[shotsavereboundscore]

actually it doesnt take a ton of money to get into the hobby...if you had 10, 20, 30, or even 50 bucks, you could get an absurd amount of cards via hobby shops or ebay.
50 dollars on ebay can realistically get you over $500 worth of cards...easily
if you are a collector, then that is perfect
i love when non-collectors buy high end stuff and bust it just to flip it....ill swoop in and grab the stuff for next to nothing in the secondary market.

[xstreaminsanity]

actually it doesnt take a ton of money to get into the hobby...if you had 10, 20, 30, or even 50 bucks, you could get an absurd amount of cards via hobby shops or ebay.
50 dollars on ebay can realistically get you over $500 worth of cards...easily
if you are a collector, then that is perfect
i love when non-collectors buy high end stuff and bust it just to flip it....ill swoop in and grab the stuff for next to nothing in the secondary market.

Part of the fun of the hobby is the chase. But to me, and from what I've understood around here, the MOST fun of the hobby comes from busting packs. A lot of collectors LOVE to bust wax but the hobby has come to a point where financially that is inefficient, especially if you're a person who collects superstars or higher end cards.

As a Pistons collector, I'm kind of lucky. Their cards aren't worth much. So if I pull a $10 jersey card, I can easily get 1 or 2 $5 cards from someone for it, or more. But say you're a Jordan collector. If you pull a $20 RC Jersey Autograph as one of your maybe four hits in a $150 box, and this person is a sixth man type player, you're going to have a hard time trading that $20 card for a $20 Jordan card unless you find a die hard collector of that player, team, brand or set. And if you were to try and sell that $20 RC Jersey Autograph, you might get $4 after shipping and fees. That $4 isn't going to buy you much in terms of Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, etc.

This is why non-collectors buying boxes and busting them to flip them hurts more people than it helps. For those that don't like busting wax, it has no affect on them, it helps them in fact. The non-collectors buying the boxes/cases allow manufacturers to keep the prices where they are or raise them. This means it gets worse that we can't afford boxes/cases to break on our own. Yes, we would like to flip some of them so we can afford to get more boxes, cases or singles, but when we bust the boxes, we are anxious for that big hit. And I don't mean big hit in terms of a RC or Autograph card that can get us $400 (even though we're happy about that too), but we're anxious for that big PC hit. That one that justifies you spending that money on that box/case. When non-collectors bust wax, they're look at each card with $$$ in their eyes. They ONLY care about return of investment, not how great the cards look, or how much help they got for their PC, or pulling a card that they can trade someone they've traded with before for a PC card. They ONLY look at the money aspect of it, and it's killing the fun of the hobby.

By box prices going up, LCS's don't have many people coming in wanting to buy wax. The collector would rather get it online at cheaper prices. But the non-collectors know this as well, and take advantage of it. While the internet has helped expand the collecting community, it has also hurt it a little in taking some of the fun away. I wish more people wouldn't look at it as an investment or potential investment, but bust the wax for the fun and in an effort to build your PC.

So what it really comes down to: Are you a collector who loves to bust boxes but it's no longer financially efficient, or are you a collector who only cares about the chase and using the secondary market? That will sway how you look at the current status of the hobby.

[mickey7mantle7]

The economy sucks (even for us military), Panini is the worst product IMO, and the NBA is at the tail end of a shortened season. It's not what it used to be. Most of the dealers/collectors are hoarding the good crap and when they do sell, the prices are too ridiculously high for anyone to afford.

Not all of us do it, but there's an abundance of ^ that do. I think the reemurgance of MJ's stuff has kept this side of the hobby so strong. Honestly, if not for that, I'm not sure if I would even be on this side of the boards as often...lol