Can you see manufacturers selling direct in the near future?

SDavid

With so many hobby shops going out of business these days, do you guys think Topps, UD, etc. could end up selling boxes and cases direct to the public in the next, say, 3-5 years?

Obviously, it would increase their overhead, but I have to think they would move a lot more product. The impediments to buying boxes for a lot of collectors are dealer mark-ups and the likelihood that the case's "money card" has already been pulled (for those who can't afford cases, which is most collectors.)

The dealers would be ticked off, but how much longer are most of them going to be in business anyway? Other manufacturers sell direct to the public, so why not sports card manufacturers?

joestalin

This will never happen. Its very simple why. While the consumer would buy only what they want, the dealer
has to buy a bunch of stuff no matter what. They don't know they are going to sell it, but if they want the
good product then they have to buy the crappy product. The manufactorers have them by the pelotas. The
card companies have sold other products such as sets direct and that has ticked off a fea dealers ,but what
can they do? Its not like any dealer can afford to drop topps of their list.

The companies have all the power right now and the dealers can't do anything about it! We are the bottom
like so we need to be strong and tell the companies that we aren't going to buy bad products and products
that aren't of high quality.

The most important thing is to be heard! Write letters, send emails and post on the boards!

JS

jmullen

I think you hit the nail on the head. This is the smartest idea I've heard in awhile. The card companies should take out the middle-men. I understand the crappy v. non-crappy argument. But, the problem is that right now the market has wayyyy to many issues hitting shelves each yet. It really isn't a matter of if Topps will sell more product. That is irrelevant. It is a matter of if Topps will be more profitable. Selling directly to the consumer basically means that Topps can increases the price of their product substantially ... and make less of the product ... thereby creating more demand.

The main problem I see is how many people will know to buy from Topps? I mean ... I would rather pay the extra $40 (or whatever it would turn out to be) to buy a box from my local card store when I walk in the door then wait for Topps to get me the product. (usually I am not interested in modern cards until I am in front of them).

Yet, this is the best alternative I have heard as to how the companies could remain profitable and create less product (which is what they will have to do).

Jeff

stevek

Topps will never sell direct to the public for the same reasons that thousands of other manufacturers use distributors.

denwd1

walmart would boycott and put them out of business?

jmullen

Well they have to do something drastic (like what they did after the market got flooded in the 1990s). Its all about profitability. If Topps can make more money selling direct, they would. Period. Regardless, i'm going to scan in the article I wrote for Beckett on how today's market reflects what was going on in the early 1990s and how the companies have to take drastic measures.

Either way, I think it is a good idea that has some merit. It wouldn't be hard for Topps to try. They just need a "direct to consumer" product to test the vaibility (although the true advantage is it would decrease the number of issues on the market, while the test would increase the number of issues by one.)

Jeff