Kurt's Card Care

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by skelly423

Does anyone else think Kurt is just an outright con artist? He's selling a snake oil potion with a limitless list of magic properties. We'll never hear an honest statement of what's actually in Kurt's Card Care spray, just trust him that it's an elixir to fix the (card) world's problems. Even his devoted followers will admit that a lot of his before and after pictures are nothing more than carefully staged with lighting tricks to hide issues that never really disappear with his treatment. It's akin to magic diet pills where the subject is told to suck in their stomach for the "after" photo.

I suppose as long as he's just conning other con artists it doesn't bother me much, but I'm amazed he has as much of a profile as he does given how much stench there is around his sales tactic (and that's ignoring the ethical discussion about altering, which is a discussion I'm not engaging in again).

Why would he tell anyone what's in his magic potion though? There are numerous copycat operations already. Telling them what's in his products would be just as stupid as the best BBQ joint in the country posting the recipe for their BBQ sauce on their front door.

The before and after pictures that you're referring to where the lighting differs in an effort to make the creases look better than they actually are were taken by his customers, not him. Kurt pretty much always uses the same lighting in his videos and images. If you look closely, you can almost always still see the creases he worked on in his after photos.

As for me being a "devoted follower", I like Kurt. I think he's a great guy. But I don't use his card spray when I soak my cards (I did buy a bottle for fun though). And I don't use his polish either, as I don't collect shiny stuff. But people clearly like his products and they clearly work as there are approximately one million cards in slabs that have been worked on using his products.

As for him being a con artist? No, that's silly. The guy literally fixes cards live on camera, tells you exactly what he's doing while he's doing it, and then posts the grading results when he's done. He sells a product that works and shows you how to use it. He wouldn't have so many repeat customers if his products didn't work. It's clearly not snake oil. Can you achieve the same results by researching how professional paper restoration experts safely clean documents that are far more important and valuable than our baseball cards? Yes, of course. But most people are too lazy to do the research on their own. Hence he has a large and loyal customer base.

People fear what they don't understand. Paper restoration and preservation is a fascinating subject to study. You can learn a lot just by reading.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Why would he tell anyone what's in his magic potion though? There are numerous copycat operations already. Telling them what's in his products would be just as stupid as the best BBQ joint in the country posting the recipe for their BBQ sauce on their front door.

The before and after pictures that you're referring to where the lighting differs in an effort to make the creases look better than they actually are were taken by his customers, not him. Kurt pretty much always uses the same lighting in his videos and images. If you look closely, you can almost always still see the creases he worked on in his after photos.

As for me being a "devoted follower", I like Kurt. I think he's a great guy. But I don't use his card spray when I soak my cards (I did buy a bottle for fun though). And I don't use his polish either, as I don't collect shiny stuff. But people clearly like his products and they clearly work as there are approximately one million cards in slabs that have been worked on using his products.

As for him being a con artist? No, that's silly. The guy literally fixes cards live on camera, tells you exactly what he's doing while he's doing it, and then posts the grading results when he's done. He sells a product that works and shows you how to use it. He wouldn't have so many repeat customers if his products didn't work. It's clearly not snake oil. Can you achieve the same results by researching how professional paper restoration experts safely clean documents that are far more important and valuable than our baseball cards? Yes, of course. But most people are too lazy to do the research on their own. Hence he has a large and loyal customer base.

People fear what they don't understand. Paper restoration and preservation is a fascinating subject to study. You can learn a lot just by reading.

Straw man argument IMO. For many documents and the like, preservation and restoration are considered acceptable, and are not done for deception. Baseball cards have always been different. If Kurt and others are so above board, let them disclose their work. This all feels like Dick T. all over again.

[skelly423]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Why would he tell anyone what's in his magic potion though? There are numerous copycat operations already. Telling them what's in his products would be just as stupid as the best BBQ joint in the country posting the recipe for their BBQ sauce on their front door.

Is he not sharing because he's afraid it's going to feed the copycat operations, or is he not sharing because he knows it's snake oil and it'll tank his sales? Only Kurt knows for sure. I have my opinion, you have yours, we don't need to agree.

Originally Posted by Snowman

But people clearly like his products and they clearly work as there are approximately one million cards in slabs that have been worked on using his products.

A million cards in slabs have have been worked on using his products!? I'd love to see anything resembling evidence to support this claim because it sure seems like you pulled a number out of thin air.

Originally Posted by Snowman

People fear what they don't understand. Paper restoration and preservation is a fascinating subject to study.

Don't insult my intelligence by pretending I don't understand card restoration. I understand it well, I just don't buy the arguments that it's a good thing for the card collecting hobby. Considering the evidence and disagreeing with your position doesn't make me fearful or unintelligent.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by skelly423

Is he not sharing because he's afraid it's going to feed the copycat operations, or is he not sharing because he knows it's snake oil and it'll tank his sales? Only Kurt knows for sure. I have my opinion, you have yours, we don't need to agree.

Your snake oil analogy still falls flat. Whether you approve of it or not, his card spray clearly works. Thus, it's not snake oil.

Originally Posted by skelly423

A million cards in slabs have have been worked on using his products!? I'd love to see anything resembling evidence to support this claim because it sure seems like you pulled a number out of thin air.

Jeremy Lee asked him how many cards he estimates have been submitted to the grading companies using his products. Kurt said based on the volume of products he ships and how many cards those products are capable of cleaning and 75-80% of those cards being sent in for grading that a conservative estimate would be ~30,000 cards per month are sent to the grading companies. I don't have access to his records, and I don't know what his growth rates are like, but he's been in business for several years now. One million cards in slabs is a fair estimate based on that data. 20k cards per month over 5 years would be 1.2 million cards. 30k cards per month over 5 years would be 1.8 million cards. 40k cards per month over 6 years would be 2.9 million cards. But even if it's just 15k cards per month over 5 years, that's still 900k cards.

Originally Posted by skelly423

Don't insult my intelligence by pretending I don't understand card restoration. I understand it well, I just don't buy the arguments that it's a good thing for the card collecting hobby. Considering the evidence and disagreeing with your position doesn't make me fearful or unintelligent.

I have no idea how much you've researched paper restoration techniques (although I suspect you're not as learned on the topic as you're leading on). But my point was more to the hobby in general. Most people know absolutely nothing about it.

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Your snake oil analogy still falls flat. Whether you approve of it or not, his card spray clearly works. Thus, it's not snake oil.



Jeremy Lee asked him how many cards he estimates have been submitted to the grading companies using his products. Kurt said based on the volume of products he ships and how many cards those products are capable of cleaning and 75-80% of those cards being sent in for grading that a conservative estimate would be ~30,000 cards per month are sent to the grading companies. I don't have access to his records, and I don't know what his growth rates are like, but he's been in business for several years now. One million cards in slabs is a fair estimate based on that data. 20k cards per month over 5 years would be 1.2 million cards. 30k cards per month over 5 years would be 1.8 million cards. 40k cards per month over 6 years would be 2.9 million cards. But even if it's just 15k cards per month over 5 years, that's still 900k cards.

Several years? Guess he was under the radar in the hobby lol

So one bottle is good for 1000 cards and he sold 30 bottles?

It's one of the more ridiculous claims I've ever heard

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

Several years? Guess he was under the radar in the hobby lol

So one bottle is good for 1000 cards and he sold 30 bottles?

It's one of the more ridiculous claims I've ever heard

I've personally known about him since 2019, so ya, several years. And he has 5 full-time employees. You can often see them filling orders in the background of his videos. He sells a lot of product. I see no reason to question his claims.

[G1911]

Can Snowman make a post without an appeal to authority?