[ricelynnevans75]

I think someone up above hit the nail on the head when mentioning the internet. Prior to the internet, you had some card shops, card shows, and some through the mail dealers. However, all of these were not available to everybody, or easily accessible anyway. Thus, the opportunity to acquire a card you might want was a little more difficult and when you did find it, you were probably willing to pay a little more for it.

Along comes the internet. Suddenly, accessibility to all things cards goes through the roof. You are able to pick up pretty much anything as long as you have the funds for it. Essentially, the supply went up ten fold and though I have nothing to support this, I doubt the demand jumped as much in relation to the supply.

[dbroockerd]

I wish we all still collected for the cards and not the money but its just not true. In the early 90s kids were still collecting and it was a kids hobby for many. We traded at lunch and cool was defined by who has the Donruss ELITE card or that 1992 Fleer All-star. Now cool is not defined at all if you have a card collection. I say "I collect baseball cards" and adults laugh at me. In the early 90s you were in the minority if you didn't collect (well maybe not quite). The game was played by passionate players like Griffey and not by guys concerned with muscle mass like Sosa (not personal, just an example).

GREED has ruined the hobby. Greed by collectors turned business man, and mostly GREED by companies looking to constantly improve the product. The issue is the improvements in their eyes to the hobby to a level that it couldn't handle. With improvements (jersey's, autos, etc.) came price increases. More than what the cost of living would allow. Packs went for $.99 and $1.49 to $5.99 and in some cases even $99 or whatever for these crazy packs with a guaranteed hit.

In the early 90s a hit was an insert with good odds. Now its a Ruth cut auto or a 1/1 of the top guys in the game, etc.

Do you think these companies notice how many are out of business, not just among themselves but among shops and customers as well?

[creativemunky]

All of the obvious already stated plus there are more things to factor in as well.

1: Down Economy.
In a slow economy the first things to take a hit in price are traditionally Luxury Items. Things ppl dont need or consider a necessity. Sports card, comics and all collectibles are Luxury Items and thus will take a hit in value as ppl that dont have the money to buy force stores to lower the price so they can sell.

2: Player Expectations and not meeting them.
Bo Jackson, Jose Canseco, Frank Thomas, Juan Gonzalez, Drew Bledsoe, Tim Salmon, Larry Johnson, Chris Webber, etc etc etc
Names look familiar? Check the value of them in the old Beckett/Tuff Stuff and compare now. If you were collecting then and bought vintage and established stars then you made a wise choice. If you bought rookies of these guys, you got hosed.

3: Supply and Demand.
For ALOT of reasons plain and simple there are NOT as many collectors in this hobby like there was back in the early 90's. Those cards from the 90's are now being sold by people that now have no interest in the hobby to a bunch of people that either A: never heard of them or B: dont care about who they are. Now that there is an over flux of 80's-early 2000's cards out there that nobody wants. Hence price must come down.

[jonathani]

I would like to add that as long as some "star" has dozens and dozens of rookie and "rookie" cards, everything is getting watered down. Why so many cards for so few players? Imagine some kid saying, "I want to collect all of [INSERT PLAYER'S NAME HERE] cards." Not gonna happen in 2011. I collect lots of Chicago cards. I have not done a count, but I think it is safe to bet Devin hester had more cards come out last year than the rest of the Chicago Bears combined. A more likely goal is for a kid to say, "I want to collect all of [INSERT PLAYER'S NAME HERE] from when he played for [INSERT TEAM HERE]." Even then, with 1/1, printing plates, etc., it is nigh impossible. I believe when the chase becomes pointless, people notice.

JonathanI

[tdog4468]

All of the obvious already stated plus there are more things to factor in as well.

1: Down Economy.
In a slow economy the first things to take a hit in price are traditionally Luxury Items. Things ppl dont need or consider a necessity. Sports card, comics and all collectibles are Luxury Items and thus will take a hit in value as ppl that dont have the money to buy force stores to lower the price so they can sell.

2: Player Expectations and not meeting them.
Bo Jackson, Jose Canseco, Frank Thomas, Juan Gonzalez, Drew Bledsoe, Tim Salmon, Larry Johnson, Chris Webber, etc etc etc
Names look familiar? Check the value of them in the old Beckett/Tuff Stuff and compare now. If you were collecting then and bought vintage and established stars then you made a wise choice. If you bought rookies of these guys, you got hosed.

3: Supply and Demand.
For ALOT of reasons plain and simple there are NOT as many collectors in this hobby like there was back in the early 90's. Those cards from the 90's are now being sold by people that now have no interest in the hobby to a bunch of people that either A: never heard of them or B: dont care about who they are. Now that there is an over flux of 80's-early 2000's cards out there that nobody wants. Hence price must come down.

Flaw with item 1 is this:
At the national seminar a few years ago the card companies presented infromation in the collecting habits and trends of us the collectors. What was at the forefront of their presentation was that people who do recreational things (like collecting cards) will continue to do it even with less money. So they don't care about a slow economy they know people will still purchase and collect.

[creativemunky]

Flaw with item 1 is this:
At the national seminar a few years ago the card companies presented infromation in the collecting habits and trends of us the collectors. What was at the forefront of their presentation was that people who do recreational things (like collecting cards) will continue to do it even with less money. So they don't care about a slow economy they know people will still purchase and collect.

Hmmmm......say that to the card collectors that are now unemployed and still have a mortgage and Im sure you will get a different answer.

[sesamestreet4life]

Hmmmm......say that to the card collectors that are now unemployed and still have a mortgage and Im sure you will get a different answer.

You see the people come on here saying they are broke need money and must sell, sell, sell etc. etc - and then a couple days later are trading and buying ha ha. I'm not pointing out anyone specific, it happens time and time again different people.

[creativemunky]

You see the people come on here saying they are broke need money and must sell, sell, sell etc. etc - and then a couple days later are trading and buying ha ha. I'm not pointing out anyone specific, it happens time and time again different people.

That could be a different type of people.
1: the ones that need the $ to buy the new shiny thing that just caught their eye this week.
or
2: people that sell then get a job or realize its not as bad as they thought they were and ends up buying again (mostly replacing what they sold or traded away). Ive done that a couple times in my young and stupid days. I sold a Wilt Chamberlain signed UDA basketball for $250 and a 1999 Gridiron Kings Johnny Unitas autograph for $70 BOTH RIGHT BEFORE THEY PASSED AWAY. Boy I was stupid! Just this year I finally replaced both.

[dbroockerd]

I am a guy whose on lately saying sell, sell, sell. I am never really trying to buy, but I do often listen to what people are selling for cause if I have a buyer elsewhere then a profit can be made. Broke people are always a watching for a buck to be made. I also still trade for my kids or what little PC I have left. I also trade for cards I know I can sell. You have to keep the cards turning. That is business.

[TobaccoKing]

Overall, BV is only a guildeline but in the end it is useless...in the end the market always sets the value. Like someone else said earlier in the thread, some cards sell for 3x as much as there listed BV, and others that sell for 1/3rd the BV.

I think your comparison also comes at a very bad time being that the economy is on a downturn, I'd expect to see values start to go back us once we get out of this mess, whenever that is.