panini usa baseball

[hoebob69]

Here lately I've been super intrigued by the panini usa baseball series. Im absolutely blown away by it. Im not sure if it's the fact that it's baseball at its purest or if it's catching these kids before Bowman unleashes 20 different cards of them before they even play a big league inning,another story entirely. Ive done a lot of research on the subject and cant seem to find the answer to a major question that I have. Are these cards going to hold value without them being in a major league uniform. I mean I absolutely love the sets that have been put out and will collect them regardless but if they're not going to hold up I'll wait to go after the big names like kris Bryant and such. Just looking for some input on the subject,thanks for the input in advance.

[revghost]

Ok, here are some thoughts, as I have bought and traded for this stuff since I got back into the hobby in 2012:

Yes, they hold their value well. The value, however, is considerably less than their first Bowman Chrome autos in MLB unis. I love the colors, and everything about USA sets, especially what Panini has been doing with them since 2012. Yes, it's probably the deepest prospecting opportunity, offering first cards of players years before they are drafted. It's also cool that they now have a really high end finish to them. But there is a lot more risk involved, as the real payoff in most cases may be six to eight years down the road when these guys finally make their MLB debut (if they make it that is). Given the very high risk involved with buying and holding, I would recommend buying these sets and boxes when they are on sale. In all reality, there several opportunities to sell: 1. Player gets drafted in the first round. 2. Player goes on a tear in minors. 3. Player's MLB Debut. With that in mind, I'm preparing to list hits from 2012 and 2013 USA products, as I have some stuff from 2010 Bowman Draft (USA), 2012 and 2013 Panini for tomorrow's draft. A lot of the hits that you will pull from USA stuff is of 15 and 16 year olds, most players even if they make it to the Majors are typically in their early twenties. It's a great opportunity if you are patient and able to handle the disappointment of most of these guys never getting past double A ball. My favorite thing about this product is that I don't buy with the intent of reselling. I buy because I love the look of the cards. Hitting guys that may pan out is a huge bonus, but realistically, most of these cards will stay in the USA PC for the long haul.

[hoebob69]

Oh I agree totally. Ive been looking at some sets on amazon and such and probably will be buying some soon. So far I've just been buying single cards at the time,mostly of people already on their way to the majors. My major problem at the moment is space. It's a lot easier to store one card than it is a whole box of cards.

[revghost]

Yeah, that's why I prefer the sets, they don't take up a ton of space like wax does, and it seems the hits and singles from the sets sell higher than the wax (Baseball Champions, Stars and Stripes) so for me the sets are better, deliver more hits and are typically better looking.

[hoebob69]

Where do you get yours at?

[revghost]

Well, I got my first at my LCS. My LCS closed in 2013 so I've been relegated to ordering online. I did run across Baseball Champions retail boxes at my walmart early last year so I bought those, they were great, yielded more hits than average. I ordered my 2013 set when they released from Dave and Adams, as well as a 2010 Topps USA set on clearance (crazy cheap I think a christmas special, like 40 bucks for a set). A lot of my other singles came from a member that I trade with here. Blowout is a great place to order from as well, they have great inventory like Dave and Adams. I know the Kris Bryant hype sure brought up the price on the 2012 sets, not sure if those have calmed down yet or not.

[revghost]

Just checked, Blowout has the 2012 USA sets for $57, I guess the hype died down a bit. Ton of great names in 2012: Bryant, DJ Peterson, a few others from the 2013 Draft Class as well as some guys from last year's draft and a few guys that will be drafted tonight. 2010 Bowman Draft has a lot of great USA cards, but I think those boxes are still really high due to Giancarlo Stanton Rookie autos.

[hoebob69]

Well I have two dj peterson autos,one from this year and one from 2013. I have a few others to that I found on ebay that I really liked,chris okey is one I know for sure. I'll have to check that out though. I'm always looking for deals or just to expand my collection. How do you go about trading on here? Didn't know that was a possibility.

[revghost]

Very cool, I think Okey is projected to go high in the 2016 Draft. Best time to pick up singles is the week of release, because a few people actually try to rip and flip this stuff, you can get some really great deals. Trading on here is easy, there is a trade manager that any member can walk you through once you're ready to trade. Basically, work out a trade with a member through comments or private message, then you go into trade manager and send a trade request to the member you are trading with. From there, they accept, you will ship first because you don't have 10 unique feedbacks. Once the trade is physically complete, both members mark it complete and leave feedback.

[hoebob69]

Nice,I'll have to look into that. I finally started taking inventory on my cards a few weeks ago and realized I have a lot of the same stuff due to not remembering what I have. May have to look into that