So I have just started getting back into the hobby and I was wondering what your guys suggestion would be for the best way to buy. I have just been buying cards at Walmart...but I feel like after reading many if the posts here its better to save a little and buy a box. Unfortunately I don't have any local card shops near me (closest one is an hour) so I was looking for some advice on the best place to buy...retail, local shop, online, etc?
Thanks!
We are in the same boat as far as there being no LCS around. Buying blasters from the local Walmart isn't too bad: you get Blue border cards that you can't get anywhere else and the manufactured patch cards. But, for the nice hits, we get a Jumbo box of each Topps series, usually from DA Card World or some other big online card seller.
If you want the monster hits it's best to stay away from retail now days. Not to say you can't pull one but you'd likely get hit by lightening on a cloudless sunny day before you did. The odds are set up to draw people back into the hobby shops.
As far as a box or case doesn't really make a difference if you order from someone like Blowout or off Ebay. The price is going to pretty much be the same +/- a couple bucks. You might feel more comfortable ordering from a dealer but on the rare occasion you can find shipping discounts and on the very rare occasion free shipping on ebay.
Also the longer you can wait the better as prices are always sky high right at the release date up to a couple months after that until a lot of the big hits have been pulled. If you are hoping to pull a decent hit that will cover a portion or if you're lucky all of the cost of the box then yeah spending the extra money might be worth it. Just depends on how much of a gambler you are.
i have to agree!! if u want the guarantee hits, jumbo or hobby boxes are the way to go. but if u just want single autos's of certain players, go to the bay. i have done that before if i wanted a card for my PC. thanks
just buy singles that you want. dont spend money on boxes that will get you redemptions that will never be fulfilled or autos/relics of players you dont even care about. just buy what you want on the bay and you will be happy
Hey, I know you mentioned that the LCS was over an hour away, but I would still buy from him, of course if its a good store. Ask if they will ship to you. Most now a days sell on eBay so that shouldn't be an issue. I never had any luck buying boxes online except 1 I got off ebay in 2007 or so. Every other box sucked. I bought a few from dacardworld and didn't get any good pulls and the box of 2010 Bowman Chrome I got were all warped. The local guy needs your business, hook him up! Since Ive been buying more and more from the LCS, owner has been hooking me up and Ive had some good pulls.Maybe I just got lucky, or that the owner got lucky cases. The thing I like most about this guy is that he puts up every box from the case for sale. I used to buy boxes from this other LCS and never pulled anything good. They always only had 1-3 boxes on display for sale. These guys did a lot of sales on eBay. What they would do is break boxes until they got the hits then sale the remainder of the boxes in the store or online. Needless to say after I saw their auctions, I stopped going there. The owner was a dick anyways.
Other than boxes, I would just buy singles that you like on eBay. Get some "trade bait" and trade them away for cards you want also to guys on here. I used to do a lot of trading on this site back in 07-08 and never had any issues. Good luck and welcome back!
i agree with elfeo013 to buy singles but if you are like me and sometimes have a craving to open a box i use DA card world or Bigtsportscars. bigt's i less expensive but has less of a selection.
Thanks everyone for the advice! I think I'll try to avoid buying retail unless its just a couple packs to open for fun because I definitely have spent much more than the value if the cards buying at wal-mart, target etc...it's just so hard to walk by them in the store! I would love going to a card store but like I said with it being over an hour away it's tough to get to sometimes.
Thanks again everyone...got some good tips!
(02-05-2013, 06:18 PM)jbcollins87 Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks everyone for the advice! I think I'll try to avoid buying retail unless its just a couple packs to open for fun because I definitely have spent much more than the value if the cards buying at wal-mart, target etc...it's just so hard to walk by them in the store! I would love going to a card store but like I said with it being over an hour away it's tough to get to sometimes.
Thanks again everyone...got some good tips!
Keep your eyes open for deals on blasters and rack packs and Walmart. If I see 2010 or newer blasters for less than $12, I usually bite. With rack packs, depending on the product, sometimes you'll find them marked down by 50% (also a good deal).