Hi got a few questions,
2014 traders are cheaper than elites, why?
What numbers of 2014 Traders sub series were produced?
Are signed cards worth more than unsigned (not talking about signature series)?
Is a box worth the money?
Hi Nick,
Welcome to OZCT - a great site for trading/selling and some wonderful people on here as members.
1. Traders are a much wider release than Elite, unsure of the difference, but it is fairly significant, with all the subsets being limited in release. For example the Pride and Passion in the Elite release was limited to 400 of each, I believe and the World Cup Hero Parallel cards were limited to 80 each.
2. I can't tell you that although someone here may have that information
3 Depends on your outlook and collecting aspirations. Personally, I would only look to get base cards signed for a couple of reasons, but I have seen some subset insert sets that members here have completed signed and they look fantastic. I also thought that I remembered seeing a post on here somewhere that indicated a card that has been signed IP (In Person)
lost grading (and hence maybe value) compared to one that was unsigned, if they were both otherwise identical in condition. That is when sent into professional grading services. Happy to be corrected, though, if someone has information to the contrary, or my memory is faulty. There is also obviously the issue of faked sigs on cards, and there are a few people on places like Ebay and Facebook, who are selling/trading IP sigs that experienced members on this site have questioned the veracity of the sigs in question. However, saying that, there are very experienced and trustworthy traders here that can assist you to acquire any IP's you may be after and indeed assist you to begin to identify potential fakes to stay away from.
4. Depends on where you buy the box from. Places like Ebay will have boxes at very cheap prices, but the chance is that the seller has opened a fair number of boxes in a given case (usually 12 boxes) 'searching' for the 'case hit' (i.e. the rarer card/s that are 1/12 or 1/6 boxes), which means there is minimal (if any) chance of you getting that 'case hit'. The best way to get a box is to become involved with a case share on here when they are run. These are unopened cases and very well run and there is no question of the honesty of the traders running the share. I have done that with a few sellers on here when I have had the money and never been disappointed. There is also the option of buying retail at sellers like newsagents and the like, when they are released. I did that myself a few times with the recent 2014 Elite release and was very happy each time, although I paid top dollar, obviously. Having said that, when the release contains subsets that are 2,3,4,5,6 in a box of either 24 (Elite) or 36 (Traders) packets, it is the only way to ensure that you get the box hits. If you were buying individual packets (5 or 6 at a time say), the potential is that you would pull minimal (or perhaps nil) insert cards.
Anyway someone else might have more to add.
Welcome and Happy Trading