Latest / Collectors MD Features / #6: The Addiction Is Real! Alyx From Collectors MD Offers Help | The Ballcard Show

Transcript

#6: The Addiction Is Real! Alyx From Collectors MD Offers Help | The Ballcard Show · Collectors MD Features

• 0:03
  Hello and welcome to the Ball Card Show, the
• 0:05
  sports podcast for the Sports Collector. This
• 0:07
  is Season 5, Episode 21. We've got a lot coming
• 0:12
  up this month in the hobby. It's really just
• 0:14
  one thing, if we're being honest about it. We're
• 0:16
  less than a month out. It's one major thing,
• 0:18
  but leading up to it, at least for us, it feels
• 0:21
  like it is... Big week after big week after big
• 0:24
  week. We're in a gauntlet of shows right now.
• 0:27
  Bigger shows and the stress of sourcing and all
• 0:30
  that stuff is upon us. The summer season. We
• 0:33
  just finished up a local show last week in Lancaster,
• 0:37
  Ohio. I'll give a quick rundown of the next few
• 0:39
  weeks. This Sunday, July the 6th. at Central
• 0:45
  Crossing Schools in Grove City, Ohio. We'll be
• 0:50
  set up at Card Fest. It's going to be another
• 0:52
  great show. These are the same people that have
• 0:56
  promoted the Shipshuana show. Card Collector
• 0:59
  2 has partnered with this show. There will be
• 1:01
  a lot of familiar faces in the hobby. How many
• 1:03
  tables are set up at this? Over 200. Really good
• 1:08
  show. It'll be Sunday. So come say hey to us
• 1:10
  there. The following week, we'll be in Xenia,
• 1:13
  Ohio. The week after that, we will be at the
• 1:16
  Eastgate Show in Cincinnati. And then two weeks
• 1:19
  after that, we'll be at the National. Yeah. We
• 1:21
  might take a break the weekend before. I probably
• 1:23
  won't. You may. I have a feeling we're going
• 1:25
  to be very inventory poor. Yes, that's entirely
• 1:28
  possible. Not my favorite situation to be in,
• 1:31
  but it is fun to buy. Oh, yeah. It's always fun
• 1:33
  to source. It's sourcing properly. That is the
• 1:37
  challenge. Yeah. But, well, somehow we pull it
• 1:40
  off. Quick reminder to you as you're checking
• 1:42
  in with us, if maybe you've just been introduced
• 1:44
  to the podcast through the socials or whatever,
• 1:46
  be sure to give us a like, follow, subscribe,
• 1:49
  whatever platform you're on. If you're on socials,
• 1:52
  we tend to chop up clips all through the week
• 1:55
  from the weekly podcast. If you want the full
• 1:57
  -length video of the podcast, click on the link
• 1:59
  in the bio wherever you are. It'll take you to
• 2:01
  our YouTube page. You can check it out there.
• 2:03
  We drop new episodes every Thursday. And speaking
• 2:06
  of every Thursday. What do we do Thursday nights?
• 2:08
  We go live on Whatnot at 7 o 'clock every Thursday
• 2:12
  night, 7 p .m. Eastern time. And this week, once
• 2:15
  again, thank you to the folks over at Juicebox.
• 2:19
  We dropped a video a few weeks ago. You guys
• 2:21
  that watch and listen every week are probably
• 2:22
  sick of hearing us saying this, but this is for
• 2:24
  the new folks. We ripped a whole case of their
• 2:27
  repack product that they sent to us, and the
• 2:29
  deal we made with them was this. We don't want
• 2:31
  you to pay us. We're not going to keep these
• 2:33
  cards. We will give you an honest review if that's
• 2:35
  what you want. Make sure it's actually what you
• 2:37
  want. because we're going to be honest. And the
• 2:40
  deal is we get to give away all these slaps.
• 2:42
  So that's what we've been doing the last two
• 2:44
  weeks on Whatnot. Again, this week and then for
• 2:46
  two more weeks, we will be doing that. Some of
• 2:48
  the highlights that we will be giving away this
• 2:50
  week. How about a Yamamoto and Otani PSA 10?
• 2:57
  We've got a really cool orange disco fast break.
• 3:01
  Some people call it whatever. Jamar Chase color
• 3:04
  match and an SGC 10. This is a fun one you don't
• 3:07
  see too often. How about Faces of the Future,
• 3:09
  Shai Gilgeous-Alexander rookie card in an SGC
• 3:12
  10? Really high grade on the Z -Force Zuperman
• 3:17
  Kobe Bryant. And the big giveaway of the night.
• 3:21
  How about the Bijan Robinson Select RPA numbered
• 3:25
  to $199. All those are going to be buyer's giveaways
• 3:29
  along with 10 more things. And then we will have
• 3:31
  10 regular giveaways. So come hang out with us.
• 3:34
  Hop in the stream. One of our favorite things
• 3:36
  that we see happening. Every week in our Whatnot
• 3:40
  stream is the number of folks who start with
• 3:42
  us at 7 o 'clock and are still there at 10 o
• 3:44
  'clock. And when we're pulling orders, one person
• 3:46
  has order number three and order number 280.
• 3:49
  It's a fun thing. It feels like this podcast
• 3:51
  for three hours. That's what we shoot for. Come
• 3:54
  hang out with us. You don't have to buy anything.
• 3:56
  You can just hang out, see some cool cards, be
• 3:58
  a part of the stream. Who needs fireworks? You
• 4:01
  know what I mean? I can't stand it. There are
• 4:03
  more people that actually don't like fireworks
• 4:05
  than you realize. I don't mind fireworks. I can't
• 4:08
  stand crowds of people, though. That's the worst.
• 4:11
  We have a thing here in Columbus called Red,
• 4:12
  White, and Boom. Kind of a big deal. Hard pass.
• 4:15
  It's a hard pass for me. I like it, but only
• 4:19
  from certain places. And they're not where all
• 4:22
  the people are. If I sound rather hoarse, I am.
• 4:27
  If Gary talks a lot in this episode, it's a good
• 4:29
  thing. I'm not going to complain about it as
• 4:31
  much as normal. As we jump in, we're real excited.
• 4:35
  We've got a special guest coming up here in a
• 4:37
  little bit, Alyx with Collectors MD. We're going
• 4:40
  to be diving into a little more of the darker
• 4:43
  side of the hobby. I guess we're getting a little
• 4:47
  bit of a label with the trolls that we just talk
• 4:48
  about negative things. And that's not true. Just
• 4:51
  a lot more people tend to watch the negative
• 4:53
  things apparently because there's a lot of the
• 4:55
  other kind of clips in there as well. Go to our
• 4:58
  actual page and just scroll through our clips.
• 5:00
  You'll see one negative clip for every 20 positive
• 5:02
  clips. Or for context, watch an episode. Yeah,
• 5:06
  watch the whole episode. All right. Caitlin Clark
• 5:08
  seems to be getting completely hosed by the player
• 5:11
  vote for the All -Star game. Ninth among the...
• 5:16
  Let's backtrack. Back it up. WNBA All -Star voting
• 5:20
  has concluded. And the fan vote, Kaitlyn Clark,
• 5:24
  was number one overall by miles. Hundreds of
• 5:28
  thousands of votes. She had almost 1 .3 million
• 5:30
  votes. Which, to put it in context, until last
• 5:33
  year, I don't think 1 .3 million people had watched
• 5:36
  the WNBA. Like, had attended games in the total
• 5:39
  in the 20 years of the league. Just absolutely
• 5:43
  annihilated it. That was a little bit of exaggeration.
• 5:46
  Not much of one. You have no idea. I don't, but
• 5:48
  that's a bet I would be willing to make. A blind.
• 5:53
  I would make that bet blind. Hey, you heard it
• 5:54
  here. But anybody who watches the games at all
• 6:00
  knows how good Kaitlin Clark is. It's not close.
• 6:05
  So number one in fan voting by leaps and bounds.
• 6:08
  Ninth, not overall, among the player vote. Ninth
• 6:12
  among guards in the player vote. What are they
• 6:19
  looking for that they're not seeing? I mean,
• 6:23
  there's multiple factors, but I'm trying to understand
• 6:27
  why that might not happen. Like, ninth place
• 6:33
  among guards in the player vote. Yeah. What are
• 6:38
  they voting on? Not basketball skill. It doesn't
• 6:42
  seem to be that. Feel free to let us know what
• 6:46
  you think is causing it. The players definitely
• 6:47
  lead the troop of hate ones. Yeah, it seems to
• 6:51
  be that way. Not the most loved amongst players.
• 6:53
  You know what they won't be hating? They're definitely
• 6:56
  going to want her at the bargaining table with
• 6:57
  the next CBA. Oh, yeah. They're going to be happy
• 7:00
  she's there for that. So we'll let you all draw
• 7:03
  your own conclusions as to what's going on there.
• 7:05
  But it's, yeah, it was shocking to say the least.
• 7:10
  Place among guards. Galen Clark. She's aight.
• 7:14
  Other players are like, she's aight. Some salty
• 7:18
  bitterness going on in there. I don't understand
• 7:20
  it. It's not that there can't be other ones.
• 7:22
  And maybe she's not the number one. There's the
• 7:25
  concept of the time they've been in the league,
• 7:29
  how long they've been playing, longevity, team
• 7:31
  leadership. But for the players to put her at
• 7:34
  ninth is a statement. Diana Taurasi being ahead
• 7:36
  of her in the player vote? No issue with that.
• 7:39
  Brittany Sykes being ahead of her in the player
• 7:41
  vote? You don't know about that one. How does
• 7:44
  that happen? All right. Let's move on. National,
• 7:47
  less than a month out. We're going to be there.
• 7:49
  Everyone's going to be there. You should be there.
• 7:51
  If you want to. You don't have to go. I've got
• 7:53
  to get the numbers out for this. We do have something
• 7:56
  to share specifically about the National. Gary
• 7:58
  and I will be up from Wednesday through Saturday.
• 8:02
  Staying close to the... Convention Center there.
• 8:04
  If any of you want to catch up, be sure to reach
• 8:06
  out. Hit us up on socials if there's a day you're
• 8:09
  at the show. I know there's some of you we've
• 8:10
  already talked with we'll be catching up with.
• 8:13
  But, yeah, we'd love to meet you, get to know
• 8:14
  you a little bit. Look for the What's Your Highest
• 8:17
  shirts. Yeah. And look for my hats. Maybe we
• 8:18
  get some fresh T -shirts for that. Yeah, maybe
• 8:20
  we do. Fire up the cricket, dog. Hey, all you
• 8:23
  guys out there, by the way, who are giving my
• 8:24
  hat game love, thank you so much. It really bothers
• 8:27
  Jason. I'm glad we talk about it every week.
• 8:30
  Because that's the only reason an adult would
• 8:32
  wear cartoons. I know. Is for it to be talked
• 8:35
  about. I enjoy it immensely. The attention. I
• 8:37
  enjoy the product. The reaction. No. Yeah. Just
• 8:41
  the product. It's okay. Yeah, I'm a fan. I'm
• 8:43
  grumpy. I don't feel great. It's okay. You're
• 8:45
  allowed. It happens sometimes. I feel like I
• 8:47
  could do a really good, like, hold on, let me
• 8:48
  think. I feel like I could do a good Stone Temple
• 8:53
  Pilots with my voice right now. I was thinking
• 8:54
  Oscar the Grouch. Well, that too. We can get
• 8:57
  you a little trash can to pop out. The National's
• 8:59
  up in less than a month. We just saw something
• 9:02
  on socials. PSA must have had a typo. There must
• 9:04
  have been something that was off. Because when
• 9:06
  we looked at this, you said it to me. I'm not
• 9:09
  going to say the words that you used because
• 9:11
  I'm not sure they're appropriate. But shock and
• 9:13
  awe. Shock and awe. Well, less shock, more awe.
• 9:16
  Yeah, we went, after we saw this, we was like,
• 9:19
  okay, let's make sure this is real. So I have
• 9:21
  PSA's website in front of me. Let's go over the
• 9:25
  on -site costs, both for grading and for crossover
• 9:30
  service. On -site express grading with card value
• 9:35
  up to $2 ,500. This one isn't terrible. It's
• 9:38
  $149. Drop it off. You'll have it by the end
• 9:42
  of the show. However, it just continues to climb.
• 9:46
  The highest tier is $9 ,999 and up on cards,
• 9:54
  maximum insured value of $250 ,000. A little
• 10:00
  crazy. Now, if I have a high -grade mantle rookie,
• 10:03
  maybe I don't care too much. What's shocking
• 10:06
  is how many people will be standing in line for
• 10:08
  this stuff with their $300 cards. And that will
• 10:11
  happen. But here's the one that really got me.
• 10:15
  This is what really got me. You ever look at
• 10:18
  something and you're like, this information cannot
• 10:19
  be correct. Where's the typo? What am I misreading?
• 10:22
  You look over it five times and you're like,
• 10:23
  no, that's it. That's what it says. That is what
• 10:25
  it says. The crossover process. And if you're
• 10:29
  not familiar with what the crossover is, is instead
• 10:31
  of taking a card that's in, say, an SGC slab
• 10:35
  and cracking it out of there yourself and sending
• 10:37
  it to PSA directly. You give it to PSA inside
• 10:41
  that slab, and they will grade it inside the
• 10:44
  slab. And if they think it will cross over to
• 10:45
  the minimum grade you're requesting, they will
• 10:47
  crack it out and holder it. At the National,
• 10:51
  and I heard someone say that this was the we
• 10:53
  don't want to do this price, which that's the
• 10:55
  only thing that makes sense. At the National,
• 10:57
  the fee that PSA is charging you to just look
• 11:01
  at the card. and if they say no, you still have
• 11:05
  to pay the fee, is $599. I hand them this slab.
• 11:12
  I say, hey, I want to cross this. I need it to
• 11:15
  be a 10. And they look at it and they go, yeah,
• 11:17
  it's not going to be a 10. That'll be $600, please.
• 11:21
  Now, what's really fun is if they say yes, you
• 11:25
  pay the $600, then you pay the grading fee on
• 11:28
  top of it. But wait, there's more. Which starts.
• 11:32
  At $400. For cards up to what value? $25 ,000.
• 11:37
  That's the lowest price you will pay at the National
• 11:41
  to have this done on site is $1 ,000. Yikes.
• 11:47
  Or you pay $600 to find out you should not submit
• 11:50
  it. You're going to have to stand in line to
• 11:53
  do that, too. You saved yourself $400. Wait,
• 11:55
  no, you didn't. You lost $600. And you're going
• 11:58
  to have to stand in line for the right to have
• 12:00
  them just hold you up at gunpoint. It's insane.
• 12:03
  I hope that none of you are silly enough to do
• 12:06
  this. To all of you glazing PSA is king. Do not
• 12:10
  expect less of this. No. Expect more of this.
• 12:14
  And if SGC is fading into the background, which
• 12:16
  we don't know for certain, but there are some
• 12:18
  things that indicate it's certainly possible,
• 12:20
  expect more of this. This isn't going to get
• 12:23
  better. Yeah, the monopolization of the hobby
• 12:25
  is in. Full force. We're catching full stride.
• 12:28
  We've got to get all those licenses under the
• 12:31
  same umbrella, and then we're there. And don't
• 12:33
  get us wrong. We're not those guys out here saying
• 12:36
  that, oh, you should grade somewhere else. We
• 12:38
  live in reality. The reality is that PSA is king
• 12:42
  of the market. Your cards in a PSA slab are going
• 12:45
  to sell for more money. They are going to, in
• 12:47
  the market, be worth more money. Whether you
• 12:50
  like it or not, that's just the reality. Your
• 12:52
  SGC10 is not worth as much as a PSA10. Your BGS95
• 12:56
  is not worth as much as a PSA10 in the market.
• 13:00
  It may be to you, and if it is to you, you'll
• 13:03
  just own that card for a long time because it
• 13:05
  ain't going to sell for what a PSA10 does. However,
• 13:08
  PSA is absolutely leveraging that reality. So
• 13:11
  let's think through the math on this. let's say
• 13:13
  that you're in that bottom tier, which 99 % of
• 13:16
  what gets submitted that week will be, card worth
• 13:18
  less than, this is for a crossover, and to have
• 13:21
  it slabbed. You're in $599 and then another $400
• 13:25
  to get it slabbed. So you're in $1 ,000 on grading
• 13:28
  costs. How valuable would a card need to be for
• 13:31
  you in its current slab at the current market
• 13:33
  for you to invest $1 ,000 where that makes sense?
• 13:36
  It's got to be $8 ,000 plus at a minimum. Maybe
• 13:40
  you've got to... an SGC nine five or a BGS nine
• 13:44
  five of a card that in a PSA 10 is worth 15 grand,
• 13:49
  13 grand. And it's worth eight or nine in the
• 13:53
  slab that it's in. Okay. I guess that probably
• 13:55
  makes sense, but you better be damn sure that
• 13:58
  it's going to cross. Otherwise it's 600 bucks
• 14:00
  out your pocket. Oh, and it probably matters
• 14:02
  more how you got into the cart, right? Did you
• 14:04
  hit it and grade it yourself? You know, you might
• 14:06
  have the margin there, but man, thousand bucks
• 14:08
  to find out. Yeah, that's. Like, there's a part
• 14:11
  of me that's like, it would be nice with that
• 14:14
  Cassius Clay rookie to know if that BVG 85 would
• 14:18
  cross over to a PSA 8. Because we're talking
• 14:20
  thousands of dollars. Yeah, is it worth $600
• 14:23
  to see? But if I'm wrong, that car will be worth
• 14:25
  negative dollars. Yeah. Yeah. Really quickly.
• 14:29
  $600 to find out. You can find out while you're
• 14:31
  there. I don't want to know that bad. I don't
• 14:33
  want to know that bad. Hey, for the value box
• 14:36
  today, I'm really excited to set this up. I know
• 14:38
  last week we talked about one of the biggest
• 14:41
  Ponzi schemes getting exposed with Chad Smith,
• 14:43
  Chad Smith cards. Some of you reached out to
• 14:46
  that. We had some of you commenting that you
• 14:48
  have had less than pleasant interactions with
• 14:51
  this guy clear back into the 90s. In some ways,
• 14:55
  it's like you don't like highlighting the negative
• 14:57
  side of the hobby, but it's really important
• 14:59
  that people are aware of how this happens, that
• 15:02
  people are exposed when they do this kind of
• 15:04
  stuff, and that you do things to prevent that
• 15:06
  going forward. We also talked about scams last
• 15:08
  week and how we can avoid common pitfalls. For
• 15:10
  some of you, you were commenting, this is so
• 15:13
  obvious. Cool. Wasn't for you then. Don't get
• 15:16
  scammed. For the rest of you that hadn't heard,
• 15:18
  there's some ways to avoid it. But today I'm
• 15:20
  really excited. We're still talking about a side
• 15:23
  of the hobby that is a little bit on the darker
• 15:25
  side, a little bit something that people can
• 15:28
  be down a little bit more negative about. But
• 15:30
  I think it's super, super important with the
• 15:32
  way that the space is going, the way that cards
• 15:35
  get into collectors' hands, the methods we use
• 15:38
  for that. And so we're going to be talking with
• 15:40
  Alyx from Collectors MD. Who's going to share
• 15:43
  in this conversation not only how to become aware
• 15:47
  of a time where you can go from collecting to
• 15:50
  perhaps an addiction that could have devastating
• 15:53
  consequences in someone's life to finding help
• 15:56
  and support to appreciate the hobby in a way
• 15:59
  that doesn't cause unnecessary harm. Right. So
• 16:02
  we're looking forward to this conversation. We'll
• 16:04
  definitely be following up with that here in
• 16:06
  just a moment. All right, today we are joined
• 16:10
  by Alyx Effron from Collectors MD. Alyx, thanks
• 16:13
  so much for being here today. We appreciate you
• 16:16
  making some time to talk to us. Thank you, guys.
• 16:19
  Thanks so much for having me. It's great to be
• 16:21
  on the show. Really excited to talk about Collectors MD
• 16:25
  and the direction we're headed. Lots of momentum,
• 16:28
  lots of exciting things going on. And yeah, I
• 16:31
  just really appreciate you guys giving me the
• 16:32
  platform and the stage to continue carrying this
• 16:35
  really incredibly important message. Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:40
  Good introduction there. So tell us just a little
• 16:43
  bit before we get too deep into the weeds and
• 16:47
  questions, just an overview. What is Collectors
• 16:50
  MD? Yeah, so Collectors MD, and I can kind of
• 16:55
  talk about the origin before I dive into exactly
• 16:58
  what it is and what we do. But Collectors MD
• 17:01
  started because I personally was living this.
• 17:06
  issue firsthand. I wasn't some outsider observing
• 17:10
  the space, observing the hobby. I was fully immersed
• 17:13
  in it. I was deep, deep in the hobby and the
• 17:17
  art of collecting. And over time, what started
• 17:20
  as a fun passion turned into something a lot
• 17:24
  more overwhelming. I felt like I was chasing
• 17:26
  constantly. I was ripping late into the night,
• 17:29
  wee hours of the morning. I was justifying purchases
• 17:32
  that didn't make sense. And worse, I wasn't really
• 17:37
  enjoying any of it. I was constantly waking up
• 17:41
  the next day with a pit in my stomach, just feeling
• 17:43
  disgusted with the amount of money I spent and
• 17:46
  sort of the rabbit hole that I went down the
• 17:49
  night prior. That moment where you look at a
• 17:53
  stack of packages or a bank statement and think,
• 17:57
  how did I get here? That's what really pushed
• 18:00
  me to start Collectors MD. I realized there were
• 18:03
  just so many people out there quietly struggling,
• 18:07
  but no one was really talking about this openly
• 18:09
  and honestly. There were hot takes, jokes, memes,
• 18:15
  meme accounts reposting people who... you know
• 18:18
  open up and talk about what they're going through
• 18:21
  but there really was no space for real honest
• 18:24
  support so i built what i wish had existed for
• 18:29
  me a safe place for collectors who need to hit
• 18:33
  pause sort of recalibrate and feel a sense of
• 18:37
  being understood and a sense of community. So
• 18:40
  with that, what Collectors MD is, it's a movement
• 18:44
  for collectors navigating compulsive collecting
• 18:47
  and spending, especially break culture and hobby
• 18:51
  burnout. We're not anti -hobby. We're pro -accountability
• 18:55
  and we're pro -awareness. Those are really important
• 18:58
  things. And it was created. for collectors by
• 19:03
  collectors. So when you talk about that pity
• 19:09
  or stomach feeling, right? Like you're looking
• 19:11
  over the bank statement or the next morning,
• 19:13
  you're like, man, did I really, did I really
• 19:15
  convince myself two or three more breaks were
• 19:17
  going to get me back to where I needed to be
• 19:19
  to chase this deficit or whatever it may be.
• 19:23
  Somewhere along the way, it was something you
• 19:25
  were very passionate about and excited about,
• 19:27
  and something began to change. Are you able to
• 19:30
  look at your story or the genesis of this and
• 19:34
  figure out? Here's where it went from a passion
• 19:37
  to something that may be destructive or addictive.
• 19:40
  What were the things that you started to notice
• 19:43
  where maybe some red flags were going up? Maybe
• 19:45
  you were suppressing them or shutting them up.
• 19:48
  You're saying that there wasn't really any type
• 19:50
  of peer network to keep you accountable, to check
• 19:52
  on you, to check on your well -being. What were
• 19:55
  those things you were seeing that were, hey,
• 19:57
  this has gone from passion to maybe something
• 19:58
  a little different? Yeah, it's a great question.
• 20:01
  And it's one of the hardest things to spot and
• 20:04
  identify because it blurs so easily, right? Like
• 20:07
  one day you're just collecting your favorite
• 20:09
  team, your favorite players. And the next day
• 20:11
  you're chasing a case hit. You don't even really
• 20:14
  care about spending the money you told yourself
• 20:16
  you wouldn't touch, right? The hobby is an amazing
• 20:18
  place. It really is. It combines nostalgia, creativity.
• 20:23
  It's community driven. But when you mix in 24
• 20:27
  -7 access. And gambling like mechanics and just
• 20:30
  this constant pressure to always keep up and
• 20:34
  be a part of the next, you know, big group break
• 20:39
  or product coming out. It can just it can start
• 20:42
  to turn on you. And, you know, we're seeing it
• 20:44
  happen more and more. People are just becoming
• 20:47
  so burnt out. Relationships are getting strained.
• 20:50
  Finances are getting wrecked. because it still
• 20:53
  looks like a hobby something that you know we
• 20:56
  we enjoyed since we were kids it's hard to call
• 20:59
  it what it really is which for a lot of people
• 21:02
  is compulsion and i always say it's it's not
• 21:04
  about villainizing collecting it's about helping
• 21:07
  people recognize when that joy is gone and the
• 21:10
  behavior has just you know completely consumed
• 21:13
  you and taken over interesting that's that kind
• 21:17
  of leads to to a question for me because When
• 21:20
  I think about the hobby and you reference break
• 21:23
  culture, we talk a lot about how breaking in
• 21:28
  and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing,
• 21:30
  but it can become something really ugly sometimes.
• 21:34
  The chase aspect of what this hobby is about,
• 21:38
  in my opinion, has been around since the hobby
• 21:40
  started. Whether you were chasing a Mickey Mantle
• 21:44
  rookie to stick in your bike spokes in 1952 and
• 21:47
  flipping cards with your friends to chasing Ken
• 21:50
  Griffey Jr. in 89 Upper Deck at 36 bucks a box
• 21:55
  to now when the stakes have exponentially gotten
• 22:00
  higher, the cost of wax has gotten exponentially
• 22:03
  higher. do you think that addiction and compulsive
• 22:07
  behavior is something that has always existed
• 22:09
  in the hobby? Or do you see that as something
• 22:11
  that is become a relatively recent trend due
• 22:16
  to outside forces? Yeah, that's another great
• 22:19
  question because the hobby has been around for
• 22:21
  decades, if not centuries, right? Like people
• 22:25
  have been collecting cards for over a hundred
• 22:27
  years. And the idea of the chase has sort of
• 22:30
  always been baked into. the hobby like since
• 22:33
  the very beginning whether it was trying to complete
• 22:36
  an entire set or you know just land your favorite
• 22:39
  player in you know a pack that you picked up
• 22:42
  from the local store or just finding that elusive
• 22:45
  rookie there's always been a sense of pursuit
• 22:48
  right and over time that pursuit has really just
• 22:51
  shifted from playful passion to high stakes pressure
• 22:55
  i was actually talking to my dad about this when
• 22:57
  he was younger you know He collected cards. He
• 23:00
  was into sports. But, like, it was completely
• 23:02
  different, right? They would take cards and put
• 23:04
  them in the spokes of their bicycle wheels. They
• 23:06
  would flip coins and, like, you know, try to
• 23:12
  win each other's cards. And it was all, like,
• 23:14
  very engaging. And you were physically touching
• 23:16
  them. And nobody really cared about the condition.
• 23:18
  You know, it was an enjoyable experience that
• 23:26
  you got to. uh do with your friends with your
• 23:29
  with your family and um you know i think it's
• 23:34
  just it's shifted so much um and so the the question
• 23:37
  that you asked do i think addiction has always
• 23:39
  been a part of the hobby in some ways yes but
• 23:42
  not like it is now the difference today is the
• 23:45
  environment the digital environment specifically
• 23:47
  we now have 24 7 access there's constant product
• 23:51
  drops live stream breaks instant comps And social
• 23:57
  validation tied to every single purchase you
• 23:59
  make. So it's no longer just a hobby you engage
• 24:02
  with at your own pace. It's become something
• 24:05
  that's actively hunting for your attention and
• 24:08
  for your wallet. That social validation piece,
• 24:12
  I think, is probably and mistake me if you think
• 24:15
  or correct me if you think I'm mistaken here.
• 24:17
  But that piece has probably been the thing that
• 24:19
  has blossomed the most out of the hobby, where
• 24:22
  in some ways, you know, Fanatics has been. unapologetic
• 24:26
  that they are evangelizing the hobby like big
• 24:29
  picture vision for them is that globally there
• 24:31
  are more people collecting in the sports space
• 24:34
  right yeah but with that and the money that comes
• 24:37
  with it are the brands are the content creators
• 24:40
  are the people that are filming vlogs and so
• 24:43
  one thing that's it's not shocking anymore to
• 24:46
  gary and i but we're set up at over 40 shows
• 24:49
  a year there's kids walking up to us with deep
• 24:53
  into the five figures in their case that they've
• 24:56
  been wheeling and dealing. 12 -year -old kids,
• 24:58
  not 18 -year -old kids. Yeah, and they've been
• 25:00
  doing a trade -up challenge for four years, and
• 25:02
  this is where they are. But when you look at
• 25:07
  the, I guess, the fractional selling piece, the
• 25:09
  gambling aspect, if you will, I think it's safe
• 25:12
  to call it that. There is a gambling aspect in
• 25:15
  this. Like, there doesn't seem to be much in
• 25:19
  the way of safeguards. Hey, along the way, if
• 25:23
  you have like in reading your article, you know,
• 25:26
  that just recently dropped, you shared that,
• 25:29
  you know, when it comes to the sports book, there's
• 25:32
  all kinds of warnings. There's all kinds of ways
• 25:34
  where, hey, if you need help, here's all the
• 25:36
  resources. Yet we have a group of kids where
• 25:39
  if your parents are cool with you breaking cards
• 25:42
  on Whatnot, you're allowed to have your own stream
• 25:44
  as a teenager. And so I guess where do you see?
• 25:51
  How could this be more healthy, I guess is what
• 25:55
  I'm trying to say when it comes to that social
• 25:56
  validation piece that we're rewarding what we
• 25:59
  want repeated, right? We tell the algorithm what
• 26:01
  we want to see, but how could we do this in a
• 26:03
  more healthy way? Or what could be added to the
• 26:06
  conversation? What's a truth that needs to be
• 26:10
  understood as people talk about having that big
• 26:12
  hit or buying that big collection or flipping
• 26:15
  that prospect card that they were chasing? What's
• 26:18
  missing in the conversation? Yeah, Jason, that's
• 26:21
  a really great question. And honestly, it's a
• 26:25
  multi -part answer because there's a lot that
• 26:27
  goes into responding to those things and layering
• 26:33
  in these different levels of support and guidance
• 26:38
  for collectors, especially young collectors,
• 26:41
  some of these kids. So when you look at the gambling
• 26:44
  -like behavior that is... has become so prevalent
• 26:48
  in the hobby especially again with younger collectors
• 26:50
  there currently are no real safeguards in place
• 26:54
  there are zero safeguards there are no age gates
• 26:56
  on streams there's no spending limits there's
• 26:59
  no built -in accountability tools like when you're
• 27:02
  playing uh casino live casino on a on an app
• 27:07
  or you know sports betting uh generally There
• 27:10
  are tools in place where you can set a cool off
• 27:13
  period. You can self -exclude. You can set deposit
• 27:16
  limits. None of that exists on the current platforms
• 27:19
  that we have access to. It's an environment where
• 27:21
  kids can basically rip product at a rapid pace,
• 27:24
  spend money they don't necessarily have, and
• 27:27
  subsequently be publicly celebrated for hitting
• 27:31
  a nuke or a banger, what these breakers call
• 27:34
  them these days, all while internalizing this
• 27:36
  idea that value equals worth. you know which
• 27:40
  equals attention and you know let's be honest
• 27:43
  this isn't just a hobby anymore it's become a
• 27:45
  gamified ecosystem like you know from from wheels
• 27:50
  in these uh live streams to random team breaks
• 27:54
  to you know trade backs uh to these hype driven
• 27:58
  countdowns and you know uh repacks it's it's
• 28:02
  operating exactly like online gambling but with
• 28:06
  with no protections uh so what collectors md
• 28:09
  is doing about it um again multi -part answers
• 28:12
  so first and foremost there's a long question
• 28:16
  of course yeah um first and foremost awareness
• 28:20
  and education awareness and education so we're
• 28:23
  starting the conversation that many in this industry
• 28:26
  just have avoided for far too long we have daily
• 28:30
  content Daily Reflection specifically is a series
• 28:34
  of daily journal entries that I post every single
• 28:38
  day to make sure that we are staying relevant
• 28:42
  and mindful based on all of the news and industry
• 28:49
  related things that are going on. Obviously,
• 28:53
  sharing all of this across social through. additional
• 28:58
  content. We have our weekly peer support meetings.
• 29:02
  We're naming what's really happening. And that
• 29:05
  includes the ways kids are being exposed to gambling
• 29:08
  -like behavior at younger and younger ages, which
• 29:11
  again, is just not acceptable. The next is strategic
• 29:14
  partnerships. So we've partnered with groups
• 29:17
  like Birches Health, which is a professional
• 29:25
  mental health clinic that focuses on problematic
• 29:28
  gambling and behavioral addiction so that we
• 29:30
  can offer our members professional guidance and
• 29:36
  therapy as they need it. We recently partnered
• 29:40
  with a company called Gamban, which offers basically
• 29:45
  like app blocking software. to gambling -related
• 29:49
  apps and platforms. They've now added Whatnot
• 29:52
  and Fanatics Live, among several others, where
• 29:54
  people can download that software and be able
• 29:57
  to block themselves from accessing those apps.
• 29:59
  And we're also speaking with... you know, other
• 30:03
  companies and professionals who specialize in
• 30:06
  youth addiction and digital wellness to help
• 30:10
  inform our next step. So there are going to be
• 30:12
  more partnerships rolling out, but Birches and
• 30:14
  Kanban specifically are the two that we rolled
• 30:17
  out earlier this month or earlier in June. Now
• 30:20
  that today is July 1st. The next is support for
• 30:25
  parents. So we're developing resources and eventually
• 30:28
  toolkits to not just help. you know kids and
• 30:31
  adults who are in the hobby but also the parents
• 30:34
  of those kids understand the risks and learn
• 30:37
  how to talk to their kids about what's happening
• 30:39
  in the hobby because many parents just don't
• 30:41
  even understand or realize what live breaks or
• 30:46
  you know, Discord rooms or, you know, a lot of
• 30:49
  these different social platforms actually look
• 30:51
  like. And then lastly, one of the most important,
• 30:54
  which is industry reform. So we're pushing for
• 30:57
  real platform accountability, whether that's
• 30:59
  age verification, just clear warnings, limits
• 31:03
  on live spending, or more transparency from breakers
• 31:06
  and marketplaces. We're not trying to shut anything
• 31:08
  down. keep preaching we are not anti -hobby we
• 31:11
  just want to be safer smarter and more responsible
• 31:14
  across the board so all of this uh we recognize
• 31:18
  is a marathon it's not a sprint but if we want
• 31:21
  the hobby to have a future that is sustainable
• 31:25
  and healthy we can't ignore what's happening
• 31:27
  especially with this next generation so collectors
• 31:29
  md is here to make sure we support protect and
• 31:32
  empower those who are most vulnerable before
• 31:35
  the harm starts becoming irreversible Gotcha.
• 31:38
  So with that being said, and I think this is
• 31:42
  a question that I don't know if you've gotten
• 31:44
  before. You probably have. I'm not that original.
• 31:48
  It sounds like there's a lot of partnerships
• 31:52
  happening peripherally that affect what's going
• 31:56
  on, which is fantastic. Have you had any success
• 32:00
  or have you had any conversations or do you find
• 32:03
  that the main players like. Whatnot or Fanatics
• 32:07
  live, are you getting pushback? Are you, are
• 32:10
  you being seen as adversarial to them? Do you
• 32:12
  see a path towards them being part of the solution
• 32:15
  or do you think this is going to be a fight?
• 32:17
  Yeah, that's a great question. And it's something
• 32:19
  that again is really, really important. The industry
• 32:24
  reform initiative that we have on our website
• 32:26
  is directed at those bigger players, the higher
• 32:31
  powers within the space. And, you know, honestly,
• 32:35
  Having those conversations, getting those conversations
• 32:39
  rolling are challenging. You know, it's really
• 32:41
  hard to sort of shout into a void and get a response.
• 32:45
  Right. I mean, these companies have so much going
• 32:48
  on. And the last thing they want to do is open
• 32:51
  up a can of worms as it pertains to a governing
• 32:54
  body overlooking what they're doing and reforming
• 32:58
  their apps and platforms and everything like
• 33:01
  that. But it's it's. really important. And I
• 33:05
  think it's probably best for them if they act,
• 33:11
  you know, proactively before somebody actually
• 33:15
  comes in and makes those changes. So we have
• 33:18
  reached out to Whatnot and Fanatics and we've
• 33:21
  had positive responses and feedback. Nothing
• 33:25
  sort of concrete yet in terms of actionable items.
• 33:31
  However, things are being looked at. Things are
• 33:34
  being passed to the appropriate departments.
• 33:37
  I had a really positive conversation last night,
• 33:39
  actually, with somebody from Fanatics Live on
• 33:43
  the trust and safety team who is actively looking
• 33:47
  at what we're doing and passing it to the appropriate
• 33:50
  individuals. But to answer your question, we
• 33:54
  haven't had any really serious. pushback. Nobody
• 34:00
  has really questioned what we're doing. I think
• 34:02
  a lot of this is glaringly obvious and people
• 34:08
  do realize that the nature of the hobby has gone
• 34:13
  in this sort of negative direction as it pertains
• 34:16
  to having these gambling -like mechanics and
• 34:19
  just becoming so synonymous with risk reward
• 34:26
  type, type of features. So, um, we're, we're
• 34:29
  headed in that direction, but, uh, you know,
• 34:32
  it's going to take, it's going to take time.
• 34:34
  It's definitely a battle. So we have a tendency
• 34:38
  in our podcast to attract a couple of different
• 34:40
  audiences because we're not the young, cool guys
• 34:43
  on Instagram, but we're not the old set builder
• 34:46
  only kind of guys either. Uh, we're kind of somewhere
• 34:48
  in the middle with our age and we tend to have
• 34:51
  no problem. pointing out some of the things that
• 34:54
  we're talking about being an issue, but I can
• 34:56
  be certain that there are people watching this
• 34:58
  or listening right now that are saying, is it
• 35:01
  really? All right. I hear what you're saying.
• 35:03
  There's been some people that have spent too
• 35:04
  much. They racked up with some credit card debt.
• 35:07
  Is it really that, is it really that is you guys
• 35:10
  being dramatic with this? Is this too much? What
• 35:13
  like, while maintaining the dignity that should
• 35:18
  be in each person's story as they navigate this.
• 35:21
  Can you help us get a snapshot of just how quickly
• 35:24
  and exponentially this challenge becomes a compounding
• 35:29
  problem? I know Gary and I can think back early
• 35:34
  on when it was all on Facebook, right? People
• 35:36
  would go live and break. The first couple of
• 35:38
  times we saw somebody post about, I'm trying
• 35:41
  to save my family. I'm getting out of the hobby
• 35:43
  now. Everything's for sale. I don't care. Don't
• 35:45
  tag me in anything. I remember us being like,
• 35:48
  what is happening here? To those listening that
• 35:51
  may be skeptical, is there a way that you could
• 35:53
  paint a picture of how far this can go and how
• 35:58
  deeply it's impacting lives? And maybe even some
• 36:02
  of the things that family members may notice
• 36:04
  that should be a cause for concern. They shouldn't
• 36:06
  be asking a question. They should be making some
• 36:09
  help available and doing what they can. Yeah,
• 36:11
  it's a great question. And it's something that.
• 36:14
  uh is a little bit of a challenge right because
• 36:16
  a lot of people outside of the hobby especially
• 36:18
  parents they don't understand the full scope
• 36:20
  they don't understand how collecting sports cards
• 36:25
  or trading cards pokemon can um you know become
• 36:30
  an addiction or become something that looks like
• 36:32
  gambling right it just they don't understand
• 36:36
  the nature of what a live break is and all of
• 36:41
  the nuances that come with that you know how
• 36:44
  predatory some of these individuals can be. And
• 36:46
  we're not saying that, again, we're not villainizing
• 36:48
  the hobby or saying that every single breaker
• 36:51
  is a bad actor. You know, at the end of the day,
• 36:53
  folks are just doing their jobs. They're trying
• 36:55
  to make money, put food on the table. And we
• 36:56
  respect that. We get that. But there just needs
• 37:00
  to be some accountability and some reform in
• 37:04
  terms of how these breaks are being conducted.
• 37:06
  So to answer your question, to illustrate kind
• 37:09
  of what this sort of, you know. process can look
• 37:15
  like let's just say you hypothetically hop into
• 37:18
  a break last night monday night just you know
• 37:21
  you decide to grab one team or just you know
• 37:23
  one box just to sort of scratch that itch you
• 37:26
  don't hit anything so you stay for the next break
• 37:30
  or you know you go after the next box just to
• 37:33
  sort of, just in case, you know, that the case
• 37:36
  hit or whatever you were chasing is still lurking,
• 37:38
  right? Because the worst feeling is when somebody
• 37:40
  else comes in and grabs the next box and steals
• 37:43
  whatever you were looking for, snipes whatever
• 37:45
  you were looking for, right? And you got the
• 37:47
  breaker who's operating as, you know, the dealer,
• 37:51
  the marketer, the entertainer, all in one. Yeah,
• 37:55
  exactly. They're hyping everything up. They're
• 37:58
  like, great value. great take you know what is
• 38:02
  steel uh you know like can't believe these teams
• 38:05
  are going for for solo they're just they're creating
• 38:08
  the sense of fomo right and so you kind of just
• 38:12
  get sucked in you're mindlessly pressing buttons
• 38:15
  and and bidding uh on teams or players or whatever
• 38:20
  the format of the break is uh so you get in and
• 38:23
  then next break still nothing so now you're in
• 38:26
  a couple hundred bucks uh but that dopamine spike
• 38:29
  hasn't hit yet so you continue chasing and all
• 38:32
  of this is sort of happening kind of subconsciously
• 38:34
  because you know you're you're feeling disappointed
• 38:37
  but now you're in it deep enough where like you
• 38:40
  got just got to keep going right you have that
• 38:42
  devil on your shoulder that's that's egging you
• 38:45
  on um and then you see someone else pull the
• 38:48
  car that you were you're after the one that you
• 38:50
  uh almost took you know the team for like you
• 38:54
  maybe you traded one of your teams or you had
• 38:56
  an opportunity to trade one of your teams right
• 38:58
  before the break started but you didn't and so
• 39:00
  that fomo just hits right and so you you get
• 39:03
  into the next break and you buy two teams this
• 39:05
  time and still nothing and now you're 500 in
• 39:07
  the hole and you continue to just uh you know
• 39:11
  hit nothing and so you you just decide to go
• 39:15
  and Rip a personal box and one becomes two and
• 39:18
  two becomes three. And next thing you know, you're
• 39:20
  a half case deep. And by the end of the night,
• 39:22
  you've spent thousands of dollars and you've
• 39:25
  sort of convinced yourself all of this is fine
• 39:27
  because, you know, you might you might hit something
• 39:30
  huge to replenish all the money you just spent.
• 39:32
  And at the end of the day, 99 % of the time,
• 39:35
  you're just left with a. a pile of base cards
• 39:38
  and low -end autos or numbered veterans that
• 39:43
  are worth a fraction of what you paid. And this
• 39:46
  isn't just a one -time loss or a one -time thing.
• 39:48
  It's the start of a cycle. And if you're not
• 39:51
  careful, that entire cycle, everything I just
• 39:53
  repeated can start to happen night after night
• 39:57
  after night. And the losses compound and the
• 39:59
  guilt compounds and the urge to chase the next
• 40:01
  break, the next hit, the next dopamine spike.
• 40:04
  They all compound. So what starts out as like
• 40:07
  an innocent $30 quickly becomes 300. And then
• 40:10
  it becomes 3000. And it's all in the name of
• 40:13
  just having fun. It's just that, you know, again,
• 40:16
  hobby positivity, hobby, exactly. But for many,
• 40:19
  it's just not fun anymore. It's emotional, it's
• 40:22
  financial, and psychological whiplash. And that's
• 40:26
  why awareness and intention matters so much.
• 40:28
  And why, you know, Collectors MD exists, because
• 40:31
  it's no longer just collecting. There, there
• 40:34
  are just too many layers to this and it's just,
• 40:36
  it's become a, such a slippery slope as it pertains
• 40:39
  to chasing. And it's just so, so dangerous for
• 40:42
  so many people and they just don't realize it.
• 40:44
  Yeah. So what, what you're describing sounds
• 40:49
  a lot to me like traditional gambling addiction.
• 40:56
  Now, I think a lot of our listeners and people
• 40:58
  in general know. the signs of drug addiction
• 41:02
  or alcohol addiction. What are some of the signs
• 41:05
  that a family member might notice as somebody
• 41:11
  who's for a family member that may be falling
• 41:13
  into this type of addiction? Is there something
• 41:15
  that people should look for to start asking questions
• 41:17
  to try to bring it to awareness? Yeah, it's a
• 41:21
  great question. So you mentioned alcohol addiction,
• 41:24
  drug addiction. Obviously there's gambling addiction
• 41:28
  and Personally, candidly, I had a gambling addiction
• 41:32
  myself and I attended gamblers anonymous meetings
• 41:35
  and I learned a lot through that experience.
• 41:38
  But, you know, as as far as collecting goes,
• 41:42
  there was a missing link for me when I was in
• 41:45
  those rooms. My story didn't necessarily resonate
• 41:49
  with these folks because they just couldn't wrap
• 41:51
  their heads around the idea of collecting being
• 41:55
  an addiction. They just, again, they were on
• 41:57
  the outside looking in and they didn't understand
• 41:59
  the full scope of what I was talking about. And
• 42:02
  one thing fueled the other, you know, as far
• 42:05
  as like whether it was the sports cards fueling
• 42:08
  the gambling or the gambling fueling the sports
• 42:10
  cards. There are a lot of signs to look out for
• 42:15
  that family members and friends and loved ones,
• 42:19
  especially spouses, can look for when it comes
• 42:22
  to those warning signs. I think it starts with
• 42:29
  the financial red flags, right? Money sort of
• 42:32
  just disappearing quickly with little to show
• 42:34
  for it, obviously, first and foremost. Frequent
• 42:38
  borrowing of money or asking for loans with...
• 42:41
  vague explanations, unpaid bills or sudden financial
• 42:45
  hardship despite a steady income, selling personal
• 42:49
  items or collectibles they previously cherished,
• 42:52
  hiding bank statements or getting defensive about
• 42:55
  finances. These are things we see all the time,
• 42:58
  especially among spouses. And then beyond just
• 43:03
  the finances, there's the time and the behaviorships,
• 43:05
  right? hours spent watching live breaks auctions
• 43:08
  or just scrolling marketplaces often late into
• 43:10
  the night so just spending way too much time
• 43:12
  on our devices neglecting responsibilities that
• 43:16
  um should come first things you know at home
• 43:20
  work school etc uh canceling plans are becoming
• 43:23
  sort of withdrawn to stay home so that you can
• 43:27
  uh join the break or you know um not feel that
• 43:32
  sense of FOMO that your favorite breaker is going
• 43:34
  live at midnight and you want to make sure you're
• 43:37
  in the live chat rooting everybody on. And then
• 43:41
  lying about the time spent online or in hobby
• 43:44
  -related forums or live chats. There's a lot
• 43:46
  of dishonesty that's going on with this where
• 43:50
  people are just lying to protect themselves or
• 43:53
  protect their addiction and they don't even realize
• 43:56
  they're doing it. Sorry, go ahead. I was going
• 44:00
  to say there are a few others. There's obviously
• 44:01
  emotional and psychological changes, just becoming
• 44:04
  more irritable, moody or anxious, especially
• 44:06
  just after a bad night of ripping or financial
• 44:09
  loss, obsessing over that next product drop or
• 44:12
  hit or grail piece that you're chasing, justifying
• 44:16
  purchases with things like I had to, it was a
• 44:19
  great deal, I was due. And again, defensiveness
• 44:23
  and secrecy when people put you on the spot and
• 44:28
  ask you, what's going on with your, with your
• 44:31
  hobby habits. There's also compulsive patterns,
• 44:34
  just like chasing losses, never feeling satisfied
• 44:37
  saying this is going to be the last one, but
• 44:39
  then just jumping right back in difficulty stopping.
• 44:42
  And then lastly, like the mental and emotional
• 44:44
  strain of all this just feeling or expressing
• 44:47
  guilt, shame or regret after purchasing or ripping
• 44:52
  and mentioning feelings like. I can't stop or
• 44:56
  I think I have a problem or I don't even really
• 44:58
  want this stuff. And then most importantly, I
• 45:01
  think a lot of people just sort of use the hobby
• 45:03
  as an escape from stress, anxiety, or depression
• 45:06
  or whatever issues they're dealing with in their
• 45:08
  personal life almost as like a band -aid of sorts.
• 45:12
  I know that's something that definitely helped
• 45:15
  me when I was feeling down two in the morning
• 45:17
  after my wife falls asleep or sometimes even
• 45:20
  later, just hop into a live break and... you
• 45:23
  know, unwind that way and everything just like
• 45:25
  reality kind of disappears for a little while.
• 45:28
  And, you know, you're just chasing after that
• 45:30
  dopamine hit. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So you,
• 45:36
  you talked about like noticing behavioral shifts,
• 45:39
  emotional shifts. When we on the podcast talk
• 45:43
  about just the math on the value in breaks. We
• 45:49
  have a tendency to have, I think Gary referred
• 45:51
  to this as like a legion of people who they have
• 45:55
  their favorite breaker. They're believing this
• 45:57
  person knows how far down each of them are, and
• 46:00
  they're going to do everything they can to sprinkle
• 46:02
  their magic pixie dust on the next pack and take
• 46:06
  care of them. But I've noticed this real sharp
• 46:09
  defensiveness around this conversation with people,
• 46:13
  almost as if. You're going to ruin everything
• 46:17
  that's good about the hobby if you point out
• 46:20
  some of these harsh realities. It's like they're
• 46:22
  defending their dealer. Right. A little bit.
• 46:24
  Right. Because they're still down. With claws
• 46:26
  out. Right. But how has fractional buying or
• 46:32
  fractional participation impacted this? Because
• 46:35
  almost every time we get a strong wave of reactions,
• 46:38
  it's when we're talking about breaking. Now,
• 46:40
  just to be completely clear, Gary will jump in
• 46:42
  a break. I'll jump in a break. We talk about
• 46:45
  our business model. We both sell cards for a
• 46:47
  living. We do not recommend breaking at any point
• 46:51
  as a model for making any kind of money in this
• 46:54
  space. Right. But it does seem like they're tethered
• 46:58
  together somehow. Like the people that have a
• 47:03
  really tough time talking about this getting
• 47:04
  out of hand are the people that seem to 90 %
• 47:07
  of their sports card engagement seems to be around
• 47:10
  breaking. Is it just as simple as it releases
• 47:15
  the dopamine a lot quicker? There's more of a
• 47:17
  chase? What's the element? I'm making an assumption
• 47:22
  that breaking is a big part of this. Why specifically
• 47:25
  do you think that fractional selling may be gas
• 47:28
  on the fire, if you will? And why do the people
• 47:32
  who are almost victims of it? defend it so that's
• 47:35
  a better way of asking that question yeah yeah
• 47:38
  it's it's again a multi -part answer i think
• 47:41
  breaking specifically um breaking culture is
• 47:46
  what has led us to a lot of this addictive behavior
• 47:50
  uh because it just mimics gambling so much so
• 47:54
  and there are no guardrails in place so people
• 47:57
  get sucked in really easily um you know they're
• 48:01
  the There's the excitement within the live streams,
• 48:05
  the lights and the overlays. And again, the breaker
• 48:08
  just pumping up the chat. Everything is chat,
• 48:12
  chat, chat. There's so much pressure and creates
• 48:17
  this sense of FOMO, fear of missing out, where
• 48:19
  you feel like you're a part of something. You
• 48:22
  feel like you're a part of, like you found a
• 48:28
  place where you belong. So there are a few things.
• 48:31
  The first is sort of the predatory selling tactics
• 48:35
  and the misinformation in the hobby. And that's
• 48:38
  something we had chatted about before we went
• 48:41
  live. I think a big issue is the predatory approach
• 48:45
  to selling cards and to pushing breaks. Breakers
• 48:49
  will lean heavily into hype and mislead with
• 48:54
  information or comps. push urgency or like use
• 48:57
  different gimmicks again, like the wheels and
• 49:00
  the trade backs, the repacks just, it's all very,
• 49:04
  very, you know, scammy. And it's all framed again
• 49:08
  as entertainment, but underneath it's, it's just,
• 49:11
  it's a pressure cooker. People are spending more
• 49:13
  than they can afford because they're being manipulated
• 49:15
  by momentum and not logic. And, you know, again,
• 49:18
  the misinformation, it's like calling out comps
• 49:21
  that are flat out wrong. you know, is like the
• 49:24
  biggest defense there ever was. Let's call it
• 49:26
  what it is, a flat out lie. Yeah, it's crazy.
• 49:30
  What drives me crazy is when breakers just use
• 49:33
  eBay to look up a comp and then they inflate
• 49:36
  the comp, but you really got to use like 130
• 49:38
  point or card ladder to see what like a best
• 49:40
  offer was accepted for. It's, you know, we're
• 49:43
  getting into semantics of it, but breakers do
• 49:46
  that all the time. Like, wow. Or they see something
• 49:49
  in the chat and they just. they consider it Bible.
• 49:51
  Like, it must be true. I saw it recently where
• 49:55
  they, it was a couple nights ago, I was watching
• 49:58
  a live stream because, you know, I'm still actively
• 50:00
  involved. And especially from like this side
• 50:02
  of the fence now, watching breaks or like watching
• 50:06
  a lot of this activity is important because I
• 50:10
  need to stay in the know and see what's going
• 50:11
  on, right? And so the breaker hit. It was a Brian
• 50:16
  or what's his name? Brian Thomas Jr. on the Jaguars
• 50:19
  from the Mosaic Sparkle Packs number to eight.
• 50:24
  Nice card. Don't get me wrong. Nice looking card.
• 50:26
  But somebody in the chat said, oh, last one did
• 50:29
  $700. And I'm scratching my head. I'm like, there's
• 50:32
  no way that's true. And I'm not going to sit
• 50:33
  there and call anybody out because that's just
• 50:35
  not what I do, especially these days. But $700.
• 50:40
  So I look it up and it's like. The last one did
• 50:42
  like 140 bucks. And next thing you know, the
• 50:45
  breaker's telling the guy who hit the card that
• 50:47
  he tripled his money. And the guy's super excited,
• 50:50
  freaking out. I mean, it's just, it's, it's.
• 50:52
  Your next break is free. And then, right. And
• 50:55
  then the next break is free. You already paid
• 50:57
  for your next two breaks free. I have a list
• 50:59
  of buzzwords or like keywords that drive me absolutely
• 51:03
  crazy. And I keep it in a notes app. And the
• 51:07
  number one phrase on that list is paid. paid
• 51:11
  you know when they when they tell tell you that
• 51:13
  you're paid and it's like it's just the lie it's
• 51:17
  a straight -up lie so um you know with that uh
• 51:20
  you know the kicker is like when somebody calls
• 51:23
  that out it's it's just like use a word that
• 51:26
  i really liked earlier an adjective uh visceral
• 51:29
  um it's it's like visceral it's almost like tribal
• 51:32
  tribal backlash and why and so yeah within that
• 51:37
  ecosystem what's happening is You have this community
• 51:41
  introduced through breaking that probably digitally
• 51:43
  were exposed to card collecting first. They're
• 51:46
  being introduced through socials and all this.
• 51:48
  They're getting their case full of cards that
• 51:51
  were these hits that are $700. They're walking
• 51:54
  into card shows, interacting with real humans
• 51:57
  that they're seeing face to face. I do this for
• 51:59
  a living digitally. They're interacting as well.
• 52:01
  That's a little harsh. I shouldn't say it like
• 52:02
  that, but they're face to face with other collectors
• 52:05
  in a room. Yeah. And what they believe is $10
• 52:07
  ,000 of equity. or whatever they want to call
• 52:11
  it. They're learning they have less than half
• 52:13
  of that. So they say, well, I'm not going to
• 52:15
  any more shows. Those dealers are crazy. Those
• 52:18
  collectors don't know what they're talking about.
• 52:20
  They only go for the lowest comp. And then they're
• 52:22
  just creating an echo chamber and staying insulated
• 52:25
  with the same group that's feeding. I mean, is
• 52:27
  that what you're seeing too? 100%. I'm seeing
• 52:30
  that pretty forward, but it seems to be like
• 52:32
  a self -compounding issue. Absolutely. Yeah.
• 52:37
  Yeah, yeah. These breakers have like stands now,
• 52:42
  you know, this army of keyboard warriors that
• 52:46
  just will defend them to the very end. And so,
• 52:48
  you know, you asked why that is. And I think
• 52:52
  it's because for some collectors, these breakers
• 52:55
  have become more than just breakers, more than
• 52:57
  just sellers to them. They've become these personalities,
• 53:00
  these, you know, higher, you know, than. These
• 53:06
  holy heroes of sorts. And it's become like a
• 53:09
  community. And in some cases for them, it's like
• 53:12
  an emotional anchor, right? They look forward
• 53:14
  to watching their favorite breaker go live. It's
• 53:17
  like watching your favorite TV show, right? And
• 53:19
  when someone critiques that breaker, that person,
• 53:22
  it can feel like an attack, a personal attack
• 53:24
  on the entire group identity. So it's not just
• 53:28
  like you're wrong. It's you're threatening the
• 53:30
  place where I found this belonging. And there's
• 53:33
  also this like sort of cognitive dissonance,
• 53:36
  right? You've spent thousands with a breaker,
• 53:38
  let's say, and someone points out that they're
• 53:40
  giving you bad info or, you know, scamming you
• 53:42
  or manipulating comps or whatever the case may
• 53:45
  be. And, you know, that could just be a really,
• 53:46
  really hard truth to swallow. So instead of like
• 53:49
  sort of reevaluating and, you know, taking a
• 53:54
  step back and thinking, hey, this person might
• 53:57
  actually be wrong for a change, people double
• 53:59
  down and just defend it at all costs. It's tough
• 54:04
  because a lot of people are just so stuck in
• 54:08
  their ways and they're not going to be convinced
• 54:11
  one way or another whether this is predatory
• 54:16
  behavior or not. It's almost like they're brainwashed,
• 54:20
  sadly. Again, it's pushing the awareness and
• 54:25
  getting this message out there before it's too
• 54:28
  late across the board. Well, let's talk about
• 54:31
  that. We've talked about... a lot of what this
• 54:34
  looks like, how it affects people, the really
• 54:38
  negative impact a lot of this can have on somebody's
• 54:40
  life. Let's talk about your tagline and mission
• 54:44
  statement. Tell us what collecting with intention
• 54:47
  means and how that is implemented. Yeah, no,
• 54:51
  it's honestly our North Star. It's the most important
• 54:55
  part of Collectors MD, collecting with intention.
• 54:58
  It's not about telling people. what to collect
• 55:00
  or how to collect it's about asking why right
• 55:04
  why this card why this purchase and it doesn't
• 55:06
  necessarily have to just be uh cards sports cards
• 55:10
  tcg it could be any collectible item it could
• 55:13
  be uh you know memorabilia it could be sneakers
• 55:16
  watches handbags nfts uh 67 cars exactly like
• 55:24
  uh you know um there's digital items or currency
• 55:28
  within gaming now? Like, so, you know, it's all
• 55:32
  about evaluating why this purchase? Why now?
• 55:36
  Is it for nostalgia? Is it for connection? Or
• 55:39
  are you just trying to fill a void? Are you just
• 55:41
  trying to, you know, get that, that quick hit,
• 55:45
  and then move on to the next. So collecting with
• 55:47
  intention just means being honest with yourself.
• 55:50
  It means slowing down, taking a beat, choosing
• 55:53
  quality over quantity, and defining your own
• 55:56
  path in the hobby or your hobby instead of letting
• 55:59
  hype steer you. And it's also about community,
• 56:02
  having honest conversations, supporting one another,
• 56:05
  and making sure or making it okay to say, hey,
• 56:09
  I'm struggling right now. I need help. That's
• 56:11
  okay. Because when intention leads the way, when
• 56:14
  intention is, you know, again, your North Star,
• 56:17
  your guiding light. you actually get so much
• 56:19
  more out of the hobby, not less. Like for me
• 56:22
  personally, I at a point had over 500 pairs of
• 56:27
  sneakers when I was really deep into collecting
• 56:29
  sneakers. I had over a dozen cases or those Zion
• 56:34
  cases filled with slabs and top loaded cards,
• 56:38
  you know, just completely packed to the brim.
• 56:43
  And, you know. I couldn't really enjoy or appreciate
• 56:48
  what I had because one person doesn't need to
• 56:50
  have that much stuff. You have more than most
• 56:52
  dealers. I know exactly. Like when you, when
• 56:55
  you break it down, when you curate it, it allows
• 56:58
  you to appreciate what you have so much more.
• 57:01
  Again, one person doesn't need all that. So,
• 57:03
  you know, I now I've, again, I've, I've reduced
• 57:07
  the size of, of my collection across the board,
• 57:09
  sneakers, memorabilia. cards, hats, jerseys,
• 57:13
  everything that I've collected over throughout
• 57:15
  my life, I have consolidated it into much smaller
• 57:20
  sizes. And I just appreciate it so much more
• 57:25
  because again, I'm collecting with intention,
• 57:27
  not compulsion. So that's, that's just, that's
• 57:30
  so incredibly important and something that I
• 57:32
  think people don't even take a beat to think
• 57:35
  about. I'm curious. this is one that we didn't
• 57:38
  talk about before but as you're mentioning that
• 57:40
  does building a pc help you to collect with more
• 57:46
  intention like kind of defining it's like for
• 57:50
  me eric davis from the reds is my pc luckily
• 57:53
  for me he's very affordable but as a kid he was
• 57:56
  somebody that was a legend to me um does when
• 58:00
  you're setting like setting intention around
• 58:03
  it Like, do you have a PC right now? Here's an
• 58:06
  athlete or here's a team. Does that help you
• 58:08
  in some way or not necessarily? Yeah, I mean,
• 58:12
  I think it depends. You know, it depends how
• 58:15
  you're going about collecting that specific player
• 58:19
  or specific set. Obviously, focusing on a PC
• 58:24
  gives you a more clear target. So instead of
• 58:27
  like ripping everything that's new or like, you
• 58:30
  know. getting that sense of FOMO. So you have
• 58:32
  to join every single random break. You start
• 58:35
  asking yourself, does this card or does this
• 58:38
  set fit my collection? Is this a card I've genuinely
• 58:41
  been looking for? This simple sort of filter
• 58:44
  you can call it can dramatically reduce impulsive
• 58:47
  purchases. It's helped me a lot because like
• 58:49
  I've decided, you know, there are certain boundaries
• 58:52
  and it's, they're not that serious. It's like,
• 58:55
  I just no longer collect horizontal cards or
• 58:58
  I no longer collect. jersey pieces if there's
• 59:01
  no ink on them. You know, I no longer really
• 59:04
  collect like die cuts or, I mean, it's like specific
• 59:07
  cards. Like I don't really collect defensive
• 59:09
  players in football anymore. You kind of just
• 59:11
  create these like personal limits that gives
• 59:15
  you a more refined, a more curated focus on what
• 59:19
  you're looking for. And it helps you collect
• 59:22
  smarter, right? A focused PC forces you to research.
• 59:26
  which cards matter most for your player or your
• 59:29
  theme, like whatever the case may be, what price
• 59:32
  ranges make sense, what, you know, where to find
• 59:34
  real value versus just the hype driven chasing.
• 59:37
  You're more informed, you're less reactive, and
• 59:40
  that can make the hobby feel more meaningful
• 59:42
  and just like less chaotic. It also builds like
• 59:46
  an emotional connection, you know, whether it's
• 59:49
  like your hometown team or a player just who
• 59:51
  you grew up. rooting for uh like kind of brings
• 59:56
  back memories um a pc is is very personal in
• 1:00:00
  that sense and that kind of collecting again
• 1:00:02
  like it roots you in nostalgia connection and
• 1:00:05
  joy just not just that that dopamine hit um but
• 1:00:08
  you know it can also be dangerous right because
• 1:00:10
  if you start to uh overextend and you're like
• 1:00:14
  i need every single parallel in the rainbow for
• 1:00:17
  a specific player you're never going to get there
• 1:00:20
  right it's just it becomes lucrative because
• 1:00:23
  these sets now just every year they they add
• 1:00:26
  more and more parallels more 41 of ones this
• 1:00:29
  year you know more and more formats like one
• 1:00:31
  of ones have lost their uh sort of um intrigue
• 1:00:36
  and their their value because there's such an
• 1:00:38
  oversaturation of them like Victor Wembanyama
• 1:00:42
  had thousands if not tens of thousands of different
• 1:00:46
  one -of -ones across every Panini set every top
• 1:00:50
  set you know in his rookie year like that's absurd
• 1:00:53
  you know so it's like and then everything is
• 1:00:56
  everything is the true everything's right like
• 1:00:58
  if everything is the true then what is the actual
• 1:01:00
  true it's it's don't let the market or the the
• 1:01:05
  hobby or the industry manipulate that You get
• 1:01:08
  to make that decision with your own collection.
• 1:01:10
  And then the industry tries to hand you on a
• 1:01:13
  silver platter, a product like Mercury, knowing
• 1:01:16
  that that value is never, ever going to be seen.
• 1:01:22
  And within three months, it may fall out. Now,
• 1:01:24
  is it unique? Is this a generational player?
• 1:01:26
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And
• 1:01:27
  they're going to find one of those every year
• 1:01:29
  in one sport. It's going to be there. That's
• 1:01:32
  something that drives me insane. Because they're
• 1:01:33
  here to make money. Right. The players are being,
• 1:01:36
  the athletes are being exploited now because
• 1:01:38
  the manufacturers, the platforms, the breakers,
• 1:01:42
  they're taking advantage of the fact that these
• 1:01:45
  players sell and they're using their likeness
• 1:01:49
  in a way that, again, is predatory, right? They're
• 1:01:53
  like, you have to have Caitlin Clark. This product
• 1:01:56
  that came out yesterday. I mean, everybody sort
• 1:02:00
  of feels the same way. A $30 ,000 ceiling on
• 1:02:03
  a Dutch auction. What are we doing? For two cards.
• 1:02:06
  For two cards. And like, I respect the heck out
• 1:02:08
  of the fact that the WNBA has burst onto the
• 1:02:10
  scene. Yeah. Caitlin Clark has redefined what
• 1:02:14
  women's basketball looks like and how it's. perceived
• 1:02:19
  and spectated like i love that one of those cards
• 1:02:22
  i love the direction it's going in but like the
• 1:02:25
  fact that you know people are willing to pay
• 1:02:28
  that kind of money to chase the kaboom or the
• 1:02:31
  one of one or the what are they the lady logo
• 1:02:34
  man or the logo lady it's it's silly it's it's
• 1:02:37
  ridiculous honestly and uh every year we have
• 1:02:40
  something new thrown at us when i was reintroduced
• 1:02:44
  to the sports card hobby early on in the pandemic
• 1:02:47
  Everybody was all about Zion and Ja. I mean,
• 1:02:49
  Zion and Ja couldn't be more yesterday's news
• 1:02:53
  if they tried. Every year, it's something new.
• 1:02:57
  The following year, it was Ant -Man, LaMelo.
• 1:03:00
  I mean, it was more so LaMelo, actually. And
• 1:03:02
  now LaMelo, people don't really care as much
• 1:03:05
  about him. It's all about him. And Halliburton
• 1:03:07
  in that class. The following year, it was Cade
• 1:03:10
  Cunningham and Jalen Green. Jalen Green just
• 1:03:13
  got shipped off to Phoenix. Nobody cares about
• 1:03:15
  him anymore. Following year, we had Paolo and
• 1:03:18
  Chet. You know, it's like every year it's something
• 1:03:21
  new. Now Cooper Flagg is all the hype. So next
• 1:03:25
  year, I'm telling you, it's going to happen all
• 1:03:28
  over again. There's a kid coming into the league.
• 1:03:31
  His name is AJ DePansa, I think you pronounce
• 1:03:35
  his last name. He's another generational talent,
• 1:03:38
  once -in -a -lifetime player that we're never
• 1:03:40
  going to see again. Apparently the top five picks
• 1:03:43
  for the 2026 NBA draft are all arguably number
• 1:03:48
  one picks. You got Carlos Boozer's kid. There's
• 1:03:52
  a few others. But we get fed the same story every
• 1:03:57
  single year. Yeah, it's all hype. It's all manufactured
• 1:03:59
  hype. Yeah. So we've had a really good conversation
• 1:04:04
  here. Bring this to a close. A couple questions
• 1:04:07
  that go together and then one to finish out with
• 1:04:11
  because we want to give you a chance to kind
• 1:04:13
  of cast your vision and share some other ways
• 1:04:15
  that people can find you and your community.
• 1:04:17
  But I guess what resources do you guys offer
• 1:04:21
  to people and how can people reach out to you
• 1:04:25
  to get started on that recovery? Yeah. So we
• 1:04:28
  offer a variety of things right now. So we talked
• 1:04:32
  briefly about the weekly support meetings. Again,
• 1:04:35
  those are private, safe and confidential virtual
• 1:04:37
  video calls where collectors can share openly
• 1:04:40
  and connect with others navigating similar challenges.
• 1:04:43
  There is a Google form that you can fill out.
• 1:04:47
  It's basically just a screening form, but it
• 1:04:50
  allows us to collect your information, your email
• 1:04:52
  address and understand. sort of your story and
• 1:04:56
  what kind of support you need. And then from
• 1:04:58
  there, we add you to the weekly meeting. And,
• 1:05:03
  you know, it's obviously not mandatory or anything
• 1:05:06
  like that, but you can come and go as you please.
• 1:05:08
  It's completely free, no strings attached. You
• 1:05:12
  join, you talk about what you're going through,
• 1:05:14
  share with others, hear from others. And it's
• 1:05:17
  just a really, really great way to sort of go
• 1:05:22
  through. your first stage of recovery and therapy.
• 1:05:26
  It's very cathartic. So we've, we've created
• 1:05:28
  a community through that, which has been amazing.
• 1:05:31
  We also produce content on a daily basis. So
• 1:05:33
  we have daily reflections. Those are basically
• 1:05:36
  thought provoking essays and journal entries
• 1:05:39
  designed to inspire clarity and intention in
• 1:05:42
  your collecting journey. Those are published
• 1:05:43
  every single day. Haven't missed a day since
• 1:05:46
  we launched a collector's MD on March 26th. We
• 1:05:49
  have Other forms of content. So expert informed
• 1:05:53
  breakdowns, resources and personal stories designed
• 1:05:57
  to educate, inspire and help collectors reflect
• 1:05:59
  more intentionally. We have our podcast, The
• 1:06:03
  Collector's Compass, it's called The Collector's
• 1:06:05
  Compass. Those are honest conversations with
• 1:06:08
  collectors, industry voices and mental health
• 1:06:10
  advocates just talking about, you know, the nature
• 1:06:13
  of all this and why. Collecting with intention
• 1:06:15
  is so incredibly important. We have recovery
• 1:06:18
  tools and educational resources. So those are
• 1:06:20
  tools and materials to help better understand
• 1:06:22
  compulsive collecting behaviors and how to manage
• 1:06:24
  them. We have our strategic partnerships, which
• 1:06:27
  we mentioned with Birches and Gamban. And then
• 1:06:30
  lastly, the industry advocacy. We're actively
• 1:06:32
  pushing for reform across platforms, breakers
• 1:06:34
  and mortar places to create a safer and more
• 1:06:36
  transparent collecting environment. So you want
• 1:06:38
  to check out any of that. I know I just gave
• 1:06:40
  you a lot. You go to collectorsmd .com. At the
• 1:06:44
  top, there are two different drop -down menus,
• 1:06:47
  one for Discover, which is basically all of our
• 1:06:49
  content, our news and announcements, inspiring
• 1:06:51
  quotes, things like that. And then there's one
• 1:06:53
  for Resources. So that's where you can find access
• 1:06:56
  to the Google form for the weekly meetings, the
• 1:06:59
  Collector's MD Recovery Guide, which is the foundation
• 1:07:01
  of our meetings, which was adapted from the Gambler's
• 1:07:04
  Anonymous Yellow Book, which we use in GA meetings.
• 1:07:07
  It looks like this. This is the GA Yellow Book
• 1:07:10
  that it was adapted from. The industry. reform
• 1:07:13
  initiative that I mentioned. We have a collector's
• 1:07:15
  MD hobby dictionary so that you can stay in the
• 1:07:17
  know and educated and go about your hobby journey
• 1:07:21
  responsibly. And, you know, so you're not falling
• 1:07:25
  behind. There's a get help section. And then
• 1:07:27
  there's two sections that touch on our partnerships
• 1:07:30
  with Birches and Gambin. So lots going on. We're
• 1:07:35
  on social as well across the board. You can check
• 1:07:38
  us out on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube.
• 1:07:43
  X. We're also on Mantle. That's a really great
• 1:07:47
  place to join the conversation and just be part
• 1:07:52
  of the daily content that we put out. Are you
• 1:07:55
  guys familiar with Mantle? I am familiar. Only
• 1:07:58
  recently I've been seeing a lot more on it. I
• 1:08:01
  have no idea. It's basically like a Discord type
• 1:08:05
  of platform, but it's specifically designed for
• 1:08:08
  the hobby. um so there's not like you know all
• 1:08:11
  the extra fluff that you you would see on on
• 1:08:14
  discord or reddit um but it's it's a really really
• 1:08:17
  great place where you can um you know join different
• 1:08:21
  types of groups uh or marketplaces and uh be
• 1:08:26
  a part of the the daily discussion so we're on
• 1:08:29
  there as well Awesome. Perfect. Well, Alyx, we
• 1:08:32
  can't thank you enough for your time to do this.
• 1:08:35
  I know that when you reached out, we were like,
• 1:08:37
  somebody wants to talk with us in the podcast.
• 1:08:39
  But the more we dove into what you're doing,
• 1:08:43
  I think what you're doing is essential. I think
• 1:08:45
  it's needed. I really hope that in the short
• 1:08:48
  future, anyone that's in this community of collectors
• 1:08:52
  that finds themselves in a place or comes to
• 1:08:55
  a place of awareness that they could use some
• 1:08:57
  help sees that that's what this is. This is not
• 1:08:59
  a place to just dump shame on people, but it's
• 1:09:02
  a place to provide help and a way forward and
• 1:09:05
  a way to collect with intention. I really love
• 1:09:07
  that. That's a really beautiful resolve with
• 1:09:09
  what you're doing is that you're helping to kind
• 1:09:11
  of restore what's beautiful about the hobby.
• 1:09:15
  essentially. Um, and, uh, we can't thank you
• 1:09:17
  enough for your time. Uh, we'll be definitely
• 1:09:19
  encouraging any listeners. If you're listening
• 1:09:21
  in and take advantage of these resources, they
• 1:09:23
  are available to you. And we know we'll only
• 1:09:25
  be hearing more, uh, from you and collectors,
• 1:09:28
  uh, MD in the future. So thank you so much, Jason,
• 1:09:31
  Gary, really appreciate it. Uh, it was a pleasure
• 1:09:33
  chatting with you guys and, um, yeah, I'm really,
• 1:09:37
  really excited to see where. collectors md takes
• 1:09:41
  us in the coming weeks in the coming months so
• 1:09:43
  uh thank you again for giving me this opportunity
• 1:09:45
  to to talk to go into great detail about what
• 1:09:48
  we're doing and uh appreciate you guys being
• 1:09:52
  a part of the journey Absolutely. Thanks again,
• 1:09:54
  man. All right. Thanks so much, Alyx, for joining
• 1:09:57
  us. Hopefully you guys found that interview to
• 1:10:00
  be helpful. I know we learned a lot of things
• 1:10:02
  from it. And if you have any questions or you
• 1:10:06
  want to reach out, Alyx gave you all the ways
• 1:10:09
  that you can follow them. And if you need support,
• 1:10:12
  join their support group that is free and you
• 1:10:15
  can get some of the support that you need. One
• 1:10:19
  thing I would add, too, we talked about it last
• 1:10:21
  week. that element of guilt and shame that people
• 1:10:26
  can feel in dealing with that reality. And for
• 1:10:30
  you and I, we have firsthand seen people that
• 1:10:33
  we know in this space, very active in the hobby,
• 1:10:36
  lose way more than they ever should. And we're
• 1:10:40
  not talking about cards or money. So if you're
• 1:10:44
  in that place, just know that there's help and
• 1:10:47
  there's support. And we encourage you to get
• 1:10:49
  that. And we want to help you any way we can
• 1:10:52
  to find what you need. So be sure to check them
• 1:10:54
  out on that. Up next, let's move into low -end
• 1:10:58
  liquid. This one is kind of a fun one. This is
• 1:11:02
  your world, my friend. There's different tiers
• 1:11:03
  of low -end liquid. There's low -end liquid,
• 1:11:06
  and some of you think $20 cards. There's low
• 1:11:09
  -end liquid that moves for $5. And then there's
• 1:11:11
  the low -end liquid you're probably going to
• 1:11:13
  get offers at like $175 free shipping on. Yeah.
• 1:11:16
  And we're down. in the bargain basement today
• 1:11:19
  for this set. The only reason I'm bringing this
• 1:11:23
  set up is when I sell one, I usually sell five
• 1:11:25
  to ten of them at a time. And that is the Collector's
• 1:11:28
  Choice Stick 'ems. Now. If you're a product of
• 1:11:32
  the 80s or 90s, you definitely remember these.
• 1:11:35
  There were some even later in the 90s. Oh, that's
• 1:11:37
  my favorite variation of these. This is not the
• 1:11:39
  stickums, but in the same family, the bobble
• 1:11:42
  heads, the bobbing heads is what they're called.
• 1:11:44
  Technically, where you could that's a Clemens
• 1:11:46
  right there where you pop the head out, put it
• 1:11:48
  on a stand. A lot of these other ones that there
• 1:11:50
  are multiple stickers of each player. Just look
• 1:11:52
  at here. I've got Kenny Lofton. There's Cal Ripken
• 1:11:55
  Jr. A lot of big stars in the game. And chances
• 1:11:59
  are you had one of these on. your trapper keeper
• 1:12:01
  in the 90s really good chance of it or it was
• 1:12:04
  stuck underneath the desk at school or you put
• 1:12:07
  it on the wall and left it there for a couple
• 1:12:09
  months and then your parents wanted you to peel
• 1:12:11
  it off and you peel paint with it whatever whatever
• 1:12:13
  the cause sounds like a memory more than anything
• 1:12:16
  else uh if you're buying these buy them as cheap
• 1:12:19
  as possible this is stuff that usually is in
• 1:12:21
  like a a bulk box of nothing and you go pick
• 1:12:24
  through and there's 20 of them in there. You're
• 1:12:26
  in them under a penny a piece because you bought
• 1:12:28
  thousands and thousands of cards. What's your
• 1:12:29
  sell -through rate on something like that? I
• 1:12:31
  don't know exactly the sell -through rate on
• 1:12:33
  this, to be fair, because I don't want to project
• 1:12:35
  it. But what I can say is when it sells... It
• 1:12:38
  may not be super quick, but when it sells, you're
• 1:12:41
  selling in multiple quantities. So this is more
• 1:12:43
  of a multi -quantity slash low -end liquid. It's
• 1:12:47
  not something where it's like, oh, good, a new
• 1:12:48
  Stickums is out. There's a ton of these out there.
• 1:12:50
  But this is more of a nostalgic piece for people.
• 1:12:53
  That's why they're buying this. It's a really
• 1:12:55
  cheap set if somebody does do that kind of stuff.
• 1:12:57
  But I think if I've dropped in maybe 50 of these,
• 1:13:03
  I've sold over half in the last few months. Yeah,
• 1:13:05
  there you go. Could be off a little bit on that,
• 1:13:07
  but definitely one to keep an eye out for. You
• 1:13:10
  will see them in, like, bulk. So don't sleep
• 1:13:12
  on that. If you're evaluating a bulk deal, hopefully,
• 1:13:14
  if you're selling low in liquid, when I talk
• 1:13:17
  about some of these low in liquids cards, like,
• 1:13:19
  when you're looking at the four -row box, if
• 1:13:21
  you start seeing five, six, or seven of the different
• 1:13:23
  low in liquid cards we've brought up in the last
• 1:13:25
  20 episodes. That means, hey, there's stuff in
• 1:13:28
  here that's going to sell for me. That's the
• 1:13:30
  reason we're doing that. So hopefully it helps
• 1:13:31
  you buy a little bit better, make a little bit
• 1:13:33
  more, and move that money a little bit quicker.
• 1:13:35
  Ooh, that kind of had a nice ring to it. Perfect.
• 1:13:37
  Low and liquid. You want to talk about some baseball?
• 1:13:39
  Let's talk about some baseball. So it's time
• 1:13:40
  for the lookout. Now, a couple things I want
• 1:13:43
  to say. The player I wanted to talk about this
• 1:13:45
  week, I didn't get the chance to because he got
• 1:13:48
  called up before we could record this episode,
• 1:13:50
  and that was Yankeel Fernandez. Sure you did.
• 1:13:53
  I was high on him. We talked about him last year.
• 1:13:56
  Big power hitter for the Rockies. And then I
• 1:13:58
  also want to talk about another call -up that
• 1:14:00
  happened before we could record this episode,
• 1:14:02
  which is a guy we talked about probably six weeks
• 1:14:04
  ago, and that was Colby Thomas for the A's. He
• 1:14:06
  is now on the Major League roster. This week,
• 1:14:10
  we're going to talk about Joe Mack, who is a
• 1:14:12
  catcher for the Miami Marlins organization. He's
• 1:14:15
  in AAA. Joe was a first -round competitive balance
• 1:14:19
  round A pick. So he was the number 31 overall
• 1:14:21
  pick out of high school in 2021. Never had any
• 1:14:25
  questions about his defensive prowess. Offense
• 1:14:28
  was a struggle for the first two to three years
• 1:14:30
  of his career, mostly because he really, really
• 1:14:32
  struggled with breaking balls. he still struggles
• 1:14:36
  to an extent with breaking balls. He's gotten
• 1:14:39
  better at laying off them. However, he used to
• 1:14:41
  be relatively passive early in counts, and last
• 1:14:44
  year he changed his approach and started really
• 1:14:46
  attacking anything that looked like it was a
• 1:14:48
  fastball. in the zone early in counts, and it
• 1:14:51
  made a massive impact in his overall game. Last
• 1:14:54
  year, he was fifth overall in the minor leagues
• 1:14:57
  among catchers in home runs. He hit 24, and he
• 1:15:01
  won the minor league gold glove award for catchers
• 1:15:03
  in 2024. So far this year, he's gotten the bump
• 1:15:07
  to AAA. He's got eight home runs. He's hitting
• 1:15:09
  260 with a 343 OBP and a 420 slugging percentage.
• 1:15:15
  Now, that's only a 763 OPS, and you might be
• 1:15:17
  going, why are you talking about this guy? Very
• 1:15:19
  simple. If you are a catcher in today's baseball
• 1:15:23
  and you are even moderately average at the plate,
• 1:15:28
  you're a big league starter if you're a great
• 1:15:30
  defender. Can I interject? I never do during
• 1:15:32
  this segment. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Does what
• 1:15:35
  you just said point out how crazy big of a deal
• 1:15:39
  it is that Cal Raleigh's doing what he's doing?
• 1:15:41
  Yeah, absolutely. It's insane. The Cal Raleigh's...
• 1:15:45
  Don't exist. Hasn't happened since Piazza. We
• 1:15:47
  were talking about this. The Cal rallies, the
• 1:15:48
  Adley Rutchmans, the guys who are above average
• 1:15:51
  to really good at the plate and decent defense.
• 1:15:55
  Adley's a gold glove caliber defensive catcher.
• 1:15:58
  Cal rally is not, but he's not a detriment back
• 1:16:00
  there. But Joe Mack is a guy who is going to
• 1:16:03
  be a gold glove caliber catcher defensively.
• 1:16:06
  He just handled a no hitter the other day, as
• 1:16:09
  a matter of fact. But he also. has some pop,
• 1:16:13
  and can hit. The Marlins are in a position now
• 1:16:17
  to have a really, really strong platoon back
• 1:16:22
  there between Augustin Ramirez and Joe Mack.
• 1:16:25
  Joe Mack, his cards are in 2021 Bowman Draft.
• 1:16:29
  They're still relatively affordable. Very reminiscent
• 1:16:33
  to me of a guy like Hunter Goodman, who's really
• 1:16:36
  made waves this year for the Rockies. He doesn't
• 1:16:38
  have quite the pop that Goodman has, but he can
• 1:16:41
  be a high -end 70 % guy of a platoon and DH the
• 1:16:46
  other 30 % of the time and get a day or two off
• 1:16:49
  a week to Ramirez behind the plate. But overall,
• 1:16:53
  I think, again, a guy that's going to be up after
• 1:16:56
  the All -Star break, which is sneaking up on
• 1:16:58
  us really quick here. But his cards, one more
• 1:17:00
  time, 2021 Bowman Draft, still very affordable
• 1:17:04
  and on a team that's starved for as much help
• 1:17:08
  as it can get. I don't think he's down too much
• 1:17:11
  longer. Yeah, yeah. Quick reminder before we
• 1:17:14
  head out today. For the end of this episode,
• 1:17:17
  we'll see you tonight, 7 p .m. Eastern on Whatnot.
• 1:17:20
  Every single Thursday, one of the nice little
• 1:17:23
  buyer givies, this nice little B. John Robinson
• 1:17:27
  RPA out of select to $199, along with nine other
• 1:17:31
  buyer's givies, another 10 giveaway slabs as
• 1:17:33
  well. Be a part of it. Bookmark it. Hang out
• 1:17:37
  with us. Yeah. Anything else? No, we always go
• 1:17:39
  live on TikTok right before our Whatnot show,
• 1:17:42
  so if you want to come hang out with us for about
• 1:17:43
  a half hour there too, come hang out with us.
• 1:17:46
  This has been the Ball Card Show, the esports
• 1:17:48
  podcast. For the Esports Collector. Bye now.
• 1:17:50
  Peace.