Bowman Chrome X predictions?
burghman
Posts: 805 ✭✭✭✭
Topps recently arranged to work with StockX to auction off very limited boxes and cases of Bowman Chrome X. In a nutshell, each box contains 1 PSA 9 or 10 of a rookie or prospect numbered to 31, and a case consists of 5 boxes. The wrinkle here is that there was no base price - the price is set by the bidders. They had 400 cases available; the highest 400 bids each get a case with the price being set at the lowest winning bid price (e.g., if you bid $100 but the 400th highest bid was $1, you pay $1). Same with the boxes - there were 1,100 available.
Bidding ended last night, so now they’re doing the math and figuring out the winners. No idea what happens if there are too many people “tied” for the 400th highest bid - say 399 bids were clearly higher but 10 people all submitted the same 400th highest bid. Draw straws? First in wins? Don’t know.
Anyone been involved with anything like this before? Anyone hazard a guess as to the price they land at? I don’t know if these things are going to be massively popular or flop - I could easily see a box going for $100+ (because Vlad Jr.) or $20 bucks each (many of the 100 names on the list are likely to not pan out).
They also have an interesting thing going with cards in general... if you want a card, you can submit a price you’re willing to pay and the PSA grade. Then, if someone comes along that has one and likes your price they can sell it. Ditto for selling - essentially an eBay BIN on that side. 9.5% fees on sales to start, but that drops the more you sell.
Jim
Comments
Like the idea and implementation. The actual product though? Crap.
Green Xfractors? Hard pass.
$15 in shipping/fees no matter if one is sold for $1? Hard pass there, too.
And I get StockX for other product sales, but for cards it reminds me of that stock/share site that popped up a few years ago for cards. Name is escaping me at the moment. The Pit, maybe?
There's a decent discussion over on Blowout about it. Personally I don't like Topps selling their product like this. If StockX wants to purchase cards and sell them like that, great. Topps getting involved with them is not something I see being good for collectors. Deep pocket players can set the prices on the entire supply of inventory on limited print runs. I'm really on the fence about online sales only. With Topps, like the Sapphire, it's nice because they just pop it up there and their website is good. The fiasco with Panini and their garbage website where some people can get multiple boxes but others can't even get a box in the cart is ridiculous. Yes, it's nice that it can go to collectors directly. But, on the other hand.....and I'll point out that I'm not a dealer.... dealers are required to buy so much stuff and a lot of it ends up being crap and they lose money on it but when a hot product comes out and goes directly to the public, it's like a big slap in the face.
Isn't that exactly what Topps is doing themselves with the entire Topps Now, Sapphire, On-Demand, M-582 lines?
Thanks for the pointer. The video and write-up at Stockx is definitely misleading - there’s no question that they say the market sets the price and that the X highest bid for X items sets the market. The very well-hidden fine print reveals that they can set a floor and hold inventory back. Complete garbage. That BO thread does a great job showing everyone how the sausage is made. I wasn’t willing to pay the guessed winning prices anyway (somewhere around $50/box or $300/case) but the luster is gone from what I assumed was an innovative new approach to selling. Oh well.
Jim
$65/box after its all said and done, right?
And agreed. They arent letting the market set the price at all. They did. Bids that were set at $3 for the “why not? and just for the hell of it” factor werent honored or even equated into the market price at all.
Don’t forget tax. There’s already a couple listed on eBay, one which shows how much they just paid for it while asking more than double. Shipping and tax for this buyer was another $32 on top of the $300 case price.
Jim
Close to $700 for what could basically be 5 psa 9 commons? As some of the “guaranteed” case hits are quite laughable.
Speaking of which, why wasnt the pop report available to see on the PSA site for these prior to bidding?
Considering they are already graded, not all 10s. Seems like some pretty crucial info for potential bidders.
Oh, for sure they are but the difference is they are doing those on their own website, not having another company(middleman which I'm sure is profiting from it as well) promote and sell the product. It just doesn't sit well with me at all. I'm old and I don't get the rest of the concept of StockX and from what I read they started out in sneakers and tons of fakes sell on there. I don't get the draw to old basketball shoes that aren't game worn, but to each his own....collect what you like. We have seen over the past 30 years companies come into a hot market and bring something new and exciting but what usually ends up happening is the collector is left holding the bag and these guys, who don't care about the hobby line their pockets. Gary V is the same way. He might know a little about cards, but watch the episode of Vintage Breaks he was on or some of the other interviews. This dude knows less than the average collector. What he does know is hype and marketing and he is just in it to make a buck. I can't remember what his new cad venture is but his sheep will buy into it and many will lose money. If you were around for the late 80's and early 90's, you will remember all the loud mouth people that came into the hobby with their hype and "knowledge". Many were crooks and aren't around today. The market will take a dip, it always does from time to time and those guys will be gone.
I want to believe and buy into the shiny new stuff thinking there will be long term value, but I can't do anything more than dip my toe in the water at this point. Give me a mid grade 60's Mantle over a #'d 10, colored, mirrored, diagram, dippity do dah refractor stickered auto card of some kid that hasn't even played a day in the minors any day of the week.
God I've gotten so old. "Hey, you kids!! Get off my lawn!!"
Predict each will go for $50-$100. Also predict average card will sell for $15 in the secondary market. The idea itself isn't a bad one but the execution is really poor. Product doesn't have anything for collectors to reach for either, nothing limited or special to 'gamble' on.
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I don't understand how anyone could read that fine print and then want to do business with that company. Nevermind the fact that 6,000,000 StockX accounts were compromised in 2019. It's like they're trying to scroo their customers over.
Arthur