ePack Lineup for 2019-20

[numbern9ne]

From the UD Blog...

With the release of 2019-20 NHL® Upper Deck Series One, the hockey card collecting year is officially off and running! Customers frequently ask about what releases they can find in their local Upper Deck Certified Diamond Dealers and which ones will also be on Upper Deck e-Pack™; the company’s patent-pending online collectibles platform. As always, local collectibles shops (CDD’s) will have the first opportunity to sell Upper Deck products and they will not appear on e-Pack for at least four weeks, but up to 12 weeks and beyond after physical hobby release.

Aside from 2019-20 Parkhurst Hockey which is distributed exclusively through e-pack and retail channels, here is a list of the sports releases that will be available on both hobby and e-Pack for the 2019-20 season:

Chronology Hockey Vol. 1 (already out on ePack)
2019-20 MVP Hockey (already out on ePack)
2019 Team Canada Juniors (already out on ePack)
2019-20 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey
2019-20 Synergy Hockey
2019-20 SPGU Hockey
2019-20 Allure Hockey
2019-20 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey
2019-20 SPx Hockey
2019-20 Credentials Hockey
2019-20 OPC Platinum Hockey
2019-20 CHL Hockey
2019-20 Ultimate Collection Hockey
Chronology Hockey Vol. 2


Upper Deck will continue to support Certified Diamond Dealers with releases that are exclusively physical and only available through the hobby channel. For this season you can expect these releases to only have a physical release through local collectibles shops (CDD’s).

2019-20 O-Pee-Chee Hockey
2019-20 Artifacts Hockey
2019-20 Black Diamond Hockey
2019-20 Buybacks Hockey
2019-20 Trilogy Hockey
2019-20 AHL Hockey
2019-20 Ice Hockey
2019-20 Engrained Hockey
2019-20 SP Authentic Hockey
2019-20 Premier Hockey
2019-20 Clear Cut
2019-20 The Cup

Worthy of note, there may be some releases not on these lists that will be announced in the future arriving as physical hobby and/or e-Pack exclusive products. Upper Deck will look at current market conditions before making those determinations.

 

[HammerHawks]

Crazy. More products on ePack than not. Don't like that.

 

[creasecollector]

Crazy. More products on ePack than not. Don't like that.

I don’t like it either. I’m seeing a good half of that ePack list that shouldn’t be on ePack in the first place.

 

[junyab]

Ugh...I don't like that Synergy will show up on epack...I collect the true rookies in that set and with it being on epack I can see the cards Im looking for being next to impossible to acquire.

 

[creasecollector]

Ugh...I don't like that Synergy will show up on epack...I collect the true rookies in that set and with it being on epack I can see the cards Im looking for being next to impossible to acquire.

That's the thing that bugs me. A lot of great cards will be on a platform that will shut a lot of collectors out. Sure, everyone could join, but only those with deeper pockets will be able to accumulate some bigger cards on their account for trade. The rest of us won't unless we bite the bullet and open some ePack stuff (which is what UD wants). I don't mind ePack for lower-end stuff, but UD wants as much money as possible while cutting out the middle man, so they are going to keep pushing that line as far as it will go.

At the end of the day, having products 'Offline' makes it a much more even playing field to acquire cards.

 

[DCUnited96]

I really don't get the appeal of this platform. The have MVP priced above LCS prices, and it's not really what you would call a hit based product. Do high volume e-pack breakers get a serious discount?

 

[HammerHawks]

I really don't get the appeal of this platform. The have MVP priced above LCS prices, and it's not really what you would call a hit based product. Do high volume e-pack breakers get a serious discount?

No. But there are achievement cards to make up for it in a way, ePack exclusive parallels too.

 

[TMLFan3]

Mark my words, in the next 2-4 years The Cup will be on ePack too.

 

[creasecollector]

Mark my words, in the next 2-4 years The Cup will be on ePack too.

Ugh. I hope not. Wouldn't surpise me though at this point, sadly.

 

[HammerHawks]

Mark my words, in the next 2-4 years The Cup will be on ePack too.

It better not be. That would really be a terrible decision on UD's part. But, given how they only care about money, you are probably right. This exclusive better go to the dumpster because UD is slowly killing the hobby one year and one product at a time.

 

[junyab]

E-Pack isn't all bad. The two biggest pluses are ease of trading and price stability. You can literally sit and trade all day and night long. And since trading has always been the most fun part of collecting cards this point can't be overlooked. The price stability is what attracted me in the first place. When I started collecting in 2016-17, Series 1 boxes increased in price quickly and dramatically. E-Pack box prices stay the same until it's completely sold out. Another advantage includes knowing your patch card or highend rookie card hasn't been tampered/trimmed/repatched etc.

Sure, there are lots of negatives with E-Pack. But we can't say it's all bad.

 

[quincy]

I know that this list is hockey focused, but I think it's worth remembering that all of their entertainment and multisport products are also ePack releases.

UD claims to want to support brick and mortar stores. ePack tells a different tale. So too does the channel-driven products like Tim Hortons and Canadian Tire. These things shape and drive consumption towards avenues of simple price taking, little customer input or feedback, and elimination of the hobby store altogether.

 

[quincy]

Mark my words, in the next 2-4 years The Cup will be on ePack too.

I thought 2017-18 would be the year. I agree with you otherwise.

 

[Triple B]

Get ta dumpin’ those Young Guns, kids. The floor’s about to disappear.

 

[DCUnited96]

I know that this list is hockey focused, but I think it's worth remembering that all of their entertainment and multisport products are also ePack releases.

UD claims to want to support brick and mortar stores. ePack tells a different tale. So too does the channel-driven products like Tim Hortons and Canadian Tire. These things shape and drive consumption towards avenues of simple price taking, little customer input or feedback, and elimination of the hobby store altogether.

I definitely see the influence with what's is/was available for singles on COMC (ebay data of COMC listings). Using a multisport as an example, I've been collecting a few of the Goodwin World Traveler cards that have geographical significance to me. One card, has had over 20 copies sold via COMC/Ebay, with few more available. Using the listed odds of group H 1:96 and 33 cards in that group, you would get the card once in every 158 boxes. The 24 copies that have passed through COMC/Ebay would roughly equate to 3700 boxes of cards.

On the other hand, a non epack hockey release like 18-19 Synergy has little availability on COMC. MVP has good availability, but nowhere near the numbers of the Goodwin example.