Who is the biggest culprit?

[JasonD08]

I've said it before and I will say it again..........I have the solution, topps should buy out Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss, Score, Prism, whoever, and go to one set WITH wax wrappers and bubble gum inside like the old days, print the sets in series with NO traded sets, and make the 7th series your rookie class and SPs with 40 man guys. 1 SET. No Heritage, jersey cards, etc........if they want to insert a subset of autos, or auto jerseys of modern players (actives) only I am 100% for that. Take away the competition and make it fun and affordable and ATTAINABLE for all kids and adults alike. Cut unneeded employees, downsize and be more profitable.

Jason

[JasonD08]

Doug

The only reason more money may be spent now is because it is an adult hobby and generally older adults with extra money plus the fact the cost of everything is exponentially higher. I would guess the number of collectors are not growing.

Jason

[Orioles1954]

Originally Posted by JasonD08

I've said it before and I will say it again..........I have the solution, topps should buy out Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss, Score, Prism, whoever, and go to one set WITH wax wrappers and bubble gum inside like the old days, print the sets in series with NO traded sets, and make the 7th series your rookie class and SPs with 40 man guys. 1 SET. No Heritage, jersey cards, etc........if they want to insert a subset of autos, or auto jerseys of modern players (actives) only I am 100% for that. Take away the competition and make it fun and affordable and ATTAINABLE for all kids and adults alike. Cut unneeded employees, downsize and be more profitable.

Jason

And Topps would shortly go out of business afterwards. For better or worse, the vast majority of modern collectors want multiple products per year. On Freedom Cardboard (the much, much bigger shiny version of Net54), there are several threads asking for Topps to not be the only licensed company anymore. It is "boring" that there were "only" 20ish baseball sets produced last year. Set collecting is dead. Why do we constantly feel the need to make sets attainable for kids when it's obvious that low-end products don't appeal to them.

[Bilko G]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

Why do we constantly feel the need to make sets attainable for kids when it's obvious that low-end products don't appeal to them.

I was gonna quote an earlier post of yours, but this one is just as good. Your earlier post stated that "Kids aren't dumb, they want the good cards and not the low end $1 packs". This is exactly the truth, kids aren't "dumb". There are still some kids into collecting, but like Orioles1954 says (James?) they aren't "dumb" they want the really good modern cards. Case in point, about a month ago, me and one of my local collecting buddies went to a local shop and we took along his 11 year old son, who seems pretty interested in collecting. His dad gave him $100 to spend at the card shop (I know, lucky kid). What did he want to buy? He wanted the $90 a pack Ultimate Collection Hockey, where you only get 4 or 5 cards in one pack. I even asked him, i said "Wouldn't you rather get 100 packs of the Upper Deck Victory, which sell for $1 a pack?". His reply was "Why? so i have a big pile of junk at the end?". The UD Ultimate packs were $90 each but they guaranteed 1 autograph, 1 jersey or patch card and one serial numbered rookie card per pack and thats what he told me he wanted. He even told me he'd have a lot more fun looking at the autograph and jersey card, then he would looking at the other 1200 "common cards" (as he said) combined.

As for the question, as i answered earlier its technology that has taken a lot of the younger kids out of card collecting, but as a whole i think the hobby is in pretty decent shape, it has just changed and evolved with the times. When we were kids we got involved in collecting at a very young age. Nowadays, i notice people are getting involved or re-involved in collecting at an older age, in their late teen years, 20's, 30's and older. A lot of people who are getting into collecting in their 20's/30's are getting interested from the flashy autograph/patch/refractor cards, but then after a few years of the modern stuff, many are then getting into the vintage and pre-war.

The hobby will never be as big as it was in the 80's and early 90s, but the hobby will survive and it is doing just fine (you only have to look on ebay and see how many people are buying and selling all the time. Or look on Freedom Card Board and this site at how many collectors are posting and lurking), it has just evolved into what it is today and it is what it is.

[vargha]

The market has evolved (as it always does). Sometimes I think people long for the "good old days" that maybe never were. The Internet, eBay and TPG (for all of their problems) brought a greater interest, lots more money, and with it, a boatload of cards that many of us had never seen. We may not like what the little pieces of cardboard cost now, but who really wants to go back to the days of waiting for your monthly card newspaper to arrive in the mail with the same few overgraded and overpriced cards? And then when you finally found the card you wanted in an ad and made the overpriced long distance call to say that you'd take it, found out that it had been sold the week before? To each their own, I suppose.

[freakhappy]

I'm definitely not saying anything new here, but it's simple evolution that is occurring in the hobby. Sports cards started out just as a collecting hobby and also as a 'bonus' and a catch for people to buy other products (tobacco products). Over time the industry has changed quite a bit and eventually money has had a great deal to do with it. As said before, technology has most kids attention and since everything seems to be about money...Card companies do what they have to do to make more money...and that means make sports cards more interesting and valuable. No wonder people 'invest' in cards...it only makes sense.

Overall, I think it's pretty simple...evolution in the industry is where our issue lies