[BrianMacD]

I'm a collector from the late 80's, early 90's that's just coming back. And I am finding things hard to follow... First of all, the biggest question that I have is about boxes. There are so many different kinds. When I collected back in the day, I would just go to the corner store and pick up a pack of cards out of the box. If I got the last pack, the clerk would just open a new box and I'd pick another pack out of there. Now days, I go to Target or Walmart, and I can pick up a pack of cards from a box, or just buy a box. BUT WAIT... The single pack comes from a larger box than the box I can buy. And the single packs are sometimes larger than the packs in the box.

Take for example the 2013 Upper Deck football (don't get me started on the fact that the whole set is basically rookies, yet there are no "RC's" in the set). I bought a box, and on the outside it says "look for rookie autographs". Then I saw the single pack box, and it said "get a rookie autograph in every box". I didn't get a rookie auto in the box I opened, which leads me to believe these are different types of boxes. Do I really need to buy a whole box of single packs in order to be guaranteed 1 auto hit?

Then I look on the 2012 Topps set here on Beckett price guide (just as an example, since I also bought a few packs of this set). It says on the side that these cards can be obtained in a few different ways... Hobby box, Retail box, and Jumbo box. My question here is... what is the difference in each type of box? Are you guaranteed more and better hits from different boxes? Are they all the same, only less cards in say the retail box? I would really like to have this figured out before I start sinking in a bunch of money to the retail boxes, only to find out that had I spent a few extra dollars, and looked around a bit more, I could be getting a FAR better deal by going with a hobby box. And as a follow up question, where can you buy the hobby boxes rather than the retail boxes?

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[branesergen]

Welcome back to the hobby lol

Stay away from retail - Its cheaper therefore less hits.

Better hits from Hobby boxes

The little boxes of 10 packs or less are called Blasters. They rarely carry hits, tho are getting a little better.

Find a LCS near you or go to cardsinfinity.com for your Hobby box purchases.

I would also suggest searching for singles on Ebay. Do not buy boxes from them. Others will tell you ebay and other online dealers are ok but I dont trust someone who sells boxes and single. Chris (cards infinity) goes thru great lengths to prove he is legit and I stand behind him 100%

[BrianMacD]

Thanks for the reply. After posting this, I did a little more digging. I saw some really good articles online that explained things really well. Unfortunately, the new issue that this creates, is that I live in Regina, Sask., Canada, and getting NFL cards up here is, well, excruciating. The LCS doesn't carry many types of NFL boxes, as hockey is the card of choice up here. Walmart boxes are usually crushed within a few days of them going on the shelf (gotta love kids), and we just got a Target, so that is a little better as far as boxes go.

I have always been wary of purchasing anything online, although I have gotten a couple of Emmitt Smith RC's from ebay. I may have to look into going to an online shop, but the problem there is that shipping to Canada can be a bit pricey (some places I can spend the same on shipping as I do on the item itself... sometimes MORE). I guess I may just have to shop around a bit...

[Fantom]

Actually I got some pretty good stuff out of those blasters, I wouldent rule them out. if you find really beat up boxes you can talk to a manager and see if he can get you a discount.

stay away from the loose (retail) packs at all costs. they have been fingered and prodded to death. if you are lucky to get anything good in them it will be banged up in the corners.

[franklinx]

Dude I was you just a few years back. Living in Canada and trying to collect nfl/nba is a drag. Best bet for you is to either buy at an online store. Like Dave and Allens, or to just buy singles on the bay. If you want the lotto effect, thats the chance at the big hit, try an online store for the hobby box. If you want to work on your PC, do the bay.
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Edit-more
If you happen to live near a border, Get a mail box on the U.S. side and get your mail sent there. So go get gas and milk/cheese and CARDS! on your treck....=0p

~cheerz~
Fx

[BrianMacD]

Thanks guys. Heading down to Minneapolis on the weekend. May have to just pick something up then. The nice thing about the retail packs around here, is nobody wants them, so they aren't picked over at all.

[phinzphan1372]

Get into group breaks or take the 100$ or so and buy the singles you actually want instead of getting 4 crap singles that wont be worth nearly what ya paid for the box..... dont get me wrong I crack some wax every now and then .... but go into it with the expectation that you will be losing money ( might get lucky though the odds are against you ) if you want a profit out of it, good luck!

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Thanks guys. Heading down to Minneapolis on the weekend. May have to just pick something up then. The nice thing about the retail packs around here, is nobody wants them, so they aren't picked over at all.

look carefully at the sides of the packs .... if they look wrinkled or have small creases in em then they have been picked over! do yourself a favor stick with hobby!


I got excited when my local awl-mart had chrome blasters .... I bought 5 and every one was opened, picked through and re-sealed! .... didnt get the right amount of packs and the packs didnt have the right amount of cards..... didnt get a rookie or a mirror in 5 boxes!..... needless to say I showed the video of me breaking them to customer service and they refunded all my money back!