by Claudia Cowan
Industry experts say card sales have dropped 80% from over a billion dollars in the early 90’s to about $200-million dollars last year. The trend has caused most card makers to shut down, and where there were once 5-thousand card shops in the u-s, today there are fewer than 500. I spoke to industry insiders, retailers, distributors, and collectors to try to figure out what is causing the slide, and lots of factors play into it. Traditional collectors got into the hobby for love of the game, then, over the years, came those who saw it purely as an investment which drove up demand and prices. Half a dozen card companies produced huge quantities – which people bought up as a kind of gamble. But for most, it didn’t pay off. The weak economy, player strikes, and the steroid scandal have all driven down interest and value. A Barry Bonds card once worth 50 or 60 dollars is barely worth $15 now.

On top of that, industry analysts say the future looks bleak because of competition from other card-based games. My son bypasses the sports cards and heads directly for the “magic” and “Pokemon” cards. If he’s interested in knowing more about the giants or a’s or a particular player’s stats – he goes online.
It’s not that the card makers, like tops and upper deck, aren’t trying. We saw some very interesting boxes that hearken back to the days of the old tobacco baseball trading cards, using today’s players on nostalgic backdrops. A box cost about a hundred dollars, which the store manager says isn’t a bad price – problem is, he said, the companies aren’t marketing their product well enough to let people know it’s out there. Others debate that point, saying in a shrinking market, mainstream marketing dollars are increasingly hard to come by.

The good news is – collectors are still out there – just not as many, and they’re not buying as often. We met a young man who began collecting cards with his father, and now specializes in “relic” cards that may feature a players autograph, jersey swatch, or chip of bat they’d used in a game. But there are more sellers than buyers these days, and the store, filled floor to ceiling with dusty trading cards and comic books, was mostly empty. As one collector told me, “I think we’re going to see the cards fade away. I hate to say that, but 20 years from now, people may not know what a baseball card is.”

That article could have been written any time in the last few years

That one was recent. It was from Foxnews.com Sept. 30th.

It is true and I could harken back to numerous posts over the last 4 + years!

Been on a downward spiral for quite awhile I remember collecting in the 90s when the industry was booming it has sadly dropped off greatly, just a matter of time before its completely gone.

FOX MADE A GOOD POINT ABOUT THE ISSUE
OF CARD COMPANIES NOT MARKETING THE
PRODUCTS .

THE HIGH-END PRODUCTS ALL STILL UNKNOWN
TO COLLECTORS , BUT .....

Honestly, and I know it's a bit early to say this but I think Panini could save it. I was skepitcal about them taking over Donruss. Very skeptical. But so far from what I've seen they seem to be doing a great job. The Panini boxes have been way more fun to open than Upper Deck releases from the last few years. I've really had a lot of fun busting the Classics, Inscriptions, Prestige, R&S, and of course Absolute which will probably be product of the year.

Basically it seems like Panini may be raising the bar in customer satisfaction. If Topps and Upper Deck ( especially UD) don't follow suit they'll be in trouble. I say especially UD because it seems everyone has at least one UD horror story they can tell. Not good, especially when a new guy comes along quickly delivering redemptions and showering us collectors with sweet patches. The last sweet patch I pulled from an UD box?......Never!

I recently got two of my buddies into collecting football cards with me. They love watching football and rooting for the Jets, so I suggested opening some cards with me and I slowly got them hooked. They put me in charge of picking the boxes that we open. My goal is for them to have a good time and be happy with what they get. Therefore I haven't picked any UD stuff to break so far. Not every Panini box we've busted has been stellar but over all I'd say they've been quite good to us and we always have fun. And having fun is what matters which I know from experience doesn't always happen with Upper Deck.

RIGHT ON, PANINI IS PUTTING OUT AFFORDABLE PRICES!!! also they are doing a great job making these boxes enjoyable, i got my neighbor into collecting because hes a huge sports fan and for his b-day i bought him a box of donruss rookies and stars he got a sick mike sims walker patch/auto and now hes in love with panini products and is going to a card show with me next week. it is great to see so many people in one place to share this great hobby.

If Panini stays on their current path they are really going to shake up the hobby.