[cody_allen]

ok im brand new to the forum, just getting back in the game after about 10 years. when i stopped collecting getting a jsy or auto was 1 in a million, now coming back i see them everywhere!! problem is ive been hitting the packs hard and still have squat to show for it. i bought 50 packs of threads 10-11 and got 1 hit. it was a crappy brandon jennings patch that booked at 5 bucks! ive got nothing to show for all the boxes and packs ive bought. how does everyone keep getting all these hit! and when they get them they are good players? am i doing something wrong? advice please

-Cody

[quavis]

I think we all start thinking the same thing. I started buying as many packs as I could just to find out that there is a difference between Hobby packs and Retail. Hobby are the ones with all the good hits. But remember its always a gamble and the hits are usually mediocre. I suggest picking a team or palyer or type of player (like Hall of Famers) or something that you really like. I finally narrowed my PC collecting to Patches or autos. I try to stay away from just jersey cards. Ebay or Check out my cards or Beckett Marketplace is a good place to look. Local card shops or online are the best for boxes. Just make sure they are Hobby Boxes. Although, you will spend a lot more money and have less to show for it than you would just buying singles. Once you get a small collection, you can post on here and trade. Ive gotten some very nice cards from the nice people on here. Hope this helps. Good luck and Welcome to your new addiction!

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I have a bunch of cards that I would love to sell you. They are the jersey cards and some autos that are not in my PC. This would be a huge jump start on your collection and I would be willing to give you a very good price to take them off my hands. Just let me know and I will start to put it together for you.

[b33rman]

First off welcome back to the madness. As Quavis said buying singles is where you will do the best for your money. you will find out as you stick around in the hobby you will see lots of great hits of people who post online here and other web sites. What you don't see is the other 100 to 200 breaks that came up weak. Breaking boxes is like gambling(you never really beat the house), hobby boxes tend to be your best odds, while retail blasters are less like to produce a hit and are normally a weaker hit. Buying retail packs (like Wal-Mart or Target) are more than likely have been searched and will produce nothing but base. Now I am not saying don't buy retail, a few of us members bust those 50% off boxes and have did ok. If you are trying to finish a set the rack packs can be ok, but again no hits or weak hit if lucky. It all comes down to what you are trying to do. If you are trying to build sets then bust a few boxes or look on the bay for complete set and then just buy the Hits of the player you want. I have done this on a few football sets and got complete set plus auto and patch cards of my player at a cost of less than a box. Once you get your collection going you will meet some great traders on here. I have recently added some great cards to my Kentucky collection from these great traders on here. Ok think I said enough for now. Again welcome and don't be afraid to ask questions as there are some great people here to help you out.

[jpleazme805]

I would recommend staying away from buying single packs. You have better odds & is cheaper to buy boxes. Just shop around to see where the lowest prices are. I shy away from buying boxes off ebay. Mainly because I am not familiar with the seller. I would recommend one of the big two sellers (dacardword or blowoutcards). I've bought from DA many times over the last three years. Less in the last year, only because I was deployed to South America all summer & saving money for something besides cards.

Review the different types of boxes & what type of hits you can get. What are the average hits per box? ... this plays effect when I am looking for a box to buy. I try not to get into impulse buying. Just because I went to the local card shop & he has two National Treasure boxes left, doesn't mean I am going to buy those. The good "hit" might of been already taken.

Singles are the way to go for most, but it takes the fun out collecting in my opinion. I loved opening packs when I was a kid. I enjoy it even more now, but it is a gamble. Big money gets big results.

Good luck & welcome to the hobby.

[cody_allen]

Wow thanks a lot guys I'm pleasantly surprised with the in depth info. It's a nice change on a forum lol. It's funny cause I quit collecting around 99-00 and got into building custom trucks and hot rods since but I'm a little burnt out. For some random reason I stopped at a new card shop a few weeks ago and got a pack and have been obsessed ever since haha. I went through all my old cards and pulled the good and tossed the bad. I have bought quite a few singles lately of my favorites but like said, its fun to open packs. I've just had such bad luck. I bought a 2010 topps chrome baseball box and got 1 decent card. Then I bought 50 packs ( the shop sells packs for 80 cents after tax if you buy more than 30) and got the 1 hit. Idk. I love packs but I'm wasting a lot of money. I have decided on a list of players I like and plan on collecting 1 auto, 1 jsy, 1 auto+jsy, 1 #ed, and 1 insert of each. I will get some scans up soon for trades though.

One last ? I got a /10 Daniel orton card but was slightly damaged. Do card companies help out with this stuff or no?

Thx

[gjpoll1]

I am also new to trading on here,but agree with everything previously mentioned, especially the help you can get on here. I've had a bunch of questions answered and have learn a lot about how the hobby has evolved since I was away(about 10 years). Good luck and happy collecting.

[leadmetogreatness]

my advise just collect for the fun whether its your favorite team,player, college, you like the design and want to collect the set etc. It dosn't matter if you collect high end or lowend just stay within reason and what interests you not what others might tell you. Yes if its recent product panini would replace the damaged card they have a process you have to go threw.

[cody_allen]

ok ill check into it, the other thing i need to check is i bought an upper deck box that said jersey card in every box....no jersey card. lol.

[libs021]

ok ill check into it, the other thing i need to check is i bought an upper deck box that said jersey card in every box....no jersey card. lol.

you sometimes have to be careful some boxes say one jersey card and than in very very small letters they will say on average, that way you'll buy a box and when you don't get your hit they will say well its on average so tough luck, but some boxes do have guaranteed hits. Where if you don't get a hit you can contact the company and they'll send you a replacement.

[Joshua92]

ok ill check into it, the other thing i need to check is i bought an upper deck box that said jersey card in every box....no jersey card. lol.

Happened to me before and I was pissed. Assuming you're talking about UD with LBJ on the cover? Probably from either Walmart or something? Yeah it's a joke. Never talked to anyone about it but busted another one recently and got a 30$ LBJ card. Guess we're even now!