What the card companies are missing?

[Jester240]

Thought I would start a thread for this since the Pinnacle thread seems to be going off Pinnacle and more about what people are unhappy about with Panini and in some cases UD.

I dont mind seeing what people dont like but with people saying that card companies arent making anything they want to buy. Lets put together a thread of what would get you to buy. Panini and BAP seem open to suggestions and I assume UD is also.

To be honest right now there isnt a whole lot that will get me to buy much more since I got married this year, have a baby on the way and a decent sized house addition planned for next year. But some of the things companies could add that would get me to spend some money would be


What I want to see

1. Al Iafrate

2. Game used pieces of stuff other than jerseys. There seems to be more stick cards lately mostly by ITG but I would love to see more glove, skate and pad cards made again.

3. I would love to see a all star skill competition subset. Cards of players who have won different skills competitions. I would probably only be interested in the hardest shot but I am sure there would be interest in sharp shooters, speed skaters and goalie ones. Plus I am sure you could do some cool multi player card of the team skills competitions.

Feel free to voice dislikes but add something you want also. If all you do is say why you arent buying cards it wont help the companies add what will make you buy.

What their missing

1. Collation - I dont have the money for cases right now but I believe you should be able to get complete sets of base and easier insert set from a case.

2. Better knowledge of whats in a product before it comes out. I understand the excitement caused by surprises but as a player collector its nice to know what I am looking for when it first comes out and not finding out about other cards after a set is out for weeks.

 

[Kyle]

I have only 1:

Figure out a way to put a long overdue end to patch faking. I don't care who, what, where, how, anything. Just do it. Tired of "Fake Patch" threads, Kenny, whatever.

 

[chefjason]

i would love to see helmet cards, i have been dreaming about this for a looooooonnnngngnggggg time.

 

[LumpyGumby]

My wants vary from company to company, since one group may have one thing while another may not.

I don't want to single out any individual company, since I fear that may lead to set bashing, but I can't say with any certainty that all the companies need one thing.

ITG needs better designs/a License.
UD Needs Better Customer Service (Which has improved greatly lately) and better anti-patch forging techniches.
Panini somewhat gets a bye in it's first year back, but, that whole "GU Jersey" with the rookies from before was a big issue, the whole "Prime" issue, bad collation, etc.



BUt let's focus on the good.

I really don't ever doubt where the jerseys come from on any ITG cards, plus they listen to the customer more than any other company around.
UD has responded well to Panini's arrival by upping their customer service, with some better value in each box. ICE in SPx/BD is a good example.
Panini has come in with interesting designs, and if nothing else gives customers another viable option to choose from.

Whoa, didn't meant to rant there, sorry.

 

[GoCanGo]

I have only 1:

Figure out a way to put a long overdue end to patch faking. I don't care who, what, where, how, anything. Just do it. Tired of "Fake Patch" threads, Kenny, whatever.

ITG Ultimate is the best solution to that, but it's hardly an accessible product. I think they should find a way to place a seal over the patch window that, when broken, clearly shows that the patch might've been tampered with. Or maybe they could do like the 1990s Finest sets and place a seal over the entire card that you can peel if you plan on keeping the card. It might make the card less pretty, but I think for patch cards, it would be more than worth it.

What I would like to see : Team-specific insert sets. For example, release a product, and have a different insert set for 3 or 4 teams that bring out a certain charateristic or particular subject of history of the team. Have different teams in different sets...eventually, you have all 30 teams!

What I would like to see dissapear : 100-card base sets. In my view, base cards should be reserved for sets like UD1 and 2, OPC, etc. I don't see the point in having a 100-card base set that too few people collect, like the ones in Artifacts, SPA, etc. Even if you make parallels, do you REALLY need the base version of the set?

What I also want to see dissapear: Rookie redemptions! I have 2 problems with them: you don't know until much later who you're getting, and if you bust the product in a few years, you're being hosed out of what could be the box-saver. If you're that bent on including everyone in every set, make a rookie update set. Remember people voted to get rid of the Rookie Update set after 05-06, but UD also didn't make any rookie redemptions in 05-06 besides Artifacts and Powerplay (which was a redemption set). Now you have redemptions in Artifacts, BAP, Ultra...not to mention those made by Panini!

 

[wildfan1833]

One thing for me.

I wish Pinini didn't have the same design concept for all there products. I know UD does the same thing but Pinini should have seen that it just doesn't work.

The good. Seems like Pinini and UD have been getting better at there using multi colors for there patches

As for the Helmet cards. That would be cool since UD was doing that for there football cards and they were popular. I also wouldn't mind seeing cards from the shield on the helmet

 

[chum]

defux inserts.

 

[chris_brown]

one thing i wouldnt mind seeing either from ITG or Upper Deck,as either an insert or subset,would be one focused on the greatest fighters in NHL history,dating back from the 1940's on up to now

 

[Burner]

refractors!!! I would KILL for refractor cards, especially rookie refractors! And no, those crappy OPC foil cards don't even come close.

 

[Iceman]

Why not do something like Nascar has done with the autographs. Basically a transparent sticker over the patch window. If someone tampers with that, it card will likely be irreparably be destroyed. Or alternatively, do something like Ice and put acetate over the memorabilia.

 

[The Germinator]

I'd like to see these companies make less set.
30 sets per year is WAY too much.

Nice way to kill the hobby.
Player collector are getting frustrated,cards has no more value, nothing is rare anymore.

Welcome back to the 90's.

 

[GoCanGo]

Why not do something like Nascar has done with the autographs. Basically a transparent sticker over the patch window. If someone tampers with that, it card will likely be irreparably be destroyed. Or alternatively, do something like Ice and put acetate over the memorabilia.

Basically what I as suggesting. What's interesting is you've actually pointed out it's been done before...so why not in hockey?

 

[MGiuseffi1969]

What are the card companies missing eh... I am going to base much of this from a Casebuster perspective. Assessing the value of a box or case of cards... I'll chime in on each:

ITG: ITG is missing a license. Period. If they had one and the ability to make true RC's and picture players with team logos, they would be much more attractive as an option for caserippers. In the meantime, hey have their niche and loyal following. To improve, I think they need to incorporate more "modern" technology in some of their releases. Collectors like Shiny stuff for the most part and most of the ITG designs offer the same "flat" design. How about some holo-foil, dufex, acetate, etc....?

UD: In some ways, having the number of releases for UD limited to 12 or so this year has really helped UD. They eliminated some products that had run their course, like Ultra, MVP and others. They have kept their 12 or so "best" brands and have upped their quality control efforts. I thought going into this year UD was in real trouble to lose a HUGE chunk of the Hockey card market to Panini. Right now, I see all of the rest of this years releases doing VERY WELL as far as selling out, and box prices rising. What are they missing? Well, they have had some changes at the top of the Hockey Product development team. This has caused them to get a little stale in the brand releases... I don't think there are any "New" Brand releases this year. I may be wrong on this... And, for the existing brands except for a slight tweak here and there, the products are pretty much the same as previous years. In a way this is good to offer consistency in a brand, but long-term I think this will cause decreasing interest. That said, I have been really pleased with the QC, Collation and Content of all of my UD Breaks and most of the singles I have bought for my PC are UD cards.

Donruss: This one is tricky for me.... I may not be fair to judge them only on a few releases but here's my take. The good: Score had a tremendous amount of "hits" and value at the price point. Compare Victory to Score and Score is a clear winner. Also, comparing Certified to Artifacts and it is certainly a toss-up in many ways... UD1 is waaaaayyyyyy better than Donruss as far as value. The bad: Every casebreaker I have spoken with is very disappointed on Collation for these lower-end releases. Most of the "value" of these set builder product comes from the ability to make Master sets, Base sets, Insert sets, etc... This has been a total failure thus far. Every set that comes out has required a forensic examination to figure out what is going on. To me, this is ridiculous. The parallel designs have been lame to say the least... Well, all if the issues have been well documented. Panini went into this year with the opportunity to capture a HUGE percentage of the Hockey Card Market because of many peoples frustrations with UD and their QC and Customer Service issues. This has not happened...

 

[Krakenfan]

I have two major beefs with these Companies:

I thinks companies should due away with Redemptions completely. UD Still cant perfect the redemption process, and Panini has too long of a turnover to get collectors their cards.

My other beef is signed stickers. I understand it is easier for the players to sign a few sheets with stickers,and potentially damaging cards in the recieving process, but collectors want hard signed cards. I have tried to gravitate away from sticker cards.

These companies need to manufacture and design there cards earlier in the year so they can get the cards out, and get them signed by the players. If they cant get them back in time, then they shouldn't be included in the set. The Players are gonna get Paid no matter if they are included or not. What cards aren't included at packaging time should be given away to collectors for the incoveinence. UD gives cards away all the time on there "No Purchase Neccesary" page.

 

[gratzi]

- More international theme subsets. Upeer Deck does a great job of putting out Team Canada subsets but I think other county sets would be very popular.

- Some All-Star Game subsets with players in their All-Star jerseys. It's weird to me these don't ever get made. I know I would really enjoy having cards with Iginla pictured in his All-Star jersey and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 

[gomaz]

UD - Patch security
ITG - Design update
Panini - Tear it down and start over

 

[allstarcollectors]

More sets like the Centennial Set. Low price point, very popular, and each box had value. If every set was like Centennial, I wouldn't have closed up shop. Unfortunately, it is literally the only homerun product, in quite a few years.

 

[Jester240]

UD - Patch security
ITG - Design update
Panini - Tear it down and start over

Not knocking your post. You were just last when I looked so I chose yours.

UD - Patch security - This is asking for something.
ITG - Design update - What kind of designs? More shiny? More info on cards? What do you want to see?
Panini - Tear it down and start over - If they start all over what would make you want to buy it?

When I started the thread I was looking for stuff the card companies can do to get people more excited about the hobby. If the only feed back collectors are giving them is "we dont like it" they have no where to go.

Look at it like at work. If you boss says somthing wont work but they dont give you an idea of what they want. It would be pretty annoying to me. But if they tell me what they want and I dont produce. They have a right to be mad.

We are the card companies boss but if we dont tell them what we want they are only guessing.

 

[GoCanGo]

Not knocking your post. You were just last when I looked so I chose yours.

UD - Patch security - This is asking for something.
ITG - Design update - What kind of designs? More shiny? More info on cards? What do you want to see?
Panini - Tear it down and start over - If they start all over what would make you want to buy it?

When I started the thread I was looking for stuff the card companies can do to get people more excited about the hobby. If the only feed back collectors are giving them is "we dont like it" they have no where to go.

Look at it like at work. If you boss says somthing wont work but they dont give you an idea of what they want. It would be pretty annoying to me. But if they tell me what they want and I dont produce. They have a right to be mad.

We are the card companies boss but if we dont tell them what we want they are only guessing.

I think Panini knows what collectors are expecting out of them though. It's pretty clear people want better organized and better quality sets, judging by the discussion concerning Donruss. People also expect better collation. I think Certified, though it didn't look like a bad product, had just too many (confusing) parallels for most collectors. By "tear it down and start over", I think Gomaz meant they should take a different approach as to how they design and fabricate their products.

Panini has the chance to tear a good part of UD's market this year, and they have to do better to benefit from their first year in the hockey market. Their success, in the end, is measured by sales and people's feedback, not by how well THEY think they did.

 

[gomaz]

Not knocking your post. You were just last when I looked so I chose yours.

UD - Patch security - This is asking for something.
ITG - Design update - What kind of designs? More shiny? More info on cards? What do you want to see?
Panini - Tear it down and start over - If they start all over what would make you want to buy it?

When I started the thread I was looking for stuff the card companies can do to get people more excited about the hobby. If the only feed back collectors are giving them is "we dont like it" they have no where to go.

Look at it like at work. If you boss says somthing wont work but they dont give you an idea of what they want. It would be pretty annoying to me. But if they tell me what they want and I dont produce. They have a right to be mad.

We are the card companies boss but if we dont tell them what we want they are only guessing.

I, along with many others, have stated ideas and suggestions on message boards several times over the last 4-5 years. I simply do not feel like getting into it AGAIN right now. So I kept my reply simple.

DO not kid yourself. We are not their boss. As a collective, we have proven that despite their worst efforts, we will continue to give them our money.

But to be somewhat constructive, how about putting Crosby in your base set. Wow, wasn't that innovative.

As for design, just shake it up a little bit each year, Just a little. I'm no artist so I'll leave that to the creatives.

Patch security is the single largest threat, other than apocalypse, to the long-term value of our modern day high-end collections. Until they (UD) do something substantive about this, I hope we all continue to enjoy this Fake-Patch Era, as it is sure to become referred to in the future.