Did one last night and got these for about $30 shipped. It's easy to get caught up in those bidding wars and not get much out of it... :-)


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I don't know about sports cards but I do know about MtG. MtG finance took off about a decade ago. Due to a couple of things. A newish format of play gaining massive popularity and an old format of play seeing a resurgence. Prices on cards that were promised to not be printed ever again spiked and it attracted investors. Some of it is silly in my opinion as some of those cards are junk and no one would realistically play with them. They are just super rare being from the earliest sets with much lower in comparison print runs.
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Yeah I can't afford mahomes rookies outside of the one I have.

I was buying kelce and hills but those are going up as well. I did snag kelce one of one rookie though.
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That Reek card is sweet looking, and I love the design of those Brilliance cards... really not a bad haul for $30 IMO
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Just be aware you likely will not be able to recoup your value in money spent.

Buy what you want on ebay, or some other marketplace.

To give you any example. Recently I purchased and 2013 Prestige Green Extra Points Kelce RC auto to /25, 2019 Encased Superscribe Gold Kelce Auto to /10, 2013 New Generation Red Kelce RC to /250 for $150 for all

2020 Phoenix - Mahomes Silver, Mahomes Flame Throwers Purple to /149 and Silver Flame Throwers, Kelce Fire & Ice(Cracked Ice) to /50, Kelce Hot Routes to /149 and Silver Hot Routes all for a grand total of $10.

You can find great value on ebay. Sure sometimes it might be frustrating, but it can be very much worth it.
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What's the best place to buy cards these days? When I was a kid, we'd buy them all from a local place in Olathe called Sports Cards & More on Harrison by the Go Chicken Go. Places like that don't really exist where I live now (or many other places these days?).
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thems the breaks, kid.

$30 for what is most likely $6-7 in cards.

I hate that shit.
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ebay
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The only place in my entire town is Wally World, but the problem is they're almost always cleaned out, as in not a single box or pack for sale... the rumor is that the card distributor is cutting deals with card flippers (people just in it to make money) and telling them the day and time they're delivering product so those assholes can be right there and clean them up before anyone else gets a shot at them

Back in the 90's sports card stores were everywhere, but they're like finding a unicorn these days as far as I can tell

Seems like the best bet these days is to buy unopened boxes online, but even that scares me a little bit... theres so much money in it right now that I wouldn't put ANYTHING past people

As in going through the packs for the top cards, then resealing the box and individual packs

I love the hobby and will always buy cards, but not like in the 90's... too many of my best cards (cards supposedly worth $100 or better) from that era eventually tanked HARD and arent worth anything more than $5-20 these days
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Are you more of a collector or flipper?

Its a free country, but it seems to me that some of what flippers do is ruining the hobby, just like over production did in the 90's

It doesn't help that we now have $1000 dollar boxes, either, taking away the opportunity for kids (and many adults) to have a shot at big money cards just kinda sucks the soul out the hobby IMO
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I love autograph 8x10 pictures. That's my collection hobby.
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Tracy Hackler with Panini addressed the retail issue recently and it sounds they are taking the issue seriously that may result in changes with how they demand their retail products be sold. He encourages people to report those retail supply issues with Panini directly. Find out who supplies the cards to Walmart from their manager. It will probably be a company like MJHolding or some such. Then make a complaint to Panini. I guess some people have been fired over it within the distributors. You can find what he says about it here.

I agree on retail though. I hate adults who take every damn thing off the shelf. The price point of retail is meant for children to be able to afford the hobby. Then you have jackasses that come in and take every damn Prizm or whatever it may be blaster for $20 then turn around and put them up on ebay for 40-80. I have nothing against some one making a profit, but limits need to be set per purchase and times of distribution needs to be published so the look of impropriety is lessened.

Have you every thought of putting in a ebay search and see who is seliing retail items for profit in your area? You can search in a ebay search for listings close to you. It might help you find out if there are being flipped, or your days are off and just missing out. Might be wise to just state your case to your local walmart manager and maybe you can find out when the distributor delivers. My local walmart it is on Weds and Thurs and 11:30am.
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I don't see how you can't be a collector without being a flipper. Sell the cards you don't want to buy the cards you want. If you make a little money a long the way. Nothing wrong with that. I PC Chiefs cards, everything else is pretty much for sale.

If by flipper you mean buying unopened retail product and selling for profit, then not really. I will buy a few blasters here and there, but is just for fun to open. All my unopened products are hobby, not retail.
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Very insightful post, Sponge... watched a full 20 minutes of the video

Its incredible to me that we now have youtube channels devoted to this stuff, kinda mind blowing to be honest, didn't fully realize it was a nationwide racket problem until tonight... just goes to show how much money is at stake

Hackler came off like a dancing mobster trying to explain the issues away... "we're uhhh working on it, and uhhh we're getting there and its all about the kids and being fair, herp"

Rep for that video, learned plenty there... thanks for the education
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The collectible market as a whole has taken off like a rocketship in the past 5 years. It's definitely a big boy game with big boy prices.

To give you some real insight how actual crazy it has become in the past few years. In 2017 I was buying 91-92 fleer basketball boxes for $3-5 bucks each here and there just to hang on to. Not many really. Now 91-92 basketball is the junkiest of junk wax basketball so take that into account. I think the boxes sell for 80-100 now each.
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