My rolling Target stock thread

[Chicosbailbonds]

Originally Posted by wrosy313

If I’m target, I think they are going into this eyes wide open: 250 people coming into the store over the course of a week (every week) who buy one box is better for business than 30 people who are only coming into the store once a week to buy all of your cards (at very little profit) at 8 AM on a Friday morning. Further, without that huge reward for finding a large stock, people will be more inclined to buy goods other than cards (most of which have exceptionally higher margin). Just my take...


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This is the correct take.

[callou2131]

Originally Posted by pokerkeith

Wondering if target new policy 1 box per person will cause even more people to come out apr 30th. Before most people could do math and realize if you are not top 8 if there is 3 per sku allowed you are done for. Now with just 1 box per person perhaps 70 to 100 people try target next week? Right now I have seen 20 to 40 people opening 3 different targets in my town last 4 weeks.

Could go either way. If it is 1 per, I wont go out of my way to go there. When I go, I buy my cards, put them in the car, then go back in and do some other shopping. I know most dont do this, but i would think some do. If they did like my walmart did and did 1 sku for a total of 3 items it would be worth it to me. 1 item? Nope. Not even going to bother. My closest target is 24 miles away. It wouldnt be worth it.

[JeremyNick]

Originally Posted by callou2131

Could go either way. If it is 1 per, I wont go out of my way to go there. When I go, I buy my cards, put them in the car, then go back in and do some other shopping. I know most dont do this, but i would think some do. If they did like my walmart did and did 1 sku for a total of 3 items it would be worth it to me. 1 item? Nope. Not even going to bother. My closest target is 24 miles away. It wouldnt be worth it.

I’ll be interested to see what my Target is like next week. It’s 1 per sku, 3 total. So still enough to maybe keep the straight resellers interested and definitely enough for more people to get some. There ended up being about 14-15 in line when they opened at 8 today. I’ve never got in line with more than 7 in front of me because it was 3 per sku of everything. There were 2-3 guys today that showed up and left before it opened, guessing they weren’t going to get what they wanted.

[psd2k10]

Originally Posted by jjcan

Target San Diego update:

3 total Item limit today, 1 of any product.

They said the same thing next Friday the 30th, only 1 item per day.

I was 30th in line, and got there around 7:45 to get on virtual list (text). Was able to check out at 8:30 am.

1 Select Football blaster (amazed to get this)
1 Pokemon shining fates box
1 different Pokemon shining fates box.

In stock earlier, Prizm basketball, Shining legends ETB
In stock when to Choose, Heritage mega, MLS blaster, repack blaster, Opening day blaster, Hockey series 2 blaster, Lots of Battle styles ETB, Shining Fates tins, Shining Fates Pikachu.

People were lined up to do a second pass (text line) as there were still some stuff left.

What store in san diego was this JJ?

[callou2131]

Originally Posted by JeremyNick

I’ll be interested to see what my Target is like next week. It’s 1 per sku, 3 total. So still enough to maybe keep the straight resellers interested and definitely enough for more people to get some. There ended up being about 14-15 in line when they opened at 8 today. I’ve never got in line with more than 7 in front of me because it was 3 per sku of everything. There were 2-3 guys today that showed up and left before it opened, guessing they weren’t going to get what they wanted.

we had a few do this also. They would have been maybe 10th or 11th, so they put there names down, walked in and saw how little sports there was, and walked out.

[BRob1]

Originally Posted by pokerkeith

Wondering if target new policy 1 box per person will cause even more people to come out apr 30th. Before most people could do math and realize if you are not top 8 if there is 3 per sku allowed you are done for. Now with just 1 box per person perhaps 70 to 100 people try target next week? Right now I have seen 20 to 40 people opening 3 different targets in my town last 4 weeks.

I haven’t gone the last few weeks but probably will in the next few weeks if they are actually able to enforce the no one on the property before 6am rule.

Originally Posted by JeremyNick

I’ll be interested to see what my Target is like next week. It’s 1 per sku, 3 total. So still enough to maybe keep the straight resellers interested and definitely enough for more people to get some. There ended up being about 14-15 in line when they opened at 8 today. I’ve never got in line with more than 7 in front of me because it was 3 per sku of everything. There were 2-3 guys today that showed up and left before it opened, guessing they weren’t going to get what they wanted.

you are definitely lucky. they aren’t many places you can show up less than an hour before opening and get prizm and select. guessing you must live in a smaller town/city. I have 10 or so Targets nearby and you have to get there by 3, 4 at the latest to get the good product. Friend of mine showed up at 1:30 this morning at one of the local stores and was 3rd in line. there was basically no stock and he got 3 MLS blasters for his trouble.


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[JeremyNick]

Originally Posted by BRob1

I haven’t gone gone the last few weeks but probably will in the next few weeks if they are actually able to enforce the no one on the property before 6am rule.




you are definitely lucky. they aren’t many places you can show up less than an hour before opening and get prizm and select. guessing you must live in a smaller town/city. I have 10 or so Targets nearby and you have to get there by 3, 4 at the latest to get the good product. Friend of mine showed up at 1:30 this morning at one of the local stores and was 3rd in line. there was basically no stock and he got 3 MLS blasters for his trouble.


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The Target I frequent is right outside Pittsburgh proper in a huge retail complex in a large urban area. I have no clue why more people aren’t there. There is one other Target 10 minutes away that has a 3 per sku limit but still does random vendor stocks. The next closest is about 5 miles in an affluent area of Pittsburgh. I think the Wal Marts get hammered harder around here. I gave up on the one Wal Mart I would stop at and started going to this Target. The only other place I stop is the other Target but I haven’t had luck there at all in a couple months and rarely stop any more

Also if I was an ass the other day, pay no mind.

[BRob1]

Originally Posted by JeremyNick

The Target I frequent is right outside Pittsburgh proper in a huge retail complex in a large urban area. I have no clue why more people aren’t there. There is one other Target 10 minutes away that has a 3 per sku limit but still does random vendor stocks. The next closest is about 5 miles in an affluent area of Pittsburgh. I think the Wal Marts get hammered harder around here. I gave up on the one Wal Mart I would stop at and started going to this Target. The only other place I stop is the other Target but I haven’t had luck there at all in a couple months and rarely stop any more

Also if I was an ass the other day, pay no mind.

All good, we’re all passionate about cards and have our own ideas about how the rules should work. Generally we like rules that let us in our personal situation get cards. Like the guy who keeps saying the drop should be moved to Sunday lol.


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[WalterAZ31]

Originally Posted by pokerkeith

Wondering if target new policy 1 box per person will cause even more people to come out apr 30th. Before most people could do math and realize if you are not top 8 if there is 3 per sku allowed you are done for. Now with just 1 box per person perhaps 70 to 100 people try target next week? Right now I have seen 20 to 40 people opening 3 different targets in my town last 4 weeks.

yeah, i honestly dont understand Targets thought process here, 1 per person gonna end up with even worse lines and a longer process in-store alienating regular customers.

[BRob1]

Originally Posted by WalterAZ31

yeah, i honestly dont understand Targets thought process here, 1 per person gonna end up with even worse lines and a longer process in-store alienating regular customers.

it’s simple, they are trying to squash reselling, while at the same time satisfy as many customers as possible. Despite what people think, modern retailers absolutely care about satisfying their customers and aren’t just trying to sell every widget they can regardless of who it goes to.

I work for a major retailer and as part of our consumer flywheel we think about things like lifetime value. Would you rather have 5 happy customers every week or 25? Answer: 25. That will generate much more long term value than just letting the few people who camp all night get everything. I would also think that the campers are lower on the lifetime value totem than the average guy who will show up at 6 but won’t show up at 2. The 20 year old kid camping to catch the restock on average isn’t buying a lot of other product from Target.

The line isn’t gonna be that much longer and I don’t see how it alienates “regular” customers.


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[Allamericancard]

Originally Posted by BRob1

it’s simple, they are trying to squash reselling, while at the same time satisfy as many customers as possible. Despite what people think, modern retailers absolutely care about satisfying their customers and aren’t just trying to sell every widget they can regardless of who it goes to.

I work for a major retailer and as part of our consumer flywheel we think about things like lifetime value. Would you rather have 5 happy customers every week or 25? Answer: 25. That will generate much more long term value than just letting the few people who camp all night get everything. I would also think that the campers are lower on the lifetime value totem than the average guy who will show up at 6 but won’t show up at 2. The 20 year old kid camping to catch the restock on average isn’t buying a lot of other product from Target.

The line isn’t gonna be that much longer and I don’t see how it alienates “regular” customers.


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While lines may be the same, the amount of time it may take for those lines to be serviced seems like it will be longer. At my store, its normally like 30 folks. We are all in and out within 15 minutes of open. I feel like this new format may extrapolate that time to 45 minutes after open to where regular customers will wonder what the line is for

[BRob1]

Originally Posted by Allamericancard

While lines may be the same, the amount of time it may take for those lines to be serviced seems like it will be longer. At my store, its normally like 30 folks. We are all in and out within 15 minutes of open. I feel like this new format may extrapolate that time to 45 minutes after open to where regular customers will wonder what the line is for

I agree. But is there any meaningful difference between 15 minutes and 45 minutes?

If they wonder what the line is for does that really impact their likelihood to come back?

*edit* i kept forgetting you are making a living off reselling retail product, of course you have a vested interest in questioning the new more restrictive policy.


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[mossoholic]

Originally Posted by BRob1

it’s simple, they are trying to squash reselling, while at the same time satisfy as many customers as possible. Despite what people think, modern retailers absolutely care about satisfying their customers and aren’t just trying to sell every widget they can regardless of who it goes to.

I work for a major retailer and as part of our consumer flywheel we think about things like lifetime value. Would you rather have 5 happy customers every week or 25? Answer: 25. That will generate much more long term value than just letting the few people who camp all night get everything. I would also think that the campers are lower on the lifetime value totem than the average guy who will show up at 6 but won’t show up at 2. The 20 year old kid camping to catch the restock on average isn’t buying a lot of other product from Target.

The line isn’t gonna be that much longer and I don’t see how it alienates “regular” customers.


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I hear what you're saying in theory but virtually everything we have seen from Target, Walmart, Panini, and Topps the last year begs to differ. If these companies cared about lifetime customer value they wouldn't be giving every worthwhile product to bots and let distributors inflate prices of everything else for normal buyers. How does Walmart care when 99.9% of online sales for 9 months have been to bot users? Panini allows distributors to have the vast majority of hobby box stock for under cost then lets them resell it before the product is even released at 3-10 times MSRP. Retail online outlets you used to be able to find retail for around 25% under ebay are now selling for more than ebay cost. While I do like dutch auctions they now basically just cater to group breakers. What normal long time customers are buying a box of most worthwhile FOTL at 3-10 times MSRP to open outside of the super rich?

For Target and Walmart right now how is going to 1 per box not alienating customer that actually want the cards? Especially on the products that sell for virtually cost online? Back when I was opening all retail in bulk I was going to stores right in and out. There is no chance in hell I would drive 45 minutes plus round trip and wait in a line for any amount of time for 1 box of cards to open. Are they seriously going to tell someone that wants more than 1 baseball or Pokemon box or pack that has been sitting on the shelves/customer service for days that they can't buy $100 or $200 worth? It's ridiculous.

Yet another example was trying to get the UFC Panini membership today. I'm not saying I should have been guaranteed one. But my household has spent tens of thousands of dollars in the last year on Panini store if not over $100k. So what do they do to me today? While trying to purchase they ban my account and/or IP address while allowing bots to purchase probably 300 of the 325 memberships. What great customer service.

All this and more is driving away people that would have a longer lifetime customer value. I guess it really doesn't matter if everything keeps going up and no one can lose long term. But we all know if things ever settle down the bots and buyers that know nothing about the sports card hobby will stop buying. Maybe all entities alienate enough of the long term customer base to remember and stop buying or not buy as much. Maybe not who knows.

[BRob1]

Originally Posted by mossoholic

I hear what you're saying in theory but virtually everything we have seen from Target, Walmart, Panini, and Topps the last year begs to differ. If these companies cared about lifetime customer value they wouldn't be giving every worthwhile product to bots and let distributors inflate prices of everything else for normal buyers. How does Walmart care when 99.9% of online sales for 9 months have been to bot users? Panini allows distributors to have the vast majority of hobby box stock for under cost then lets them resell it before the product is even released at 3-10 times MSRP. Retail online outlets you used to be able to find retail for around 25% under ebay are now selling for more than ebay cost. While I do like dutch auctions they now basically just cater to group breakers. What normal long time customers are buying a box of most worthwhile FOTL at 3-10 times MSRP to open outside of the super rich?

For Target and Walmart right now how is going to 1 per box not alienating customer that actually want the cards? Especially on the products that sell for virtually cost online? Back when I was opening all retail in bulk I was going to stores right in and out. There is no chance in hell I would drive 45 minutes plus round trip and wait in a line for any amount of time for 1 box of cards to open. Are they seriously going to tell someone that wants more than 1 baseball or Pokemon box or pack that has been sitting on the shelves/customer service for days that they can't buy $100 or $200 worth? It's ridiculous.

Yet another example was trying to get the UFC Panini membership today. I'm not saying I should have been guaranteed one. But my household has spent tens of thousands of dollars in the last year on Panini store if not over $100k. So what do they do to me today? While trying to purchase they ban my account and/or IP address while allowing bots to purchase probably 300 of the 325 memberships. What great customer service.

All this and more is driving away people that would have a longer lifetime customer value. I guess it really doesn't matter if everything keeps going up and no one can lose long term. But we all know if things ever settle down the bots and buyers that know nothing about the sports card hobby will stop buying. Maybe all entities alienate enough of the long term customer base to remember and stop buying or not buy as much. Maybe not who knows.

i would say a few things: clearly Target is doing more to benefit digital consumers than walmart or panini or fanatics or anybody else. Those sites are all bot central. Clearly target is at least trying. Over the past month they have done so much to shut down bots. KSR has been taking L’s on every drop. I don’t know how they are shutting them down but they are.

Target going to one per in store and not allowing people to line up before 6 is a huge step. The only other thing they can do is to make people who are there by a certain time enter a random draw. At the end of the day not everyone can get product, there are more consumers than there is product.

We should hope the other accounts do as much as Target is to funnel product to regular consumers.


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[mossoholic]

Originally Posted by BRob1

i would say a few things: clearly Target is doing more to benefit digital consumers than walmart or panini or fanatics or anybody else. Those sites are all bot central. Clearly target is at least trying. Over the past month they have done so much to shut down bots. KSR has been taking L’s on every drop. I don’t know how they are shutting them down but they are.

Target going to one per in store and not allowing people to line up before 6 is a huge step. The only other thing they can do is to make people who are there by a certain time enter a random draw. At the end of the day not everyone can get product, there are more consumers than there is product.

We should hope the other accounts do as much as Target is to funnel product to regular consumers.


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Target.com was virtually all botted for months until the last few weeks. But still unless its people like us that know approximately when they may go up, have the time during when most normal people can't look, and even then you have a short window to get an order in. I saw Prizm blasters this week the second they loaded. Clicked place order 100 times. Still didn't get an order in. Does that seem like a good system for most non bot customers? I realize you can get some orders now but the window of time to get it in your cart, get an order based on that small window and pure luck leave much to be desired.

The not being able to line up is going to cause more problems. Who are they going to deem first or ahead of someone else? Talk about a recipe for an endless complaint fest. The random drawing is the most fair way to do it.

Panini and Topps both have the ability to funnel product to regular customers. Topps is already doing it with Montgomery Club. I have no clue why they don't have higher tier subscription plans that would grant you x amount of boxes of hobby and retail for certain products. Especially in the case of Panini. They continue to give away virtually all hobby at less than MSRP to distributors for nothing. Then let them presell it for 3-10 times cost. How does this make sense for your long term customer base or Panini? At least if Panini charged a big subscription fee and MSRP on the product to regular customers they could get the product in the hands of those regular customers that may actually open the boxes. Plus Panini would obviously make more money. They bleed every last cent they can get from FOTL now but give the hobby boxes to the distributors for nothing.

[BRob1]

Originally Posted by mossoholic

Target.com was virtually all botted for months until the last few weeks. But still unless its people like us that know approximately when they may go up, have the time during when most normal people can't look, and even then you have a short window to get an order in. I saw Prizm blasters this week the second they loaded. Clicked place order 100 times. Still didn't get an order in. Does that seem like a good system for most non bot customers? I realize you can get some orders now but the window of time to get it in your cart, get an order based on that small window and pure luck leave much to be desired.

The not being able to line up is going to cause more problems. Who are they going to deem first or ahead of someone else? Talk about a recipe for an endless complaint fest. The random drawing is the most fair way to do it.

Panini and Topps both have the ability to funnel product to regular customers. Topps is already doing it with Montgomery Club. I have no clue why they don't have higher tier subscription plans that would grant you x amount of boxes of hobby and retail for certain products. Especially in the case of Panini. They continue to give away virtually all hobby at less than MSRP to distributors for nothing. Then let them presell it for 3-10 times cost. How does this make sense for your long term customer base or Panini? At least if Panini charged a big subscription fee and MSRP on the product to regular customers they could get the product in the hands of those regular customers that may actually open the boxes. Plus Panini would obviously make more money. They bleed every last cent they can get from FOTL now but give the hobby boxes to the distributors for nothing.

You make a couple good points. I would say let’s judge Target on what they’re doing now, not what they did xx months ago. Today they seem to be fighting bots. You have to understand though that no matter what they do, there are more customers then boxes, so you aren’t guaranteed to hit. In fact you probably won’t. If they have 8k blasters and 50k people that want to buy, it is what it is.

I agree with you about Montgomery Club, Panini owes it to us as consumers to make an effort to put cards into the hands of end users that want the product instead of middle men. The whole distributor markup on hobby is something I don’t understand. Not sure why Panini allows them to take so much margin away from them.


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[Chicosbailbonds]

Originally Posted by mossoholic

I hear what you're saying in theory but virtually everything we have seen from Target, Walmart, Panini, and Topps the last year begs to differ. If these companies cared about lifetime customer value they wouldn't be giving every worthwhile product to bots and let distributors inflate prices of everything else for normal buyers. How does Walmart care when 99.9% of online sales for 9 months have been to bot users? Panini allows distributors to have the vast majority of hobby box stock for under cost then lets them resell it before the product is even released at 3-10 times MSRP. Retail online outlets you used to be able to find retail for around 25% under ebay are now selling for more than ebay cost. While I do like dutch auctions they now basically just cater to group breakers. What normal long time customers are buying a box of most worthwhile FOTL at 3-10 times MSRP to open outside of the super rich?

For Target and Walmart right now how is going to 1 per box not alienating customer that actually want the cards? Especially on the products that sell for virtually cost online? Back when I was opening all retail in bulk I was going to stores right in and out. There is no chance in hell I would drive 45 minutes plus round trip and wait in a line for any amount of time for 1 box of cards to open. Are they seriously going to tell someone that wants more than 1 baseball or Pokemon box or pack that has been sitting on the shelves/customer service for days that they can't buy $100 or $200 worth? It's ridiculous.

Yet another example was trying to get the UFC Panini membership today. I'm not saying I should have been guaranteed one. But my household has spent tens of thousands of dollars in the last year on Panini store if not over $100k. So what do they do to me today? While trying to purchase they ban my account and/or IP address while allowing bots to purchase probably 300 of the 325 memberships. What great customer service.

All this and more is driving away people that would have a longer lifetime customer value. I guess it really doesn't matter if everything keeps going up and no one can lose long term. But we all know if things ever settle down the bots and buyers that know nothing about the sports card hobby will stop buying. Maybe all entities alienate enough of the long term customer base to remember and stop buying or not buy as much. Maybe not who knows.

I've spent tens of thousands at Meijer and haven't seen cards for sale in 10 months, but I know they get them. It doesn't matter anymore because If you don't deem there is long term value, three others do. Either play the bot game, or be like me and move on. I'm in the business also and BRob is correct.

[Chicosbailbonds]

Basically the bots don't have to know about the long term value of cards, hot wheels, Nike's, concert tickets, etc. ALl they know is making short term money. Its really no different than hedge firms that drive up demand in a business for the quick flip.

There are plenty of great deals on cards on ebay right now. I've went that direction and let the hoarders sit on 2021 product.

[nera20]

The one per customer thing I think may work better than what is happening now. None of my targets do the 8am friday thing and they are also not putting things out the same days and time, so unless you live close i think it will give a better shot at finding product. Will this work for everyone no but for me personally I have four targets within a 15-20 mile radius and two of them are about 10-15 minutes from me i have no problem going a few days a week to look it doesn't really take up much time. If in a 5 day week with minimal effort especially with nice weather to take a little drive I could potentially between the 4 targets maybe checking eack one say 3 times a week I could end up with 12 boxes of product each week with probably less than 4 hours of my time. To me that is worth it for others maybe not. I have totally stopped going to three of them but this may entice me to go back with random drops and 1 item.

[byronscott4ever]

Mossoholic—I think Panini should make free memberships for big spenders or even a separate tier like ToppsNow Platinum. People spending the most should get something.

[nera20]

Originally Posted by byronscott4ever

Mossoholic—I think Panini should make free memberships for big spenders or even a separate tier like ToppsNow Platinum. People spending the most should get something.

What Panini should do is just triple production and make more money they are a business and if I was them thats what I would do. They are in it to make money so why not triple production while demand is so high it will still sell out. They could care less about the value of the cards after they sell it.

[WhiteoutJustin]

Originally Posted by nera20

What Panini should do is just triple production and make more money they are a business and if I was them thats what I would do. They are in it to make money so why not triple production while demand is so high it will still sell out. They could care less about the value of the cards after they sell it.

Short sighted. Panini isn’t a company for just the here and now. Sure they could do what you say. Not saying it would happen but say the market gets flooded, market tanks to some extent and then they are back in 2018 where the demand for their product was pretty minimal.

They have to have business sense to some degree or if they aren’t careful they will hurt the long term profitability of their company for a big short term gain.

Now I’m not saying they shouldn’t capitalize to some extent now and increase supply but they I’m sure are smart enough not to go totally ape #@#@#@#@ on the presses for the above reasons.


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[actionbryan]

Originally Posted by WhiteoutJustin

Short sighted. Panini isn’t a company for just the here and now. Sure they could do what you say. Not saying it would happen but say the market gets flooded, market tanks to some extent and then they are back in 2018 where the demand for their product was pretty minimal.

They have to have business sense to some degree or if they aren’t careful they will hurt the long term profitability of their company for a big short term gain.

Now I’m not saying they shouldn’t capitalize to some extent now and increase supply but they I’m sure are smart enough not to go totally ape #@#@#@#@ on the presses for the above reasons.


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They 100% should be a company for the here and now. There is a current demand for their product that can make all material shareholders set up for the rest of their lives.

They should flood Targets with $39.99 NBA blasters, watch them all sell out long before we all realize what they have done, and by that time the interns will be millionaires.

[byronscott4ever]

Originally Posted by nera20

What Panini should do is just triple production and make more money they are a business and if I was them thats what I would do. They are in it to make money so why not triple production while demand is so high it will still sell out. They could care less about the value of the cards after they sell it.

I agree on this for one product. Make it in series and spread out over the year. Kids and casual collectors won’t stick around if they can’t ever buy something.

[Allamericancard]

Originally Posted by BRob1

I agree. But is there any meaningful difference between 15 minutes and 45 minutes?

If they wonder what the line is for does that really impact their likelihood to come back?

*edit* i kept forgetting you are making a living off reselling retail product, of course you have a vested interest in questioning the new more restrictive policy.


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You think I'm some big bad reseller lol I have always split fairly between everyone when I'm at walmart or meijers. I've always been one to help others who may have questions lol

I make 90% of my income break hobby products. I go to target once a week to try and get a little retail product.

My point was someone said the line outside was a determinant to the regular customers but won't the line last longer now with this change.