Observations on the current state of the hobby from a show this weekend

[daveyc1]

Originally Posted by blackbears86

On occasion, I sell at the elks club up in Bangor, Maine. You are welcome to come and witness the corruption in person! We have a a local policeman who sells at these shows. You can take your complaints straight to him.


I think the next show is April 13th.

I will be there watching all the corruption first hand!!!!

cant wait!

[ObanMontecristo]

Philly Show this weekend- I’m expecting a madhouse. Hope I can go, work has been brutal

[peterose4hof]

Originally Posted by ddearing

Jacksonville show yesterday was great. Monthly hotel show with about 90 tables. Was full/busy all day. Some really cool stuff walked up to the table to buy. I'm looking forward to going through it all again today to get it ready for the Philly show next weekend.

This was my favorite pickup.
IMG_9416 by Dan Dearing, on Flickr

IMG_9417 by Dan Dearing, on Flickr

Gorgeous card Dan! Good luck in Philly.

[Raleigh504]

Anyone going/setting up at the Kannapolis show this weekend?

I am thinking of going to get some inventory

[imbluestreak23]

Fantastic show in Nashville

[theshowandme]

Heard Philly was packed today

[ddearing]

If you’re not having a great show as a dealer at Philly, then your stuff isn’t priced right. As crowded as some of the days of the National. Yesterday absolutely felt like a national from a selling perspective. Today ended up being a great day for buying. If I don’t sell them tomorrow, I’ll post some of my best pick ups.
From memory, I bought today - Stephen Curry 1/1 patch auto, old school Kobe Beam Team /500 SGC 98, NT Micah Parsons 1/1 RPA, chrome LeBron bgs 9.5 rc, Anthony Edwards 1/1 auto, lots of cool baseball in the 200-500 range, 1953 color Mantle SGC 1, 1955 Koufax SGC 2, Kaboom Tom Brady PSA 9, lots of Jalen hurts autos, PSA 10 mosaic 2020 burrow auto, PSA 10 xrc CJ Stroud,and plenty more im not remembering.

[The_Reverend]

For those at shows this weekend, how was the Bedard/hockey vibe?

[JohnnyAppleseed]

Originally Posted by The_Reverend

For those at shows this weekend, how was the Bedard/hockey vibe?

If you wanted $100 tins and $320 hobby boxes you went to the right place.

There was at least two people that had broken some S2 and were selling some singles. Both were about 25% above ebay comps.

There was a little more high end hockey than usual, but the Philly show has, in my experience, tilted towards vintage.

[anusinha]

Originally Posted by The_Reverend

For those at shows this weekend, how was the Bedard/hockey vibe?

Mass retail distribution hits this week so expect to see a ton available all over. I have 12 cases incoming.

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by ddearing

If you’re not having a great show as a dealer at Philly, then your stuff isn’t priced right. As crowded as some of the days of the National. Yesterday absolutely felt like a national from a selling perspective. Today ended up being a great day for buying. If I don’t sell them tomorrow, I’ll post some of my best pick ups.
From memory, I bought today - Stephen Curry 1/1 patch auto, old school Kobe Beam Team /500 SGC 98, NT Micah Parsons 1/1 RPA, chrome LeBron bgs 9.5 rc, Anthony Edwards 1/1 auto, lots of cool baseball in the 200-500 range, 1953 color Mantle SGC 1, 1955 Koufax SGC 2, Kaboom Tom Brady PSA 9, lots of Jalen hurts autos, PSA 10 mosaic 2020 burrow auto, PSA 10 xrc CJ Stroud,and plenty more im not remembering.

Sir, you MUST be lying! hahaha

[ddearing]

Originally Posted by ThoseBackPages

Sir, you MUST be lying! hahaha

Sorry TBP. I forgot that the hobby is dead.

I'd still trade everything above for your 1952 Topps Mantle......

[imbluestreak23]

Saw some sweet mid grade 52 Micks today

Lots of cool cards, well priced, polite people all the way around. Love the friendly confines of SEC country.

[bear0555]

Del Mar was solid. Maybe less than half the size of what it used to be but I found some decent deals and a Roberto Clemente DLP barrel for the pc. Foot traffic didn't seem to meet dealer expectations but was good imo. Hopefully they can continue the show.

[XSidneyX]

Was at Philly on Friday with my son. LOTS of vintage from what I could tell......did not make my 18 year old happy since he goes for all modern.

Wasn't crowded but we were there super early and from what I heard it got pretty crowded Friday evening.

[jkampis]

Originally Posted by imbluestreak23

Saw some sweet mid grade 52 Micks today

Lots of cool cards, well priced, polite people all the way around. Love the friendly confines of SEC country.

Share that with the plethora of SEC haters in the college football thread.

[hammerva]

Philly show was kind of strange in that it was clearly packed but didn't feel like it. Maybe it got worst after noon on Saturday and Sunday but Friday and Saturday morning was one of the best "major show" walk around I have had in terms of being able to see what I want . Friday was particularly strange because the parking was so tough that I had to park near the arcade place on the side. Yet got inside and the walk through was really good.

Was able to find a lot more than usual from my niche collecting. Which is good since I won't be able to go to Chantilly in a month. it seems like the vintage was more than usual this weekend and the "I am setting up tables to buy your #@#@#@#@" stuff was less. Maybe they went to Nashville instead. But yeah a great show as usual from Philly.

[xposipx]

The show in Kannapolis was absolutely packed to the point it was difficult to move around and see most showcases. I'm a niche collector and saw very little that appealed to me. There were WAY too many part-time dealers set up taking up 2 tables with a total of 10-15 cards. People were buying all pending NFL free agents and trade speculations. There were a few vintage booths, but fewer than normal and more hockey than normal. The "value boxes" were few and far between and generally .25 cent washed up base rookies for $1.

Overall, prices were fine and the guys with the giant BUYING sign upstairs were pretty rude and emulating the Youtube dealers which was kind of funny. Another big dealer to the immediate left upstairs was around double ebay. Most of the full-time guys were in a frenzy and have no people skills.

Numerous others were very nice and kind to deal with and fun to talk to and had good prices. But they weren't full-time dealers for the most part.


There were also numerous kids being turned down selling/trading from dealers and being blocked out of showcases.

The whole place had horrible smells lingering and it was quite a revolting experience overall.

[Bcr]

My local show was fairly packed. Seemed like half of the show was being run by teenagers (not a bad thing, but interesting).

Tried selling a big prospect card, but dealers were low balling like crazy.

[blackbears86]

Originally Posted by imbluestreak23

Fantastic show in Nashville

expand Tyler: What was hot? baseball going crazy? Lot's of buying/selling?


Did you snag any Patty's?


and for me: what was the unopened situation?

[Raleigh504]

Originally Posted by xposipx

The show in Kannapolis was absolutely packed to the point it was difficult to move around and see most showcases. I'm a niche collector and saw very little that appealed to me. There were WAY too many part-time dealers set up taking up 2 tables with a total of 10-15 cards. People were buying all pending NFL free agents and trade speculations. There were a few vintage booths, but fewer than normal and more hockey than normal. The "value boxes" were few and far between and generally .25 cent washed up base rookies for $1.

Overall, prices were fine and the guys with the giant BUYING sign upstairs were pretty rude and emulating the Youtube dealers which was kind of funny. Another big dealer to the immediate left upstairs was around double ebay. Most of the full-time guys were in a frenzy and have no people skills.

Numerous others were very nice and kind to deal with and fun to talk to and had good prices. But they weren't full-time dealers for the most part.


There were also numerous kids being turned down selling/trading from dealers and being blocked out of showcases.

The whole place had horrible smells lingering and it was quite a revolting experience overall.

I was there too for a few hours. It was definitely packed and the part-time dealers you mentioned I have seen at other shows (some have set up next to me at other shows). The reasoning from one of them was to buy cards and trade/sell (even though they had 10 cards and were just on their phone the whole time). Most would just have their buddies come and try to talk about cards and all.

This promotor shows caters to kids mainly (more than half the tables were pokemon or ultra modern) and these kids try to sell their cards or trade up. Saw one kid try to sell/trade his card and the dealer looked up the card to find out the last sales were for $1 on eBay. Let's just say he passed on it.

I don't mind part-time dealers, I do it on the side myself, but there is a difference between bring stuff to actually sell and price it accordingly compared to just showing up with a few cards you just graded/traded/bought the week before.

BINs weren't the best. I did find a good one downstairs (the guy was surrounded) and bought mostly from him. Found another 1 downstairs by the wall that was decent but had the same card 50 times in the 5 boxes so I only got 3 cards. One upstairs by the concession area was very overpriced but I somehow found 2 cards that I got for $1 total vs what he had them priced. Was trying to find a stack to buy but $2 cards were priced at $15 and had horrible condition on others.

Saw a few dealers with the new hockey release boxes for sale that also had the Conor guy for the Young Guns rookie for sale in their case. The dealer slipped up and said he pulled it from the case he opened up and that he had a few boxes for sale from it. Basically saying that he hit the best card out of the case and dumping the boxes for a profit since they won't have anything as good in them.

[imbluestreak23]

Originally Posted by blackbears86

expand Tyler: What was hot? baseball going crazy? Lot's of buying/selling?


Did you snag any Patty's?


and for me: what was the unopened situation?

Just got back into PHX at 2am. I'm trying to put together a vlog style recording of the show now that I'll post up tomorrow but:

Foot Traffic: At max capacity for this show, difficult to move in and out which means there's lots of demand.

Seller Feedback: All of them said they basically made their show on friday and the rest was gravy, for the most part all of them said they were actively looking to buy from people as they kept running out of inventory. All had great things to say about their "feeling" for where we are in the market, with most stating they think things feel like cards are starting to rebound again after dropping the past two years

Pricing: Nearly every table had their cards priced at very competitive prices. I snagged a ton of great deals. Spent about $1100 at the show and every one of them felt like a bargain and I didn't haggle on nearly any deal. Saw the price and bought it with the exception of one MJ lot of ~25 cards

Types of Cards: Great mix of everything from raw to graded from all years, vintage, 90s, 00s/10s, modern.

Most everyone was looking for Wyatt as he is probably the host ST breakout. Dealers stated most people are asking for Jackson Holliday, so the published lists are making noise. Lots of CJs sitting in cases that looked clean and gradalbe. I snagged several. All the influencer brochachos were there. CC2 had a camera in his face. Blez was walking around solo, not sure what he was up to. Plenty of breaker/repackers buying lots at tables. Lots of collectors, lots of prospectors, lots of excitement for baseball.

Felt like a classic midwestern/southern card show with a great mix of everything. If you new a couple of niches you could walk out with some good deals. Dealers were super friendly, always willing to chat. Of course nashville fried chicken was great at every spot.

[xposipx]

Originally Posted by Raleigh504

I was there too for a few hours. It was definitely packed and the part-time dealers you mentioned I have seen at other shows (some have set up next to me at other shows). The reasoning from one of them was to buy cards and trade/sell (even though they had 10 cards and were just on their phone the whole time). Most would just have their buddies come and try to talk about cards and all.

This promotor shows caters to kids mainly (more than half the tables were pokemon or ultra modern) and these kids try to sell their cards or trade up. Saw one kid try to sell/trade his card and the dealer looked up the card to find out the last sales were for $1 on eBay. Let's just say he passed on it.

I don't mind part-time dealers, I do it on the side myself, but there is a difference between bring stuff to actually sell and price it accordingly compared to just showing up with a few cards you just graded/traded/bought the week before.

BINs weren't the best. I did find a good one downstairs (the guy was surrounded) and bought mostly from him. Found another 1 downstairs by the wall that was decent but had the same card 50 times in the 5 boxes so I only got 3 cards. One upstairs by the concession area was very overpriced but I somehow found 2 cards that I got for $1 total vs what he had them priced. Was trying to find a stack to buy but $2 cards were priced at $15 and had horrible condition on others.

Saw a few dealers with the new hockey release boxes for sale that also had the Conor guy for the Young Guns rookie for sale in their case. The dealer slipped up and said he pulled it from the case he opened up and that he had a few boxes for sale from it. Basically saying that he hit the best card out of the case and dumping the boxes for a profit since they won't have anything as good in them.

You're right. It was fun overall, and I like the kid-friendly vibe. I actually enjoyed the part-time guys who actually brought stuff to sell. The ones who did not advertise buying bought my stuff for about 66% ebay. I also supplied Steve (value box guy downstairs) with 5 boxes of stuff and love dealing with that guy. Most of the ones upstairs were pretty unbearable other than the back left corner with low-end boxes.

[thepilluh]

I hit the Front Row show in Phoenix this past Saturday. Overall decent show and all the dealers I bought from were willing to deal. I assumed the Diamondbacks stuff would be overpriced, but it was all fairly priced. Was looking for some Fitzgerald cards which you would think would be an easy find in AZ, but only saw 1 dealer with them and they were all signed or the Flawless.

[Stifle]

The Grand Rapids show has a expanded site and was more than busy. The dealers were nearly equal in groups 16-25, 26-35, 36-45, 46-54, etc. Once again dealers were happy with the money spent. Dealers are coming from all over but the amount of cards over just the past 5 years is almost overwhelming. It’s tough finding dealers with 2010 or older.

It was a great show and I feel the site could have had a few more dealers.