I think an earlier poster hit the nail on the head when he referred to people buying expensive modern cards as almost a form of gambling. There are virtually no card shops to go and buy cards at anymore, the game for selling modern cards is now in the hands of the Breakers. All you have to do is see how prominently the Breakers and the Breakers Pavilion have grown over the past few years at The National and you may begin to see how the modern card market has morphed over say the last decade or so. Because of all the different products and subsets churned out by the card companies, not very many people still try to put together modern sets anymore. Back in the day when Topps had the monopoly on baseball cards, they put out one main set that everyone would try to collect. Nowadays a new product comes out, and then a week or two later another one, then another one, and so on. So which set does a collector focus on, and then what about the subsets and auto and game used cards and so on that may also be attributed to s specific set? It is impossible to collect everything anymore and finish sets due to the short prints and manufactured rarities they often include.
Still, it is also foolish to think badly of someone for paying so much for this LeBron card. As others have already stated, the buyer paid what he wanted and had the money so, he's to put him down for doing what he wanted. Now whether or not someday he'd be able to sell that same card and make a profit.....that is an entirely different story altogether, and who knows. Whether someone values something because it is a manufactured rarity or a rarity because so few still exist, that is just a personal perception and belief. Collectors collect because they want to and, if they perceive something is rare or generally unavailable, they tend to want it all the more.
The manufactured rarities are here to stay though, at least for now, and are actually being embraced by the card manufacturers because they've learned that is what drives the people who buy cards from the Breakers. When you start selling packs of cards for $20, $50, $100, $500 or even more, a pack, the average collector, let alone kid on the street, is probably not going to have that kind of money.
The Breakers were the solution to the situation caused by rising card prices. Instead of a collector spending $500 on a single pack of cards, and more likely getting nothing of equal perceived value in return, a Breaker would buy the entire case and then sell individual chances at say teams or divisions for a fraction of the $500 single pack price, something much more affordable to the average collector. Say a collector spent $75 for their spot and ended up with cards only worth a perceived value of about $50. That is a lot easier pill to swallow than paying $500 for a single pack and only getting a $50 card in return. Plus, in watching the Breakers open the case live on the internet, they'll likely see that someone else got a big card, or two, that could be sold for well over the $500 pack price. Here's where the gambling aspect comes into it. Add to that the excitement of watching the packs being opened live on the internet and you have people getting hooked, just like going to the casino.
I know for a fact that those Breakers who try to sell their spots through Ebay have to be careful that everyone gets something for the spots they purchase in a Break. If not, even Ebay considers that a form of gambling and will pull the auction if they are notified of it.
In a lot of cases, the people who "hit" these big cards from the Breaks turn around and then immediately sell them online for a lot of money. The shocker to me then is, who exactly is buying these cards that makes people see they can get money off these what are mostly modern, manufactured rarities? I've heard rumors that the card manufacturers themselves may even be behind some of these secondary market purchases, so as to keep the conceived market for these modern cards as high as possible, and to therefore keep the public thinking these cards are worth more than they may actually be. This then allows the card manufacturers to continue to justify the high prices they charge and ultimately makes them more profits. It isn't shilling but, if it were to be the case, it would certainly smack of market manipulation
Heck, we've even had some breaks run through this site looking to sell older sets. Tell me that of you who have purchased spots in such vintage Breaks, were you not doing so on the off chance that you would be lucky enough to hit one of the big cards in a set for a fraction of its regular value? Of course you were, and if so, how is this really any different than gambling or buying lottery tickets?
BobC
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