Almost over the hobby and it's stupid prices!!

[Mully]

It's called a business not a charity. What do you expect them to do?

Charities give things away for free, so thats not a good analogy. I go to card stores to buy cards, not ask for freebies.

 

[lilreddevil]

Charities give things away for free, so thats not a good analogy. I go to card stores to buy cards, not ask for freebies.

Yeh but if they're selling stuff for below what they're worth, that's giving something away. They are a great business with exceptional customer service as well, I would have no complaints. Maybe you should be looking at the collectors who are pumping up these prices not the sellers who are just trying to keep up with demand.

 

[matty83]

Its like Petrol man, they jack the price up overnight and its still the same fuel in the tank underground......just a bunch of C*nt$

Supply Vs Demand

 

[Mully]

Yeh but if they're selling stuff for below what they're worth, that's giving something away. They are a great business with exceptional customer service as well, I would have no complaints. Maybe you should be looking at the collectors who are pumping up these prices not the sellers who are just trying to keep up with demand.

Business's never sells things for a loss, or if they do they do not stay in business for long !

Their customer service is ok, no real complaints there (not keen on not getting replacements for damaged boxes mind you). I also dont think they are the only ones doing this, dont get me wrong so my issues arent just with them. Supply and demand for sure, but this feels false to me.

At the end of the day, this is a hobby for me. I dont buy and sell cards to make a living. God knows what I will do with my collection when the times comes either, not sure whether to sell or give to me kids.

 

[drob50]

Business's never sells things for a loss, or if they do they do not stay in business for long !

Their customer service is ok, no real complaints there (not keen on not getting replacements for damaged boxes mind you). I also dont think they are the only ones doing this, dont get me wrong so my issues arent just with them. Supply and demand for sure, but this feels false to me.

At the end of the day, this is a hobby for me. I dont buy and sell cards to make a living. God knows what I will do with my collection when the times comes either, not sure whether to sell or give to me kids.

100% agree!!

DACW are acting like robbers!

They should be grateful that they are getting the benefit from the massive demand on the products, not bumping them up as high as they are! Sure, increase a little (increases happen as products get older anyway) but to put prestige blasters up as high as they have is a JOKE!

There are 2 ways to make money in business.

1 - Look after your customers and reap the rewards when the keep coming back

2 - Only worry about 'now'. Meaning make your money now! But spend ALL of your time looking for NEW customers because the ones you ripped won't come back!

 

[as.close]

a simple theory on the box pricing issue would be, if they are stock that they dont have to pay a higher price on then it should be left at original pricing. everyone jacks up the prices to make a quick buck. i deal with malcolm at the dandy markets and carribean gardens markets and he is great for looking after customers and will quite happily leave prices as they are unless he himself has had to pay a higher price for new stock. his old stock stays the same until he pays higher and he always sells out of stock. its the right idea because as simple as it gets, if you are the cheapest and have the trust of you customer base you will sell what you have. if i went to someone i have dealt with for a long time and all of a sudden the box cost a tonne more even though old stock i would walk away empty handed.
so as others have said, be reliable and keep your customer base for a long time or go for the cash and lose them.
simply who will sell more??? cheapest will always go first so while they have stock the high pricing fools will not sell much

 

[drob50]

a simple theory on the box pricing issue would be, if they are stock that they dont have to pay a higher price on then it should be left at original pricing. everyone jacks up the prices to make a quick buck. i deal with malcolm at the dandy markets and carribean gardens markets and he is great for looking after customers and will quite happily leave prices as they are unless he himself has had to pay a higher price for new stock. his old stock stays the same until he pays higher and he always sells out of stock. its the right idea because as simple as it gets, if you are the cheapest and have the trust of you customer base you will sell what you have. if i went to someone i have dealt with for a long time and all of a sudden the box cost a tonne more even though old stock i would walk away empty handed.
so as others have said, be reliable and keep your customer base for a long time or go for the cash and lose them.
simply who will sell more??? cheapest will always go first so while they have stock the high pricing fools will not sell much

Exactly!!

My local shop also increases prices periodically, but they are ALWAYS honest increases.

I was there on Friday with another OCT'er and they other guy bought a box of Classics (from the shelf) for $99. Bargain compared to DACW.
I asked for a box as well, and because mine came from the newly arrived stock, it was $120.
I had no problem with that because I have seen their pricing over the last year or 2 and it always been relative!

I don't question their prices now, just buy!

Also, I have proven that their boxes aren't from searched cases too! Not sure how many places can live up to that!

 

[as.close]

it just makes it easier when you can trust them. if malcolm hasnt got what i am after i can go elsewhere but i dont. i would rather wait and keep my business with him

 

[aussiemjfreak]

Wtf is with people singling out DACW?! How do you know they haven't had an increase from suppliers? Hype has driven everything up so has the fact that the 11/12 releases have been pushed right back and we are still waiting for them! As panini's stock dwindles they would raise their wholesale price to accommodate and try to stretch out that stock, all companies do it. So in turn why wouldn't the retailer do the same thing?? (DACW being the retailer) yes there would be extra money to be made here and there but putting all the blame on DACW is very narrow minded!! It $hits me to tears when people just start blaming the retailer for all pricing issues! A retailer buys stock from somewhere and that somewhere usually dictates the pricing!!!!!

 

[drob50]

Wtf is with people singling out DACW?! How do you know they haven't had an increase from suppliers? Hype has driven everything up so has the fact that the 11/12 releases have been pushed right back and we are still waiting for them! As panini's stock dwindles they would raise their wholesale price to accommodate and try to stretch out that stock, all companies do it. So in turn why wouldn't the retailer do the same thing?? (DACW being the retailer) yes there would be extra money to be made here and there but putting all the blame on DACW is very narrow minded!! It $hits me to tears when people just start blaming the retailer for all pricing issues! A retailer buys stock from somewhere and that somewhere usually dictates the pricing!!!!!

I am not saying that DACW is the ONLY place doing it... but they are the most commonly used, so naturally they will be the first example!

There is NO EXCUSE for why a 10/11 Prestige RACK PACK is being sold for $100. It is not coincidence that it went up with the Lin hype!

I find it hard to comprehend that a company as big as DACW is dealing with a wholesaler in between themselves and Panini! I know if I ran a business that was turning over as much stock as they are, I would not be buying from anyone but the manufacturer!

If it was the middle men putting up the prices and forcing DACW to do it, then why aren't the amount of the increase at my local proportionate?

 

[aussie26]

I have never charged extra because I know the card is someone's pc player or the such, but a lot of people do. There are a lot of people on eBay who will try to trick newbies by having redicilous buy it nows. As people have said this is a hobby but there are more and more dishonest people which puts you off the hobby. As far as dacardworld goes I've been put off buying from them as much because I've spent 10's of thousands over the last 4 years and been screwed, I asked for some classics before they went up and they said sorry not avaliable, then the next day they were avaliable for $20 extra per box. Time to collect stamps or something haha

 

[Mully]

Wtf is with people singling out DACW?! How do you know they haven't had an increase from suppliers? Hype has driven everything up so has the fact that the 11/12 releases have been pushed right back and we are still waiting for them! As panini's stock dwindles they would raise their wholesale price to accommodate and try to stretch out that stock, all companies do it. So in turn why wouldn't the retailer do the same thing?? (DACW being the retailer) yes there would be extra money to be made here and there but putting all the blame on DACW is very narrow minded!! It $hits me to tears when people just start blaming the retailer for all pricing issues! A retailer buys stock from somewhere and that somewhere usually dictates the pricing!!!!!

Look, you have your version I have mine and someone else has theirs. The truth falls roughly somewhere in the middle. I am getting way to old to argue anything anymore

 

[Jonathon M]

We can argue about DA's and whoever all we want and not change opinions, but the fact the box prices went THROUGH THE ROOF pretty much overnight is suspicious from the view of blatant profiteering (Do you honestly believe DA's don't buy manufacturer direct? c'mon man). Whether you think this is ok or not is not the point in the big picture; because if you are ok with this that is your opinion and that is fine. However, it is obvious many are not and how it affects their relationships with long time regular customers will remain to be seen. They were offloading the 10/11 threads blasters for $5ea at their Black Friday sale and the rakpaks, prestige blasters, etc, were all heavily discounted for a LONG time which points at it being slow moving, low demand or manufacturer discounted stock. How many other american based, non-ebay sellers even had these lines in stock over the last 12 months??? Very few, if any... This tells me DA held pretty much all the stock from the manufacturer (don't count ebay sellers, they get it from DA's) so I would bet that the same boxes they were willing to sell for $5-$8 and $17 is now $40 & $100 respectively. Now, no one expects them to be "giving them away" once Linsanity hit but 500-800% markups??? That is open for debate/criticism no matter where you stand... That's the risk businesses take when they do this sort of thing.

Is this good for the hobby in general??? again, only time will tell... Once Linsanity dies down (and it will because his talent can not match the novelty factor that is driving these prices in the long run) what will happen to those who have entered/re-entered the hobby for 5 minutes because of this??? If they leave and it's business as usual, what will happen to those long time collectors who have a very bad taste in their mouth because of what has happened???

The comparison made to petrol earlier is way off the mark if you ask me, we HAVE TO pay for petrol to live really (most of us anyway) and even though we know the petrol stations are now a supermarket driven monopoly and we HATE it, we still have to pay it..... If we had the same feelings from a card supplier or the hobby in general would we still be a customer, would we still collect? maybe, maybe not but we would have a choice, and unlike the petrol industry who feel (and correctly so) they do not have to answer to the consumer, the hobby industry does not have that luxury.... If hobby prices remain high long time collectors will leave it or just buy singles they want (and can afford) and it will be hard to attract new customers as the over-pricing will make it less attractive to newcomers...

Places like DA's are not profitable because every few years something like Linsanity happens and they can jack everything up for a few minutes and make crazy profit from it, they are profitable because of long time, loyal customers who spend good money regularly (and who can prob see right through the linsanity) they have built relationships with their customers and their customers have had no need to ever really look elsewhere so their retention is high.... How will this affect those relationships? who knows? but it's risky business when even your most loyal customers can see you are just blatantly profiteering.

I don't actually have a major issue with what DA's and others are doing and if the prices are right I will still buy from them no worries. I just think the whole Linsanity will be a big lesson for the industry from the casual collector to major wholesaler and the manufacturers in general and many of those involved have never seen anything like this so the Hobby as a whole will learn many lessons from this and learn from what happened and how the hobby reacted to it, rightly or wrongly.... These lessons however, and the right or wrong ways will not be known until the dust has settled from Linsanity, and it is back to "business as usual" for the hobby.

I will also say that I do not think I am an authority on this, I have just put my thoughts down and they are open to criticisms... What I have written is just my opinion, nothing more.... It's a good discussion nonetheless.

 

[hairyangryfella]

The hobby is getting completely screwed and that's why I've had enough and am done with it.

People are so greedy and desperate just look at the Certified Greens and Lin cards - as soon as something's hot, EVERYONE is trying to gouge as much out of everyone as they can, and they're so desperate for profit that they turn into scavengers.

Just look at places like DACW - a player gets hot so they jack up the prices on all their products, even in the middle of peoples orders.

Ebay is a complete ripoff (with paypal) and they're making things even harder for sellers and will eventually shoot themselves in the foot.

And of course when someone knows you want something, then you get taken advantage of. I really enjoyed chasing the set of Tag Teams - but a couple of people completely milked me with them.

I had a little goal - to get an auto and/or rookie of a whole list of players I really liked. Once I got the Wilt I was pretty much complete, but then the hobby changed... and now I'm over it. I've managed to raise about $6k from sales so far which is good, and when you realise that you can actually spend money living rather than on cards, life itself gets better. I'm not suggesting everyone quit, but I am definitely happier now that I have.

 

[drob50]

I think a username change is in order

Hairybutnotasangryfella

 

[hairyangryfella]

I think a username change is in order

Hairybutnotasangryfella

Actually I'm probably more angry in real life than I was before...

 

[aussiemjfreak]

Where did I say DACW were buying from an outside Wholesaler? I was talking about Panini as a wholesaler which they are. Wholsaler/manufacturer control most pricing.... Rack Pack boxes is probably a good example of nothing but profiteering, but the fact remains, with NO new card releases, and Panin more them likely running out of older stock, even 10/11 stuff, prices ARE ALWAYS going to go up!! It happens the world over, when things becoming scarce, prices go through the roof....

Simple fact is don't like it don't buy it, I do that, I don't feel the need to call one supplier out over 1000 others.....

 

[drob50]

Panini is a Manufacturer, not a Wholesaler... so using the word wholesaler implies that there is someone in between! Fair enough if that is not your intention, let's move one!

The point is, their business, like all businesses, need customers. If they keep displaying blatant profiteering, they will lose customers!

Singling them out is the least they deserve IMO.

If someone on here rips off a young kid in a trade, I would single them out too. Doesn't mean they are the only ones doing it!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Actually, lets look at it this way also... If you were one of the unlucky ones that bought gold standard from anyone when it first came out, it was 185.00 a box. 8 weeks after release, it was 145.00 a box. 12 weeks after release it was 126.00 a box and this was D and A's prices. Supply and demand, no one is saying anything about buying a case of this when it was super low.

The bottom line is, they buy for a super low rate, they try and make the most of what they sell as they have overhead, lots of over head. If you do not like the prices they are charging, then move along or change the way you buy. No one is forcing you to buy but you, and if you cant handle the pricing now, then dont have champagne tastes on a woobla budget.

 

[Jonathon M]

I can pretty much guarantee that DA's have had all the 10/11 blaster/rak pak stock for ages... I'm pretty sure blow out, Infinity or Pittsburgh Cards have not listed any of this product in the last year so if this is the case Panini have had no control of the price rises as DA prob did a deal for all the remaining stock around 12 months ago, so DA's have made this call all by themselves.... again, right or wrong, but 800% mark ups are open for criticism in any industry.... As DA's are the only supplier with this stock that has come direct from the manufacturer it is fair to single them out.... Good thing Classics aren't monopolized by DA's or they'd be about $300+ a box now.

I bet everyone will enjoy going for the "case hit" JLin in next years product if his card prices crash because the manufacturers use him as a "marquee" signing and everything was produced and factory sealed before the manufacturers could react to his dip in popularity and free falling card prices....