Repack group breakers propping up the singles market?
 

The Sports Card Radio brothers, Colin and Ryan, did their weekly YouTube stream yesterday and one of the topics they discussed was the impact repackers were having on the singles market: [URL="https://youtu.be/2t-8pszUb8U"]Link[/URL]

The boys set up at the Cow Palace show in Daily City (just south of San Francisco) last weekend and noticed that resellers were buying cards at 85% comps, which reflects a strong singles market. Colin speculated that this was largely due to flippers being able to get higher prices on platforms like Whatnot and repackers buying up cards for their products.

This isn't exactly news, as repack products and Whatnot have both been popular for a while now. But it inevitably brings up questions about whether or not it's helping to prop up card prices on the secondary market by providing liquidity. And if it were to drop off, would the singles market tank.

What do you guys or gals think? Is this a good thing for the hobby? Is it sustainable?

Definitely not sustainable.

With each repack product, consumer continue to lose money opening.

Value will trend down with time.

[QUOTE=fabiani12333;19379074]The Sports Card Radio brothers, Colin and Ryan, did their weekly YouTube stream yesterday and one of the topics they discussed was the impact repackers were having on the singles market: [URL="https://youtu.be/2t-8pszUb8U"]Link[/URL]
[/QUOTE]

As long as I've been on eBay, a lot of breakers buy singles for their repacks. The only breaker that haven't bought, or offered me for card(s) is some long-time breaker now in NC.

If I was a gambler (i'm not) i'd rather buy into the repacks than taking my chances on buying into any break of unopened modern product.

This has been going on for many years. Sellers get 85-90% so that the 'grail' cards are packed with a bunch of garbage. Stop buying repacks and this will end.

Nothing new to see here.

Half of all sales have always been made to prop up the other half. When collectors get smart there will be a lot of sad flippers and happy collectors.

How are repacks legal?
Has anyone researched if there is a legal loophole where it doesn't constitute running a raffle?

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[QUOTE=49ersSF;19379086]If I was a gambler (i'm not) i'd rather buy into the repacks than taking my chances on buying into any break of unopened modern product.[/QUOTE]
This kind of ignorance is why the repacks are so successful.

I prefer scratch offs

Repacks have been around for a long time. They didn’t just pop up with the pandemic. Like them or not (I am not a fan), the business model is very sustainable.

Repack break?

Didn't know this was even a thing.

Friends don't let friends buy into breaks.

Brian Gray from Leaf bought cards from me years ago for his repack stuff. Been going on forever

Edit: meh

Do you vet every buyer?

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;19379152]This kind of ignorance is why the repacks are so successful.[/QUOTE]

He's not wrong. Even the highest end repack products are going to produce 70% value and a chance at a grail card. How many modern high end products can promise that? Repack products are also curated to represent what's "hot" right now. You aren't going to pull a Jordyn Adams rookie in a repack but pretty good chance you'll get Elly, Dominguez, Carter, etc.

9 out of 10 cases are still going to be losers but the buyer is going to have a lot of nice cards of big names and feel like they didn't get ripped off. The floor is much higher if gambling on a repack than, say gambling on a case of Dynasty.

The answer is an obvious yes. But it’s only on certain things.

It’s not propping up the bowman chrome auto or high end 90s insert market. But it’s likely propping up the kaboom/prizm etc market.

[QUOTE=auctionjmm;19379233]He's not wrong. Even the highest end repack products are going to produce 70% value and a chance at a grail card. How many modern high end products can promise that? Repack products are also curated to represent what's "hot" right now. You aren't going to pull a Jordyn Adams rookie in a repack but pretty good chance you'll get Elly, Dominguez, Carter, etc.

9 out of 10 cases are still going to be losers but the buyer is going to have a lot of nice cards of big names and feel like they didn't get ripped off. The floor is much higher if gambling on a repack than, say gambling on a case of Dynasty.[/QUOTE]
Are you paying attention to the absolute garbage that is being repacked on Whatnot?

I’m not surprised the boomer BO crowd is so ignorant to what’s going on.

[QUOTE=auctionjmm;19379233]
9 out of 10 cases are still going to be losers but the buyer is going to have a lot of nice cards of big names and feel like they didn't get ripped off. The floor is much higher if gambling on a repack than, say gambling on a case of Dynasty.[/QUOTE]

+1. I have no idea what these repacks cost, but there’s a lot of room for it to be a better value than paying $95 for a 2024 series 1 hobby box.

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;19379239]Are you paying attention to the absolute garbage that is being repacked on Whatnot?

I’m not surprised the boomer BO crowd is so ignorant to what’s going on.[/QUOTE]

No, I'm not. I was referring to the major repack brands. Blowout Mega Mix, Hit Parade, and Gold Rush. There are some smaller operations I'm aware of that do really nice repacks for the National and holidays, etc. The sustainable brands are sustainable because the customer is happy and re-buys. I can't speak to WhatNot garbage as I have no knowledge of that.

The MegaMix? I thought the last one was the straw that broke the camel’s back?

[QUOTE=auctionjmm;19379251]No, I'm not. I was referring to the major repack brands. Blowout Mega Mix, Hit Parade, and Gold Rush. There are some smaller operations I'm aware of that do really nice repacks for the National and holidays, etc. The sustainable brands are sustainable because the customer is happy and re-buys. I can't speak to WhatNot garbage as I have no knowledge of that.[/QUOTE]
Sustainable eh? That’s why the Mega Mix didn’t happen last year?

Was the success of Mega Mix why Fish partnered with a criminal in Shyne, and a slumlord in Kevin O’Leary?

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;19379258]Sustainable eh? That’s why the Mega Mix didn’t happen last year?[/QUOTE]

I had to skip the National so was unaware.

The consumer still needs to vet the product. You can watch past breaks on YouTube. Find a product that looks to be producing good value and take your business there. Anyone getting ripped off by janky operations with no return value is not doing their DD in deciding which brand to support.

Repacks have been around for decades.

LCS’ used to have grab bags. I know mine as a kid would list what the best card that was in one of the grab bags. They were $1 each, and the best card was normally a $5-10 card. When I got a little older I helped out at the shop at times and making these was one of the things I helped with. Each one would be 29 base cards and one card that was 50 cents or higher. There were 100 grab bags made for every “hit”. When we got down to 25 grab bags left, we would restock up to 100 and add a new “hit” to the mix. When we knew a hit was gone we would take it off the list of possible hits. Highest I ever saw it get was 10 hits listed on the board.

I like to think of this is the OG repacks. The only difference is today they are $100+ and a lot of times will have $10 in cards. At least with ours they were $1, and you had a guarantee to get at least half of that back.

I think repacks will always be here, some will die off, but good ones will have stayin power. As soon as one dies of though, there’s ten more waiting in the wings for their chance.

[QUOTE=auctionjmm;19379262]I had to skip the National so was unaware.

The consumer still needs to vet the product. You can watch past breaks on YouTube. Find a product that looks to be producing good value and take your business there. Anyone getting ripped off by janky operations with no return value is not doing their DD in deciding which brand to support.[/QUOTE]
You can watch all the Whatnot breaks on YouTube?