Where are the real sports card collectors?

[Mike]

Everywhere you look it seems that this hobby is being taken over by group breakers, and especially those looking to turn a profit on their investment. I know there are still a lot of real collectors out there, but where are they at? They're next to impossible to find anymore.

I admit, I haven't been involved in this hobby very long, compared to a lot of other members of this board. When I did first get involved though, it was extremely easy for me to find someone who had a card that I needed for my PC, and they could usually find something of mine they wanted. I made over 100 deals in my first year in this hobby. I probably haven't made that many in the last 3-4 years, combined! The funny thing about that is, when I first joined this hobby I was only a member of Trading Card Central. Now I'm a member of, and post trade threads on, multiple other forums. Most of those threads, though, just sit there with me being the only person who ever posts in them.

I know it's not because I'm a bad trader. I've been known, on more than one occasion, to trade relics and autos for base and inserts that I need. I'm fairly easy to deal with, if you have something (especially a Tony Parker card) I need.

So, what's the deal? Are people getting out of the hobby that quickly, or am I just looking in the wrong place? Has the hobby migrated to a "group break only" hobby? Is it just too expensive to ship cards, so nobody wants to make lower end trades? I've heard people use that before, but really shipping a package now is less than $.50 more than it was when I first started this hobby. Maybe there's something I'm missing but, if not, I sure hope I can find out where everyone went (and hopefully bring them here ).

Don't get me wrong with all of this, though. I enjoy group breaks, too. However, I do prefer the monthly type where there is a little bit of camaraderie between the members. Still, it's a group break.

 

[franklinguy52]

With the current prices on the cards, group breaks are the only way that most people are able to collect their PC items. I do miss the days of grabbing my box of cards and heading to a friends house to trade, and I miss the days of trying complete the sets of the current year. Now their are too many sets to complete and then defining what a complete set is has become difficult with all of the inserts and variations. Because of all of this this hobby has shifted to PC collecting instead of set collecting. As far as forums, this really the only one that I deal with, mainly because there are still many people here that I feel are still in this for the love of collecting and not just the money.

 

[sliqwill]

not sure what shipping costs were when I started, but I remember paying $0.82 because people weren't scamming as much when I really got back into cards in 2002, but after lots of 'lost' mail (ive had 2 packages that went 'missing' recently, with full tracking, 1 guy was a complete jerk about it because the tracking suggested it would have been delivered by the day he complained and all I could tell him was 'its at the post office, you can run the tracking and see what I can see'...the other guy was a solid dude, he contacted me after 2 weeks, I ran the tracking and it was stuck, I told him to give it another couple days, it didn't surface, I refunded him - he said if the card came he would gladly pay for it...well I got a message Saturday that the card came in, and he paid...it was a $3.99 transaction, I wasn't tracking it daily to see where it was)

so now to go to the post office and send out a package with tracking its over $3 now...that's part of the problem, especially in low end trading, that's why I bought a box of 2014 Topps Olympics...I wanted like 15 cards from the set, blasters never showed up at my walmart, and no one around these parts buys that sort of thing...

cost definitely detours people from buying, which is why I flip...I have a PC of around 500 Kyle Boller Autographs, nearly 3000 total cards, I have over 8000 Ken Griffey Jr cards (though looking to downsize), around 500+ Exquisite RC Autos (57 are Jordan Palmer, I think 31 Adrian McPherson, and 30 Brodney Pool), 57 2003 SP Authentic Marcus Trufant Patch RCs, and 54 Autographs of lovely ladies...for the right amount I can be bought

if you look on eBay for Kyle Boller (I just search Boller in hopes the 2004 SPGU Dual Patch Auto that is missing from my sig pops in a search), I don't believe there are any non 1/1 pack issued cards that I don't already have, and the 1/1s you see, the 2006 Mirror Black was suppose to be mine, but the seller reneged due to interest because quite a few people were hitting him up on the beckett boards to buy it for me, so now for the past what 6 years jadecock has been rocking it for over $250, initially Rexvos lined up the sale for $80 for me...

the number of sets out there is frustrating for collectors...seriously, Walter Payton died more than 10 years ago and how many cards have been made since hes been gone?...its like that with many superstars...then there are 12 parallels in each set, 2009 had 8 1/1s for all the rookies with autographs...1 set, 8 1/1s...how fun is that to chase

then there is the scare of buying retail...most of the hits have been pulled off the racks, so young collectors that have $5 to blow on a pack of Chrome isn't going to get anything because a pack searcher already cleaned the place out, and we know Blasters tend to have terrible decent hit ratio...you pay what $29 for a Chrome blaster to get a jersey card that sells for about $3 on a good day?...

there are many players that I would have a nice PC of if I actually collected them, Drew Olson coms to mind, Andrew Walter, Chauncey Washington, I had a pretty decent Bruce Gradkowsi collection that I sold last preseason to some guy who swore he was going to flip it for 5x, but when he bought it from me I got 4x what I had paid...

most people don't have the money to pop into the hobby to make it worthwhile...you drop say $200 on assorted blasters at walmart what do they really have? some junk hits, maybe some decent inserts, and base that next to no one wants

 

[Breaker4310]

I know where you are coming from. I have bought cards to use as trade bait that I figure people would love to have,and can't find any one willing to trade. I don't want to put them back on eBay cause I worry I will get back what I put into them. TCZ is the only forum I am on so maybe it is my fault so maybe it is my fault.