High End From The Horse's Mouth

Every time a super high end product comes out, many of the blogs tend to focus on how terrible it is solely because of the cost. Not because of design, not because of content, but because of how much you spend for the amount you get. The problem is, many of the bloggers are one sport baseball collectors, who have grown up collecting cards in a vastly different fashion. So, rather than hear about the evils of high end from people who dont really collect it, I think its time to see some different opinions from someone who is a part of this hobby because of how great it is.

A common sentiment is that high end is killing the hobby. Why? I dont see how offering a product for a HUGE part of the collecting base is bad. Does it create a situation that puts a burden on other collectors? No, Base Topps is still around, Ginter is as popular as ever, and the Heritage products have not been axed from any calendar. In fact, more and more low end products, especially in baseball, are being added to the releases for the year. So, if that is the case, what difference does it make? Why not give everyone what they want when you have the ability to do so?

To that, most people say that kids are being driven away by the pricing structure of the industry. Why is that such a big deal? Kids didnt drive the collecting boom of the 90s, adults did. Kids dont drive current revenue for the industry, adults do. Why arent we focusing on adding more people who have disposable income to the demographic? The kid friendly rallying cry makes no sense, because kids dont produce the revenue any more. There are too many other sources of entertainment that are becoming more readily available, and non-interactive mediums are falling by the wayside. The card industry will never be able to compete with video games or the internet, and when the landscape is dominated by adults, kids find other ways to get involved in products and businesses they can access in a more widely supported industry.

Now, a lot of people seem to think that subtracting products and adding extreme low end products for kids will solve a lot of problems. I cant tell you how frustrating that way of thinking is. So, you would rather take away the products that thousands love for a demographic that is non-existant? What business would do that? Also, this industry thrives of the value of its products, and a extreme low end product would hold no value. Do you think kids are that stupid? No, they would still buy all the products they buy right now, only then, they would have less of them to buy. Great.

High end products provide access to wonderful looking cards with autographs and jerseys that appeal to even the most casual of sports fans. Autographs are worldwide collection pieces that span more than sports, and people find prestige in having them. That means when you offer amazingly designed pieces that are accessible to many adults who want autographs of their favorite sports players, you draw people into your demographic. Thats why adults populate the collecting pool, and why the industry has changed to cater to them, not people who collect sets.

Plus, when you bring adults into the market, you also have direct marketing access to their kids. The best advertisement for a product is word of mouth, and when kids have parents who are hardcore collectors, they are much more likely to stumble upon the hobby, or have it bred into their early life. Considering that many parents will collect the autograph part of the hobby, the kids will too. Autograph cards are also more valuable, especially from high cost products, meaning that kids will want those more. Thanks to parents who are collectors, they can have them.

Lastly, a lot of people seem to think that high end is a rip off. When you buy a product that costs six hundred, and only get five cards, they think its the worst thing in the world. Well, in terms of quantity over quality, that is definitely true. However, most of the time, the quality is so high, that a price tag of 600 seems reasonable to the people that can afford it. Mario may tell you what you can buy for the price of a box, but the reality is that those things arent of interest to people with massive amounts of disposable income. Yes, there may be people who buy and cannot afford it, its not the fault of the manufacturer that these people make poor decisions.

Does this justify someone being disappointed when they dont get back their money? Yes, because anyone who has spent their money on any chance will tell you that human emotions dictate their response, not the price of the item they bought. Just like when you buy a 50 dollar product and get nothing, the feelings are similar when you buy a 500 dollar product. Disappointment in your pulls comes with the wax busting territory. The tangent to this feeling is that the experience of the thrill is what drives many people in all gambling industries, just like with cards. People need to understand that the only sure thing in busting wax is that you are going to end up with some cards, not that you are going to end up with your money back. If you are looking to make money on a break, regardless of price, you are going at your investments the wrong way.

Bottom line is this, you dont have to buy any product you dont want to, but its unfair to address the merits of a product just because it costs more than you personally are willing to spend. Feel free to comment on design, player content or whatever, but cost should not damn a product. The fact of the matter is that there are many people who love spending their money on high end stuff, and many of them dont shit on the way low enders function anywhere close to the way certain people act with unwarranted disdain for the high enders. If you dont like high end, thats fine, but dont use unrelated and outdated reasons to justify your points. At least frame your argument in the correct reference range, while not exploiting paradigms that havent been true for 20 years.