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Hobby shops or Target/Walmart/etc

Do you buy ur cards at Hobby shops or Target/Walmart/etc? I use to purchase solely at hobby shops, but due to pay cuts, stop buying the hobby boxes. I started buying some blister or retails boxes at Target. However, the price is usually $19.99 for 7 or 8 packs at retail odds, which are lousy. It's a quick fix at Target, but the hobby shop is much better with the wax boxes. So I have been trying to save up for some hobby boxes. Anyone else in the same boat?

Also, anyone buy those repacked items from Fairfield company, usually 10 packs for $9.99 or something like that, some others include a jersey or auto card. I wasted some money on those too, during the quick fix days.
Running an Ebay store sure takes a lot more time than a person would think!

Comments

  • stevekstevek Posts: 30,073 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Those repacked blasters for around $9.99 are the worst garbage going - pure trash in my opinion, at least all the ones I ever bought. If ya wanna buy junk wax like that, you can probably buy 20+ times the amount on ebay for the same price or less.
  • 72skywalker72skywalker Posts: 1,554 ✭✭✭
    Everytime I go to Target or Walmart I usually pick up 2-3 packs of cards. I don't expect to hit anything big but it is fun to open a pack now and then. I collect Yankees so I feel like I am 7 again when I get exited to get a pack with a Yankee in in. I was at Target yesterday and bought one pack of 2010 UD and got the Yankee Stadium card out of the pack so I was very happy even though the card is probably worth about $1.00 if that.
    Collecting Yankees and vintage Star Wars
  • MorgothMorgoth Posts: 3,950 ✭✭✭
    You can't get good supplies or holders at target or wal mart. Hobby boxes have better hits and odds so you pay more per pack at a store. My local store is too high in price so I wait for local shows where competition keeps prices lower but I still buy all my suppliers and a little wax there,.
    Currently completing the following registry sets: Cardinal HOF's, 1961 Pittsburgh Pirates Team, 1972 Pittsburgh Pirates Team, 1980 Pittsburgh Pirates Team, Bill Mazeroski Master & Basic Sets, Roberto Clemente Master & Basic Sets, Willie Stargell Master & Basic Sets and Terry Bradshaw Basic Set
  • mcadamsmcadams Posts: 2,618 ✭✭✭
    I try to support local hobby shops and buy as much as I can from them, including supplies like toploaders, binders/pages, penny sleeves etc. The flip side of this is when there are tough to find vintage cards (raw) that I'm looking for, they really help in this area too. I just don't roll the dice with raw cards on ebay anymore.. If your local hobby shop isn't good at filling your want lists for you or treating you like a VIP and getting you tough-to-find hobby wax every year, then ask yourself what purpose are they really serving?

    IMO, the ONLY thing that Target/Walmart is good for is if you want to build a base set and are just looking for quantity. A&G or Heritage- make your base sets from cheap blasters etc. from those places and don't kid yourself about having any real chances for pulling chase cards and 1/1's.

    -Michael
    Successful transactions with: thedutymon, tsalems1, davidpuddy, probstein123, lodibrewfan, gododgersfan, dialj, jwgators, copperjj, larryp, hookem, boopotts, crimsontider, rogermnj, swartz1, Counselor

    Always buying Bobby Cox inserts. PM me.


  • << <i>
    IMO, the ONLY thing that Target/Walmart is good for is if you want to build a base set and are just looking for quantity. A&G or Heritage- make your base sets from cheap blasters etc. from those places and don't kid yourself about having any real chances for pulling chase cards and 1/1's.

    -Michael >>




    Even with that, it's still usually cheaper to buy card lots from ebay.
  • dpucciodpuccio Posts: 117 ✭✭
    I had stopped buying buying packs and blasters at Walmart/Target a few years ago. The other day I was reading some collecting blogs and somebody mentioned that they found cards at Dollar Tree so I thought "Why not give it a try". I went over and bought 4 packs of 2007-2008 Top Prospects basketball (maybe get a Durant rookie), 4 packs of Sage football, and 1 pack of Donruss Americana.
    For $9 I got 8 packs of junk and 1 pack with this:

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    Numbered #9/25 - I guess I need to find more Dollar Trees

    imageimage
  • jmmiller777jmmiller777 Posts: 1,324 ✭✭✭
    Very Nice indeed! I'm going for it too. I bought a bunch of junk cards years ago from Toys R Us. The cards were all 2-3 years old and I think I got them for 50 cents or so. Everyone of the packs had been dropped and the cards all had corners dinged, almost everyone of them. I too stopped buying unsealed boxes and wax packs from these stores. I think I may go check it out now, renewed interest. Thanks for the Pict!
    CURRENT PROJECTS IN WORK:
    To be honest, no direction, but...
    1966-69 Topps EX+
    1975 minis NrMt Kelloggs PSA 9
    All Topps Heritage-Master Sets
    image
  • vladguerrerovladguerrero Posts: 4,077 ✭✭✭
    1. hobby
    2. internet (which is really the modern day hobby store)
    3. target, etc... which as people have mentioned works for the quick fix
  • Piman58Piman58 Posts: 814 ✭✭


    << <i>1. hobby
    2. internet (which is really the modern day hobby store)
    3. target, etc... which as people have mentioned works for the quick fix >>



    Unfortunately because of financial restraints, mine is the reverse of this.
  • Nathaniel1960Nathaniel1960 Posts: 2,330 ✭✭✭✭✭
    1. Ebay
    2. BST Message Boards
    3. Shows (small and large)
    4. Target
    5. Hobby Stores

    All of my recent hobby store experiences have sucked. Over priced crap, horrible customer service, etc. And the stores themselves are just dumps. They are dirty and stink. You've always got some fat turd sitting behind the counter on his computer eating some munchies and typing away, too busy to assist. Then there's the Yu Gi Oh contingent of 3rd graders screaming about something.

    Kiss me once, shame on you.
    Kiss me twice.....let's party.
  • TabeTabe Posts: 6,229 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Everytime I go to Target or Walmart I usually pick up 2-3 packs of cards. I don't expect to hit anything big but it is fun to open a pack now and then. I collect Yankees so I feel like I am 7 again when I get exited to get a pack with a Yankee in in. I was at Target yesterday and bought one pack of 2010 UD and got the Yankee Stadium card out of the pack so I was very happy even though the card is probably worth about $1.00 if that. >>


    Because of pack searchers, you are wasting money by buying individual packs at Target/Wal-Mart/etc. Buy the blasters only.

    I long for the days when Toys R Us sold variety boxes with 20 packs of cards for $19.99 + a bonus item. The packs were a wide variety of brands, often hobby packs, and the bonuses could be quite good as well. My friend and I used to buy those all the time and we averaged about 1.5 jerseys/autos per box. I pulled a Walter Payton jersey card out of one that I later sold for $100. The bonus item in another was a Bowman's Best hobby pack - guaranteed auto or jersey. The boxes were always a ton of fun to bust. This would be right around 2003.

    As you might imagine, eventually the quality of the packs dropped. First the variety narrowed. Then the hobby packs disappeared. Soon thereafter the boxes started including multiple packs of stuff like Pro Set and other junk wax from the early 90s. By then, we'd stopped buying them.

    In all honesty, those boxes were the most fun I've had in collecting since I was a kid. Running to TRU at lunch with my best friend, $20 in hand, and then busting the packs in the parking lot was a blast.

    Tabe
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,478 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Blisters, blasters - I had good years with them and bad ones - with respect to Heritage.

    Hobby shops - I have to apologize for having good intentions but not delivering.

    I should try to see what's around - give it/them a chance.

    I guess I got terribly lazy due to ebay.

    mike
    Mike
  • jmmiller777jmmiller777 Posts: 1,324 ✭✭✭
    Tabe, try getting a 2010 Topps Series one box of Jumbos. It was the most fun I have had in years. I got tons of stuff, plus.....a full set of Series 1! Inserts were an auto, a game used, a silk patch, and a R Jackson hat logo. Very nice.

    I too must confess my laziness in using ebay. Today I bought a half case of Heritage from my local card shop. Even though I over paid, I want to really support my friend. In San Antonio, a city of 1.7M, there are 2 or 3 shops in town and that's it!

    I also hate Walmart/retail stores where all the packs are searched. I too only buy blasters, not individual packs. If boxes are left out, they will get opened, all five of them. The bottom feeder scum bags don't seem to bother blasters.
    CURRENT PROJECTS IN WORK:
    To be honest, no direction, but...
    1966-69 Topps EX+
    1975 minis NrMt Kelloggs PSA 9
    All Topps Heritage-Master Sets
    image
  • Ebay or card sites only. I don't bother overpaying at brick & mortar shops or Walmart/Target.
    3000 Hit CLub signed ball - 8/19 Living Members
    image

    Successful Deals: tennesseebanker, jvette,
  • It's the internet for me, I went to a local hobby shop back in 1998. I asked the dealer what he recommended and ended up buying a Bowman Chrome Football box for $118. He gave me the pack price with about $5 off. I then made a layaway deal for a Stadium Club Marino/Manning dual auto for $200. I brought him $60 every two weeks for a month. I missed one payment, come in a month later to make the final payment and he told me he sold it. I asked for my money back and he told me I had to show him receipts. Of course I didn't have any. You figure he'd remember selling a card like that to me. So much for that hobby shop.

    Now a short story about retail: Target's and Wal-Mart's are for pack searchers, I purchased 5 retail boxes of 1997 Bowman Chrome baseball when they first hit the shelves. I began busting them in the car and began to see a pattern of the cards being staggered in the packs, never mind the see through mylar packaging. I realized after getting 0 autos in 3 boxes that they were searched. I tried the fourth box just in case the odds were against me and still got nothing. I sent them all back to Topps and told them what I felt was wrong with the packaging and told them to keep them.


  • << <i>All of my recent hobby store experiences have sucked. Over priced crap, horrible customer service, etc. And the stores themselves are just dumps. They are dirty and stink. You've always got some fat turd sitting behind the counter on his computer eating some munchies and typing away, too busy to assist. Then there's the Yu Gi Oh contingent of 3rd graders screaming about something. >>



    Do you live in the same town as me?

    Our one shop is run by a fat turd fantasy carp nerd. The last time, and I do mean the LAST time, I went in there I needed some CS4's. The conversation went like this:

    Me: Do you have any CS4's?

    Him: For what?

    Me: Never mind
  • bbcemporiumbbcemporium Posts: 684 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>All of my recent hobby store experiences have sucked. Over priced crap, horrible customer service, etc. And the stores themselves are just dumps. They are dirty and stink. You've always got some fat turd sitting behind the counter on his computer eating some munchies and typing away, too busy to assist. Then there's the Yu Gi Oh contingent of 3rd graders screaming about something. >>



    Do you live in the same town as me?

    Our one shop is run by a fat turd fantasy carp nerd. The last time, and I do mean the LAST time, I went in there I needed some CS4's. The conversation went like this:

    Me: Do you have any CS4's?

    Him: For what?

    Me: Never mind >>



    lol. Same thing where I live, but I've built a decent relationship with the owner just because I'm so desperate to have someone nearby to discuss the hobby. He is a good guy, but I don't think he has sold a card in the past year. I have no idea how he can keep his doors open. Every time I walk in, there is group of greasy unkept guys in the back of the store sitting around a table playing some mythological card game.
    Registry Sets

    "Common sense is the best distributed commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it"
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