opening boxes vs buying singles

BenDMitchell

BenDMitchell

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Which method do you use for your collecting--do you break boxes and cases or do you just buy singles? I can't decide which is the better way.
 
I love the gamble and experience of ripping wax, but sadly the prices of boxes these days has turned me from busting boxes. I cant justify the high prices, $160 for Series 1 for example, for the chance of a PC card I can have for cheaper or a shot at a higher end card im just going to sell or trade for other PC cards.
I will add tho that the Expo doesn't disappoint in older cheaper wax, and sitting around in the hotel room with buddy's after a day at the show, talking life, drinking beer and busting wax, is one of the highlights for me every show.
 
Purely singles, this way I know I am getting what I want. While the thrill of hitting something big used to provide a pretty big rush, the disappointment of getting less then my money's worth most often provided a bigger let down.
 
Singles all the way, far less disappointment.

And a side benefit is far less skeptic feelings. Too many folks selling boxes after case hits have been found. Unless you're prepared to buy a case, there will always be a chance that you never had a chance at that case pull.

I get the rush of opening boxes, and I may actually try some OPC because that event would be more about the hobby and less about the return :thumbsup:
 
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Singles all the way. I want to know that I’m getting a card that I want. When I have the itch now and then I’ll rip some retail blasters or something.
 
I break boxes because I enjoy the experience, but I don't open as much as some other people. I'm mostly buying discounted stuff and retail, and some popular products in pre-sales. I really like spending an afternoon opening packs and sorting everything.

I'm also buying singles, but I'm very picky on what I'm buying now. I accumulated so much stuff over the years, I'm looking to downsize a bit.
 
Always singles for building my collection. It doesn't make sense from a $ perspective for me to open wax since I can get the singles I want for the price of a single box or even less sometimes. I'm happy to open boxes but I'd prefer to do it with friends where we split a case and just make it an event. Opening boxes alone just doesn't do it for me, I want to be able to share that excitement with people.
 
Value in Wax is an absolute joke. Used to rip multiple cases a year but haven't for the past 7 or so years, basically since UD has had exclusivity. Dropped into a local store the other day, ripped 50 bucks or so in UD S1 and didn't get one card worth keeping. Same week, ripped 40 bucks on platinum and got a /199 card that I won't even bother shipping.

I just don't get it. I love to gamble as well but that needs to come with upside, and ripping a $1500 case to crush it and get $1300 in cards, doesn't make any sense to me. At least if I sit down at a blackjack table with 1500 bucks I feel like I have some control over my destiny and a chance to win.
 
I'll do the odd box of hockey, fully expecting to get killed on value. The only stuff I'll break in quantity now is wrestling and non-sports.

With that being said, I did pick up a case of UD1 the other day. But I will be stashing it away.
 
i buy singles only, but i pop into a couple of LCS every now and then to buy supplies. I always buy a few packs to satisfy the itch. the good thing is that i have 0 expectation opening them and I feel like im contributing to keeping the stores open

Pacman
 
Physical Stuff - Over the last 5 years I've gone from buying 2 cases of S1 and S2, to 1 case of S1 and S2, to just a half dozen boxes and now to none.

They've increased the print runs of everything but haven't increased the hits so the value is just not there anymore. And selling anything on ebay is just horrendous now.

E-Pack - I still buy boxes and maybe the odd case. It's just way easier to trade stuff I don't want to keep for stuff I do, so that makes up for the diminishing values of product. And the price stays the same. Can't beat it.
 
Buying singles for growing my collection and opening boxes on epack.

Opening boxes in real life gives you by far the biggest rush of excitement. Problem is with a product like Series One your 24 “hits” usually only work out to 3-6 wanted cards. Unless people are putting the set together the small hit inserts are not sought after. With epack you can foil base cards and do low end trades easily. You can get some value out of the junk from the boxes.
 
Being priced out of buying boxes has been one of the greatest things that has happened to me in the last 33 years of collecting. My focus on singles has landed me some cards that I wouldn't have had had I been playing the box buying lotto.
 
I used to break many, many cases of SPA each year.

I think that's over now, perhaps permanently.

I've moved exclusively into singles and honestly kind of reduced even that portion of buying/collecting considerably as we move ever further into what feels almost certainly like a massive asset bubble in cards with inflation/interest rate rises likely just a matter of time (together with some iteration of economic contraction).

All of those macro economic factors will reduce prices but it's not here yet; and what do I know: maybe it won't come at all.

At 400 USD for a pre-order per box of SPA when 19-20 was ~100 USD at pre-order, how do you reasonably justify that, particularly when the boxes aren't even guaranteed to have a FWA any more.

To the sidelines I go until the correction comes. And even then, I'm not in cards to chase returns but to make sets and have fun, and, at least to me, the current froth is the antithesis of both.

Not trying to yuck anyone's yum here, but just not my thing chasing crazy pricing and false scarcity.
 
Mostly singles for me. I like knowing exactly what I am getting and I have also tweaked my buying habits for only certain cards or something that really catches my eye. Pretty much quality over quantity for me now.

I usually like to bust a hobby box or 2 of UD series 1, but at this year's prices I'd rather pay for the single. I may opt for one of the mid-high end boxes later this year just for the fun of ripping (expecting that I will be lucky to recoup half of the price of the box).

My "big ripping session was both of the Tim Horton's releases year...so I guess I will have to wait until November 2022 now lol
 
iheartjacquie said:
Purely singles, this way I know I am getting what I want. While the thrill of hitting something big used to provide a pretty big rush, the disappointment of getting less then my money's worth most often provided a bigger let down.
Click to expand...

Spot on! Exactly my experience since my income/cash flow involuntarily radically decreased. Have to be much more selective with the dollars.
Michael.
 
I let the other folks spend their waddage on opening case after case
and i will sit back save on buying singles I need! I don't have the urge
to open boxes. No need too. when I'm a player collector.
 

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