Notes: Target Pausing Some Card Sales; New Denver Show; eBay Issues; Ticket Man
Target stores will temporarily halt the sale of some sports and Pokemon trading card boxes this Friday.
The company is citing ongoing incidents involving aggressive customers as a reason for its decision.
A Target spokesman confirmed the move to SC Daily Wednesday afternoon, issuing this statement:
“The safety of our guests and our team is our top priority. Out of an abundance of caution, we’ve decided to temporarily suspend the sale of MLB, NFL, NBA and Pokémon trading cards within our stores, effective May 14. Guests can continue to shop these cards online at Target.com.”
Even after many stores put strict limits on purchases, customer conduct has led to physical altercations both inside and outside some stores in recent months. The situation culminated with an assault on one man outside a suburban Milwaukee store last Friday. That man pulled a gun and while no shots were fired, the store was placed on a brief lockdown and police arrested four men.
An email to store managers indicates any remaining boxes were to be pulled from shelves by Friday morning and that additional product won’t be coming for a while.
Excell Marketing, which stocks Target stores with retail versions of trading card products, is expected to continue to distribute other trading cards such as NHL, NASCAR, UFC and Magic The Gathering.
A large sports card show is in the works for the Rocky Mountain states this summer.
The 200 table show will take place at a facility inside the National Western Complex in Denver, CO July 9-11. Those dates are just ahead of MLB’s All-Star Game, which was recently moved to Coors Field.
Promoters Jon Scanlon of Denver Card Shows and Mike Fruitman say it will be the largest show in the area in over ten years.
The show will take place on Friday from 4 PM – 8 PM, Saturday from 9-6 and Sunday from 9-4. Admission is $10 per day.
Dealer booths are priced at $225 for an eight-foot table with larger booth space at $400.
More details are expected in the coming weeks.
This week, we chatted with Alan Goldsher, host of the Collectable Daily podcast about the return of larger shows and the increasing size and number of auctions.
eBay has suddenly changed its category layouts for sports cards and the decision is having a major impact on buyers and sellers.
Cards are now lumped into a single “trading cards” category with filtering boxes instead of by sport. Buyers have expressed frustration in their ability to search. Sellers find themselves being unable to respond to offers made for cards.
Another issue for sellers has been the sudden loss of the Standard Envelope shipping option. eBay calls that a technical issue, says it’s aware and is working on it.
Auction feeds on sites like ours have also been impacted. Hopefully, a resolution will be coming soon.
Ticket stubs may be a dying art, but art they are.
Fox 5 in San Diego caught up with the very knowledgeable collector Russ Havens as part of a series on local folks:
