quote:

Originally posted by Komodo:
I don't know what a LHS is, but it sounds like the non-sport market is definitely a fringe market now.

It has always been sort of a strange hobby. . .

On the one hand it definitely seems like a fringe market -- I can't really buy product locally. Local shops carry very little product.

On the other hand certain Marvel cards are now selling for significant money. Many of the autographs sell for $1000+ dollars, some sell for $5000+, and those prices can be seen or exceeded in chase cards like PMGs.

I was looking at the top end FUSM Jambalaya cards last night. Jambalaya cards of Spider-Man, Carnage and Venom can sell for close to $1000 -- possibly Wolverine and Deadpool are in that range too, but I wasn't looking at them. I was thinking these cards have to be really rare, right? I looked it up -- these were inserted at 1:72 packs. So not a tough pull at all -- there is a good chance if you opened FUSM you might have a Jambalaya sitting around.

So. . . bizarre. . . very fringe, yet not so much.

It does seem like a strange contradiction to me. The higher end cards are now worth what I always thought/hoped they would be, but everything else seems to be stagnant or even dropping in price. I jumped on board the non-sport trading card train back in 2006 and back then there seemed to be much more interest in the hobby than there is today. Just look at how much the traffic has dropped on this site alone. Not to mention the manufacturers who have come and gone and/or appear to be struggling. And yet, if you have the right cards, business is booming like never before.

quote:

Originally posted by Logan:
It does seem like a strange contradiction to me.

Is it a hobby? Is it a business? Is it an investment? It can be all three, but not at the same time, in the same degree of importance.

Deciding what you really want from your non-sport card buying takes away a lot of the contradictions and also makes you less susceptible to believing other people's collecting ideas, which are usually beneficial only to them.

quote:

Originally posted by Logan:
It does seem like a strange contradiction to me. The higher end cards are now worth what I always thought/hoped they would be, but everything else seems to be stagnant or even dropping in price. I jumped on board the non-sport trading card train back in 2006 and back then there seemed to be much more interest in the hobby than there is today. Just look at how much the traffic has dropped on this site alone. Not to mention the manufacturers who have come and gone and/or appear to be struggling. And yet, if you have the right cards, business is booming like never before.

My observation is that it seems the hobby has become tremendously segmented.

The surge in Marvel card prices has been driven by sports card collectors (don't say that in the wrong forum, apparently it is offensive).

Star Wars cards have been a steady growth in popularity/conductibility with the growth in fans of the franchise.

There are other many other segments too, but I think there are far fewer casual collectors today -- people who will just buy packs or boxes because they are made.

Cards that are sought after by one of the segments see tremendous interest, but other cards have a hard time getting traction. I think this is why we see so few new licenses or titles anymore.

The sad thing is that I see people go back and collect some of these awesome recent sets and talk about how great they are -- and I just think -- dang, if you would have been interested in this set when it was released the company that produced it would still be around.

I kind of don't mind the juxtaposition because on the one hand cards I have been holding on to are worth significantly more than they were, but on the other hand I feel like there are still bargains to be had.

Ahh on track now lol

Hmm I think we have 3 in town, actually. I've been in all at one time or another, I think at least one sells on Ebank. Quick summary, much is as described by others here. One had the kind of product I'm interested in (older N/S sets) but priced top end, and nothing I really wanted anyway.

New N/S is almost nonexistent- same as extra funds lol. Honestly, to me it was a lot more fun when I was younger. A dollar could get you 5 packs and each probably had 10 cards and a sticker.

I still go for the base sets, and other insert sets if they're affordable & interesting. But I do miss opening packs, and trying to find those last few cards to make a set complete. Now it's just cheaper to buy a base set online a couple months after release. That's getting harder to do too. I made quite a few (for me) purchases last year, to catch up on my want list.

I'm basically the bottom feeder in the grand scheme of things lol. I take up some of the stock that gathers dust, and now & then luck out on something hard to find. And honestly, I'm happy with that- that's what keeps me going.

For a little while I made the attempt at buying items others were looking for just to make a trade. It kinda ties into this subject... but it takes a lot more effort than I'm willing to make at this stage in my life. And the trading game- again, more effort than I'm willing to make now. It worked for a while, and was a fun activity.

I guess it's just part of the evolution of things, like everything else. That's what makes this hobby interesting- the wide variety of subject matter, with the legacy of past products. The retail method has changed so much too! Kudos to those who have a shop open and manage to earn a living too. It takes a lot of work and dedication to build and keep a customer base.

It's hard to find a store with cards, and when they do have some, they don't have open boxes so you can buy packs. Two different stores have had packs. One had a shelf with some miscellaneous leftover packs. I bought a couple of packs of Star Wars 40th Anniversary to see if I could get lucky - nope. At another store, there was an open box of "Picard." I bought a pack just to open a pack of something and check out the cards. And this was a store that had been getting out of cards but I guess the owner had heard that some were selling again so he was willing to try some again. I noticed he had sold a few non-sport singles and sets since my last visit.

I used to buy extra stuff to trade too but don't do that anymore. I still end up with some tradable extras if I find a good lot.

The other day, I noticed at least one seller had the 6-card chromium chase set from the first William Stout set (1994) for only $10. It took me a while back then to put that together. The local dealers didn't carry much of it so I think I finished the set by finding the last card at a show or maybe an early Ebay win. Some things are cheaper than they used to be. It is a good time to buy something like one of the Comic Images boxes. I saw a Conan II box for $20 plus shipping so I might look for something else around that price just to open some packs.

quote:

Originally posted by Komodo:
Ahh on track now lol

Hmm I think we have 3 in town, actually. I've been in all at one time or another, I think at least one sells on Ebank. Quick summary, much is as described by others here. One had the kind of product I'm interested in (older N/S sets) but priced top end, and nothing I really wanted anyway.

I still go for the base sets, and other insert sets if they're affordable & interesting. But I do miss opening packs, and trying to find those last few cards to make a set complete. Now it's just cheaper to buy a base set online a couple months after release. That's getting harder to do too. I made quite a few (for me) purchases last year, to catch up on my want list.

I'm basically the bottom feeder in the grand scheme of things lol. I take up some of the stock that gathers dust, and now & then luck out on something hard to find. And honestly, I'm happy with that- that's what keeps me going.

For a little while I made the attempt at buying items others were looking for just to make a trade. It kinda ties into this subject... but it takes a lot more effort than I'm willing to make at this stage in my life. And the trading game- again, more effort than I'm willing to make now. It worked for a while, and was a fun activity.

I guess it's just part of the evolution of things, like everything else. That's what makes this hobby interesting- the wide variety of subject matter, with the legacy of past products. The retail method has changed so much too! Kudos to those who have a shop open and manage to earn a living too. It takes a lot of work and dedication to build and keep a customer base.

I used to do quite a bit of trading for single cards to build sets, but when the postage prices rose it became significantly cheaper to buy a set than it was to trade for several cards to complete a set.

I stopped in a local comic shop and noticed that it had sold out of most of its non-sports packs. This is a store that was getting out of cards but then the owner noticed that stuff was selling again so he dug into the back room to see what he still had.

The store had had a few 90's boxes open with packs at $3-6 and had sold out of Star Wars Galaxy II and Marvel Masterpieces and a couple of others as well as the current Picard. This time, there were open boxes of Wolverine Marvel Cards III, Bone and Deathwatch 2000 so I bought a couple of packs of the latter to see if I could get lucky and pull a Neal Adams autograph, but no.

That store also has some 60's packs (Munsters and something else) at high prices.

I was in a collectibles store with a lot of action figures and some cards and noticed that another case had been set up with non-sports. It also had some 60's packs and some graded Star Wars (Topps, 1977) singles with high prices.

I was at local flea market today and saw more sellers with cards - toy dealers putting out extra stuff. All this tells me cards are making a comeback. It may not be huge but it is real.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
All this tells me cards are making a comeback. It may not be huge but it is real.

That's great!

There are several new collectibles shops at a mall I go to -- I posted about it somewhere.

Wednesday I went in to one of the shops that had a handful of cards and they were having a going out of business sale already :-(

It's tough to open and keep open a specialty store any time. I saw a collectibles store do okay during the recession and it seems to be because it was run by two collectibles dealers who used to sell at shows and flea markets. They each had their own variety of stuff (80's-90's toys, action figures, cards, Star Wars stuff, Legos, etc.) that sold for them and that gave the store a wide selection of items. It wasn't just one person trying to keep up with trends and then knowing when to stop buying something cooling off with collectors. Like I said, they were doing okay but then the mall kicked them out a few years ago and then the mall got leveled not long after that. I saw one of the guys at a flea market today.

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
All this tells me cards are making a comeback. It may not be huge but it is real.

That's great!

There are several new collectibles shops at a mall I go to -- I posted about it somewhere.

Wednesday I went in to one of the shops that had a handful of cards and they were having a going out of business sale already :-(

While visiting relatives about 100 miles north of me on Father's Day, some of us walked over to a nearby comic/collectibles shop. My brother told me they have stuff coming in all the time, and in the time we were there, three people brought in stuff to sell. This store has a lot of action figures and toys along with a selection of rare comics and an island of bargain comics to leaf through.

There was almost nothing in the way of cards - just some Star Wars CCG in a bargain box and a few Munsters singles from the 60's in a display case. I looked through some of the bargain comics but didn't find anything with oddball cards. In another bargain box, I found a couple of sealed Star Wars Collector magazines from back in 1999 that were below cover price and bought those because I was still missing a few of the cards inserted.

It had been about three years since my last visit. They used to have some Johnny Lightning die-cast cars with cards inserted but they didn't have any yesterday. It was fun to look at everything - all kinds of toys and they had the Tarzan lunchbox I had when I was in first grade.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

I stopped by a local comic shop while in the area today. Several days ago, I was there and they had 4-5 binders full of various 90's Marvel cards for sale. Each binder was priced at $25. I looked through all of them. All but one had just base cards and a few chase cards. There might have been a full base set plus 20-30 of another set in each one. One also had some promos including some Wizard magazine inserts and several Toy Biz variants. That binder was probably worth the price just for the Toy Biz cards but I passed on it as those weren't a priority and it seems they are slower sellers than they were 1-2 years ago so I didn't think I should jump on them to resell or save for trading.

Anyway, I dropped in today to look at the binders again but they were all gone. Is the Marvel craze still alive in some spots? It looked like more of the 90's card packs had sold as well.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Anyway, I dropped in today to look at the binders again but they were all gone. Is the Marvel craze still alive in some spots? It looked like more of the 90's card packs had sold as well.

Yes. If the cards were in near mint condition and the binders full, somebody did well to pick them up at that price.

I went to a local sports card shop to pick up some sleeves and a couple of 400-ct card boxes (good for shipping too), wanting to check prices on the Star Wars boxes available as well. They moved them for some reason to their own little area. They want $130 for The Mandalorian Chrome Beskar. I can find it cheaper elsewhere.

While I was in there a big spender came in and immediately asked for a box of something called "Panini Immaculate Basketball 2022-2023" and I noticed the store price...$1775. That is not a typo. He bought that and some other stuff and it came to something over $3000. And get this, he wasn't a collector. He was a dealer paying retail, buying for a client of his own.

I checked on it later. The SRP is for a box ogf that Panini is $850 but it's going for roughly $1500-2000 now and there are only 6 cards in a little box inside a bigger box. I watched two different guys be underwhelmed with their cards on Youtube. Not happy with your $200 Star Wars hobby box pulls? It could be worse.

At my LHS the majority of the card business is divided between gaming and sports. Non-sport cards require a canvas of customer's intent and even then, they are only on the mainstream titles. Honestly, I never see anybody even asking for non-sport cards whenever I go there, but the gaming people are always buying.

They also have these high rollers that buy boxes of high-priced sports cards. I don't know their motivation, if they are collectors or flippers or dealers, but I have seen them drop whole paychecks at one time. I am told sports cards are back.

These high rollers are always guys. Unless it's their business and they are making good money off of it, they really need to go to rehab.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
At my LHS the majority of the card business is divided between gaming and sports. Non-sport cards require a canvas of customer's intent and even then, they are only on the mainstream titles. Honestly, I never see anybody even asking for non-sport cards whenever I go there, but the gaming people are always buying.

They also have these high rollers that buy boxes of high-priced sports cards. I don't know their motivation, if they are collectors or flippers or dealers, but I have seen them drop whole paychecks at one time. I am told sports cards are back.
These high rollers are always guys. Unless it's their business and they are making good money off of it, they really need to go to rehab.

Unlikely that they are married , but if they are I’m guessing they keep the wife happy somehow, or she doesn’t know just how much the hubby’s spending.