Observations on the current state of the hobby from a show this weekend

[mrb842]

Originally Posted by solt0131

Could be a big indicator on how the National will be, don't you think?

I don't think Rosemont on a thursday is a referendum on the national, I think the national will do very very well and a lot of the dealers who were not there yesterday are planning to be at rosemont in the fall. I was maybe a bit rough which happens on forums.

[solt0131]

Did anyone go to the Midwest Monster this weekend and if so, how was it???

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by solt0131

Did anyone go to the Midwest Monster this weekend and if so, how was it???

i have friends there, it is amazing!

[pete2345]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

i have friends there, it is amazing!

No you don't stop lying to people.

[ThoseBackPages]

lol Pate

[solt0131]

I'll be in Chantilly here later today. Booth #807 with all 50 cent cards.....loaded to the gils. Come get some great deals and buy it all on Saturday, so I don't have to take it home!!!!

[mwash1983]

Out at the Albany show this weekend, I’m out in the parking lot 10 mins before the show and looks like all the cars are almost all dealers, I will edit this later.

[Dbacksbaseball]

14 days without an ebay sale on my end for the first time quite possibly since 2014. I sent out a ton of offers last sunday and only got joker counters. All my counted metrics at all time lows. Retail finally back to sitting on shelves. We should be course correcting every aspect soon.

[anusinha]

Wax is the last bubble, its waaaayyyy overpriced for the value inside.

[ThoseBackPages]

man, i cant wait for chromium retail to be sitting on shelves again!

[pinnacle06]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

man, i cant wait for chromium retail to be sitting on shelves again!

I think this is where the wax bubble pop becomes clear

[cardsin47]

Originally Posted by anusinha

Wax is the last bubble, its waaaayyyy overpriced for the value inside.

Wax is as close to bubble-proof as you can get. Every day for infinity, the number of sealed boxes goes down due to opening …. With graded cards, the opposite is true - the pop always goes up

[IndySportsCards]

Originally Posted by solt0131

Did anyone go to the Midwest Monster this weekend and if so, how was it???

It was packed, wall to wall people, amazing show. They're doing it again in October, so try to be there if possible.

[hermanotarjeta]

Things overheard this weekend-

One hour into the show - “ how many cards have we sold so far? None.” By dealers with a case full of psa base.

Everyone’s sticker at about 10%-20% above eBay on singles and wax. When buying cards dealers will check eBay prices and state that card prices are coming down so only offering 60-65% recent sales.

Multiple dealers who quit their previous professions to do cards full time - the new age gold rush. I’m talking people who had $60k-$120k jobs who quit and went into selling and breaking full time. Best of luck to them during the volatility of the hobby.

Lots of foot traffic and lots of pelibois - more sellers than buyers.

Lots of trading, not a whole lot of cash moving around.

Everyone happy to get out of the house.

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by IndySportsCards

It was packed, wall to wall people, amazing show. They're doing it again in October, so try to be there if possible.

you must be lying. look at the other posts here. the hobby is dead


LOL

[OneSickDegen]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

Everyone’s sticker at about 10%-20% above eBay on singles and wax.

Lots of dealers have a hard time facing reality but eventually they have to pay bills.

[tconte]

Originally Posted by OneSickDegen

Lots of dealers have a hard time facing reality but eventually they have to pay bills.

At a show in Delaware today. Guy asking $3200 for US175 Trout PSA 10.
I know a person can ask what they want for a card but why waste time
with those prices. I find my time on the weekends to be precious. I would
not want to waste my time doing the work to set up at a show and list
a card on my table at $3200 when they are going for 2k or less on ebay.

That's just me.

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

Things overheard this weekend-

One hour into the show - “ how many cards have we sold so far? None.” By dealers with a case full of psa base.

Everyone’s sticker at about 10%-20% above eBay on singles and wax. When buying cards dealers will check eBay prices and state that card prices are coming down so only offering 60-65% recent sales.

Multiple dealers who quit their previous professions to do cards full time - the new age gold rush. I’m talking people who had $60k-$120k jobs who quit and went into selling and breaking full time. Best of luck to them during the volatility of the hobby.

Lots of foot traffic and lots of pelibois - more sellers than buyers.

Lots of trading, not a whole lot of cash moving around.

Everyone happy to get out of the house.

People should be much more cautious during the next hobby uptick in 2-4 years to not listen to the moon bois, paid hobby influencers and undercover marketers who will try telling them that cards are can’t-lose investments.

People need to learn the FOMO they put out is false and to ignore the greedy feelings these guys know how to create in others.

[oldgoldy97]

Originally Posted by cardsin47

Wax is as close to bubble-proof as you can get. Every day for infinity, the number of sealed boxes goes down due to opening …. With graded cards, the opposite is true - the pop always goes up

As the best cards pop up, wax gets less desirable. When redemptions expire, wax becomes less desirable. When a company goes out of business, wax becomes less desirable.

[LVDan]

I find it hard to believe that scores of dealers are refusing to budge on most things and would prefer to go home with everything they came with and no $ repeatedly.
Maybe on the best cards of the hottest players. I’m guessing that team, player and segment(auto/fabric/ parallel)collectors are getting lots of stuff with lower but fair offers on things they’ve wanted for some time.
One super overlooked aspect of the card show experience and the success or failure of people looking to sell or buy is being polite, respectful and personable. The percentage of card people who consistently exhibit these qualities is quite low.
The odd convergence of the historically awkward card people with new bling pelican arrogance makes it less than surprising to hear of so many salty unsuccessful card show experiences I guess too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[k13]

Originally Posted by cardsin47

Wax is as close to bubble-proof as you can get. Every day for infinity, the number of sealed boxes goes down due to opening …. With graded cards, the opposite is true - the pop always goes up

Try selling it...
Most don't even bother bringing wax to shows because no one will buy it unless beyond cheap.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by LVDan

I find it hard to believe that scores of dealers are refusing to budge on most things and would prefer to go home with everything they came with and no $ repeatedly.

A lot of these "dealers" are not really experienced businesspeople....they're just investor/flippers who bought a table for the weekend.

Also remember that we haven't had a serious economic downturn since 2008-2009.....so you've got a lot of people out there with no experience of a serious recession, not how to manage their personal finances and/or business during a recession.

[anusinha]

Originally Posted by oldgoldy97

As the best cards pop up, wax gets less desirable. When redemptions expire, wax becomes less desirable. When a company goes out of business, wax becomes less desirable.

When the value of the cards inside fall 50% in 3 months, the wax becomes less desireable

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by anusinha

When the value of the cards inside fall 50% in 3 months, the wax becomes less desireable

Blowout disagrees. $55k for a case of 2020 Flawless BKB and the five best cards have already been pulled, while a LaMelo Gold RPA barely nets you five figures.

[anusinha]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Blowout disagrees. $55k for a case of 2020 Flawless BKB and the five best cards have already been pulled, while a LaMelo Gold RPA barely nets you five figures.

is anyone buying it? Doubt it. They can price it as stupid high as they want to.