Why did the basketball card craze die off like it did?

[masonanddixon]

Yeah, end of primary school.

Damn man. Did you ever recover your marbles?

[poido123]

Damn man. Did you ever recover your marbles?

Nope.

However I was pretty good at playing marbles, I was able to win enough to keep a good collection anyway.

Gotta remember that he was doing it to everyone, not just me.

[Jameerthefear]

Because those are for losers.

[poido123]

Because those are for losers.

[poido123]

The introduction of things like eBay destroyed the rarity of collectibles and that includes cards. What you once had that was worth anything is now easily obtained therefore the value drops.

Interesting.

That makes sense though.

I'm holding out hope that ball cards will have another resurgence. I doubt it though.

[Rake2204]

I would guess overproduction and the interwebs contributed most to the downfall of trading cards. It was certainly a big deal when I was a youth. I specialized in collecting David Robinson cards, also likely topping 300 (but a bit more affordable than being a Jordan collector).

A few years ago at a garage sale I bought a box of cards from a guy who's brother-in-law ran a collector's shop in Chicago, but had passed away. The fellow was just trying to rid of all that stuff. Turned out the box was filled with at least 100 Michael Jordan cards (and some young Shaq cards, amongst others). Many of the Jordans were regular ones I already had (ex: '92 Upper Deck) but they had gold text specially printed at the top that said something like, "He's Back", celebrating his '95 return. Still only worth a few bucks a piece. There's was a Topps Finest Jordan in there too though, worth a few hundred, already in a mint case and whatnot, so that was neat.

Nowadays there's a mall in South Bend, Indiana near where a friend of mine lives, and that pace has a collector's shop. They sell old school packs (from the 90's) for a buck a piece. So on the rare visit, I indulge and buy a few packs. The cards are worthless but opening them and seeing who I got is totally nostalgic and enjoyable. The only problem is I don't know what to do with them once I've opened them and gone through them. It's like, now what?

They sell a lot of '94 Fleer, which was a style I enjoyed back in the day, with its vibrant spray paint designs.

[Bless Mathews]

The market got saturated with too many cards being put out.

[RidonKs]

The market got saturated with too many cards being put out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkLuncXw-P4

[the mesiah]

The value plummeted, guys started selling their sets for whatever they could get.

There were basketball cards everywhere. There were shops buying and selling cards for Beckett value, all those shops are all but gone. Well at least here in Australia, collecting cards just took a massive nosedive.

Wtf happened?

I've still got albums full of cards and over 300 MJ cards. I really thought they would be worth something if I held onto them.

Jokes on me

Card grading,multiple and multiple of different card sets being put out and the craZe of the "1/1's" .i personally only collect graded cards to maximize card value unless it's some of the rare cards that never get or rarely ever get graded .grades cards,serial #'d rookie auto cards and 1/1's are the crazE now that garners attention.

[embersyc]

The baseball strike in 94 started the decline of trading cards.

I know it's not basketball, but baseball started the trend, and the baseball cards were always worth the most.

Over printing finished it off... It's hard for a card to be worth something when there a few million of them floating around. Not to mention too many damn companies making them... Fleer, Donrus, Topps, Upper Deck, etc...

Then trading cards had to compete with collectible card games like Magic the Gathering and such too.

Just wish I'd sold of those Jose Canseco, Mark McGuire, and Bo Jackson cards while they were still worth something...

[joe]

It was a bubble. Everyone was buying with the hopes of selling for a higher price. Eventually people realized that everyone had the same plan they did and tried to sell off. But all the other buyers were also speculators. True collectors who would buy them just for their collection were rare

[gts]

Ahh.. Marbles.. strong nostalgia.

I never played marbles but I do have my great grandfathers shooter from when he was a boy in the early 1900s

[Orlando Magic]

eBay happened and the value of all collectible cards except the ones that there are like 1 or 2 in print of went into the shitter considering the extreme ease of acquisition BECAUSE of eBay.

[bdreason]

The internet happened. Basketball cards aren't the only collectible items that lost most their value when the internet arrived.

[gts]

I think if things are truly rare the internet doesn't hurt the value and in some cases may actually help the value..

but it has opened up the world to sharing what we own and thus effecting the market. suddenly the 100 know MJ rookie cards in existence are actually only 100 of the 15000 MJ rookie cards in existence... (Just an example i have no idea about trading cards)

a rare 1968 Porsche 911R is going to be a rare Porsche 911R no matter what the internet does because there was truly only a handful of these built but in the case of other collectibles it has allowed the collectors to see that some items might not be as rare as once thought