I have to say there seems to be a lot of people leaving for a variety of factors, but even looking at my own situation I have cut back dramatically on what I collect.
One of the reasons is that the main player I collected (Steve Nash) is no longer playing and there really isn’t a huge amount of new cards out there and most of his big cards that appeal to me (1/1’s, Logomen etc) don’t show up or are so overpriced it’s not funny.
I used to also collect anything and everything of Ryan Anderson however I sold off my whole collection of him about a year ago to a collector in the US who already had a huge PC of him. It went to a good home.
I also collect some very specific Larry Bird cards (mainly high end stuff) but he signs so many cards each year that unless it’s a really cool or interesting card, I don’t really need to pay another $100+ for another auto card of his……..he has thousands of signed cards out there!
Another thing is that while we haven’t seen any NBA Michael Jordan cards since the late 2000’s, his collectors are a huge part of the marketplace (especially for his older stuff)……I think if he had been included even on a base or an insert level in Panini Products you would have seen a much larger and healthier collecting community than you see today.
Once you add the US dollar, shipping, scammers and lowballers into the mix, it certainly isn’t something that drags you back to the hobby.
All of the players I loved watching during the 90’s/00’s are all mostly retired now, and my interest in the NBA isn’t what it used to be though I still like watching it. I guess being a player fan more than a team fan leaves me with no real attachment to any specific team to follow.
So for me, all I’m doing now is buying the odd card here or there……and if something I really want comes along ill grab it……but overall these days its less about quantity and more about quality.
Cheers
Matt
