Official ESP 2016 NRL Traders Thread (Sell Sheet Page 14)

I think it will be like any higher end ESP releases in terms of pricing. At the start there will be a fair bit of interest as it is a new release and excitement is high so the prices will reflect this. Gradually the prices will drop however if they fall one per case the only thing will save them is that they will be quite limited on the secondary market (like 13 Traders YG's) as there is always so much stock unopened. I think a traders release is 25000 boxes

Having a one per case hit is good though, puts interest back into the case shares.

The diminishing factor for legends signatures is they are /208, they really needed to be /100. It is crazy that a one in 5 or 6 case signature of the games greats goes for such a small amount.

In terms of 16 Traders I am happy for any Raiders players aside from Vaughan and Lee as both have ESP signatures already.

Fensom, Papalii, Austin, Hodgson, Wighton would all be great. I would love a Croker but his signature is terrible!

16 Legends signatures I have heard many whisperings....

Both players are one club legends.
Both played in the ESL
One might have had a run in a recent pre-season tournament
The other is still actively involved with the club he played for

bigrob2307 said:

Any idea how many cases last year or before?

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Traders last year was 1830 Cases. I believe this excludes stock that went into Starter Packs and Album Packs.

bigrob2307 said:

Can get previous legends sigs for only $250 so hard to imagine several hundred dollars being needed. Be interesting to see how this years legends go

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Legend Sigs are #/208.....I believe their may be half as many of the Club Signature cards.

Brendan_B said:

I think it will be like any higher end ESP releases in terms of pricing. At the start there will be a fair bit of interest as it is a new release and excitement is high so the prices will reflect this. Gradually the prices will drop however if they fall one per case the only thing will save them is that they will be quite limited on the secondary market (like 13 Traders YG's) as there is always so much stock unopened. I think a traders release is 25000 boxes

Having a one per case hit is good though, puts interest back into the case shares.

The diminishing factor for legends signatures is they are /208, they really needed to be /100. It is crazy that a one in 5 or 6 case signature of the games greats goes for such a small amount.

In terms of 16 Traders I am happy for any Raiders players aside from Vaughan and Lee as both have ESP signatures already.

Fensom, Papalii, Austin, Hodgson, Wighton would all be great. I would love a Croker but his signature is terrible!

16 Legends signatures I have heard many whisperings....

Both players are one club legends.
Both played in the ESL
One might have had a run in a recent pre-season tournament
The other is still actively involved with the club he played for

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I could see Wighton having one for the raiders and agree with croker sig lol.

Think the 16 legends sigs are the worst kept secret of all the releases so far

So should I just come out and name them or continue with the half arsed cryptic play?

Brendan_B said:

So should I just come out and name them or continue with the half arsed cryptic play?

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If it makes u feel better u do one and i'll do the other haha

Leave it to Beaver

Brendan_B said:

Leave it to Beaver

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Alfie, two of the gents really

I know Menzies had a 2000 signature and a 2004 Captain signature but Alf hasn't had one since the Dynamic days (1996 All Fired Up I think)

traders can get in the bin

nznrl said:

So bank loan needed?

I feel sorry for any team that gets a crappy player - chasing a 1 in 16 cases (League Sensations type) signature card. Imagine chasing a David Simmons for several hundred dollars

Even dropping from a master set collector to a team collector this hobby seems cost-prohibitive these days. Still nothing confirmed and nice to see signatures.

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I think this might be it for me.

Doesnt take long for the negativity to start in this place nowdays

I feel for teams that might get an ordinary signature player, but with so few of these cards hitting the market at one time may be good with them holding some value (if you pull one).

Take Elite 15 for example, the odds of getting signatures is 3-4 a case (were 7-8 during 13/14 releases) and they will be numbered roughly about the same as these Traders signatures, a lot of product gets busted early and you have a glut of these cards out there, they start falling in price (when team collectors already have them) and then you are getting $70 for some players.

I don't see people busting traders cases as quickly as Elite, so we may see an initial run of the cards appear, a lot of them will still be locked up in cases in a warehouse for some time. So they may hold value for a bit longer......I think these will be like the original traders young guns......which have actually held some value over the years.

If only those 13 Traders YG's had been numbered (not by hand!), great looking card and good player selections

bigrob2307 said:

Doesnt take long for the negativity to start in this place nowdays

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If you're referring to me, it's a financial reality, sorry.

You make your comments, I'll make mine thanks - I'm perfectly entitled to my view.

thenamesgould said:

If you're referring to me, it's a financial reality, sorry.

You make your comments, I'll make mine thanks - I'm perfectly entitled to my view.

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I can go with you that James, every one has there own opinon and view, unfortunately in the climate we are in, not everyone can fork out the funds like we had in 2004.
How much was a master set back then average about 12-14K.
THERE WERE ONLY 40 cards of each captain back then, plus the normal set.
Now you have 4 times as many cards to get, ie b l o o d y parallels and a dearer price packet.
There will be no kids collecting cards soon as they will not be able to afford to get them, that means the next generation will not be there to collect.
Look at what you are putting out ESP and think about it.
That's my 2 cents.

saintsforever said:

I can go with you that James, every one has there own opinon and view, unfortunately in the climate we are in, not everyone can fork out the funds like we had in 2004.
How much was a master set back then average about 12-14K.
THERE WERE ONLY 40 cards of each captain back then, plus the normal set.
Now you have 4 times as many cards to get, ie b l o o d y parallels and a dearer price packet.
There will be no kids collecting cards soon as they will not be able to afford to get them, that means the next generation will not be there to collect.
Look at what you are putting out ESP and think about it.
That's my 2 cents.

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It took me years to get the 2004 Joey captain sig ... but because it was a real rarity that there was such a low numbered card, I was eventually able to save up and afford it - with the help of a fellow collector on here.

But yeah, you've encapsulated my situation with that post. Sorry to all if it's seen as negative, but I don't think I can afford another year like 2015.

I mean if the Knights were winning premierships left, right and centre it may well be a different story - I'm sure that plays into it as well.

thenamesgould said:

If you're referring to me, it's a financial reality, sorry.

You make your comments, I'll make mine thanks - I'm perfectly entitled to my view.

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I only collect 2 players and thats bad enough

thenamesgould said:

It took me years to get the 2004 Joey captain sig ... but because it was a real rarity that there was such a low numbered card, I was eventually able to save up and afford it - with the help of a fellow collector on here.

But yeah, you've encapsulated my situation with that post. Sorry to all if it's seen as negative, but I don't think I can afford another year like 2015.

I mean if the Knights were winning premierships left, right and centre it may well be a different story - I'm sure that plays into it as well.

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It is all moot until the checklist, player names and allocations come out I guess.

The hard balance of trying to please everyone with a team signature card needs to be a lower one per box card in my opinion. There is only a very select few who like the challenge of piecing together these higher cost sets at the detriment of others who are in it very much as a 'hobby.' In the days of Select, the FFs and TPs were around $40, which meant it didn't matter if you got a crappy player, collectors were happy to have a new player signature in their collections. The big money was saved for the holy grail cards of the best players in the game past and present, and were limited to an achievable amount (3-4 per release) for a large number of serious collectors to obtain (of course some teams missed out year after year). James can testify to how satisfying these 'Holy Grail' cards can be with with his Johns.

If Rob is right and I'm paying $2-300 (my guess, people will debate) for a 1 in 16 cases Ben Henry or Lillyman (I'm hoping Matulino or Manu) sig card then it will be a very unappealing thing to spend that much money on. 2013 Traders was deemed a success by some with the YGs, but these 2016 cards are rumoured to be at least twice as scarce. I really didn't appreciate paying $120 at the time for a Carlos Tuimavave card knowing that he would never be a FG player. The only glaring hole in my Warriors PC at the moment is the Mojo and that is because I just don't want them, they don't appeal. They are ugly red parallels that cost $300. It frustrates me that I have the gap, but buying the mojo would be out of duty to my collection rather than pleasure. This is a hobby and it should be fun, not a bind in this way, although obviously personal taste comes into play here.

Isn't Traders meant to be the achievable for all, mass market set? I am very, very curious to see how the releases align this year. What does a super-expensive Traders set mean for Elite? Will it be the most expensive year for putting sets together or is Elite going to scale back?

I really respect the collectors who are very positive and appreciative of what they are provided to collect, it is a nice outlook to have. However, I believe as a collector, there is a balance between appreciating what you have and providing critical feedback in an attempt to make the product better.

At the end of the day, people can be as positive or negative as they want, but the product will speak for itself. I'd estimate there is a third of the traffic in the NRL section on OZCT than there was when I joined. That isn't due to the off season...

I'll still collect because I love trading cards, always have always will. It is just the scope of my collection is diminishing and re-defining at a very quick rate. This means that the market for selling cards is diminishing too.

As James has stated this is just a financial reality.

Corey Thompson did it for me. I've heard all the explanations and rationalisations, but I don't think I'll ever get over Corey f'n Thompson.
Didn't help that they did a David Klemmer YG's signature two years in a row.
I'm still buying but I spend more on NFL boxes these days.

Talk to some of the dealers dropping off too. Sad, worrying.