Hockey Cards

[blankall]

So just wondering. Did anyone even bother buying Synergy this year? WTF was UD thinking? If it bombed badly before, let's bring it back. It's like the famous Einstein quote "Doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results".

Anyway, I got tricked by them last year for this crappy product (that seems to be made for kids, but priced for adults) and didn't bother with it this year. They improved the odds of getting an auto for this year. Instead of 1 auto in 5 boxes, it's now 1 auto in 3 boxes. The fact that it's not even a guaranteed auto per box for its price point kills this product (not that the crappy looking cards didn't kill it already).

UD puts out a ton of crap right now.

It has a lot to do with the timing of their exclusive license and the McDavid hype. Panini lost their licence, just before the McDavid hype started. UD used this opportunity to flood the market with a tone of similar products, and people bought them, because any card with McDavid written on it was worth something. The next year Matthews came along, which kept the hype going. The last 2 years, the rookies aren't nearly on the level of collectibility as McDavid/Matthews are, but UD keeps pumping out garbage.

I'd much prefer a system with multiple different companies licensed, and each company limited to a certain number of products. If we had 8 UD products, 5 Panini, and 3 Leaf NHL licensed products, that would be great.

 

[someguy44]

UD puts out a ton of crap right now.

It has a lot to do with the timing of their exclusive license and the McDavid hype. Panini lost their licence, just before the McDavid hype started. UD used this opportunity to flood the market with a tone of similar products, and people bought them, because any card with McDavid written on it was worth something. The next year Matthews came along, which kept the hype going. The last 2 years, the rookies aren't nearly on the level of collectibility as McDavid/Matthews are, but UD keeps pumping out garbage.

I'd much prefer a system with multiple different companies licensed, and each company limited to a certain number of products. If we had 8 UD products, 5 Panini, and 3 Leaf NHL licensed products, that would be great.

Not what I was trying to get at. Yes, we know there needs to be competition and UD is mostly crap.

But, what I was trying to get at is why would UD bring back Synergy when it bombed the first time around. They didn't bring Portfolio, Contours, Champ, etc.. after those products bombed. But, they decided to bring back Synergy even though it was quite obvious it would bomb again.

 

[Hammettf2b]

I'm new in the collecting field and have been starting out in the baseball spectrum and am having a blast. My two favorite products in baseball are Bowman and the Topps variations. What would be the product in hockey that holds the best value or are similar to the products mentioned above? I'm looking to buy single players of teams and maybe some packs along the way.

 

[Rorschach]

I'm new in the collecting field and have been starting out in the baseball spectrum and am having a blast. My two favorite products in baseball are Bowman and the Topps variations. What would be the product in hockey that holds the best value or are similar to the products mentioned above? I'm looking to buy single players of teams and maybe some packs along the way.

You'll find that hockey card fans seem to complain a lot but actually the value in most UD products blows away Topps baseball products (and wrecks Panini's junk in the other sports). Early on in the hockey card market, the card makers determined that hockey card collectors demand way more hits than the other sports card fans.
The best value on a consistent basis is the UD base brand with the Young Guns RCs. There's no value in all of sports card collecting that matches YGs year in and year out.

 

[Hammettf2b]

You'll find that hockey card fans seem to complain a lot but actually the value in most UD products blows away Topps baseball products (and wrecks Panini's junk in the other sports). Early on in the hockey card market, the card makers determined that hockey card collectors demand way more hits than the other sports card fans.
The best value on a consistent basis is the UD base brand with the Young Guns RCs. There's no value in all of sports card collecting that matches YGs year in and year out.

Awesome, thank you very much!

 

[blankall]

You'll find that hockey card fans seem to complain a lot but actually the value in most UD products blows away Topps baseball products (and wrecks Panini's junk in the other sports). Early on in the hockey card market, the card makers determined that hockey card collectors demand way more hits than the other sports card fans.
The best value on a consistent basis is the UD base brand with the Young Guns RCs. There's no value in all of sports card collecting that matches YGs year in and year out.

I do disagree with this.

I recently opened a box of Panini Football. It was loaded with autos and memorabilia for $100. You'd have to pay twice the price to get a comparable product in hockey. I also pulled almost all my money's worth out of the box, which almost never happens in hockey.

Panini is also not considered junk in other sports. They produce some of the top end product, like Flawless and National Treasure.

Basketball, baseball, and football generally have a lot more resale value. In hockey, only rookie hits or a few very select players have any value. In the other sports, there is a much larger market for a wider range of players. So things like random jersey cards and lower end autos actually have a bit of value.

The only thing that has any value close to what you pay for a box in hockey is the Series 1/2. The only reason for that is that the hobby has arbitrarily chose Young Guns, which are common and easy to produce, as the official rookie cards. Without those, the S1 is almost worthless, with auto hits very few and far between.

 

[Hammettf2b]

I do disagree with this.

I recently opened a box of Panini Football. It was loaded with autos and memorabilia for $100. You'd have to pay twice the price to get a comparable product in hockey. I also pulled almost all my money's worth out of the box, which almost never happens in hockey.

Panini is also not considered junk in other sports. They produce some of the top end product, like Flawless and National Treasure.

Basketball, baseball, and football generally have a lot more resale value. In hockey, only rookie hits or a few very select players have any value. In the other sports, there is a much larger market for a wider range of players. So things like random jersey cards and lower end autos actually have a bit of value.

The only thing that has any value close to what you pay for a box in hockey is the Series 1/2. The only reason for that is that the hobby has arbitrarily chose Young Guns, which are common and easy to produce, as the official rookie cards. Without those, the S1 is almost worthless, with auto hits very few and far between.

Panini is not as sought after in baseball because they don't have the MLB license so they can't make cards with team logos so the long time value isn't there when compared to other brands. I Just wasn't sure if it was the same in other sports (hockey) as well.

 

[Rorschach]

I do disagree with this.

I recently opened a box of Panini Football. It was loaded with autos and memorabilia for $100. You'd have to pay twice the price to get a comparable product in hockey. I also pulled almost all my money's worth out of the box, which almost never happens in hockey.

Panini is also not considered junk in other sports. They produce some of the top end product, like Flawless and National Treasure.

Basketball, baseball, and football generally have a lot more resale value. In hockey, only rookie hits or a few very select players have any value. In the other sports, there is a much larger market for a wider range of players. So things like random jersey cards and lower end autos actually have a bit of value.

The only thing that has any value close to what you pay for a box in hockey is the Series 1/2. The only reason for that is that the hobby has arbitrarily chose Young Guns, which are common and easy to produce, as the official rookie cards. Without those, the S1 is almost worthless, with auto hits very few and far between.

Do a search on any of the major sites like blowoutcards forum or Beckett or SCF, you’ll find the term Poopnini referenced over and over. They are considered the worst major sports card maker ever. What I stated is not opinion, it is observation of many others’ opinions.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Anyone know if Chapters sells price guides?

 

[blankall]

Do a search on any of the major sites like blowoutcards forum or Beckett or SCF, you’ll find the term Poopnini referenced over and over. They are considered the worst major sports card maker ever. What I stated is not opinion, it is observation of many others’ opinions.

As Hammettf2b said, Panini does not have a license for baseball. Their baseball cards are pretty ugly, and most of those complaints you're referencing have to do with Baseball. Panini does have exclusive licenses for Football and Basketball. Both have much better product, overall, value, and collectability than hockey.

The one thing UD does do very well is the photography on their S1/S2 cards. Just gorgeous and fun to look at. Otherwise the value in hockey is just trash. Collectors from other sports complain that you might only get 50 cents value on the dollar, but in hockey it's closer to 25 cents.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Did ITG lose the licensing as well ? I saw a sweet Roy card with no team logo and was wondering what was up with that ?

 

[joestevens29]

Anyone know if Chapters sells price guides?

If you want prices just go to ebay and just click on the sold listings.

With that being said I bought one a few months ago just as something to read on a plane. As I was out of the game for awhile it was interesting just to see what some of my older stuff was going for. Going forward though I just go to ebay when pulling cards. I found that beckett got my hopes up after trying to sell some cards. At least with Ebay you get real time pricing and you can see what is actually selling.

I did see Beckett at Chapters last year, I'd assume they still sell them there.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

If you want prices just go to ebay and just click on the sold listings.

With that being said I bought one a few months ago just as something to read on a plane. As I was out of the game for awhile it was interesting just to see what some of my older stuff was going for. Going forward though I just go to ebay when pulling cards. I found that beckett got my hopes up after trying to sell some cards. At least with Ebay you get real time pricing and you can see what is actually selling.

I did see Beckett at Chapters last year, I'd assume they still sell them there.

I aim for cards that are rarely on Ebay, but they're not super scarce. For example, I'm looking for a Patrick Roy Starquest gold. I've seen it a few times, it's not super rare, but too often one is on Ebay. Or other numbered cards from like 95- 03, or acetate, stuff like that that usually has a multiplier to it.

Book just gives me a general idea of what it might be worth before I go bidding on it.

 

[blankall]

Did ITG lose the licensing as well ? I saw a sweet Roy card with no team logo and was wondering what was up with that ?

Only Upper Deck has a license for hockey now. It's been that way since 2014/15. UD just renewed the exclusive license for several more years.

Edit: In the Game doesn't exist anymore. It was ran by Dr. Price who sold it to Leaf. Dr. Price now runs "President's Choice".

 

[Fixxer]

 

[Canadian Game]

Only Upper Deck has a license for hockey now. It's been that way since 2014/15. UD just renewed the exclusive license for several more years.

Edit: In the Game doesn't exist anymore. It was ran by Dr. Price who sold it to Leaf. Dr. Price now runs "President's Choice".

Just to add, Upper Deck also has an exclusive with the CHL, AHL, and Hockey Canada.

 

[frisco]

Does anyone remember back in the early 90's when guys would buy huge lots of players as a financial investment? I knew a guy that quit his stockbroker job and did this full time. He'd buy say 1000 Theo Fleury rookies at say $2.25 per. The thinking that if Fleury developed and the card went to $8.00 in a few years he'd theoretically made himself a profit of $50,000+.

The problem was the early 90's print runs were so huge that the markets were generally saturated and it was hard to determine value of a card in those quantities. Also, there wasn't enough investors in "the game". In that, if you wanted to liquidate the cards for cash it was tough to find a buyer who was doing the same thing and looking to buy that amount of cards as a strictly financial investment.

My Best-Carey

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Why don't Beckett books have all the series ?

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Does anyone remember back in the early 90's when guys would buy huge lots of players as a financial investment? I knew a guy that quit his stockbroker job and did this full time. He'd buy say 1000 Theo Fleury rookies at say $2.25 per. The thinking that if Fleury developed and the card went to $8.00 in a few years he'd theoretically made himself a profit of $50,000+.

The problem was the early 90's print runs were so huge that the markets were generally saturated and it was hard to determine value of a card in those quantities. Also, there wasn't enough investors in "the game". In that, if you wanted to liquidate the cards for cash it was tough to find a buyer who was doing the same thing and looking to buy that amount of cards as a strictly financial investment.

My Best-Carey

People still do that, but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing it on that scale.

Barzal might be the biggest example where someone could have hit a home run. 2 bucks when he came out, 50 a year later. That's really uncommon though.

But even a guy like Point went from. 2 to 10-15.

It's obviously easier said than done and probably isn't a reliable way to make money......

I'd love to hear some prime junk wax hysteria type stories. Someone should fine people who got swept up in it and make a documentary or something.

 

[blankall]

People still do that, but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing it on that scale.

Barzal might be the biggest example where someone could have hit a home run. 2 bucks when he came out, 50 a year later. That's really uncommon though.

But even a guy like Point went from. 2 to 10-15.

It's obviously easier said than done and probably isn't a reliable way to make money......

I'd love to hear some prime junk wax hysteria type stories. Someone should fine people who got swept up in it and make a documentary or something.

A major issue is transactional costs. You'd pay so much in shipping, paypal, and ebay fees, that it'd be difficult to profit on a large scale. Your best bet might be to use COMC. There certainly are collectors that do make money off guessing which players will make it big. The problem is that busting one box of wax will destroy your profits pretty quickly.

I think buying up boxes and holding unopened boxes, is probably the best way to go. A case of 2015/16 S1 is already worth quite a bit more than it was on release date. It's not a lot of fun to just hold onto unopened boxes though.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

A major issue is transactional costs. You'd pay so much in shipping, paypal, and ebay fees, that it'd be difficult to profit on a large scale. Your best bet might be to use COMC. There certainly are collectors that do make money off guessing which players will make it big. The problem is that busting one box of wax will destroy your profits pretty quickly.

I think buying up boxes and holding unopened boxes, is probably the best way to go. A case of 2015/16 S1 is already worth quite a bit more than it was on release date. It's not a lot of fun to just hold onto unopened boxes though.

Yes, buying unopened cases in hot years is smart. SPA+series 1 hobby appreciates. It's probably difficult to sell though because 13 percent eBay fees + 15-25 shipping per hobby box would eat into a lot of the appreciation. Selling a case is possible, but I'd imagine it would be niche.

COMC would be the way to go for prospecting. I've actually noticed that lots of YGs sell for a premium on eBay, most likely due to what you described in per transaction shipping. Ie 5x2 dollar YG might sell for 15+ instead of 10.

 

[Kotkaniemi15]

My 3 favourite cards I own:

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

My 3 favourite cards I own:

View attachment 235333

The cup makes such nice cards.

 

[Platypus420]

I'm new in the collecting field and have been starting out in the baseball spectrum and am having a blast. My two favorite products in baseball are Bowman and the Topps variations. What would be the product in hockey that holds the best value or are similar to the products mentioned above? I'm looking to buy single players of teams and maybe some packs along the way.

UD the Cup are the highest sought after cards available but most expensive

 

[ThreeOfAPerfectPair]

Why the price differences?