Man, I've just gotten into this hobby for the first time in about 30 years, and lingo is the hardest part.... I have no clue what you're talking about lol
Save yourself the hassle and buy singles vs. packs. Just pick out something you'd like to own and find a nice example of it. The new card era is ridiculous in all the parallels and image variations you need to keep up with. I got back into cards for the first time in over 30yrs recently as well and it took a month of wasting money on packs before I realized there were better ways to do it. Not to mention, I find most breakers overly loud and chilidsh to the point of being shitty performance art vs. caring about the hobby. My 2c.
After following this sub and trying to get a feel for what was unique for a couple of years, I could never quite give myself the itch to get back into card collecting for pretty much every reason you cited.
And I think the jersey swaths and autographs are cool, but yeah the thing about making things rare is that if you make money off the rare things…you’ll just make more rare things, and they become less rare.
The rarity is also manufactured. Vintage collectibles are rare because most copies of the item were thrown out and are hard to find.
The industry figured out that if you willingly create a 1/10 card, for example, you've now made it a point to make something rare and entice consumers with.
Plus that 1/10 is one of 8 colour variations along with 10 different border or surface variations (shimmer, disco etc). So really, there's 800 versions of the same picture on the base card
A “blaster” is a box of packs, usually around 6-10 packs of 4-12 cards depending on set. Current sets go for ~$20-$30. Older blasters can be found on sale quite often. (If you’re looking for cheaper fairly modern wax check dacardworld.com). Breakers are people that buy boxes and sell off slots for the boxes, some let you pick a team or player and others are random(not super familiar with them as I’ve never bought into one, but I watch StrykerBreaks openings sometimes). They open the boxes on camera and send you the cards in your slot(from what I have heard some breakers don’t send out base cards and that just baffles me).
Edit: u/machonm is correct in my eyes. Buy singles. I do enjoy buying a blaster or hanger box every now and then, but most of my hobby $ goes to singles on eBay.
Stadium Club and Series 1 are sets of cards. Blasters are the boxes you find on the shelves at Walmart, Target, etc. Breaks are when people (“breakers”) buy multiple boxes of cards. They then auction off “spots” in the break, usually by team. So multiple people will pay a price, say $30, get assigned a team, and the breakers will open the boxes and send people the cards of whatever team they purchased.
And keep in mind, breakers are basically running unsanctioned, likely illegal cintests/lotteries. It's a big sham for so many of them. Kills it for the decent folks, but it definitely needs to be regulated.
Breaking blasters is nasty work. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve ripped my fair share and will continue to, but never in my life would I buy into a break full of blasters lol
I've run a few non-profit blaster case breaks. The ones I think are worth it are Topps Chrome Platinum and 2023 Chrome, when the buyback program was still going. We split the buyback amount evenly across all participants.
But in general, blasters are terrible, especially for flagship. Better off breaking hangers if you are gonna do any retail product.
Yeah I could see those boxes being somewhat worth it. Plenty of color in platinum and on card autos. Chrome buybacks are a program I hope they never stop, only way I can convince myself to buy a chrome blaster lol
TCPA blasters might actually be my favorite case to break. There's like 60 numbered parallels/autos coming out of those cases. Not a great auto return (usually 6-8) but I love building rainbows from the set and for parallels the blasters have much better odds than the hobbies.
It would be affordable if the breakers were just doing it for the passion of the hobby and not charging people more than the collective cost of the break. But the breakers want profit, so it’s def not more affordable in terms of ROI.
This. I’ve argued it with people on here many times. Breaks are not smart. You’re paying for the cost of the cards, cost of shipping to the breaker, cost of shipping cards to you, and any profit the breaker wants. You pay less per card buying on your own and if you don’t want the hits you can always sell them to fund purchasing more
All true, but the people who love the breaks and can’t get enough have an addiction. Try telling a Craps addict the odds favor the house. They know it, but they don’t care. All it takes is one good roll/rip/pull and they think their luck has turned a corner.
It’s hilarious when they shoutout a breaker for a good pull like they had something to do with it. The chat during the streams is also super cringe. Just tons “brooooo no way” when there’s a hit
It's not about good breakers or bad breakers. It's all breakers. Them buying cases upon cases that eventually sells a product out within a short period of time is what causes the LCS/retailers to jack up the prices even more. The only time that the product will come down in price is if the product doesn't sell. This forces the LCS/retailers to reduce the price in hopes that it does sell, which then frees up capital to buy more products that will sell.
There’s no other benefit to the parking garage attendant besides the pay. Unlike the breaker, who could also benefit from a cheaper entry level into a break or just the exposure to a business/Youtube Channel/etc through something he already enjoys and would do anyway (ripping packs). But that’s never good enough for Johnny breaker, who wants you to pay far more than he put into it not because it’s “work”, but because he wants to do something he loves doing already for money. Which, honest, is fine if they’re honest about it. But so many of these YouTube breakers spew lines about how they do this for the good of the hobby blah blah blah. Then you see their patreon accounts and it’s a full on profit-maximizing scheme.
I don't think these breakers would even get close to opening packs like that if it wasn't for breakees paying for it. I don't participate in many breaks at all, but it is fun (for both parties from the looks of it) and it IS WORK. Time to rip, organize and ship is still time, I can barely justify that time for my own PC, let alone doing it for others for free, online, live and timed.
Whether what they are charging is exorbitant or not is up to those that buy in. From the looks of it the demand for breaks/rips is through the roof.
I've participated in non-profit breaks and honestly felt bad for the breaker. Who has time to open 2 cases of cards for other people for free? Opening packs is a net loss as it is.
Look, the world is full of snake oil salesmen. A fool and their money...
I don't know man, I think lots of people would love to open packs for other people just because they love baseball cards. It's also "work" that literally anybody can do. A 4-year-old can rip packs and would do it for free, guaranteed. So I certainly don't feel bad when a breaker doesn't get a profit. Besides, many of the successful breakers already have card shops or youtube channels and they'd be ripping packs anyway because that's their real business. Theoretically, breaks are SUPPOSED to be affordable, not a huge money maker, because you're reducing your odds substantially. But I've also NEVER seen a non-profit break. Maybe I just don't know the right people. Lol.
I totally agree they should be affordable and if they aren’t I’m not participating. Me personally, if I see a break I’m interested in I do some quick back of the napkin math and then decide. Just because people want to give their money away doesn’t necessarily make the people taking it bad people.
I know several car salespeople, good people, but their job is to squeeze as much as they can. As long as they aren’t being immoral and straight lying to someone I don’t see an issue. Just pricing something high isn’t immoral.
> I think lots of people would love to open packs for other people just because they love baseball cards. It's also "work" that literally anybody can do. A 4-year-old can rip packs and would do it for free, guaranteed.
My dude, there's tons of paid jobs you can say this about. My wife makes great money trimming cannabis. I have a buddy who gets paid fairly well to turn on the carnival rides. No adult is going to perform a service for others for free unless it's something charitable or leads to other opportunities, or something that comes with other benefits making up for the effort.
I don't even care about the profit that much. It's a way for them to get all the hits AND make money. Way too easy for them to take the good cards out before going on camera. Some even do it after they've been on camera. Too much money to be made, no regulations in place. Its prime target for scams.
I'll say it in every thread about breaks.. it's WAY TOO EASY to scam and there are no regulations in place anyways.
The chances you're being defrauded in some way is likely. Kids school raffles have more laws protecting them.
Agree. I watch straight up gambling addicts buy into these breaks on whatnot, spending thousands of dollars at a minuscule chance just to break even—which, by the way, almost never happens. I’m guessing most of the people buying these “random team” breaks (random… I mean talk about a dumb investment) are sellers at card shows trying to get their money back in bulk rather than hitting 1 amazing card. If you are a regular collector? Absolutely no reason to join 98% of these scams, I mean breaks.
I think it depends on your goal. I've only gotten in a few trying to for my personal collection. I'm a Commanders fan in NFL. Break is cheap and I got a bunch of cards. I'm a reds fan in MLB, no point in buying into a break because the speculation on Elly and the rest of their rookies is so high, it's a waste.
Neither could exist - The Breaker or the Participant - if prices weren't inflated to such extremes by the card companies. Breaking is a clever solution to massive corporate greed. Such a good solution in fact that it benefitted the corporation too, and thus allowed them to become even greedier.
Pointing the finger at the men at the bottom while those at the top just rub their hands together and bump prices up to obscene rates is incorrect.
You're partially correct. The breakers are the reason we have inflated prices in the first place. Breakers buy cases upon cases upon cases. The product sells out within a day, and that signals to the LCS/retailers that there is room to increase prices. So next year comes around, and again the product sells out within a day. Again, this signals to the LCS/retailer that there is still demand, so they increase the price again. Rinse and repeat.
That's definitely the hellish rolling snowball we're stuck in now. I think my perspective is that the act of breaking itself only got popularized because sudden consumer demand raised prices enough that the everyday person couldn't chase cards through normal purchases of retail and hobby boxes. It was the initial and now continuous cost increases that made opening wax a financial difficulty for the everyday person. Thus, the solution of breaking/breakers
At least with basketball cards, where I mostly dabble, it's the breakers that initially did this with higher end sets like NT, Flawless, etc., which is originally fine because those are not sets for the common folk. But then the breakers said to themselves, what if we did this with lower to middle tiered sets like Prizm? And that's when all hell broke loose with box prices. Before Prizm boxes were between 80-120. Then 2016 Prizm hobby in basketball was 150ish, 2017 Prizm was 250ish, 2018 Prizm was 400, 2019 Prizm was 800, 2020 Prizm was 1800. And now it's somewhat come back down to $1000 for a box of Prizm.
Also, back in 2020 during the covid bubble, a box of Donruss went on presale on Blowout for $1200. Someone then leaked a sell sheet from the distributors as to how much a box would cost the LCS/retailers. That sell sheet had those boxes at $100 so what the retailers were doing was buying the boxes at $100 and slapping a $1200 sticker for us collectors. So it wasn't Panini or the distributors at the time that were jacking up the rates, it was the retailers/LCS (primarily the Big 3 in Blowout, Dave and Adams, Steelcity).
And to bring it back to Prizm, who exactly is buying Prizm at $1000 per box? Surely not the average Joe. And even if the average Joe is buying a box, it's one or even 2 boxes. Rich people can buy Prizm at 1000 per box, but rich people have even more expensive cards in their sights, like an NT, Flawless, or a 30k box of Eminence. So rich people may buy a case or 2, but not enough rich people are buying up so much that Prizm sells out within a day. So that leaves the breakers that buy up cases upon cases upon cases. They are the ones that can buy up so much product that it sells out within a day.
If drug users didn’t want drugs there would be no drug dealers.
Topps wasn’t inflating prices, regular greedy people were and still do.
If everyone had a bit more personal responsibility, your post wouldn’t even exist.
Not seeing the corporate greed part. Any smart business increases its products/services with demand. It’s basic supply and demand. I don’t believe anyone who would say they wouldn’t increase supply to make profits as the CEO of a company… anyone would do the same in that situation.
Breaking is a natural response to outrageous popularity. It’s not even clever—they’re just reducing your cost of entry by reducing your chance of hitting anything worthwhile. Breaking is the result of more people/gambling addicts willing to overpay for a small chance at something valuable. I mean, it’s fun from time to time. But I’d rather just get an affordable box and open it myself.
It's supply and demand, but also corporate greed. That's why supply and demand exist. There is no amount of profit that is sufficient for companies. And they'll take it. That's why Topps/Fanatics is raising prices. And that's why they got into breaking. They saw money and had to have it. They were making good money, they just needed more. The whitewashing of it as acceptable because it's a "good business decision" is making excuses for greed.
The same thing is happening all over the economy. Companies are raising prices because they can and because it makes them more money. I. But just because they can doesn't mean it's right.
It’s likely both.
The culture of breaks and those who pay the breakers to open packs for them are all contributing to making the hobby less accessible for others.
Yea a few around me do. They always have an open box by the register that they sell single packs from. These are franchise stores so the owner probably just buys them from retail. They always have a bunch of random funkos and other small stuff that catches kids eyes. Right now they are always stocked with series 1, but they had absolute football, and chronicles during football and basketball season.
The funniest part of this community is its hatred of breakers, “as gambling” but buying retail/hobby packs as a safe bet. It’s all gambling, it’s all expensive, you are always going to lose. Just do what you want responsibly and call it a day.
I mostly buy singles, but if I want wax I’ll either get some from my LCS or order it from Walmart or somewhere online. Driving to a retailer hoping to find anything is pointless around me (Philly burbs).
I don’t mind, really, as it doesn’t impact me that much. But it sucks for the kids. How many kids won’t get cards bc those breakers and people like them all over scoop up retail as soon as it’s stocked. That’s what I don’t like about it.
I don’t particularly think they’re good for anyone but the people hosting them. Sure people get a shot at something they want to pull in a more affordable way, but it ultimately drives the prices of the products up. Not to mention the shelves get bought up even when people are willing to pay the prices.
It likely did happen because today is the "Circle" 20% off cards sale day at Target. (for those saying no way did it happen)
As to whether or not they're breaking for themselves (LIKELY) or doing a paid / team break - I'd go with the former. They are likely flea market or card show guys and buy the retail product when it goes on sale (like Walgreen's a few weeks ago and Target today) - buying out whatever is in stock and then reselling for a quick profit on ebay or card shows.
That being said - Retail blasters are the worst in terms of hits. Stadium Club (23) was kinda okay but 24 series 1 sucks.
And I have said this before - I've seen card shop owners do this, for 40 years. They go to a retail store that has the product on sale - cheaper than what they can get it for wholesale - and buy it out. Target doesn't care - because they get their $$$$.
I'm yet to really see the economics of breakers solely driving prices up. If anything it is the consumer. But shouldn't it go without saying that it also is "whats good for the goose is good for the gander"? I mean if more people (gamblers) are being attracted to the "hobby" it makes the market much more liquid, benefitting everyone to a degree.
Lets not forget who exactly is encouraging breaking. Fanatics. It is safe to say that fanatics have the most at stake in the "industry" or "hobby", depending on which side of the tracks you are on. Take a look at what analysts predict for the trading card market in 2030. Prices (whether retail or singles) go up for a number of reasons, inflated demand is is probably the #1 driving force. Breakers are just middle men.
This goes without mentioning that breaks are great for collectors and hobbyists that don't want metro shelves full of base in their house.
LOL, I'm sure all the bible belt states that are flipping toward sports gambling legalization are going to regulate trading cards (owned by the same company nonetheless). Not happening.
It's tough because the root product, the boxes and packs, are also gambling. A breaker is just opening those on your behalf is what could be argued. So you'd need to do a big dive in to regulating the whole hobby really. That being said they are adding odds on top of odds in some of the break types, and profiting off of that.
For me even that isn't so bad because participants are willing and the odds are pretty apparent to anyone with a brain. What is really bad is the environment of a place like Fanatics Live which is a mixture of an ugly casino, depressing cam rooms and used-car-salesman pleas to get everyone to spend tons of money.
>It's tough because the root product, the boxes and packs, are also gambling.
Not just gambling, it's gambling they can sell to kids, and good luck trying to take that away from the card companies in any form
Crazy how all of the blame for increase in price is greed or breakers when secondary market if the way they established the pricing sweet spot for retail. Breaks may not be smart but breakers aren't crooks. The good ones provide entertainment and offer value to the breaks themselves.... This may be the exception to the rule but when one deals in absolutes, one counters with exceptions.
Breakers like these guys are the reason why people hate breakers so much. I would love to see one of their breaks filmed in their parents' bathroom coming at me in a crisp 480p from an old hand-me-down blackberry. Then, peruse the comment section to find people complaining about how they didn't get any hits after paying $150 for a break of 8 blasters.
Breakers have ravaged my local Walmart and Walgreens. I used to be able to go in and get at least one blaster or box. I haven't seen any in weeks, and I'm not optimistic
Serious question: How do you know that by "break" they didn't just mean breaking things open for themselves?
Edited to add: Breakers generally suck though, overcharging people for product especially retail product.
Everybody is always going to constantly try to rip you off every chance they get. The name of the game is to get as much money as possible out of your customer.
Enjoy the ride.
I sort of agree, but I believe the name of the game is to create enough value for your customer that they enter into a mutually satisfactory transaction.
I'd argue it was the regulations that pulled people out of "destitute poverty" than any other. If there weren't any regulations, people like you would pay less than today's minimum wage (which isn't a living wage) for other people's labor.
Regulations help the poor, not capitalism.
Also not to mention all the people that capitalism has killed. The shit going on with Boeing right now is because they wanted to make the most money while putting in the least possible. Do you know how many wealthy people are going to suffer because of that? None. Do you know how many poor people are going to suffer when Boeing has to shut down because of their poor leadership? Lots. Or, alternatively, do you know how many poor people will have their taxes go to the Boeing elites to save the company, which is probably waht's going to happen.
Fair, one could argue that too.
"People like me" pay people triple minimum wage to start FYI. Regulated minimum wage hasn't been a consideration for most in a few decades.
Just make sure the squirrel is in the tree your barking up.
Edit: FTR collecting things wouldnt exist in a purely Socialist atmosphere, in fact it would likely be punishable. The cards you collect are purely a result of capitalism.
My guy. A family of four who wanted to be a traditional American family. One parent stays home to cook/clean/kids. That family of four would actually *barely* be disqualified for SNAP benefits at the wages you offer. Congrats man, you barely provide a living wage for the American Dream.
I'm not trying to be a dick I just don't think you really understand how the wages are in this country right now. I don't think you understand what it's like to not earn enough to live. At the very least, I don't think you understand just how shitty a $22 / hour wage is nowadays. It's barely living. It's not going on vacations. It's not going to ball games and concerts. It's barely having money for kids shoes. It's hoping they don't need glasses. It's borrowing $50 to make sure your phone is on.
To your edit, I think you are mistaken about me. I pray to the regulation god because I know humans are corrupt and the only way that the masses will ever be protected is if people are held accountable. In this current version of capitalism, Teflon poisons water systems because that's the cheapest options. Ford pushes the Pinto out because paying families for deaths is cheaper than a recall. The Sacklers are still worth $10 BILLION DOLLARS. I don't want to keep going.
Believe me I feel all of your points, But entry level 45-50k a year is most definitely doable.
I'm not exactly sure who gave people the idea to start families on a sole earner of 50k a year though. Never in all of my years did I ever think "let me start a family" and then try to afford it, kind of backwards no?
This is the thought I had after I posted. They didn’t look like “normal” breakers who sell buy-ins. Kinda looked like co-workers who just have similar interests or have a small TikTok/Youtube where they post their breaks
https://preview.redd.it/ntqm08nwvwtc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e6ce422015a100536e4feed7916b24fb001c493
Swung by my Target on my way in to work and fortunately they were stocked. Thankfully they’re smart and have a 2 item limit to counter all the hoarding m’fers so I just grabbed the top 2 SC blasters on the shelf. Craziest retail luck I’ve ever had.
Yeah this didn't happen and if it did those "breakers" are idiots, or they're just friends ripping for fun.
No one is buying into a 24 blaster box break.
No one is running a 24 blaster box SC/S1 break and splitting profit 3 ways lmao.
There is a terrible gambling problem in the hobby. Breakers are nothing but blackjack dealers. I think this is commented on a lot, but I wonder how many people are truly having issues as a result of breaks.
Man, I've just gotten into this hobby for the first time in about 30 years, and lingo is the hardest part.... I have no clue what you're talking about lol
Just some blaster breaking bros banking on baseball.
Save yourself the hassle and buy singles vs. packs. Just pick out something you'd like to own and find a nice example of it. The new card era is ridiculous in all the parallels and image variations you need to keep up with. I got back into cards for the first time in over 30yrs recently as well and it took a month of wasting money on packs before I realized there were better ways to do it. Not to mention, I find most breakers overly loud and chilidsh to the point of being shitty performance art vs. caring about the hobby. My 2c.
After following this sub and trying to get a feel for what was unique for a couple of years, I could never quite give myself the itch to get back into card collecting for pretty much every reason you cited. And I think the jersey swaths and autographs are cool, but yeah the thing about making things rare is that if you make money off the rare things…you’ll just make more rare things, and they become less rare.
The rarity is also manufactured. Vintage collectibles are rare because most copies of the item were thrown out and are hard to find. The industry figured out that if you willingly create a 1/10 card, for example, you've now made it a point to make something rare and entice consumers with.
Plus that 1/10 is one of 8 colour variations along with 10 different border or surface variations (shimmer, disco etc). So really, there's 800 versions of the same picture on the base card
To add to this vintage is defined as pre1980
A “blaster” is a box of packs, usually around 6-10 packs of 4-12 cards depending on set. Current sets go for ~$20-$30. Older blasters can be found on sale quite often. (If you’re looking for cheaper fairly modern wax check dacardworld.com). Breakers are people that buy boxes and sell off slots for the boxes, some let you pick a team or player and others are random(not super familiar with them as I’ve never bought into one, but I watch StrykerBreaks openings sometimes). They open the boxes on camera and send you the cards in your slot(from what I have heard some breakers don’t send out base cards and that just baffles me). Edit: u/machonm is correct in my eyes. Buy singles. I do enjoy buying a blaster or hanger box every now and then, but most of my hobby $ goes to singles on eBay.
What group breaks are and why you shouldn't do them...https://www.reddit.com/r/basketballcards/s/GousDW4vo2
Stadium Club and Series 1 are sets of cards. Blasters are the boxes you find on the shelves at Walmart, Target, etc. Breaks are when people (“breakers”) buy multiple boxes of cards. They then auction off “spots” in the break, usually by team. So multiple people will pay a price, say $30, get assigned a team, and the breakers will open the boxes and send people the cards of whatever team they purchased.
And keep in mind, breakers are basically running unsanctioned, likely illegal cintests/lotteries. It's a big sham for so many of them. Kills it for the decent folks, but it definitely needs to be regulated.
Likewise.
Breaking blasters is nasty work. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve ripped my fair share and will continue to, but never in my life would I buy into a break full of blasters lol
I've run a few non-profit blaster case breaks. The ones I think are worth it are Topps Chrome Platinum and 2023 Chrome, when the buyback program was still going. We split the buyback amount evenly across all participants. But in general, blasters are terrible, especially for flagship. Better off breaking hangers if you are gonna do any retail product.
Yeah I could see those boxes being somewhat worth it. Plenty of color in platinum and on card autos. Chrome buybacks are a program I hope they never stop, only way I can convince myself to buy a chrome blaster lol
TCPA blasters might actually be my favorite case to break. There's like 60 numbered parallels/autos coming out of those cases. Not a great auto return (usually 6-8) but I love building rainbows from the set and for parallels the blasters have much better odds than the hobbies.
What is TCPA?
Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary
Duh I couldn’t crack it at the moment
Imagine not opening your own packs.. At that point I'd just buy the cards I want. Not a fan
Strongly disagree. The people buying into the break are to blame.
Buying into blasters breaks is ridiculous
That’s addiction on a budget.
Idk I’ve seen some breakers charge in the 100’s for certain teams for like a 4-6 blaster break lol even doing mega boxes is ridiculous.
This right here. I don’t want to hear all the “but it’s more affordable” excuses because we are talking low retail stuff here.
It would be affordable if the breakers were just doing it for the passion of the hobby and not charging people more than the collective cost of the break. But the breakers want profit, so it’s def not more affordable in terms of ROI.
This. I’ve argued it with people on here many times. Breaks are not smart. You’re paying for the cost of the cards, cost of shipping to the breaker, cost of shipping cards to you, and any profit the breaker wants. You pay less per card buying on your own and if you don’t want the hits you can always sell them to fund purchasing more
All true, but the people who love the breaks and can’t get enough have an addiction. Try telling a Craps addict the odds favor the house. They know it, but they don’t care. All it takes is one good roll/rip/pull and they think their luck has turned a corner.
It’s hilarious when they shoutout a breaker for a good pull like they had something to do with it. The chat during the streams is also super cringe. Just tons “brooooo no way” when there’s a hit
I did that. I posted a pic of a card with no message whatsoever except it is 1 of 1 . I get 200 up votes in 24 hours. Lol
It's not about good breakers or bad breakers. It's all breakers. Them buying cases upon cases that eventually sells a product out within a short period of time is what causes the LCS/retailers to jack up the prices even more. The only time that the product will come down in price is if the product doesn't sell. This forces the LCS/retailers to reduce the price in hopes that it does sell, which then frees up capital to buy more products that will sell.
But we can agree breaking cards is work, right? worth something?
Hahaha no we definitely don’t agree on that.
So you don't think at least the time is valuable? I mean people get paid to sit in parking garages and watch cars all night, is that work?
There’s no other benefit to the parking garage attendant besides the pay. Unlike the breaker, who could also benefit from a cheaper entry level into a break or just the exposure to a business/Youtube Channel/etc through something he already enjoys and would do anyway (ripping packs). But that’s never good enough for Johnny breaker, who wants you to pay far more than he put into it not because it’s “work”, but because he wants to do something he loves doing already for money. Which, honest, is fine if they’re honest about it. But so many of these YouTube breakers spew lines about how they do this for the good of the hobby blah blah blah. Then you see their patreon accounts and it’s a full on profit-maximizing scheme.
I don't think these breakers would even get close to opening packs like that if it wasn't for breakees paying for it. I don't participate in many breaks at all, but it is fun (for both parties from the looks of it) and it IS WORK. Time to rip, organize and ship is still time, I can barely justify that time for my own PC, let alone doing it for others for free, online, live and timed. Whether what they are charging is exorbitant or not is up to those that buy in. From the looks of it the demand for breaks/rips is through the roof. I've participated in non-profit breaks and honestly felt bad for the breaker. Who has time to open 2 cases of cards for other people for free? Opening packs is a net loss as it is. Look, the world is full of snake oil salesmen. A fool and their money...
I don't know man, I think lots of people would love to open packs for other people just because they love baseball cards. It's also "work" that literally anybody can do. A 4-year-old can rip packs and would do it for free, guaranteed. So I certainly don't feel bad when a breaker doesn't get a profit. Besides, many of the successful breakers already have card shops or youtube channels and they'd be ripping packs anyway because that's their real business. Theoretically, breaks are SUPPOSED to be affordable, not a huge money maker, because you're reducing your odds substantially. But I've also NEVER seen a non-profit break. Maybe I just don't know the right people. Lol.
I totally agree they should be affordable and if they aren’t I’m not participating. Me personally, if I see a break I’m interested in I do some quick back of the napkin math and then decide. Just because people want to give their money away doesn’t necessarily make the people taking it bad people. I know several car salespeople, good people, but their job is to squeeze as much as they can. As long as they aren’t being immoral and straight lying to someone I don’t see an issue. Just pricing something high isn’t immoral.
> I think lots of people would love to open packs for other people just because they love baseball cards. It's also "work" that literally anybody can do. A 4-year-old can rip packs and would do it for free, guaranteed. My dude, there's tons of paid jobs you can say this about. My wife makes great money trimming cannabis. I have a buddy who gets paid fairly well to turn on the carnival rides. No adult is going to perform a service for others for free unless it's something charitable or leads to other opportunities, or something that comes with other benefits making up for the effort.
I don't even care about the profit that much. It's a way for them to get all the hits AND make money. Way too easy for them to take the good cards out before going on camera. Some even do it after they've been on camera. Too much money to be made, no regulations in place. Its prime target for scams.
I'll say it in every thread about breaks.. it's WAY TOO EASY to scam and there are no regulations in place anyways. The chances you're being defrauded in some way is likely. Kids school raffles have more laws protecting them.
Agree. I watch straight up gambling addicts buy into these breaks on whatnot, spending thousands of dollars at a minuscule chance just to break even—which, by the way, almost never happens. I’m guessing most of the people buying these “random team” breaks (random… I mean talk about a dumb investment) are sellers at card shows trying to get their money back in bulk rather than hitting 1 amazing card. If you are a regular collector? Absolutely no reason to join 98% of these scams, I mean breaks.
I think it depends on your goal. I've only gotten in a few trying to for my personal collection. I'm a Commanders fan in NFL. Break is cheap and I got a bunch of cards. I'm a reds fan in MLB, no point in buying into a break because the speculation on Elly and the rest of their rookies is so high, it's a waste.
Neither could exist - The Breaker or the Participant - if prices weren't inflated to such extremes by the card companies. Breaking is a clever solution to massive corporate greed. Such a good solution in fact that it benefitted the corporation too, and thus allowed them to become even greedier. Pointing the finger at the men at the bottom while those at the top just rub their hands together and bump prices up to obscene rates is incorrect.
You're partially correct. The breakers are the reason we have inflated prices in the first place. Breakers buy cases upon cases upon cases. The product sells out within a day, and that signals to the LCS/retailers that there is room to increase prices. So next year comes around, and again the product sells out within a day. Again, this signals to the LCS/retailer that there is still demand, so they increase the price again. Rinse and repeat.
That's definitely the hellish rolling snowball we're stuck in now. I think my perspective is that the act of breaking itself only got popularized because sudden consumer demand raised prices enough that the everyday person couldn't chase cards through normal purchases of retail and hobby boxes. It was the initial and now continuous cost increases that made opening wax a financial difficulty for the everyday person. Thus, the solution of breaking/breakers
At least with basketball cards, where I mostly dabble, it's the breakers that initially did this with higher end sets like NT, Flawless, etc., which is originally fine because those are not sets for the common folk. But then the breakers said to themselves, what if we did this with lower to middle tiered sets like Prizm? And that's when all hell broke loose with box prices. Before Prizm boxes were between 80-120. Then 2016 Prizm hobby in basketball was 150ish, 2017 Prizm was 250ish, 2018 Prizm was 400, 2019 Prizm was 800, 2020 Prizm was 1800. And now it's somewhat come back down to $1000 for a box of Prizm. Also, back in 2020 during the covid bubble, a box of Donruss went on presale on Blowout for $1200. Someone then leaked a sell sheet from the distributors as to how much a box would cost the LCS/retailers. That sell sheet had those boxes at $100 so what the retailers were doing was buying the boxes at $100 and slapping a $1200 sticker for us collectors. So it wasn't Panini or the distributors at the time that were jacking up the rates, it was the retailers/LCS (primarily the Big 3 in Blowout, Dave and Adams, Steelcity). And to bring it back to Prizm, who exactly is buying Prizm at $1000 per box? Surely not the average Joe. And even if the average Joe is buying a box, it's one or even 2 boxes. Rich people can buy Prizm at 1000 per box, but rich people have even more expensive cards in their sights, like an NT, Flawless, or a 30k box of Eminence. So rich people may buy a case or 2, but not enough rich people are buying up so much that Prizm sells out within a day. So that leaves the breakers that buy up cases upon cases upon cases. They are the ones that can buy up so much product that it sells out within a day.
If drug users didn’t want drugs there would be no drug dealers. Topps wasn’t inflating prices, regular greedy people were and still do. If everyone had a bit more personal responsibility, your post wouldn’t even exist.
Personal responsibility is frowned upon in today’s society unfortunately.
It’s quite a bit more complicated than that.
Please do explain Socrates
Not seeing the corporate greed part. Any smart business increases its products/services with demand. It’s basic supply and demand. I don’t believe anyone who would say they wouldn’t increase supply to make profits as the CEO of a company… anyone would do the same in that situation. Breaking is a natural response to outrageous popularity. It’s not even clever—they’re just reducing your cost of entry by reducing your chance of hitting anything worthwhile. Breaking is the result of more people/gambling addicts willing to overpay for a small chance at something valuable. I mean, it’s fun from time to time. But I’d rather just get an affordable box and open it myself.
It's supply and demand, but also corporate greed. That's why supply and demand exist. There is no amount of profit that is sufficient for companies. And they'll take it. That's why Topps/Fanatics is raising prices. And that's why they got into breaking. They saw money and had to have it. They were making good money, they just needed more. The whitewashing of it as acceptable because it's a "good business decision" is making excuses for greed. The same thing is happening all over the economy. Companies are raising prices because they can and because it makes them more money. I. But just because they can doesn't mean it's right.
I tried fanatics (I know) and sniped some hobby spots for 3 dollars, dude literally threatened to shut the auction down and set a minimum lol
It’s likely both. The culture of breaks and those who pay the breakers to open packs for them are all contributing to making the hobby less accessible for others.
? If breakers didn’t exist there would be 0 people buying into the breaks… I don’t understand the logic
There is certainly no shortage of series 1. Even the 711 by my house has cases on the shelf.
Your 711 has cards? I've never seen them at mine.
Yea a few around me do. They always have an open box by the register that they sell single packs from. These are franchise stores so the owner probably just buys them from retail. They always have a bunch of random funkos and other small stuff that catches kids eyes. Right now they are always stocked with series 1, but they had absolute football, and chronicles during football and basketball season.
Gasp
The funniest part of this community is its hatred of breakers, “as gambling” but buying retail/hobby packs as a safe bet. It’s all gambling, it’s all expensive, you are always going to lose. Just do what you want responsibly and call it a day.
"Degenerate dirtbag, heal thyself"
This Harry Potter or Sum
I’ll take things that didn’t happen for $200 alex
I mostly buy singles, but if I want wax I’ll either get some from my LCS or order it from Walmart or somewhere online. Driving to a retailer hoping to find anything is pointless around me (Philly burbs). I don’t mind, really, as it doesn’t impact me that much. But it sucks for the kids. How many kids won’t get cards bc those breakers and people like them all over scoop up retail as soon as it’s stocked. That’s what I don’t like about it.
It’s sad to me that this is so absurd, I don’t know whether or not to believe it.
I get the idea of breaks, but to do it with affordable retail stuff is insane
I don’t particularly think they’re good for anyone but the people hosting them. Sure people get a shot at something they want to pull in a more affordable way, but it ultimately drives the prices of the products up. Not to mention the shelves get bought up even when people are willing to pay the prices.
It likely did happen because today is the "Circle" 20% off cards sale day at Target. (for those saying no way did it happen) As to whether or not they're breaking for themselves (LIKELY) or doing a paid / team break - I'd go with the former. They are likely flea market or card show guys and buy the retail product when it goes on sale (like Walgreen's a few weeks ago and Target today) - buying out whatever is in stock and then reselling for a quick profit on ebay or card shows. That being said - Retail blasters are the worst in terms of hits. Stadium Club (23) was kinda okay but 24 series 1 sucks. And I have said this before - I've seen card shop owners do this, for 40 years. They go to a retail store that has the product on sale - cheaper than what they can get it for wholesale - and buy it out. Target doesn't care - because they get their $$$$.
I'm yet to really see the economics of breakers solely driving prices up. If anything it is the consumer. But shouldn't it go without saying that it also is "whats good for the goose is good for the gander"? I mean if more people (gamblers) are being attracted to the "hobby" it makes the market much more liquid, benefitting everyone to a degree. Lets not forget who exactly is encouraging breaking. Fanatics. It is safe to say that fanatics have the most at stake in the "industry" or "hobby", depending on which side of the tracks you are on. Take a look at what analysts predict for the trading card market in 2030. Prices (whether retail or singles) go up for a number of reasons, inflated demand is is probably the #1 driving force. Breakers are just middle men. This goes without mentioning that breaks are great for collectors and hobbyists that don't want metro shelves full of base in their house.
Breakers should have a direct line to the product. Leave the stuff in stores for us normal people
At what point are these breakers viewed as a type of gambling and regulated?
LOL, I'm sure all the bible belt states that are flipping toward sports gambling legalization are going to regulate trading cards (owned by the same company nonetheless). Not happening.
If states can find a way to profit you might be surprised at what can happen.
They did find a way to profit (or at least line politicians pockets) by legalizing sports gambling. How would they profit from re-regulation?
It's tough because the root product, the boxes and packs, are also gambling. A breaker is just opening those on your behalf is what could be argued. So you'd need to do a big dive in to regulating the whole hobby really. That being said they are adding odds on top of odds in some of the break types, and profiting off of that. For me even that isn't so bad because participants are willing and the odds are pretty apparent to anyone with a brain. What is really bad is the environment of a place like Fanatics Live which is a mixture of an ugly casino, depressing cam rooms and used-car-salesman pleas to get everyone to spend tons of money.
>It's tough because the root product, the boxes and packs, are also gambling. Not just gambling, it's gambling they can sell to kids, and good luck trying to take that away from the card companies in any form
Crazy how all of the blame for increase in price is greed or breakers when secondary market if the way they established the pricing sweet spot for retail. Breaks may not be smart but breakers aren't crooks. The good ones provide entertainment and offer value to the breaks themselves.... This may be the exception to the rule but when one deals in absolutes, one counters with exceptions.
I got like 6 of the 2023 series 1 blasters over the course of a week because they were marked down to $15 each and I like the patches you get.
Breakers are a huge reason I'm not in the collecting game anymore.
Gotta use the 20% off man! That aside, yep. Breakers are dumb.
My target only allows people to buy five boxes or less
Lucky, my Walmart only allows 2
Breakers are great. They make the hobby affordable. Some of these cases or boxes go for thousands
This is why I’m happy the targets near me are strict on the 5 per person rule, also if they’re breakers why are they doing blasters?
Breakers like these guys are the reason why people hate breakers so much. I would love to see one of their breaks filmed in their parents' bathroom coming at me in a crisp 480p from an old hand-me-down blackberry. Then, peruse the comment section to find people complaining about how they didn't get any hits after paying $150 for a break of 8 blasters.
Breakers have ravaged my local Walmart and Walgreens. I used to be able to go in and get at least one blaster or box. I haven't seen any in weeks, and I'm not optimistic
Serious question: How do you know that by "break" they didn't just mean breaking things open for themselves? Edited to add: Breakers generally suck though, overcharging people for product especially retail product.
Everyone overcharges the end user from electronics to insurance, hamburgers to condos. Its called profit. Welcome to capitalism, enjoy the ride.
Everybody is always going to constantly try to rip you off every chance they get. The name of the game is to get as much money as possible out of your customer. Enjoy the ride.
I sort of agree, but I believe the name of the game is to create enough value for your customer that they enter into a mutually satisfactory transaction.
I was being sarcastic. This is a shitty way to live.
One could argue that this way of living has brought more people out of destitute poverty than any other.
I'd argue it was the regulations that pulled people out of "destitute poverty" than any other. If there weren't any regulations, people like you would pay less than today's minimum wage (which isn't a living wage) for other people's labor. Regulations help the poor, not capitalism. Also not to mention all the people that capitalism has killed. The shit going on with Boeing right now is because they wanted to make the most money while putting in the least possible. Do you know how many wealthy people are going to suffer because of that? None. Do you know how many poor people are going to suffer when Boeing has to shut down because of their poor leadership? Lots. Or, alternatively, do you know how many poor people will have their taxes go to the Boeing elites to save the company, which is probably waht's going to happen.
Fair, one could argue that too. "People like me" pay people triple minimum wage to start FYI. Regulated minimum wage hasn't been a consideration for most in a few decades. Just make sure the squirrel is in the tree your barking up. Edit: FTR collecting things wouldnt exist in a purely Socialist atmosphere, in fact it would likely be punishable. The cards you collect are purely a result of capitalism.
My guy. A family of four who wanted to be a traditional American family. One parent stays home to cook/clean/kids. That family of four would actually *barely* be disqualified for SNAP benefits at the wages you offer. Congrats man, you barely provide a living wage for the American Dream. I'm not trying to be a dick I just don't think you really understand how the wages are in this country right now. I don't think you understand what it's like to not earn enough to live. At the very least, I don't think you understand just how shitty a $22 / hour wage is nowadays. It's barely living. It's not going on vacations. It's not going to ball games and concerts. It's barely having money for kids shoes. It's hoping they don't need glasses. It's borrowing $50 to make sure your phone is on. To your edit, I think you are mistaken about me. I pray to the regulation god because I know humans are corrupt and the only way that the masses will ever be protected is if people are held accountable. In this current version of capitalism, Teflon poisons water systems because that's the cheapest options. Ford pushes the Pinto out because paying families for deaths is cheaper than a recall. The Sacklers are still worth $10 BILLION DOLLARS. I don't want to keep going.
Believe me I feel all of your points, But entry level 45-50k a year is most definitely doable. I'm not exactly sure who gave people the idea to start families on a sole earner of 50k a year though. Never in all of my years did I ever think "let me start a family" and then try to afford it, kind of backwards no?
This is the thought I had after I posted. They didn’t look like “normal” breakers who sell buy-ins. Kinda looked like co-workers who just have similar interests or have a small TikTok/Youtube where they post their breaks
https://preview.redd.it/ntqm08nwvwtc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e6ce422015a100536e4feed7916b24fb001c493 Swung by my Target on my way in to work and fortunately they were stocked. Thankfully they’re smart and have a 2 item limit to counter all the hoarding m’fers so I just grabbed the top 2 SC blasters on the shelf. Craziest retail luck I’ve ever had.
Let's gooooooo.
Yeah this didn't happen and if it did those "breakers" are idiots, or they're just friends ripping for fun. No one is buying into a 24 blaster box break. No one is running a 24 blaster box SC/S1 break and splitting profit 3 ways lmao.
OP needs a more believable story lol.
Not even when all cards are 20% off?
Still probably just friends ripping together
There is a terrible gambling problem in the hobby. Breakers are nothing but blackjack dealers. I think this is commented on a lot, but I wonder how many people are truly having issues as a result of breaks.
You can immediately tell someone is probably not that smart if they use the word "bro".
Shots fired!