Slabs or no slabs???

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frankiefives

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I'd like to conduct a survey on ITG Ultimate. Do you prefer the slabs or would you rather see a cheaper price and no slabs? Opinions welcomed!!!
 
I personally have no problem with the slabs. They have stuck with them for all 7 releases, so I know to expect it from the Ultimate product and only the Ultimate product. Sure it would be great if the price were cheaper overall for the product, but I doubt a lack of holders would substantially reduce the cost of packs and boxes.

Considering they use 45,000 holders for the product, I'm guessing ITG aren't paying more than a couple bucks for each holder. My guess is that you may save $5-$10 off a pack without the use of holders, so it probably wouldn't make much of a difference in a $150/pack product. As long as they don't use the toploaders that are taped shut like they did with the autographs in 03/04 Ultimate, then whatever they throw at us would be fine by me.

Derek
 
As much of a pain in the arse as slabs are to store, ship, etc I still like them for one simple reason: With the ever increasing number of fake patches hitting the market as of late the slabs at least give some assurance that what you're buying came that way from the factory.

Darren
 
I don't like the slabs...there are some crazy cards I would like to get my hands on, but I don't have the room to store them all. They are too bulky. However, one thing you CAN NOT do with these cards is alter them, which is the greatest security measure you can have for a card. You know that the card you have is authentic and hasn't been changed.
 
Even though the slabs have been one of the hallmarks for ITG Ultimate, I would love to see them go unslabbed in future years. I even preferred what they did with the autos in 03-04.
Daniel
 
I would like to see no slabs and a cheaper price. I think it would be a great idea to have one pack of like 3-4 slabs and they all would low numbered. The rest without slabs.
 
NO SLABS ALL THE WAY.The people who buy the cards slabbed or pay to have the cards slabbed are only in the hobby for investment not the enjoyment of collecting the cards & being able to touch the card.The cards are basicly entombed.Those are my opinions....
 
I don't mind the slabs. I think they're pretty nice, but I wouldn't mind if they didn't slab 'em. Toploaders would work as well, just like they did in 03-04.

Great product either way.
 
No slabs for a couple of reasons...
1) It would make storing the cards alot easier. ie, how is someone who is building the base set or any of the jersey or auto subsets show them off with ease? You can not put those clunkers in a binder :rolleyes:
2) Removing the slabs should lower the pack price, which is always a good thing.
3) I am a tactile person who likes to touch the jersey pieces, especially nice patch cards. It seems such a waste that a beautiful subset like Seams Unbelievable is trapped behind that plastic slab

All that being said, there is one nice thing that I just recently noticed with this card I pulled;

schmidt.jpg


The patch piece in the upper right corner of this card is threatening to split the card in two. If this card was not slabbed, I am sure it would be ruined.
 
Hate Slabs

Death To Slabs! (my rants for slabs are much like Vinny's, Chris' etc rants about UD).

I could go into a long winded response but I don't want to waste my time ;) As you know Frank the vast majority of collectors at the store don't really like them.

I collect HOFer limited stuff and never touch Ultimate because its slabbed. I wish they unslabbed their stuff... some cool cards but I can't bring myself to own a big hunking piece of plastic like that.

It's so tacky... much like plastic on your furniture, its just awful looking.
 
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ITG claims collectors favour slabs 10 to 1 (which I have an incredibly difficult time believing considering I worked at a card store for over 4 years and the general response towards slabs are negative).

Frank start a poll.... I have a hard time seeing it as 10 to 1 in favour of plastic furniture


Edit: You know what... having thought about it, I bet you ITG's research is incredibly skewed. They probably only asked current Ultimate fans/collectors what they think of slabs and NOT the collecting hobby as a whole. It's like Honda asking Honda car owners "do you like our car?" ITG should find out what the collecting hobby as a WHOLE thinks of slabs... if the majority prefer no slabs then ITG would be better served to do without em.
 
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I like the slabs, but they could go a different route to save space and bulkiness. What about the magnetic cases with a security seal covering the top where the magent is like Topps uses? The security labels are pretty fool proof, and they could have them printed with the ITG logo and name so they can't be faked.
 
I could care less either way. I don't buy enough of it to cause any storage problems. I also agree that is tamper-proof in the slabs.

At the end of the day is there any product, slabs or not, that delivers a HOFer or some amazing memorabilia/autos in EVERY last pack?

I mean, there are no scrubs EVER in ITG Ultimate, unlike a lot of other sets/products. I'll give them that.

So to slab or not to slab? I don't care, just keep that insane value packed in.

All killer, no filler!;)
 
Average ITG Ultimate Pack:
Jaromir Jagr Base /90
Mario Lemieux Game Used /25
Ted Lindsay Auto /50

Average UD Ultimate Pack:
Ales Hemsky Base /699
Vesa Toskala Auto
Gerry Cheevers Game Used /200
Barry Brust RC /699

Which would you rather have?
 
vegaspuck said:
I'll beg to differ....unless you want the Niittymaki's I pull. Every set has scrubs. ITG just has a slightly lesser amount.
Click to expand...


Slightly? Chris, c'mon dude.......seriously.

Again I LOVE UD's cards, they have the best designs, hands down. But they cannot touch the insane depth, top to bottom of ITG's Ultimate set.

Plus ITG has all that incredible Vintage stuff. I know UD is getting better and acquiring more of that and has what looks to be an outstanding amount and variety of cut autos in this year's Cup, but still, they are way behind in the overall value of a product in the high-end segment of the market.
 
DredJAw said:
ITG claims collectors favour slabs 10 to 1 (which I have an incredibly difficult time believing considering I worked at a card store for over 4 years and the general response towards slabs are negative).

Frank start a poll.... I have a hard time seeing it as 10 to 1 in favour of plastic furniture


Edit: You know what... having thought about it, I bet you ITG's research is incredibly skewed. They probably only asked current Ultimate fans/collectors what they think of slabs and NOT the collecting hobby as a whole. It's like Honda asking Honda car owners "do you like our car?" ITG should find out what the collecting hobby as a WHOLE thinks of slabs... if the majority prefer no slabs then ITG would be better served to do without em.
Click to expand...

They ask the question to people who actually buy the product.

If you don't like the slabs, don't buy Ultimate.

Ultimate sells out every year, looks like some people like it, hum?
 

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