[swjrp10]

Idk why...but I'm having the hardest time getting back into collecting...I know my budget is nowhere near what it used to be (20/month compared to...whatever I wanted to spend!)...but I got such great deals on phenomenal pieces...like my quad red wings signed puck (Howe, Dineen, and a couple others, only 25 bucks!) or my 16x20 Howe family photo of the three gents playing for the Whalers autographed for 20 bucks! Or my vintage tall boy autographed by (I don't even remember!!!) for 15! Now, I know the days of 20 dollar Howe autos are over, and it took 10+ years of collecting and tons of hours to find deals, but nothing in my budget is even remotely appealing!

Someone please kick me in the butt and make me smell the poutine! (Which I finally had today with ketchup! Delicious!)

[rayeates]

Poutine is disgusting!

As for the goods being too much... you are right. The deals are harder to come by because there are too many people out there treating our hobby as a business. I tried to convince myself that things are changing for the better, but it is just not the case. It sucks seeing so many great collectors having trouble keeping the passion for the hobby, all due to the terrible state that it is in.

Upper Deck is the only legitimate producer of NHL cards, and they only want to rake the cash in. That starts a whole new spiral of greed with the box-breakers/razzers/scammers/and those that just open loads of product to sell. Then you have ePacks... something that I despise to the fullest!!! That had the smaller hobby shops in the crosshairs, and UD pulled the trigger without warning or concern. My passion for the hobby has dwindled to a match-head... leaving me contemplating my collection. I have started to set up shop in the LCS, and will pull my own trigger when I think the time is right.

Randi

[snobles]

First off Randi is crazy...poutine is amazing! lol

Other then that point he is bang on. The UD greed machine is driving everyone away. It is impossible to make trades because UD charges you $150 for a box and the cards you get end up with a BV of like $25-$40 so when you try to trade with someone they want to get more than the BV since they paid so much for the box.

I also find that the BV from the 90's and early 2000's are not being adjusted so when I am trading a Carey Price insert /99 and all I can get for the same BV is a Patrick Roy base it makes it hard to pull the trigger.

So the increasing cost of the hobby in general is driving me slowly away as well. I really downsized and will likely keep most of what I have but I will not actively be opening boxes because it is so hard to trade for something I actually want.

Hope you can get motivated but I think more likely you will end up like the rest of us.

[newfiecomicguy1]

Like yourself I went from a decent budget down to a small budget. Trading is tough as most people only wants the big name hits. Even superstar jerseys of guys like Crosby and Price pulled from new products are cheap. A pack of new 2016 Ice sells for $25 a pack, the Crosby jersey is selling for $5-7, I'm sure Crosby would be considered a hit, one of the best jerseys you could pull.

I have gone back to collecting vintage OPC cards especially those from 1970-90 leaning heavier to the 1979-89 years as those are the players I really remember from growing up. Most are fairly affordable and available. Back when I was a kid growing up in a small Newfoundland community trading was the most fun part. I still trade with others but it's not the same. Condition and price are the biggest factor, back as a kid we traded 1 for 1 on wants. Everyone was trying to complete their sets first, get their favorite team second, star players third and traders and knock down game cards were fourth. I know those days are gone but I still do my best to keep it similar to those days. I just finished collecting all opc wrappers from 1970-1989, currently working on the wha packs. I am also collecting old mini NHL beer hockey schedules, it is putting fun back into the hobby for me.

[mq13]

UD Exclusive is one of the big reason. Secondly G-R-E-E-D. No one trades to have fun.

[snobles]

UD Exclusive is one of the big reason. Secondly G-R-E-E-D. No one trades to have fun.

I have been trying to trade more for fun. I am always happy to trade down for Roy cards I need or trade 2x for cards I am asking someone to trade down on.

If you want cards from me shoot me an offer and I will try to find something.

What I don't understand if I have card XYZ that someone wants, they have cards ABC that I would like in return but they cancel the trade. I know the SV vs BV argument and the shipping costs issues but outside of those it is just a trade. This to me is what is killing the hobby.

[twobroscards]

I am going to try and get back into trading as much as I can. For me, I believe the biggest reason is the shipping cost's. It is hard for me to justify shipping a $1 card and it costs $3 to ship it. Also, I tend to go back and forth on what I want to collect. So for now, I have decided to collect what I truly like all around.

1: RC's
2: Los Angeles Kings cards
3: Autograph cards

[mswatson]

I'm trading like crazy and having fun doing it. Granted the cost to ship packages to Canada puts limitations on my trades (gotta be big enough to be worth the postage), I'm still doing several per week, base cards, hits, whatever.

The one thing that's a bit challenging is that lots of folks don't list common cards in their organizer, but want base cards, so I may have a big stack of commons they need, but they have nothing comparable to trade for, and I feel odd asking for a big card for a stack of commons.

[csamsal]

one of my biggest things that pushed me away from trading is the absurd shipping prices to canada. i enjoy trading with everyone up north but its hard to justify paying 7.50 to ship 2 or 3 cards. and i don't always have what other people are looking for