This story was first published on baseballamerica.com. We’ve resurfaced here at Baseball Card America for free for newsletter subscribers.

Baseball cards are awesome, and these days, popularity for collecting seems to be reaching higher and higher levels with each new release on the calendar. It's that love for the hobby that fuels collectors' desire for the baseball card industry to be as good as it can be.

But we also know that the current state of the hobby can be frustrating, both for newcomers and long-time collectors alike.

With that in mind, Baseball America asked followers for help in compiling a list of what we'd like to see changed in the card industry. Guided by feedback on social media, conversations at card shows and my own personal experience as a collector for almost 40 years, here are key issues hobby enthusiasts would like to see addressed moving forward.

This was, by far, the feedback we heard the most. And while it's not as if baseball cards are the only thing that has increased in price in recent years, cost of entry has become an issue for many collectors.

A glaring recent example are Topps' flagship Series 1 jumbo boxes, which are priced at $199.99. Not only is that $20 increase over last year, but boxes also come with one fewer "hit card" per box.

Just days before that, 2025 Topps Pristine was available for preorder at $469.99 per box--a $70 increase over last year with the same number of hits.

Another recent issue was that Topps Chrome Update—which features the extremely popular MLB Debut Patch hunt—sold out on the Topps website, only to have the exact same boxes available later that day on Fanatics (another of Topps' sister sites). Prices saw a huge mark-up of $699.99 for jumbo boxes compared to $399.99 on the Topps website just hours earlier.

Topps has always been good about having products at various price points for different types of collectors, from the flagship set all the way up to "super premium" releases that sell for thousands of dollars. In recent years, however, price points have gone up for almost all of those releases. And while collectors expressed to us that the price increases across the board are troubling to them, it's the squeeze on products more accessible to the common fan—such as flagship and Chrome—that are the most troublesome.

That being said, it does seem Topps is looking at ways to make their products more accessible. For example, Bowman Draft, which has traditionally come in two formats priced around $500 and $700, introduced a third Mega Box format this year to offer at least one variation of the product at a $59.99 price point.

For years there has been rumblings in the collecting community about Topps saving "loaded" boxes and cases for breakers, many of whom have significant financial partnerships with the company through the Fanatics Live breaking platform.

Topps has long denied this. But the rumors took on a whole new life when prominent breaker Filthbomb Breaks pulled three Debut Patches from the same case on Fanatics Live, followed by two Debut Patches from another case the very next day. One collector estimated the odds for such an occurrence as 1 in 78 million.

The popular counter-arguments to the "loaded case" debate are that breakers open way more product than the average person and are much more visible, which is why they are seen getting so many prominent hits.

However, collectors maintain that said volume is also part of the issue. Recent Topps releases have seen not only higher prices but also significant wait times on the Topps website for products that often sell out in mere minutes. Shut out from purchasing, collectors then see hundreds of cases available in breaks at higher prices on Topps' Fanatics sister website.

What, then, is the ratio of product available to the public vs. available to breakers? Collectors want to know the reality of the supply and demand.

Collectors say transparency would also help with the EQL platform that Topps uses for certain high-dollar, high-demand products. Rather than a first-come, first-serve free-for-all to buy product, collectors instead enter their info during a one-hour window before a handful of buyers are randomly selected later. While this does make the process a bit more fair than the usual system, many collectors added that knowing how much product is actually available would help. The same goes for knowing more about the EQL process, specifically as it applies to "bots."

The desire for transparency doesn't just apply to product supply and Topps' relationship with online breakers. Collectors also expressed their wish that PSA, the industry’s largest and most influential third-party card grading company, was more transparent about their practices.

As the preeminent grading company in the hobby—especially now that its parent company also owns former rivals SGC and Beckett—PSA wields an incredible amount of power in the hobby. Ask any collector, and they'll know how having a card graded a PSA 10 can cause value to skyrocket.

For all the power PSA wields in the card-collecting space, there is little to no public information about the company's specific grading practices. Nor does PSA provide any explanation to collectors about why a card received a certain grade after grading is complete. As such, many collectors expressed the belief that PSA's grading factors—image centering, condition of corners, etc.--are all things that could and should be standardized.

That's especially so now that PSA has entered the resale part of the business, as well. Given how much it costs and long it takes to get a card graded (more on this in a moment), collectors not unsurprisingly want to know more about what goes into PSA's decision-making and business practices.

Speaking of PSA, the company caused some rumbles in the hobby last fall when they increased prices and extended their "value" grading times. Public backlash was such that PSA had to go back and revise the new timelines just weeks later.

As of now, "value" PSA grading—$21.99 per card, with a minimum of 20 cards and not including shipping costs—has a turnaround of "95 business days" between when a submission is received and when grades can be expected. That's almost three and a half months of wait time. A grading submission sent on Opening Day would not be expected back until around the All-Star break.

Want the card back in only 40 business days? PSA will instead charge $44.99 per card. Want it back even quicker than that? Things get even more expensive.

Collectors already weren't thrilled when PSA announced the higher prices, and the longer waiting times struck a nerve. If business is that good and you're going to raise prices, many collectors asked, why not hire more staff to help reduce wait times? Some collectors also wondered if integrating a more optimized, AI-assisted approach could make the process more efficient and even more accurate.

The hobby is a living, breathing entity that is in a constant state of change. New products are introduced, old products are tweaked or discontinued and companies are constantly trying new things.

That said, what we heard from many collectors is that they want more information from card companies about what's coming out. When it comes to planning purchase decisions, consumers want new product information not just over the next few weeks—as is usually the case now—but months in advance.

As Baseball America reported late last year, most 2025 Topps releases have been later than usual. With most things in the world getting more expensive—including collectibles—consumer budgets are tight. Being able to plan ahead helps, collectors told us, even if things wind up changing.

Are there more changes you would like to see in the hobby? Let us know in the comments below or reach out to Baseball America on social media and let us know.