STOP Buying 'Mystery' Boxes: The Industry OG Exposes Your Losing Bet

Part of me loves when I see these kids hustling and figuring it out but then blood on me is like collect what you love like respect that some of this stuff is not really just about take it flip it but it's like hey this is really cool I think when it treats people by collecting it's remembering the moment memorabilia's moments that matter and why not collect around them welcome to the trading cards and collectibles podcast on the radcast network from chasing grails the calling bluffs going inside the hobby are you ready to collect let's get at it here is your host Ryan Alford hello and welcome to trading cards and collectibles here on the radcast network we've got an OG today Brandon Steiner what's up Brandon well what's up thanks for having me you know I love these conversations love what you're doing and I think they're important you know we got to talk about this stuff this hobby things are real business now and a lot of people are in the middle of it in a good way and a lot of people in the middle of it in a bad way yeah some people are in the middle of it and they don't know what they're doing so anytime I feel like we can educate people a little more or share views visions it helps the business grow I'm all for it 100% well I appreciate you being willing to share your knowledge you're a man of media talents you're clearly have your hands in multiple things let's at least set the table for anyone that's listening that might not know who Brandon Steiner is and you know why's Brandon Steiner famous in collectibles I mean I've secured over 40 million autographs sold about 50 million dollars of dirt taking down many stadiums including ancustadium giant stadium massive square garden I've represented hundreds of players for licensing and collectibles you know I was in this game before I really became a game so you know when things were talked about things were thought about then I like the thing I was able to execute and lay a lot of the foundation in a lot of ways some of the stuff that we're now living and really enjoying and expanding on which is glorious it's amazing I mean what I'm seeing happening in the hobby the interest particularly the youth younger kids hustling grinding more women in the business which is always I help more creativity I like what I see there's a few things to some behaviors that I don't like that I wish that you know we have better leadership in the business I think if I won't mean complaint you know listen I started Steiner sports with 4,000 bucks and I hope it's a good example for people to know that you don't need a lot to have a big dream and to get started but I'm worried a little bit about the leadership as this business gets bigger and also the ability or the lack of ability to collaborate with some of the bigger companies and also making sure that the small collector has a big voice you know the guy who has a table at some cart show or some small little cart shop in a small town they need to be respected and be taken care of those that's the heart and soul of the business and in all of a sudden like we have companies that are not including them in on distribution including them in on being able to get product that's very worrisome to me yeah I'm in my new studio literally it may look okay on camera but it's going to be both the studio and a and a trading card store we got cameras everywhere it's going to be sort of like trading cards live you know leaning into some of the things that are happening and it's definitely going to be more of a beauty experience even though I've got friends in high places I'm about to experience that same thing first hand with distribution you know new store flipping open and you know I do some breaking but because I don't break you know five thousand boxes a month you know I don't know what that distribution will look like I mean we've gotten deep into it really quick Brandon but that is that is the challenge right I think it's the challenge and also it's always a challenge when you grow is making a lot of money's easy thing who you are is hard being who you are staying who you are and that's what I'm urging some of the larger companies to do and that is you know don't overproduce don't say things are worth more than they are let the small guy make some money let everybody make some money and you know I see the way grading prices are it's very troublesome to me because the market's up and I see a lot of greed I see some confusion about on these breaks where people aren't being straight up about what you can win I see I see a lot of overproduction in it with some of the card combination I see tops way way over producing and confusing the market of like you know this is a one of one of me while there's 21 of ones and now the real true rookie card becomes more confusing those the things that we need to remove and on the collectible and I want you know if anybody's listening I know I'm ranting a little bit I'm an old guy and I still love this business and I wanted to do well I want people that are investing in it to do well and I when you do these breaks collectible breaks you know I have an interest in what you're breaking and what you're going to win that you may not win the grand prize I see the gambling and the interest while you're lured into that but also I see some of the crap that's being put into these breaks so if you don't win the grand prize you really stuck with what you think is a pretty good thing but it's not and I want you I want people to be more diligent about what the second third and fifth place prizes are because every pride that goes out there is important and I want I want as much good quality pride to go out there as possible not a company's mistakes so you're buying a mystery ball project and if you don't get the Babe Ruthball you're getting something that's worth nothing as long as you know that but you know you know my new company collect machines we take people's collections on and it's so heart breaking when people come in with 200 balls and I'm like most of these balls are worth nothing you know you bought them you bought a bunch of garbage because you got caught up in the hype so you don't buy or beware but buy or be educated like no it's some of the stuff that you're getting be aware of it deal with quality people that are really passing on quality opportunities to you to buy stuff that's good quality maybe goes up in value but you don't want to buy something that you've overpaid for or think it's worth a lot more than is that's what's heartbreaking yeah I want to get a little I don't know sentimental but why is it having this day or another day today and what is it about collecting that brings people together and keeps them so interested it's a great question just one great thing um Steiner's not with Steiner anymore I'm with collectible machines you know fortunately I lost my company six years ago but my new company probably has more product on it than Steiner did so I'm really grateful just to make that distinction you founded Steiner Sports and made it one of the largest sports companies thank you that was the intent of the statement it wasn't clear yeah no no that's I said that people are confused because I mean I like to think my my name is which stood the test the time of people I'd say yes that's your name I'm about 33 years of you know banging out at it not only putting out product but educating people about how all this shit works yeah but I think you know I think it would treat people by collecting it's remembering the moment I think like why you know you get married you have kids but why not remember that great sports moment why not remember that player that you idolize a look up to and why not enjoy that and that's what's all about is you know mentorship looking up to your experiences you've had with your kids or your parents and why not relive those moments every day because those are your favorite moments and hopefully I would tell me when was the last time you did something for the first time it's like you do something for the first time like you want to remember that moment that first game that first world series the first Super Bowl and I think that really people really enjoy that remember the moment remembering the moments that matter is kind of memorabilia moments that matter and why not collect around them and around some of these great great talents not only in sports but you know you're great artists you're great rock and roll music talent theater I mean my wife is a big theater girl and she collects all the playbills you know Clayton goes why high and wide and far they just cards in some autograph balls and if you're doing it diligently and smartly or especially around the stuff you love players teams are to see you love you're in the right direction yep and I think that's what's a little lost today you know like that's my favorite the younger generation like even my boys I have four boys burning and that's what brought me back in the hobby I collected growing up I loved it I was a huge Michael Jordan fan and Cubs fan you know and a bears fan I'm from South Carolina but WGN played locally here so I was a Chicago fan we had like three stations on our television and WGN so you know I had all this stuff and it was all about I didn't I definitely wanted stuff that had value and you definitely had chase cards back then like Frank Thomas when he came out King Griffey Jr that was my kind of time but I was still into collecting you know for those moments for the within the games and the players that I love and I don't know that's my one fear with this generation that it's become so transactional it's true I mean you know listen I like the entrepreneurial aspect these kids are so great to take a teenager and get them to think about a dollar turning into two yeah looking at it's a business that they could kind of grab onto which is not easy to find businesses that teenagers can understand relate to be knowledgeable about and then transact so part of me is split on that answer it's like part of me loves when I see these kids hustling and you know figuring it out or then part of me is like collect what you love like respect that some of this stuff is not really just about take it flip it but it's like hey this is really cool and you know differentiate a little bit but so you coordinate both of them and that's big part of the growth of the business is this mystique of can I make a lot of money yeah um so I get that but in the other hand like the best way to make a lot a lot of money is starting with love and passion and purpose about what it is you're doing not how can I make a quick buck and if you play the long game and you buy quality things and don't you know if you want to end up with the music stop foot out of chair I'm afraid that a lot of these kids are going to be stuck without a share with the music stops because they've born into a lot of hype and a lot of over produced cards you know I said you know this you have a people how many people come into your shop with like boat loads of carts from the late 80s and 90s it's heartbreaking and that's what's going to happen again people are going to come in from the carts in the last few years oh I got this I got that on my it's crap there's 10,000 of these cards is worth five dollars I paid five on just worth five dollars and and this is what I'm afraid of because you have a 20 year old or 18 year old kid right now loving the business that's a 50 year customer yeah now hard you work to get somebody into your hobby your business and become a life won't cost what the value that is and I'm hoping that the people that are creating these products start respecting that and looking at the long game and not overproduce not overhype not have Tom Brady signed 10,000 helmets and say he's going to be worth its on and realize that you're never getting your money back on those helmets and that's what bothers something to me like I don't have a problem with somebody buying something and they get most of their money back or make a little lose a little and then every now and then you find something to make a lot of money but I think there's a lot of stuff being bought right now that you're not going to make any money and you're going to be losing substantial amount of money on your stuff and that really breaks my heart then let's flip that coin you obviously I'm hearing you and I think the modern stuff is what you're talking about and I say ultra modern maybe like last three to four years three to five years what would you be buying then it's a good question I buy where I'm still a fan of buying rookie stuff and my knowledge stuff in this case now you see college cards coming out maybe some of that but with lower expectations again you're not going to be paying as much for it but lower the expectations a little bit I'm a big fan of getting autographs in person I see car shows are booming go get your favorite player go find a really cool product this is what I really try to empower people like it's not just the autograph it's getting a cool thing on the autograph pet the photograph is on you know find an artist have somebody make something that's unique creative figure out how to make a bat figure out how to get something that's really different unique so you have a one-of-one you've created yourself or you know like I'm on my side I mean I see so many things I mean what old is new but if you can go buy stuff that's been done with some of these the golden era like it's kind of slipped away the mantles the the magic but that stuff is gold it shouldn't be forgotten and it's limited and it's not any more coming it's a great time right now to go pick up mantle it's a great time to pick up the yogis risotto's stand visuals the stuff is very inexpensive and I think they'll have a resurgence down the road I've nothing wrong in buying the hot player of the day but I think some of the old vintage cards are worth investing in if you can find the joy and what some of those players have done when you look at the card sets in the 50s some of the bowmen's the top the color on those cards just unbelievable and some of them are expensive but you can pick up so many expensive just enjoy the the the greatness of those players and and how those cards were produced I'm a big fan of that as well so you know just you got to be careful not to get in the hype and you know stop buying those honey stuff right now which is through the roof because the chance of that stuff maintaining that kind of value are really really difficult yeah I'd be buying and flipping in the short term and make that part of your if that's your side hustle you know flip that stuff don't I wouldn't exactly you know maybe sit on a couple but I wouldn't be banking on thousands of yeah be careful on these mysteries you know these mysteries are great I'm about to launch one like but make sure that the you know the the other nine hundred ninety eight items other than the two great items you can win so some of the nine hundred ninety eight items should be really good items too shouldn't be just bullshit yeah no kidding there's a lot of bullshit out there I got to get your opinion Brandon because you you you sort of said it without saying it earlier this whole tops panini thing they needed to make a deal it feels like to have unlicensed and licensed stuff just seems crazy to me and I'm only you know you're in half back into the hobby after the hiatus of you know real work yeah and my kids going blame blame the league I think it's terrible with the league is the league how it's managed it and and the league should not have ever announced that tops was gonna lose their license in five years it's outrageous and then knocking out companies I just it's like no loyalty like where's the loyalty you know harder ones to have a license with some of these teams is so product in the nineties in early 2000s and now and things are popping leagues are dropping licenses are like in our heartbeat I think this should be easily two or three trading car companies for every league to make it fair not have a monopoly I think it's very unfair I'm surprised it's not a lawsuit just a monopolizing that only one card has the lights right to do baseball cards this should be at least two or three I'm sorry it's ridiculous it's unfair to the players you know the players are getting ripped off like a represent players they not getting any money to sign like either sign them are too bad like there should be options pennies are very high quality company they're obviously an easy choice but there's so many other card companies that should be allowed to produce and do license cards why should it just be one that was a solution maybe 20 years ago 15 years ago when they consolidated but that is not the solution that's fair now it's not fair to the public it's not fair to the players it's just stupid gives them such leverage and you're hoping that one company was got the control over it has got it figured out and they don't because they have such huge royalties they had and they have a distribution that's limited to how they see it but when you have competition you can expand on the distribution you can expand on the production you have different products different ways of looking at products that's what that's what this country's about yeah I just don't know why how the sleep felt the leak fell asleep at the wheel on this and it's the most important thing is a fan and giving them ultimately what they need and want and then I'm getting it if anything they get it ripped off am I wrong am I crazy no you're right I've been talking about it and don't know that it's good for my business the type of guy but it's not speaking up about it and it's not you know pulling back ask for more diversity and especially you know how to come to like Penini I mean they've done everything and anything that you can ask company to do like not a problem with them yeah this doesn't make sense I that's why selfishly I don't think it's the right thing because I agree with the monopoly side of it but that's why almost just selfishly wanted them to make a deal so that and Penini stutter took around you'd have all those with like if if they would have made a deal with an axe and tops I know that's like unheard of maybe but yeah I think it'd been better yeah that ships sailed but I wish they could have made a deal if if again if there's going to be one let's have all the best companies and all the brands under one umbrella versus them just going away you want to talk about them monopoly you have a company that wants to control the production they want to control who sells it they want to control who gets it they were going to show where you sell it they want everything on their side on on finance live or whatever and then it's insane like how's that possible then you have Tom Brady running around the country opening up card stores so it's like nobody's stupid here so now you're even in control to just you see the more it's like no we'll sell the product to ourselves how's that fair so now you've got this card shop for 30 years busting your ass and it's on Brady pops up around the corner and he's getting all the product you're getting shit how's that fair how how is anybody supporting that that bottle like at some point you got to wake up and go wait a minute that's not right yeah and you're taking people that have their heart and soul in the business for years and you just push them aside it's it's it's sad it makes no sense and it gives one person one company way too much control I'll say it I don't give a shit like it's bullshit it's not right bullshit and for the people that are out there that have card stores you know what I'm talking about Brady office on the pops up in his stores filled with every pretty product like why how's that how's that fair yeah you got to believe it's a conflict and you got to believe it's a monopoly yeah well you name David Adams sitting in Manhattan paying whatever they're paying has store then supposedly I guess had you know exclusivity or you know certain geography and then Tom Brady opens five six blocks down the road yeah I mean and so I mean these are companies these are good these card stores are hard working they're the ones that have built this business all these years that's my point they're not just jumping in right now they've been there for years and they're like I'm sorry we need to get you and Michael Rubin on let's have a little talk about it wouldn't be it wouldn't be a good conversation I don't think Rubin's coming on with me I know Michael very well and after what happened at Steiner at the end of Steiner not that I love collect machines I love my new I mean I have five million cards on my platform I mean I'm killing it loving it but there's never going to be good blood between us I mean after what he did at Steiner and also just how he's gone about a bunch of things it's not going to be a great conversation he wouldn't be able to handle the confrontation or the truth because I don't give a shit I would tell him I you know he knows he knows I know where all the bones are buried he knows I know everything what's going on and he doesn't want to hear it trust me but you know let's see he's pouring a lot of money into the business keep pouring the money in keep throwing the money away it is expanding the business on a positive side you know spend 20 millions on finance fast lose 15 million if that expands the business gets more people collecting I'm benefiting every day great but just do the right thing Brandon I know you got to go but give me one more minute what's your favorite collectible what's your favorite thing in your collection and what do you want our audience to remember or know as we close out first of all you use use the collectibles for joy and happiness the money is good but you know collectibles is supposed to be about joy happiness fun remembering the moments sharing moments experiences with family and friends and make sure that's a big part of your portfolio that part what I just said you know my favorite collectible is very simple I have a Bobby Mercer game use bat my favorite Yankee I've still got my first contract I did with Derek Jeter in 99 which I was up for many nights trying to figure out if I was ever going to fulfill it for five million dollars I've got like little things like that I'm really enjoying other people's collections and I'm realizing that as much of a great collector I think that I was there's some amazing collectors out there and that's been my best gift over the last five years is that there's a lot of people that are as deep into this business as I've ever been and doing some amazing things and I get to enjoy that with my new platform so you know my message out to people is yeah let's keep it going and also it's okay to collaborate it's okay to talk to the card store next door or you know you know we all need to get along a little bit better I hope that if anybody's listening that's in a leadership role it's okay to compete but the collaborations will take this industry to another level you know the upper decks paninis the tops getting along you know some of the collectible companies getting along the card shows getting along I think there's there's an online current like between a lot of the major card shop owners that don't overlap talk to each other that kind of respect makes it fair and better for the fans because remember the number one thing is a fan as I mean I mean how lucky to weed out people that are crazy Google Gaga about what we're creating and selling and you can never take that you can't take that for granted and I don't Brandon we didn't mention it but it's also the author if you got to have balls so who I could not mention that I mean if you of course if nothing else I just wanted to say balls you know on my show if anybody on the show listen you want to copy the book go to Brandon Steiner 1981 a Gmail and I'll send you one for free hey four books by the way so they're all good and a lot of them talk about collectible sales entrepreneurship happy to send you one of the books for free just go to my website or if you could post in the comments and just mentioning you watch this show because this is a show worth watching and I appreciate what you're doing keeping people on top of what's going on in the industry we need all the communication and kind of objective communication as we can get Brandon I hope you'll be a regular man I want more time with you you've got a wealth of knowledge and I love how you illustrate thank you I appreciate my brother good luck I'm glad I'm the first of your new studio you'll be the last I love the conversation and I love this business so look forward to talking you again hey guys you don't find us trading cards and collectibles on all the platforms if you're not watching check it out on YouTube if you're listening go over and check out Spotify YouTube any of the visual of course on Instagram you can find me collectibles dot shows the website Brandon Steiner collectible exchange will have all the links to Brandon's info and hey go get a free book he's got multiple to business playbook living on purpose author if you got to have balls all that and more we appreciate Brandon we appreciate you we'll see you next time on trading cards and collectibles collectibles dot show is where you'll find all of the channels and learn more about what we're doing and ultimately hey we want to hear from you you do case hits at collectibles watch you to send in your favorite pulls of the week and here's the difference this isn't about just value hey we want to see some ten thousand dollar hits had a couple of those myself a few months back but it's not just about the values about what you're collecting what means something to you share a story share a video of you holding up the card that you hit last week that was your favorite player and you nailed it so case hits at collectibles dot show send in those videos I want to know the stories we're gonna bring into life here on the show we're gonna do a segment each week once we get rolling and get some videos in where we share that on the show with us we'll feature you on collectibles show thanks for tuning into the show don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform and don't miss the full video version on youtube you can find us at www.collectibles.show or follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Olford now get out there and collect yours