OPC Premier - no hobby love?

Iceman said:
Don't forget the big 800 pound gorilla in the room that is The Cup, in the on deck circle. I'm sure there are some high end rippers holding onto their money for that product.
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High end rippers, I would not count on that this year!! Especially with the Cup.. If the breaks of Ultimate and Premier are any indication of the secondary market sales, I would say that many rippers will tone it down a notch this year.. I will be ripping a grand total of 0 this year!! That is after I ripped into over 20 cases last year!! I will save my money, and just go after the singles I want.. I think you will see a lot more of that..
 
I've grabbed 2 Carey singles so far (and at very good prices, amazing what a weak sophomore season will do) and I'm looking forward to their arrivals. I wasn't planning to break any of the product anyways--$225 at my local shop for 4-5 cards isn't something I can justify, ever--but I'm lurking for the nicer singles of my guy.
 
The MESSIAH said:
High end rippers, I would not count on that this year!! Especially with the Cup.. If the breaks of Ultimate and Premier are any indication of the secondary market sales, I would say that many rippers will tone it down a notch this year.. I will be ripping a grand total of 0 this year!! That is after I ripped into over 20 cases last year!! I will save my money, and just go after the singles I want.. I think you will see a lot more of that..
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But if everyone is going you're route (only picking up singles), wouldn't that make secondary sales HIGHER?
 
I think the horrible packaging is affecting OPCP as well. Ive seen a case ripped with 0 patches!!! Unacceptable!
 
paulxing said:
But if everyone is going you're route (only picking up singles), wouldn't that make secondary sales HIGHER?
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Nope, because what drives the market is competition and most of the rippers that I know, collect very differently then one another!! If you look at the % returns on a breakage, usually you can accept (myself that is) a 25-30% loss on each case, but when you are losing 75-80% on case breaks (what I lost on 5 cases of Ultimate/Opc Premier) well I will just take my ball and go home.. WAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! INSERT THUMB!!! LOL!!
 
On regular cards ok, but what about on cards say /5? Wouldn't people think, "due to the lack of wax opening, I might be willing to pay more for this card as I may never see another one?"
 
I think we are seeing the unwashed masses realizing they have been taken advantage of for a little too long, and they aren't going to take it any more. Slowly but surely secondary market buyers are declaring their disinterest, and eventually that has to force case breakers to slow down. This in turn hurts shops (which is unfortunate), which hurts distributors, and finally Upper Deck themselves. Every one I know who breaks on any level has been cutting back heavily. Overpriced products, that offer little or nothing of interest in breaks (read: OPC Premier) should simply be eliminated.
 
Yes, I agree that OPCP had nothing new to bring to the table, but are people holding back because the sets suck or because of the economy? I think we will be able to tell with the Cup. If the 500 goal scorer set, or the draft boards do not pull in big bucks, it's because of the buyers and not UD for sucking. If Howe is pictured in a whalers uniform and has GU patches of it, and people still don't pay up, then it's the economy.
 
I guess paying 150-200 bucks for 5 cards HAS to give out sometime. And if collectors hand over 350 bucks (or more) for a pack of 5-6 cards (even if it has The Cup written on it) then we'll all know that collectors are nuts. I agree that if the secondary market remains less than stellar, case breakers will have to slow down, because 25-30% return is just too much to handle. I've never felt that high end products are so much for collectors, much more for gamblers. Let's see if the addicts can stay away ;)
 
A few problems:

1. Too many products a year where you're paying $100-200 for 1 pack of cards.
2. Screwed the pooch with no /50 /35 patch parallels for the rookies
3. Lack of imagination. The hobby needs to reinvent itself. Too many products, too many recycled themes, too many of the same players. Do jerseys, patches and autos impress anyone anymore? Even if they are of HOFers?
3a. There are a lot of deceased players and players that don't sign who don't have any memorabilia cards either. Off the top of my head, how cool would it be to have a Dryden, Richard, Bure, Lafointaine, Tretiak relic card in new products? Sure they don't sign, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't make any of their cards.
3b. Why did UD all of a sudden stop using anything but jerseys and their patches in their relic cards? What happened to pads, sticks (non 1/1), gloves etc? ITG/BTP pad cards are selling like hot cakes even though some of them don't even have a player picture on the front yet.
4. Having Ultimate, OPCP and The Cup all come out in sequence.
5. Because no one signs for UD anymore, UD is resorting to filling that gap with more rookie autos in non rookie sets.
 
bidds55 said:
I think we are seeing the unwashed masses realizing they have been taken advantage of for a little too long, and they aren't going to take it any more. Slowly but surely secondary market buyers are declaring their disinterest, and eventually that has to force case breakers to slow down. This in turn hurts shops (which is unfortunate), which hurts distributors, and finally Upper Deck themselves. Every one I know who breaks on any level has been cutting back heavily. Overpriced products, that offer little or nothing of interest in breaks (read: OPC Premier) should simply be eliminated.
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I think this is pretty much it, everyone from single buyers to pack breakers are tightening their belts and that it's rolling uphill. Print runs are being cut, etc.

If Upper Deck was able to eliminate 4-5 brands next year, it might be beneficial to the hockey hobby. I've seen enough people at the local shows that are getting odd, or are buying much less than they have in the past.
 
Too much product out, thats over priced, being released to close together, its less than a month before the cup, and you have ultimate and premier being released within 3 months of that. combine the 2, make a sick product for half the price of the cup, and create wants for the collector, the market is being flooded with too much, of the same players that no one wants to pull
 

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