General Forum

Mark, the voice of reason on this one.  This comment got me thinking yesterday.  So today I got in the car and hit the road and drove to the LCS.  I bought my 1960s commons and some Buccaneers and some cheap 90s packs, like I always do.  No price increases on the stuff I buy.  And I looked at his shelves.  If it weren't for a few blasters, he would have no current wax except the high-end $300+ boxes.  He is trying to do the Panini Player of the Day promotion, but has no current football. None.  I realize now hes doing what he can to have something on his shelves. And for all I know, he bought those blasters from D&A or Walmart.com .  But he has to keep people coming in or he can't pay his bills. His showcases are 1/2 empty too.  But the singles I looked at in there have the same prices they always have.  Supplies are still regular price. I ended up spending a whopping $49, about 1/3 not even for me, and I'm glad I went.

Also, the most expensive card I bought will go in the mail monday, and if I read a wantlist right, it will finish somebody's set!

I am with Brimrose here. You do not have to like it but in the end you are really just complaining because other people are willing to pay more for a product than you are.

It always amuses me that every individual wants to pay as little for a product as they can and be paid as much as possible for whatever they do (so essentially maximising their personal profit margins), but, if a store/business operates in the same manner they are slammed as being greedy and a terrible place.

Why should a store (or individual) not buy a product at a lower price than they can resell it for and make some money? In the end that is literally what the store is there to do and what every individual person is trying to do.

You can certainly argue it may not be in a store's long term interests to participate in behaviour that will likely drive away long standing customers especially if you think the current state of the market is a short term spike. However, you find very few businesses will turn down short term profit vs uncertain possible long term profit.

I got the same info from distributors here in Canada, I need to have a 5 figure balance in my account before they even begin to approve an account. Needs to be verified by your banker in letter form.

This is a bi-product of Covid and PPE, the material used to make toploaders is being reappropriated to make face masks.

I was literally in the process of a possible start up back in January but 2020 may as well cut off my head, with injuries, Covid and now my son's issues the idea has been put on a hard hold. Hard to get governemnt grants let alone customers in this cluster. But my point is DodgyDave is bang on, I didnt go all the way to Sacramento to keep all of those cards, it was meant to be stock/proof of commitment to whoever decides to lend me money to bring this thing to life. I can't sell each for a penny (the value given at the border), a business is meant to profit and in turn pay staff, have money to invest in more, and in the end make me something to live off of in the end. So the whole getting mad at costs or others who can pay more ataa LCS are missing the point of the shop owner. I have been researching for almost 18 months now and unless you are in it like Dave and Adams or like CloutsNChara in Canada its a stressful learning curve.

I'm with you and Brimrose.  I see no problem with people/business buying and selling for a profit.   Walmart  / Target in my Area has very few sports cards even before now.

We all complain about some thing.  I hate paying .75 to 1.00 for a common.   People have told me to bite the bullet and pay up as every thing is going up.

As far as The thing is I think very few actual collectors are buying.     I agree with that.  beside my self and one other collector  every one else I know  is around 95% for the money and 5% for their PC.    (ones I have meet )

This has been a truly interesting discussion. I'm curious if anyone feels like there is a "line" when it comes to how much of a mark up is too much.

Good question. From the seller's side, it's when you have gone to high and can't sell them. Business is always about the number on the bottom line.

From the buyer's side, there is no limit. If it's a hot product there is always someone out there willing to pay the price you have set. This is why the prices are high right now. But it's just a fad for now and when the buzz has died off, the prices will drop as they always do. 

We have seen this before it's nothing new. We now look back at when it happen before and we call that. The junk wax years. 

Things always repeat a few generations out. Because they failed to learn from the past. 

i rather like that at least here in san diego, most of the walmarts have been putting out 2018-19 upper deck hockey, on clearance, picking up blasters for 15 bucks. pulled quite a few decent young guns from each box 

Wasn't one of the fundamental flaws of the junk wax era the overproduction of cards? Is that happening now too? My understanding - keep in mind it's a rookie understanding - is that overproduction is not necessarily taking place right now, and that's what's driving some flippers (and some LCS) to be able to find buyers at such high markups.