get moaned at by customers/dealers because the 'traditional' base set is worth almost nothing or they get moaned at because the new 'premium' base set is worth too much.

All it boils down to your level of interest in the product. Sure it would be great to pick up every set of passing interest for a couple of quid, but if someone wants a 'premium' base set of Spartacus or Stargate (or whatever) then I think real fans will try and go for it. I mean, are the new episode/base cards really that different than compiling a normal chase set?

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
This is true in the normal boxed releases but not in the premium packs releases. Premium packs have shut out the collectors who used to only collect the cheap base and chase cards. Dealers have to pay a lot for the premium packs but only get one base set so that is now more exspensive than a lot of the autograph cards and simple base set collectors cannot afford them.

I guess it depends on what you call cheap. . . you can get the Spartacus base/chase cards for about $2 each. The Sketchlords set is about $.50 a card. The Sherlock Holmes set is about $1.50 a card.

I can't think of any other sets from premium releases. . . but that's a pretty good sampling.

Sure, you aren't able to buy base sets for under a dime a card, but that's under cost, and these sets are much more likely to hold some value.

quote:

Originally posted by X:

But generally speaking, modern sets still do offer what you want. If all you're after is the base and chase just give the autos/sketches/costumes a miss, no-one has to collect expensive cards they don't want.

IMO, one of the best things about modern products is that while collectors are busy picking up the many high-end inserts, all the base and chase cards are available for next to nothing. Whereas in old sets the base and chase were overproduced yet used to cost A LOT more!

Well I wouldn't mind picking up some of these sets like that if they would stop re-using artwork for the base sets and chase.

I am gonna speak for myself,because I don't want to offend anyone about my opinion.
If people keep selling off their extra base sets for dirt cheap(.05 to .10 per card),than why would anybody shell out $2-$4 a pack(for 5-8 cards),when they can buy a whole base set for less than $10.That's about the price of 3 to 5 packs.
It seems to me that if you happen to be a completist,you might as well buy the whole base set for dirt cheap.At least then you know you have the whole set of base cards,instead of buying them by the pack and hoping you get the cards you need to complete your base set.
I think that we collectors are bringing the downfall upon ourselves,because when we have something that we obviously don't need,and we spent our good money on it,we think we need to recover some of our losses and we will be willing to practically give the cards away at dirt cheap prices because we don't need them.
I hope we can eventually get back to the basic enjoyment of collecting without having to worry about who is getting the best deal for their dollar.
I understand that we all want to get the best deal,especially in these money driven times,but it seems like we do not care about the long term affects this will have on our hobby.We seem to be more concerned about getting what we want now,as long as we can afford it.
Because,if we can make back some of the money we lost buying packs and not getting the cards we needed,then we can keep buying packs and hoping to find the ones we do need.
So on that note,I will close with this.
Happy hunting to everyone who is still in the hobby.
And try to remember why you started collecting in the first place.You can still learn a thing or two from this hobby that you can use in other aspects of your life.So remember to have fun with it.

Howdy,

There is no right or wrong in the production of sets in different ways and there is no right or wrong way to collect the cards.

I don't see the hobby as a competition where we can win or lose, I hope of pulling something trully special or finding the elusive last card but I am never unsatisfied or feel I have lost if I don't.

We all have different opinions and beliefs regarding our hobby and as long as we all continue to collect and pass our ideals to younger collectors then our hobby has a future.

TTFN

I've been back collecting non-sport cards for about 3 years now and I can tell you that in that time I haven't bought a single pack or box of cards, it's just not cost effective for me. For example, I was really excited when the Marvel Super Hero Squad set came out. Here was something that both my kids and I could enjoy together. However once I started looking into it I found that I could purchase a complete set, including all the chase cards for less then it would cost me to purchase a box.

I do tend to spend more money on promo cards but those are only for the ones I'm really interested in. Otherwise I'll just watch for deals on Ebay and get a random assortment of promos for next to nothing. I am planning on purchasing the Bettie Page set and the Project Superpowers set this year but you still won't find me purchasing indivdual packs of anything.

cmcdjj37 is spot on.pointless buying boxes and packs.let someone else take the hit then pay what you can afford for the cards you want.i started this and it works great for me.my wallet is happy and my autograph card collection continues to grow!!

Howdy,

I collect cards with my two sons, Matthew & Nathan (I am personalising ).

We buy packs, not because it is cost effective but because we enjoy opening the packs sorting out our doubles and trading the cards.

I admit the sets we buy are low end Hero Attax, Cars 2, Force Attax and Toy Story Hide & Seek as examples.

I could buy a master set of these for a good deal cheaper on eBay than I do by purcahsing packs but the enjoyment I get from collecting the way I do with my boys is priceless.

They get little enjoyment out of looking at 99 cards that arrive shrink wrapped in the mail.

I buy high end sets totally differently, by the box and individual cards on eBay or from dealers. I trade with and even buy from other collectors. I am into Premium Packs and the Sketch Pack releases.

My point is that if you collect and enjoy it, it doesn't matter how you do it but that you do and you share your experiences and enjoyment with someone who can continue to enjoy a hobby that you introduced them to long after you are gone.

That is how our hobby has a future.

TTFN