Footy card sales tanking ?

[aussie26]

Hi all,
It appears that this years AFL cards are not selling real well. More so the teamcoach seem tough to sell unless cheap, has anyone else noticed this or agree/disagree ?

 

[drama5]

Saturation and over production. This imo is what it looks like when a company pushes the barrier too far.

They have driven away team collectors whilst at same time overproducing team sets. Not a winning combo

 

[absti3]

Still selling lots of packs I reckon but resale prices will probably drop as there is just so many cards to choose from;

 

[Matt26]

I had a feeling that this was eventually going to happen....... past few years people haven't been able to spend disposable income on a lot of things because they were locked down, locked out etc.... companies have capitalised on this by making lots of products...... but a fair chunk of that money flowing to Sports Cards will now start going to things like Footy Games, Dinners, Nights out, Concerts, Travel etc.....oh and inflation is making things even worse and will continue to do so.

No doubt people will still buy heaps of product, I'm sure everything will sell out but I think those casual collectors who had come back into the market will fade off and the die hards will still remain...... this will likely bring secondary market prices down for a lot (not all) cards as the demand will be reduced.

 

[Gameday Online]

And the cycle continues. Have seen this pattern several times in the trading card market. The early to mid-nineties is a great example. The market went crazy, shops and dealers appeared everywhere and cards were overproduced. Then came the bust and card values dropped, card shops closed down and dealers disappeared. Cards from that era were regarded as having no value. Over time that has changed and some cards from that era, packets, boxes, and singles are in high demand.

The current downturn was inevitable for all of the reasons mentioned in Matt's post above although I do think the downturn will not be as sharp as in the past due to the strong status of the companies producing the product.

 

[ihateupants]

It was inevitable, but at the same time this is opportunistic. Build your PC's now, buy your sealed products now, and just play the long game.

I've shifted my focus from buying sealed products to just buying singles I want. I have noticed the slight downturn even for Richmond stock..

 

[Gameday Online]

It was inevitable, but at the same time this is opportunistic. Build your PC's now, buy your sealed products now, and just play the long game.

I've shifted my focus from buying sealed products to just buying singles I want. I have noticed the slight downturn even for Richmond stock..

Agree it is all about the long game if you are collecting for value. Part of the fun is picking up an ultra-cheap insert for a young player and watching him become a superstar and in 15 years' time at the end of the career either having massive equity in that card value or having a card that is the pride and joy of your collection. For example a Matt Rowell 30th Anniversary Gold Seal going for $1.00 at the moment on eBay. This combines the two investable factors for me. A player with value upside and an insert set common enough to become obscure in the long-term future. More the better if he is also a player you want to collect.

 

[Richo]

And the cycle continues. Have seen this pattern several times in the trading card market. The early to mid-nineties is a great example. The market went crazy, shops and dealers appeared everywhere and cards were overproduced. Then came the bust and card values dropped, card shops closed down and dealers disappeared. Cards from that era were regarded as having no value. Over time that has changed and some cards from that era, packets, boxes, and singles are in high demand.

The current downturn was inevitable for all of the reasons mentioned in Matt's post above although I do think the downturn will not be as sharp as in the past due to the strong status of the companies producing the product.

I remember when all the card shops closed down in the late 90s.....me and a friend of mine came back from a shop closure with shoppong bags full of $5 NBA boxes....boy did we have some fun!

Agree with most said in this thread......to me it looks like the next junk wax era is almost upon us and if that is the case, then there will be a reduction in box prices over the next few years.

Hell i still remember busting 12/13 NBA Hobby boxes for about $50-60AUD a box and that was less than 10yrs ago.

I have enjoyed the run while it lasted....i simply changed my collecting habbits so i am looking forward to what the future brings.

 

[poita]

I know I have a different perspective to most people around here, but when I buy cards they need to mean something to me. A milestone card, a medal card, a draft card - they all represent some kind of achievement and a souvenir of the club I follow. In contrast, things such as footy's finest and virtuoso cards are just pretty bits of cardboard - they mean nothing to me (although if people are willing to pay vast sums of money for one, good luck to them).

Both Select and Teamcoach have gone down the path in recent years of creating a ridiculously large number of meaningless bits of cardboard. Multiple layers of parallels of the same players, year after year - change background colour and press print, no effort required; numbered inserts that are otherwise fairly bland and non-descript, and other cards that have been artificially limited to create demand.

Other than signature and memorabilia cards, I don't see how any of these cards can hold their value. There is too many similar concepts, and very few people can afford to buy them all. On this website a new series is released and interest is high for about two weeks, then it is forgotten. Cards aren't selling because sellers want too high prices and there are too few buyers for most of them.

Select lost me last year when All Australian cards, which have generally been $1 - $2 cards, or even part of the base set in earlier years, were suddenly marketed as limited cards. Why would I pay $100+ for one of these, when I could go and buy genuine premiership merchandise and memorabilia for the same price?

Teamcoach have been trending down since the excellent 2020 release. Craft cards were a exciting concept for many people, but now there are twice as many. Three levels of star powers, two levels of B&F cards, three levels of base cards - it's lazy, it's overwhelming and it turns people off.

 

[banana]

Can get a Dustin Martin case hit card /70 for under $500... something must be going on

 

[P-Dawg]

What I find crazy is people wanting supremacy prices for footy stars

What I find annoying is people bidding on auctions with no intent to pay. This has increased significantly this last 3-6 months

 

[drama5]

Some very valid points from everyone and i share much the same sentiments.

its lucky i dont intend on selling my pc ever as the damage done to older cards by these recent releases is imense.

Platinum brownlows that were considered rare and valuable are now close to unsellable and with everyone jumping off team collecting it is now a case of 95% with no demand and 5% with huge demand. Thus the massive price differences dependant on players.

For this reason the values on what i bring in are made with the current trend and future value in mind. This often causes the old "low baller" tag from percieved experts who have no idea about collecting lesser clubs like gc and gws.

My view is, with club collectors dying, who is going to be driving the demand for a midnight oleg markov, nick holman or xavier dursma? What will maintain the value of a gold coast losing brownlow predictor or a virtuoso of a mid tier player?

These cards will have absoloutly no demand unless something changes!

 

[The Mad Hatter]

I know I have a different perspective to most people around here, but when I buy cards they need to mean something to me. A milestone card, a medal card, a draft card - they all represent some kind of achievement and a souvenir of the club I follow. In contrast, things such as footy's finest and virtuoso cards are just pretty bits of cardboard - they mean nothing to me (although if people are willing to pay vast sums of money for one, good luck to them).

Both Select and Teamcoach have gone down the path in recent years of creating a ridiculously large number of meaningless bits of cardboard. Multiple layers of parallels of the same players, year after year - change background colour and press print, no effort required; numbered inserts that are otherwise fairly bland and non-descript, and other cards that have been artificially limited to create demand.

Other than signature and memorabilia cards, I don't see how any of these cards can hold their value. There is too many similar concepts, and very few people can afford to buy them all. On this website a new series is released and interest is high for about two weeks, then it is forgotten. Cards aren't selling because sellers want too high prices and there are too few buyers for most of them.

Select lost me last year when All Australian cards, which have generally been $1 - $2 cards, or even part of the base set in earlier years, were suddenly marketed as limited cards. Why would I pay $100+ for one of these, when I could go and buy genuine premiership merchandise and memorabilia for the same price?

Teamcoach have been trending down since the excellent 2020 release. Craft cards were a exciting concept for many people, but now there are twice as many. Three levels of star powers, two levels of B&F cards, three levels of base cards - it's lazy, it's overwhelming and it turns people off.

I am a NRL and cricket fan and collector. This post encapsulates everything about the ‘business’ and ‘hobby’ right now and for the past 5-10 years.
I’m lucky I’ve got a dealer who looks after me and I’m lucky my two sons are in to both these sports and like collecting common sets. But not a single other kid in their age/peer group collects cards. Maybe Pokémon but they go in and out of fashion like fidget spinners and pop its. In the 80s, all my friends and heaps of kids at school collected scanlens footy or cricket cards or sticker books. I’m dating myself but as 8 year old, chased Return of the Jedi hard as I could. Still were doing it in year 7 with Batman in 1989. Of course you got bubblegum back then and packets were loose change. $4-$5 a packet now and if you look around you can get full common sets for a tenner. It’s amazing how the newspaper AFL or NRL sets were popular with kids - free binder and 15 packs over two weeks and the set was done. Tazos the same.
Who doesn’t like finishing a set?
Now, too many cards, too many parallels and no way of finishing sets and rare unlisted cards not on checklists and I can see why hard core collectors and kids/parents don’t bother.

 

[Theia]

Small down turn should've been expected, so many people were buying product either sealed or individual like they were investing in the stock market hoping they could profit, specially with the boom pokemon and other similar card games had during covid which spread into other niche markets in card collecting.

 

[Intergaze]

Covid had a lot to do with it but also some NBA Rookies like Zion, Luka, Ja and Trae boosted the NBA card interest which spilled over into other markets but rookies after this were not good enough to keep the market interesting it took Lamello a bit to get going and Cade and Edwards just haven‘t hit at all, Supremacy is great but hard to get a hold of outside box breaks, but the biggest killer is the controlled market and product unavailable at retail prices.

 

[sebastian tombs]

What I find crazy is people wanting supremacy prices for footy stars

What I find annoying is people bidding on auctions with no intent to pay. This has increased significantly this last 3-6 months

On ebay if your a Seller it will not let you leave a negative comment about a buyer, which sort of defeats the purpose having feedback in the first place

 

[johnnydrama]

A definite over supply issue currently.

We have entered the junk insert era.

Let’s just hope print runs don’t exceed 2021 numbers for the upcoming releases.

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

It was inevitable, but at the same time this is opportunistic. Build your PC's now, buy your sealed products now, and just play the long game.

I've shifted my focus from buying sealed products to just buying singles I want. I have noticed the slight downturn even for Richmond stock..

I will keep going with Sealed products. There will always be demand at some point by somebody.

But definitely not wasting money on low end junk anymore

 

[absti3]

I will say I still collect anything and everything but have started collecting unopened boxes and packs too. And if I feel like a break will open some . Even thinking of buying some basketball boxes as the prices in these can be amazing on resale if you have patience and pick the right ones.

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

I will say I still collect anything and everything but have started collecting unopened boxes and packs too. And if I feel like a break will open some . Even thinking of buying some basketball boxes as the prices in these can be amazing on resale if you have patience and pick the right ones.

skip basketball. returns are not there.

look for obscure stuff and debut editions. f1 is a good one