Why is the card market getting so dang expensive???

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walter5o9

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Has anyone else noticed this, almost completely across the board.

Cards and boxes are going through the roof in prices.

Basketball...good luck touching a box under $200
Football....Not the greatest rookie class but decent, a box last year was $125....now they want $225 for this years...same configuration
Baseball...theres hardly anything out there...so good luck getting it anything besides the extreme basic topps and topps opening day.
Hockey...Same thing...the only exception here is EPACK which is WAY overpriced....not gonna pay $125 for SPGU..thanks Ill save $35 an get it on D&A.

Sorry...just had to vent.. IDK what happened but to me it seems like more people are collecting now and its dog eat dog to get anything.
 
I agree. Basketball makes no sense to me because you have a $1000 hobby box like Mosaic but the top true rookie (basic Zion RC) doesn't sell for $1000. I think you need to go down quite a few parallels (maybe /99?) Just to get your money back. On a box!
 
Also what's with the graded cards flooding the market all of a sudden? I'm seeing more and more high grade cards (old and new) that seemed to appear out of thin air all of a sudden.
 
Burner said:
Also what's with the graded cards flooding the market all of a sudden? I'm seeing more and more high grade cards (old and new) that seemed to appear out of thin air all of a sudden.
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A lot of people probably need money, so they are selling cards while the market is hot.
 
I agree .. people need money .. I’ve seen some amazing cards I haven’t seen in like 20 years hit the market .. especially hockey
 
A lot of people need money, but also a lot of people have tons of extra time at home and some folks have a little extra income from stimulus checks, so why not spend it on cards.
 
Not only card lots of other collectibles like vintage guitars are increasing.

The factors i see:
- Stimulus money (CERB, etc.)
- Group buyers / speculators (International buyers as well)
- Group breaks / Razzes
- General inflation on commodities (i think this is bigger than people think)
- Currency escalation for Canadians

Whatever way you cut it I think it's generally good for the hobby but tough on solo breakers and PC focused guys (myself included)
 
hextall27 said:
Not only card lots of other collectibles like vintage guitars are increasing.

The factors i see:
- Stimulus money (CERB, etc.)
- Group buyers / speculators (International buyers as well)
- Group breaks / Razzes
- General inflation on commodities (i think this is bigger than people think)
- Currency escalation for Canadians

Whatever way you cut it I think it's generally good for the hobby but tough on solo breakers and PC focused guys (myself included)
Click to expand...

Good point here - I also collect Funko POPs and some of those are significantly increasing in value as well.
 
Something I noticed in a group break last night...A comment posted in the live chat (watching it live on YouTube), "This is the next best thing to going to a Casino!!"

I was lightly tracking prices of SP Authentic group breaks and noticed a bit of an upswing in prices over the last 6 breaks (16 box cases) I was in. That comment I saw posted had me wondering if some people that spend a lot of time in Casinos and betting on Sports have turned to sports cards and/or group breaks?

Maybe I'm wrong, just an interesting comment...thoughts?
 
mikej_61 said:
Something I noticed in a group break last night...A comment posted in the live chat (watching it live on YouTube), "This is the next best thing to going to a Casino!!"

I was lightly tracking prices of SP Authentic group breaks and noticed a bit of an upswing in prices over the last 6 breaks (16 box cases) I was in. That comment I saw posted had me wondering if some people that spend a lot of time in Casinos and betting on Sports have turned to sports cards and/or group breaks?

Maybe I'm wrong, just an interesting comment...thoughts?
Click to expand...

Another good point here. No Casinos to gamble in, and another aspect to that is that there are very very very little sports to bet on at the moment. None of the major sports, so unless you're betting on like Asian Baseball, NASCAR, or maybe UFC, you can't gamble that way either. So instead you gamble on sports through group breaks.
 
mikej_61 said:
Something I noticed in a group break last night...A comment posted in the live chat (watching it live on YouTube), "This is the next best thing to going to a Casino!!"

I was lightly tracking prices of SP Authentic group breaks and noticed a bit of an upswing in prices over the last 6 breaks (16 box cases) I was in. That comment I saw posted had me wondering if some people that spend a lot of time in Casinos and betting on Sports have turned to sports cards and/or group breaks?

Maybe I'm wrong, just an interesting comment...thoughts?
Click to expand...

I think that's a fair statement. It wouldn't surprise me that some collectors who participate in Group Breaks frequently also hit up the casino or are sport bettors. I'm not saying all Group Breaks are pushed by gamblers of course, but it wouldn't surprise me that a small influx of new participants are, in fact, gamblers.
 
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When you add on the high profile 'jackpot' aspect of things like the Mike Trout rookie going for almost a million, there is definitely money being drawn in by the risky investment (gambler) group.

Cory
 
geschrocks33 said:
Another good point here. No Casinos to gamble in, and another aspect to that is that there are very very very little sports to bet on at the moment. None of the major sports, so unless you're betting on like Asian Baseball, NASCAR, or maybe UFC, you can't gamble that way either. So instead you gamble on sports through group breaks.
Click to expand...

Bingo!
 
Sports betting industry is a $110B a year business - right now its at 0. I wouldn’t be surprised if a chunk of those fund have found its way to sports cards and breaks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Same with every hobby. I drink bourbon and the secondary market boom has caused everyone to buy up everything and sell it for jacked up prices on Facebook. Stuff you could easily get a few years ago is getting impossible, and the really good stuff that you’d have to look a little for, I’m possible. 6-10x retail in some cases. Between stimulus checks and people seeing the opportunity to make some extra cash, everything is more $$$ now.
 
That gambling money has to go somewhere.

Also, when cards are bringing a higher return that most stocks, the smart money heads in that direction. I’m curious about sustainability. Are people going to keep their money in cards?
 
I have read several articles online and the main reason why the hobby is going nuts is because it is not just collectors that are involved with it anymore. There are big money investors that have gotten involved who pick up cold assets and then sell them for a profit. A good example of this is found in this video where a Mike Trout sold for 900k at some auction house and there are a couple of other examples as well.
 
No Trout winner in this household, but with me and my wife working from home these days we are saving approximately $500 a month that used to be spent on things like gas and lunch at the work cafe.

That money's gotta go somewhere, right?
 

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