This purchase is the perfect example of how the trading card industry became a business and lost its title of a hobby. Some might say keeping your cards in good condition is part of the hobby, but not even inflation can be blamed for the rise in prices.
The average box of cards can range anywhere from $25 to $80, depending on the set of choice. For sports cards, you can usually get a value or blaster box for around $25 to $30, a mega box for $50 to $80 or a hobby box going from as low as $120 to upwards of $1,000 depending on the best card available to chase.
Sophomore software engineering major Devin Baker, feels that the price of trading cards today is too expensive for people who want to collect as a hobby.
“I believe it’s way too expensive, especially for people who enjoy the hobby a lot but don’t have the funds,” Baker said. “I remember when I was a kid [and] getting Pokémon cards was cheap. Now it’s like $70 or $80 for a tiny box. It doesn’t seem fair to the economy.”
Ashland Benner, a sophomore finance and risk management double major, believes the price of cards doesn’t matter because people who collect as a hobby will buy them regardless.
“I think as a hobby, [the prices are fine] because a hobby is up to you,” Benner said. “It’s up to user discretion as to how much money they want to spend. If you want to spend $80 on one box of cards for your hobby, then go for it.”
Trading card game (TCG) cards on the other hand, are sold at retail locations for a fair price, but it is scalpers — people who wait for a restock to buy as much as they can and resell them — who ruin the market. You can find trading cards at big retail chains such as Target, Walmart and Best Buy— or at sports or gaming stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods and GameStop.
Every time there is a new release for Pokémon, people wait outside stores for hours before they open in the hopes of potentially getting their hands on. Some of these people do not buy the cards to open them, but to resell them.
Baker believes scalpers are ruining the industry because they do not care about the actual cards and just want to make money.
“I shouldn’t be walking into a Target, [going] to the Pokémon section and [worrying] I’m about to get tackled by somebody because I just wanted to get a pack of cards,” Baker said. “I feel like it drives people away from the community.”
The older the set of cards, the more expensive the resale price is. Whether you’re buying a pack of 1986-87 NBA cards to chase a Michael Jordan rookie card or a box of Prismatic Evolutions Pokémon cards, the price skyrockets because the chase cards are just that valuable.
Nowadays, there are card shows nearly every weekend where you can find people of all ages. Attendees range from kids just starting their collection to some who have collected for more than 15 years. According to vendors on social media, they usually sell their cards for 80% of the market value.
Benner thinks that the transactions of 80% should be higher to make the best profit for the parties involved.
“In terms of profit maximization as a finance major, I think 80% is pretty low,” Benner said. “If [vendors] were to charge closer to 92% I would call it [pretty fair]. Then [the people that are] going get a cheaper price, get to meet real people and expand their hobby. The people that are trying to make a little bit of money on this hobby are going to make even more money.”
TCG cards — which are typically used more to play the game instead of collecting— face the same effects of scalpers that the sports and Pokémon industries face, despite having lower prices.
Riley Holtzclaw, a first-year computer science major who plays the TCG Magic: The Gathering, believes that scalpers are bad for the collecting community and for the people that want to play.
“I would say scalpers are ruining the trading card industry,” Holtzclaw said. “Not only for new people and people already in [the community], but ruining it for people who want to join the community of trading card games.”
Card prices are only going to go up, especially if they keep making cards of anything you could think of. The industry has changed from a hobby into a business, and it is hard for the average person to collect what they want. As long as people keep buying, the hobby will die and new collectors will only get the scraps.