So its time for the annual non-sport card collectors poll again. I have tried to change up the questions a bit and kept it short. The most important part is your own observations on what has been happening in our hobby this past year and how it has effected you, so please leave a comment after you vote if you can.

Happy Holidays to all!

Question:
Do you expect to spend more or less money on non-sport cards in 2018 than you did in 2017?

Choices:
I expect to spend more money.
I expect to spend less money.
I expect to spend about the same amount.

Question:
How did you acquire the majority of the non-sport cards you purchased in 2017?

Choices:
By pack purchases.
By retail box purchases.
By hobby box purchases.
By case purchases.
By individual purchases on the secondary market.
By direct purchases thru the manufacturers.
By trading.
By other means.

Question:
Do you limit your non-sport card collecting to specific titles?

Choices:
No, I buy a variety of titles.
Yes, I follow only 1 or 2 titles.
Yes, I follow 3 or more titles.
Yes, I follow specific titles, but also buy a variety of others.

Question:
Which of the following types of non-sport premium hits are you most likely to collect?

Choices:
Autographs.
Sketches.
Relics/Material.
Relics/Props.
Printing Plates.
Manufactured Relics.
Other

 

I bought one box of James Bond cards (from Bushkill Cards) and two sketch cards (from E-Bay), in all of 2017. I guess my collecting days are just about over.

The main two reasons are lack of funds and the impossibility of being a completest.

My card collecting days are long from their prime.
I picked up a deal on a bunch of rack packs of Star Wars Rogue 1 series 1.
Retail I purchased several mini boxes of Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi and one day I was bored and got two retail boxes of Topps Wrestling just for the fun of opening packs but I forgot they there are no packs in these anymore (Whoops).
I finished Downtown Abbey by picking up a mini sketch card from a sports card show that was in Jackson, MS. That was nice to finally put that set to sleep. My only Cryptozoic master set.
Also picked up a box of Doctor Strange for 55.00. I love this set but will be on the never finish til I die.
Found a few Star Trek autos on ebay in my price range.
Other then that, that has been my year.

A lot of what I planned to collect have finished - Gotham and Agents of Shield plus the disappointment of only one release for Once Upon a Time. Apart from Supergirl, I can only see me filling holes in sets for the coming year.

The only release I went crazy on was Arrow Season 3, but I also got those cheaper than normal. Arrow Season 4 I am going to buy cards I want individually at this point. I did get a few other items and would have done more Flash S2 boxes, but my shop got the remainder of our order cancelled. Am interested in RA's 2017 Buffy stuff but am waiting it out a bit, did also buy some Women of Trek.

Next year- definitely some Supergirl and Legends, but I doubt I will get anything else unless there is a traditional Buffy release. DS9 might get me as well.

For myself, I thought it was good year. Last year I was very dissatisfied with what I was spending on the hobby and what I was getting back.

This year I stopped buying random sealed boxes, I was getting too little in value. I kept up with Game of Thrones cards only for the first 6 months. I found a nice SMG auto/relic at a fair price in June and that eased me into looking for autograph cards again. The market is surprising soft on a lot of good signers if you stay away from those ultra premium releases. I got help from 3 or 4 friendly dealers who frequent this forum. You know who you are and I thank you. Recently I picked up a couple of boxes to break and to hold for Christmas. That was fun, but I am not returning to old habits.

The non-sport card industry has some serious problems right now, but that's not really new. If you have been a card collector for awhile, you already know all the issues and the things that work and the ones that don't. I too was sorry to see some titles dropped and a couple of manufacturers close up shop this year. We can't control that, just our own business.

Overall I think I did spend much less on cards in 2017, but got more of what I wanted without feeling foolish. I am optimistic about my personal card collecting in 2018 and hope everyone can find a way to continue to enjoy and add to their own collections.

My collecting, which had already seen a downturn in recent years, continued to decline this year. I haven't used Ebay in years, international shipping is horrible these days, there are no local non-sports shops in my vicinity (the only ones around focus almost exclusively on Magic, Pokémon and the like), finding cards at retail places like Wal-Mart is very hit or miss, and the dealer I was getting my boxes from at our local conventions recently stopped carrying non-sports products. As a result, I haven't bothered with a lot of the recent releases that are of interest to me as I don't want to go to the trouble of hunting one down online and hoping the seller is in Canada so that I don't take a bath on exchange rate or shipping. The end is probably nigh for my card collecting days.

I spent alot less this year, myself.

There were alot of developments in 2017.

No cards from Breygent.

Rittenhouse announced that the James Bond set this past spring may be its last. No Bond planned for 2018, which would be a first, dating back for many years, I believe.

No one is quite sure if Cult Stuff, the UK company is gone. They did a preview set in January, but nothing since. No new cards, no promos. No updates at all.

Wow, a lot of case buyers around here! (I'm not one of them.)

quote:

Originally posted by weasel-king:
Wow, a lot of case buyers around here! (I'm not one of them.)

I think you may have misread the results.

I certainly understand making the most of less this year, a tough time financially for me and that includes 2008. It was a year to hunt for bargains and get lucky at flea markets to add to my collection. Still, like Raven, I have to call it a good year because I did pick up some promos I didn't have before. I found stuff while unsuccessfully looking for other stuff. It's still fun to find cards that seem to be undocumented if not largely unknown.

I didn't feel compelled to buy any new hobby box this year - would've saved up for one.

I did get most of my cards organized to the point that I know most of what I have to trade and have been in contact with a couple of forum members here so trades are in the works.

Hopefully, 2018 is better for those of us who didn't see much worth buying because it was too expensive for what it was or just too expensive period.

I did a case of Star Wars Galactic Files Reborn, and the Perna Elementals set. The SW was a bit of a whim and I haven't really done anything with it. The Perna sets are really the only ones I still collect, and I only do half of them.

But I have been spending lots of money on digital cards - Topps Star Wars Card Trader. I started doing digital because trading (my main interest) is so much easier than for physical cards. However, the prices have increased and trading is dying so I will probably drop back on the app next year.

Being in Canada, it's gotten difficult to collect, mainly due to availability and shipping costs. However, I've been having some VERY good luck this year with local collector shows . Also, building a short list of suppliers helps, and that's harder than it seems. My biggest problem is practically no one carries new material here

I definitely pared down on my collecting this year, but what I did buy I was very pleased with.

For starters there was Perna Studio's Elementals set. Even though their sets are technically "sealed boxes" i.e. the sketch is random - they are always such high quality that I am NEVER disappointed with my "random" hit.

I also bought two boxes (at 40 and 60% off, respectively) of Topp's Dr. Who the Tenth Doctor.
I was very pleased with the autographs I pulled and, coupled with some bargain purchases from Ebay, feel like I got all of the key autographs from the set for about the cost of three boxes total.

Lastly, I purchased a couple of boxes of British Horror and ended up with some one per case autographs, as well as a couple of nice sketches.

In all, I feel like I beat the odds as far as sealed product goes in 2017!

Did mostly Topps online non-sports this year, plenty of various Star Wars and a little of everything else from that including Mars Attacks, Warcraft, Rocky, and Fear the Walking Dead. Did get a couple of hobby boxes, too, Star Wars Masterworks and Last Jedi. Also picked up some Star Wars mini-masters online from sets I didn't want to risk opening sealed packs of.

Got some of those Orphan Black hit packs from Crypto through the mail and loved those.

Also picked up a little Valyrian Steel from RA and enjoy opening those, too.

Hopefully, there'll be at least as much next year.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, Happy New Year (take your pick!) to you all and good collecting in 2018!

I ended up buying more DC Lil Bombshells figures in those cans for my daughter than I did of trading card boxes this year. Although we did buy some packs here and there just to open stuff, it just seemed that the value or "bang for the buck" for boxes was lacking once again this year.

I did like that Cryptozoic did something different and add Lil Bombshell figure in their boxes of DC Bombshells to add a little more value. I just wish the figure checklist was a little larger than 3 figures, but for a first time venture it was appreciated because something needs to change because the next generation of collectors like my 8-year old daughter seems to gravitate towards getting blind bags of Lego minifigures, Shopkins, and L.O.L. Surprise dolls along with looking for Funko Pop! Figures.

Also did a pair of Kickstarters, small trading cards sets (with a sketch card) from Dan "Nocturnals" Brereton and Ed Repka. I think both were originally intended to be issued this year, but there were some minor delays on the Brereton which then pushed back the Repka set to a (hopefully) early 2018 release. Will definitely be looking out for more like these. The Brereton set was gorgeous and a great value and I'm expecting the same of the Repka set.

I really spent more than I wanted too this year but as My wants list for my main interest Inkworks diminishes I expect to buy a lot less next year. But I also branched out so I could get carried away next year with Sealed Preview sets and D V D cards as I live in New Zealand all my cards were brought through the Bay with some trading
As our hobby seems to be going through a bad patch the thing that I am surprised at is the much higher ( than guide prices ) being asked for Inkworks Autograph and Pieceworks cards
Piko

In a bit of decline myself - have looked here and there on the bay, but haven't pulled the trigger on anything.

I bought a Wacky Packs booster box from Target (I think!) and that was about it.

Hoping 2018 is more exciting - supposed to be another Space:1999 set from Unstoppable Cards (hoping this one is much better than the first) along with an LIS set from RA (which I hope changes direction from what I understand is the current offering). There may be a Twilight Zone, too so that might spark some interest. Some of the Star Wars "super sets" sound interesting but I haven't committed anything yet to any of them.

Hoping for some more surprises, too!

I don't remember how much I bought this year, but I know in the last six months I have only picked up 3 cards - two autograph cards from The Last Jedi and one from Star Trek Beyond.

I also picked up the 13th Doctor reveal Topps Now card, a box of the Doctor Who signature series, and a couple of Becky Lynch WWE cards earlier in the year. That's the least I have picked up in probably 15 years, and 2018 will be much the same. The spark just isn't there anymore for me.