Chase Packs; Am I missing something?
billwaltonsbeard
Posts: 3,751 ✭✭✭✭
I’m curious where others in the hobby stand on “chase packs” (or what we used to call grab bags).
Back when I was doing local shows in the late 80s, there were always a few tables selling sealed grab bags with a sign showing the “big hit” you might pull. Even as kids, my friends and I always saw it as a gimmick at best.
Fast forward to now, and I’m seeing the same concept all over eBay and live streams—repacks, mystery packs, chase packs, etc. The format feels identical: pay a small amount for a shot at something big, but with very little transparency into odds or value.
I’m genuinely trying to understand the appeal:
Is it just entertainment, like ripping wax?
Do people actually feel they’re getting fair value?
Are there sellers out there doing this in a legit, transparent way?
Not trying to knock anyone’s hustle if there’s something I’m missing, but from my perspective it feels hard to trust and even harder to justify as a buyer.
Would love to hear from others—buyers and sellers alike. What’s your take?
Comments
Ya know, when those ancient chase packs were created, people were just tossing off unwanted cards because they thought they were worthless, but I wonder if there’s some surprises in them now. Some of those penny cards might have exploded into dollar cards.
it is literally just gambling. it seems a grift that is ripe for corrupt business practice. I am pretty sure the biggest "breaker" on whatnot does about 90% of its "breaking" with repacks.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Back in the day at shows, I always wanted to go up to the dealer at the beginning of the show and ask if I bought all of his repacks and open them on the spot, what would he do if I don't find the hit cards. I was never interested in the repacks
That said, what I did do a few times were the dice games. I remember one where it was five dice and if you rolled all 1's, you won a '67 Mantle. At least with those, you could see exactly what you would get on a particular outcome. And, no, I didn't hit the Mantle. LOL
Sometimes ebay has chase listings that meet the policy requirements. A lot of times, the listings are in violation of their rules:
Chance Listings Policy
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/chance-listings-policy?id=4311
PSA actually offers a service for this -- PSA Verified Repacks
At least that helps to cut out the shenanigans where the hit cards were never going to be found. PSA validates all the "hit" cards and only PSA knows which packs contain which cards. So it makes it a fair game (imho).
You could get repacks back from PSA and crack them till you get the big hit. Then sell the rest and have your buddy say post something under an assumed name saying he got the hit. I just assume this is how these things work.