Game show hosts in upcoming trading card release

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'173719\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 06:29 PM\']
Bob Eubanks shirt card; the base card looks exactly the same
[/quote]
Don't know why, but I got a slight chuckle out of the placement of that gold star.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'173720\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 06:32 PM\']
[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'173719\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 06:29 PM\']
Bob Eubanks shirt card; the base card looks exactly the same
[/quote]
Don't know why, but I got a slight chuckle out of the placement of that gold star.
[/quote]
You win again.  You've been on quite the hot streak in 2008.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'173722\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 03:36 PM\']
[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'173720\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 06:32 PM\']
[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'173719\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 06:29 PM\']
Bob Eubanks shirt card; the base card looks exactly the same
[/quote]
Don't know why, but I got a slight chuckle out of the placement of that gold star.
[/quote]
You win again.  You've been on quite the hot streak in 2008.
[/quote]
I was gonna say. That couldn't have been placed more poorly.

So at forty bones a pack, what the hell with the starting price being so low?

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'173725\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 06:55 PM\']So at forty bones a pack, what the hell with the starting price being so low?[/quote]
Well, the ones with the low starting prices have no autographs. So, you know, they're worthless.

. . . really? Autographed stickers? Well, it's Donruss' money printing press--who I am to question.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'173725\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 06:55 PM\']So at forty bones a pack, what the hell with the starting price being so low?[/quote]
Two reasons...

1.  eBay fees.  Starting at 99 cents is less expensive than starting at $1.00.  I haven't sold anything on eBay in some time.  The next tier for starting fees is $1 to $9.99, I believe.
2.  The autograph is generally the prize pull of most cards nowadays, unless it's for a celebrity/player who is very popular and/or dead.  Swatch cards litter the hobby nowadays.  For every 10 in my collection, 1 might have some value.  These celebrity cards might carry value because Bob Eubanks shirt swatches (likely) won't end up in every product Donruss makes in 2008 and beyond.  The only other set I recall having swatches of celebrity apparel was Topps' American Pie series, which had series in 2001 and 2002, and there's probably a very good reason American Pie didn't see a 2003 series.  What it is, I don't know.  I never touched that product.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'173729\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 07:25 PM\']. . . really? Autographed stickers? Well, it's Donruss' money printing press--who I am to question.[/quote]
It's Topps too, and Upper Deck.

It's easier for a person to sign hundreds or thousands of the card company's holographic stickers months before the product is made and apply those stickers to the cards than it is to print the cards first, ship the person x number of cards, have the person sign all the cards, and send them back to the company.  Even on the $250+ packs of cards, the autographs are on stickers.

[Robert Hutchinson]

("Who I am to question"? I mangling syntax am, apparently.)

Oh, I get that it's easier. I'm marveling at (what I'm assuming is) the collective willingness of those who collect such things as these to not rise up in anger and march to the UpperDonTopps offices with pitchforks.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'173737\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 08:15 PM\']("Who I am to question"? I mangling syntax am, apparently.)

Oh, I get that it's easier. I'm marveling at (what I'm assuming is) the collective willingness of those who collect such things as these to not rise up in anger and march to the UpperDonTopps offices with pitchforks.[/quote]
Upper Deck doesn't give two tin ones and there were rumblings in the past few months that Topps was going to be bought by Upper Deck.  UD's customer service skills are lackluster and quite shady.

This is hardly a new issue.  Sticker autographs have been around for at least 7 years; I have 13 sticker autograph cards from a 2001 set containing rookies from that year's draft.

/Traded away a single dogkiller (Michael Vick) autograph for those 13 cards
//Came away with the better end of that negotiation

[Robert Hutchinson]

Dude. I get that the companies don't care. My amazement rests solely on the continued purchasing of said items in quantities sufficient to support a business.

[MikeK]

M'bad.  Carry on...

[clemon79]

So what yer saying is that people are paying $40 bones solely for the promise of a "premium" card, and the rest are effectively worthless?

Furthermore, if I *really* wanted a Peter Marshall trading card, and didn't care about it being autographed or having a microscopic swatch of a plaid suit in it or any of that happy crappy, I could get one for a song because in the eyes of collectors it's "worthless"?

Man, I'm with Robert. Good on people if it makes them happy, but if there was a bigger example of "vote with your wallet", I don't think I've seen it. Maybe I'll run through my 1989 Score set again, just to remember when baseball cards were still cool...

[dzinkin]

I remember when the '87 Fleer baseball cards came out and I thought people were nuts to be paying $2 a pack after dealer markup.

I'm glad I stopped when it was still reasonable too.

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'173746\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 09:55 PM\']So what yer saying is that people are paying $40 bones solely for the promise of a "premium" card, and the rest are effectively worthless?[/quote]
Pretty much.  There is one fabric or autograph card per pack, and one other numbered card, whether it is a parallel card (in the case of Americana, the proofs) or a non-auto/swatch card from one of the subsets.  The other two cards in the pack are regular base cards.  Will the non-autograph and non-swatch cards command big value?  No.  A great parallel/subset card could have a book value of $50, while the base cards will have a value of $2 to $5 apiece.

Getting something guaranteed for $40 is a better deal than the $20 packs of cards where you only have a 2/3 chance of pulling something worthwhile...

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'173760\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 11:02 PM\']Getting something guaranteed for $40 is a better deal than the $20 packs of cards where you only have a 2/3 chance of pulling something worthwhile...[/quote]
Math senses . . . tingling . . .

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'173762\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 11:09 PM\']
[quote name=\'MikeK\' post=\'173760\' date=\'Jan 3 2008, 11:02 PM\']Getting something guaranteed for $40 is a better deal than the $20 packs of cards where you only have a 2/3 chance of pulling something worthwhile...[/quote]
Math senses . . . tingling . . .
[/quote]
Ointments can cure that.

The $40 product I've mentioned is an overall better product and with a premium card in each pack.  The $20/pack stuff is an overall worse product, and with a 1 in 3 chance at getting only 8 base cards with near no value.  I'd take the sure thing since it's a better product which sells better on the secondary markets, specifically online and at sportscard shows.