Today is “Black Friday,” which for a long time meant it was the one day of the year where many of us frothed at the mouth waiting for hourly price drops on card products we didn’t really need, but always justified purchasing by telling others that “cards are NEVER on sale.”
The shopping holiday has been around for decades and is named as such because retailers would slash prices that would ultimately get cash flowing and put their coffers in the “black,” which in bookkeeping terms is positive. Over the years the single day turned into a whole weekend of stuff that now includes Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.
Over the last decade and a half this has meant some exciting times for our hobby. It was a time to purchase boxes at half of their regular prices, to find deals on consignment site CheckoutMyCards.com, or win various prices on messages boards. Hell, I remember getting up at 5 a.m. on a non-work day just to constantly watch Twitter for the latest drop and even tried various times to be the lucky caller to win a Beckett magazine subscription by calling Blowout Cards.
This day always started the same for me. I’d peruse the sites and load up my cart with items such as 2004 Deck SP Prospects (loved the signed prospects) and 2009 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts (always wanted to pull a massive cut auto). And the day would always end the same as several hours later I’d come to my senses and just empty the cart when I realized that I was about to spend $400 on stuff I really didn’t need.
Over at COMC I’d click “purchase” dozens of times over on cards I’d been watching all year long, items to fill out various projects I was working on.
But this year things feel different, and I’m not sure if it’s just me or if its true for anyone else.
For the better part of a week COMC has had a banner on its site, advising sellers to set up their free sales, and offering tidbits to buyers who were urged to partake in the price slashing event. I failed to set up a sale beforehand, and even as of this writing I have not purchased a damn thing.
And on online retail sites I glanced at some of the sales and ultimately just kinda threw my hands up and literally said “meh.”
The thrill is gone.
I’m sure some of you are still stoked about things today, and if you are that’s great. But from my perspective it feels like I’ve become numb to the idea of new product and sales prices. Because for years now there has been a barrage of products weekly, and all of the prices have been so high by comparison to the past that any “sale” price just feel like the prices we should be seeing normally. So I find it incredibly hard to justify purchasing things under these circumstances. At some point a “deal” is really no longer a “deal,” ya know?
Anyhow, there may be something that pops up today, this weekend or even over the upcoming weeks that changes my mind, but as I sit here and write this, it just feels like any other Friday.
Cardboardicons turns 15; a list of 10 tips for veteran collectors to stay positive with new hobbyists
Posted in Commentary, Misc. with tags baseball, baseball cards, Cardboard Icons, sports on July 8, 2023 by Cardboard IconsThis week I unceremoniously celebrated the 15th anniversary of this blog. It feels a bit disingenuous to celebrate such things since I’ve been relatively stagnant on this platform in recent years. But to just let such events go unnoticed only further the idea that I am no longer involved.
This blog is the foundation for all that is of my social media/internet presence. It all started on July 3, 2008. This was months after Beckett Media decided to revamp its website and the heavily active message boards essentially evaporated and some persons were left with no place to congregate. Blogging was the popular for people to express themselves as vlogs and even podcasts hadn’t quite taken hold. And microblogging platform Twitter was still a year or so away from taking the world by storm.
Over the years I changed various things about the blog for various reasons. Most noticeably has been my absence here in lieu of Twitter, where it is easier to share thoughts and interact with users. But all along there has been a strong desire to return to this because this is my home, where I like to chronicle things.
When I go searching for card images, or opinions I’ve shared and want to reshare, I like to point people here, because reading an old Twitter thread can be tedious.
In that vein, in this celebratory post, I’d like to share something I wrote on Twitter over the weekend. I think it’s important to share good vibes for our hobby.
The following was posted on Twiter by me on 7/2/2023 as I contemplated my place in the hobby, some 15 years after this blog began, and some 35-plus years after I ripped into my first pack of cards.:
Want to know why your favorite influencers are wildly successful? It’s because there is a world of hobby enthusiasts who don’t know what they don’t know. So if ANY content is presented to them in entertaining fashion, it gains reactions among similar folks. What can you do?
1.) Welcome new folks instead of berating them, assuming they don’t come in acting like their You Tube/ Instagram card education makes them the smartest in the chat.
2) Educate folks when opportunities arise, again assuming they are open to such.
3) Be kind – we were all new once.
4) Understand YOUR way of collecting is NOT the only way to enjoy the hobby.
5) People need to have their own experiences, so don’t get personally offended if they chose to not listen to your advice, solicited or not.
6) Call out influencers sharing bad information.
7) Be encouraging. This is NOT a hobby of exclusivity among its participants.
8) Celebrate others who are happy with their pulls/collections, regardless of the actual value.
9) Don’t assume you as a veteran hobbyists knows more than anyone else in the room. Be humble.
And lastly … 10) Listen. The questions, frustration and enjoyment of newer hobbyists can teach veterans about our own involvement. Some of us NEED our passions reignited; need new perspective. We can learn from each other without being elitists.
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