2021-22 Series 2 e-Pack Release 8/10/22

[frankiefives]

So you want LCS to have the same exclusives as e-Pack? Then what about Wal-Mart? Do you want Wal-Mart to have them too? So what about retail boxes vs hobby? How can one box contain exclusives and the other not?!!?

This whole argument is so dumb. Every large industry has exclusives, especially ones involving hobbies and collecting.

And if you don't want manufacturers competing with retailers then should we close all outlet malls or other stores that are ran by manufacturers like Nike of Lulu Lemon outlets?

The argument that e-Pack shouldn't be in business or have exclusives is a trivial and nonsensical argument conjured by collectors who don't use it.

Dude, take a deep breath...

I simply stated that "hobby" boxes should be exactly that. Hobby only. Which means hobby shops. Walmart gets retail only products and has no hobby hits. I don't agree with e-pack having hobby boxes and extra hits when hobby shops will then struggle to sell boxes in direct competition with e-pack.

Again, I understand why UD does this. It's smart business. Doesn't mean I have to agree with it.

 

[junyab]

You're being a bit overdramatic here. Is it possible for them to release hobby only content as well as epack only content? Why not? Are they releasing all of their "additional" hits on epack? Yes, they are. Could they do something for hobby stores? Yes, yes they could. Will they? Probably not until it's too late and the hobby dies.

Who's being overdramatic? wned:

 

[junyab]

Dude, take a deep breath...

I simply stated that "hobby" boxes should be exactly that. Hobby only. Which means hobby shops. Walmart gets retail only products and has no hobby hits. I don't agree with e-pack having hobby boxes and extra hits when hobby shops will then struggle to sell boxes in direct competition with e-pack.

Again, I understand why UD does this. It's smart business. Doesn't mean I have to agree with it.

E-Pack doesn't have "hobby boxes". There are zero clear cut parallels and sometimes other items are missing. So LCS do in fact have their own products. So can you still say that it's unfair that both platforms have their own exclusives?

 

[frankiefives]

E-Pack doesn't have "hobby boxes". There are zero clear cut parallels and sometimes other items are missing. So LCS do in fact have their own products. So can you still say that it's unfair that both platforms have their own exclusives?

If they really wanted to, they could easily have hobby only hits and then E-pack only hits. Not both. High Gloss and Exclusives have been Hobby only for decades. Now, the hobby boxes are watered down because a big portion of those hits get held back for e-pack.

The point is simple. In my opinion, manufacturers shouldn't be competing with their retailers when it comes to products they sell. If they did it in a way where each product was vastly different then it wouldn't be so bad.

We will agree to disagree on this subject.

 

[junyab]

If they really wanted to, they could easily have hobby only hits and then E-pack only hits. Not both. High Gloss and Exclusives have been Hobby only for decades. Now, the hobby boxes are watered down because a big portion of those hits get held back for e-pack.

The point is simple. In my opinion, manufacturers shouldn't be competing with their retailers when it comes to products they sell. If they did it in a way where each product was vastly different then it wouldn't be so bad.

We will agree to disagree on this subject.

Hits are not "held back". Just an allocation of the print run is allocated to e-pack (eg. 20% of S2 is on e-pack).

Hobby box hits/serially numbered cards are watered down because UD is printing more. If you only have 100 Caufield YG Exclusives, the more you print, the harder it is to hit. Again, its not an e-pack issue, its a print run issue.

 

[DCUnited96]

Even MVP has had hobby exclusive (not on e-pack) cards... the black Super Scripts /5 were a hobby exclusive at one point (not sure if they still are). However, the e-pack card I questioned is a not a advertised "hit", it's a bonus base card. A bonus card to set you can't even physically obtain via e-pack, which is cool and all, but it's real target audience should have been set builders via hobby shops.

 

[Fred Bear]

If they really wanted to, they could easily have hobby only hits and then E-pack only hits. Not both. High Gloss and Exclusives have been Hobby only for decades. Now, the hobby boxes are watered down because a big portion of those hits get held back for e-pack.

The point is simple. In my opinion, manufacturers shouldn't be competing with their retailers when it comes to products they sell. If they did it in a way where each product was vastly different then it wouldn't be so bad.

We will agree to disagree on this subject.

I don't think UD is competing at all with retailers or LCSs. Their job is to produce cards and get them into the hands of collectors. Epack is one tool to do that. There is definite overlap in customer base, but (1) it's not as big as you think, and (2) there also segments which prefer one over the other (to the point of ignoring one for the other).

In the last couple of years, I've been on epack quite a bit and I've seen boxes sell out on epack that you could order hobby boxes cheaper on Dave and Adam's. I've also seen product sit on epack that was 20-30% cheaper than hobby boxes. Some people just don't want to use epack and some people don't have access to or they don't enjoy their LCS (my closest shop is 45-60 minutes away).

About 20% of the hobby print run ends up on epack, it's probably a bit less given the additional hobby hits that are available to hobby box breakers. You then have some epack exclusives (usually set or card redemptions) which provides some draw for collectors. These exclusives usually start on COMC which is also a love-it or hate-it hobby hotbed... So some of the epack exclusives end up as really rare, but potentially with much lower demand... Again, good with bad. But it adds to the diversity of the hobby...

I didn't think I would like, but, it ends up, it's not so bad and a pretty solid way to waste time (and money)...

:beer:

 

[frankiefives]

Hits are not "held back". Just an allocation of the print run is allocated to e-pack (eg. 20% of S2 is on e-pack).

Hobby box hits/serially numbered cards are watered down because UD is printing more. If you only have 100 Caufield YG Exclusives, the more you print, the harder it is to hit. Again, its not an e-pack issue, its a print run issue.

The print run is increased in large part because of e-pack. It's not hard to figure out lol.

Anyway, there's no point in going back and forth. We will not agree on this subject. End of story.