Rittenhouse Archives newsletter, No Sticker autos for RA!

Incarnadine · 08-09-2008, 01:39 PM

Member's Newsletter, 08.07.08

From The President

Autograph Stickers

There's been a lot of talk recently about the use of autograph stickers, which many other card companies have been using on their products. It's a practice that's become all too common in the sports card sector, and now is starting to infiltrate the entertainment card sector. Not so at Rittenhouse. I want to assure and reassure all of our customers/collectors that here at Rittenhouse, we have no intention of using autograph stickers on any products. I firmly believe that the use of autograph stickers lessens the collectable value of any item, and that it's simply not a fair substitute for having the actual card handled and signed by the celebrity. Others may disagree, but as a collector of cards as well as owner of Rittenhouse, I find nothing appealing or interesting about the notion of having a pre-signed sticker affixed to a card.

I liken the use of these autograph stickers to a framed photo that has a 3x5 signed index card mounted next to it. It may look nice, but it's not the same -- and not as valuable -- as if the photo were signed instead of the 3x5 card. If you were to study the autograph market (not just trading cards), the value of signed photos is always worth more than a 3x5 card. The difference with these autograph stickers is that, unlike a 3x5 card, they are transparent and can be affixed directly to another item, giving that item the false appearance that the underlying item has been signed. I am not fooled by that, and I think those who have discerning tastes are not fooled either.

In the end, the choice is yours as to what to purchase and collect. But for my money as a marketer of cards and, more importantly, as a collector of cards, I want nothing to do with autograph stickers.

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I'm glad Rittenhouse has clearly and emphatically stated they will not be using stickers. While I've mostly been interested in RA's sketch based sets there are some autos coming up I'll be looking to get. I still don't believe the "security and authenticity" argument for sticker autos, those are the same arguments sportscard companies use but even the sportscard companies like UD and TOPPS that use stickers don't use them for every product, there are lots of TOPPS and UD releases where the cards are hard signed, and not just the high end expensive stuff, even relatively inexpensive stuff like regular bowman baseball had all hard signed autos. If security and authenticity are such big concerns that stickers are necessary why are they used in only some products and not others?

My feelings on stickers are I don't like them. If there is an autograph I really want and there is no option other than a sticker I will get it but if there is another option I will pass on the sticker. A couple of good examples, I wanted a Shannon Elizabeth auto, she has quite a few autos now but they are all stickers so the 1 I have is a sticker auto, on the other hand I wanted a Christina Applegate auto for many years and now there are several autograph card versions out there, all stickers except the Donruss Cuts "HOLLYWOOD" auto which is signed on a manufactured patch so I bought one of those (a signed "Y" in purple ink) and am quite happy with it. I will NEVER buy boxes/cases of a product where my main interest is the autograph cards if they are stickers.

I think a good analogy is what happened with New Coke, Coke's research and testing found that as many as 60% of Coke drinkers liked New Coke better (I never believed that stat myself) so they switched, the problem with that was that even if that stat was true that meant that 40% of their existing customers liked new coke less so the change lost them existing customers. I suspect any company that switches to stickers will face a similar problem, they will lose a certain % of their customer base and at the same time I don't see the switch attracting any new customers. Just my thoughts on the matter.

bufbills98 · 08-09-2008, 02:56 PM

I tip my hat to Steve C and the folks at Rittenhouse. This is great news and they have always thought of the collector first.

Wish Allen at Inkworks would have been a stand up guy and stayed away from stickers as I used to get all the Inkworks products to.

mma138 · 08-09-2008, 03:28 PM

awesome to hear

Incarnadine · 08-09-2008, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bufbills98

I tip my hat to Steve C and the folks at Rittenhouse. This is great news and they have always thought of the collector first.

Wish Allen at Inkworks would have been a stand up guy and stayed away from stickers as I used to get all the Inkworks products to.

Yeah, Inkworks disappointed me by switching to stickers, back in the Buffy days my buying was about 95% Inkworks, I still have all the regular season and Reflections autograph cards. Not only did Inkworks switch to stickers, the stickers they use look ugly as sin and many are not affixed straight. I personally think Inkworks is in a severe downward spiral, the new licenses they have gotten have all pretty much tanked, especially the movies (x-files, spiderwick chronicals, golden compass) and the tv shows are borderline, except for maybe Lost but they haven't had a Lost set with sticker autos yet so it will be interesting to see how the next Lost set fares. I predict Inkworks will fold or get sold within 2 years unless something changes.

08-09-2008, 01:39 PM	#1
Incarnadine Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 1,114	Rittenhouse Archives newsletter, No Sticker autos for RA! Member's Newsletter, 08.07.08 From The President Autograph Stickers There's been a lot of talk recently about the use of autograph stickers, which many other card companies have been using on their products. It's a practice that's become all too common in the sports card sector, and now is starting to infiltrate the entertainment card sector. Not so at Rittenhouse. I want to assure and reassure all of our customers/collectors that here at Rittenhouse, we have no intention of using autograph stickers on any products. I firmly believe that the use of autograph stickers lessens the collectable value of any item, and that it's simply not a fair substitute for having the actual card handled and signed by the celebrity. Others may disagree, but as a collector of cards as well as owner of Rittenhouse, I find nothing appealing or interesting about the notion of having a pre-signed sticker affixed to a card. I liken the use of these autograph stickers to a framed photo that has a 3x5 signed index card mounted next to it. It may look nice, but it's not the same -- and not as valuable -- as if the photo were signed instead of the 3x5 card. If you were to study the autograph market (not just trading cards), the value of signed photos is always worth more than a 3x5 card. The difference with these autograph stickers is that, unlike a 3x5 card, they are transparent and can be affixed directly to another item, giving that item the false appearance that the underlying item has been signed. I am not fooled by that, and I think those who have discerning tastes are not fooled either. In the end, the choice is yours as to what to purchase and collect. But for my money as a marketer of cards and, more importantly, as a collector of cards, I want nothing to do with autograph stickers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm glad Rittenhouse has clearly and emphatically stated they will not be using stickers. While I've mostly been interested in RA's sketch based sets there are some autos coming up I'll be looking to get. I still don't believe the "security and authenticity" argument for sticker autos, those are the same arguments sportscard companies use but even the sportscard companies like UD and TOPPS that use stickers don't use them for every product, there are lots of TOPPS and UD releases where the cards are hard signed, and not just the high end expensive stuff, even relatively inexpensive stuff like regular bowman baseball had all hard signed autos. If security and authenticity are such big concerns that stickers are necessary why are they used in only some products and not others? My feelings on stickers are I don't like them. If there is an autograph I really want and there is no option other than a sticker I will get it but if there is another option I will pass on the sticker. A couple of good examples, I wanted a Shannon Elizabeth auto, she has quite a few autos now but they are all stickers so the 1 I have is a sticker auto, on the other hand I wanted a Christina Applegate auto for many years and now there are several autograph card versions out there, all stickers except the Donruss Cuts "HOLLYWOOD" auto which is signed on a manufactured patch so I bought one of those (a signed "Y" in purple ink) and am quite happy with it. I will NEVER buy boxes/cases of a product where my main interest is the autograph cards if they are stickers. I think a good analogy is what happened with New Coke, Coke's research and testing found that as many as 60% of Coke drinkers liked New Coke better (I never believed that stat myself) so they switched, the problem with that was that even if that stat was true that meant that 40% of their existing customers liked new coke less so the change lost them existing customers. I suspect any company that switches to stickers will face a similar problem, they will lose a certain % of their customer base and at the same time I don't see the switch attracting any new customers. Just my thoughts on the matter.

08-09-2008, 02:56 PM	#2
bufbills98 Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,155	I tip my hat to Steve C and the folks at Rittenhouse. This is great news and they have always thought of the collector first. Wish Allen at Inkworks would have been a stand up guy and stayed away from stickers as I used to get all the Inkworks products to.

08-09-2008, 03:28 PM	#3
mma138 Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 10,948	awesome to hear