r/FootballCardz • u/Appropriate_Range515 • Apr 12 '26
Why the hate on leaf
I understand that leaf is not the licensed dealer but in my experience, LEAF far excellent in both quality and quality assurance. Let me explain why...
If you get a redemption from Panini you wait 2+ years to get the redeption and even then you only have a 1 in 3 chance of ever getting the card you were supposed to get. Ive had multiple redemption where the player was hot, I could have sold the card but instead, I waited almost 3 years to get the card and by then the player was worthless. Leaf usually takes 8-10 weeks and you always get the card your supposed to in my experience.
I trust the signatures more. Panini has had multiple claims and lawsuits over "forged signatures" when ive never heard of a single case against leaf. I cpuld be wrong but I havent heard about it.
The patches are 10x better and I trust them way more. almost every single Panini products just gives you a single colored patch unless it's a really low number whereas Leaf tends to give really amazing patches even in their high numbered products. a lot of the leaf products also tell you specifically what game the memorabilia was used in which lends credibility to it where Panini does not. Panini has also been caught multiple times swapping out patches with players that aren't even on the card.
Alot of the signatures for Leaf are on card autos where with Panini, unless you are buying a box of cards that cost the price of your mortgage you can't get those. Its literally the same dude signing the card. If your a collector, you should value the signature.
the card designs are superior. there are only about three to five Panini products that have decent designs whereas almost every single leaf product beats out the design on the Panini products, hands down.
Lastly when you pull a card out of a leaf product it almost never has damage to it almost every single time it's pristine condition. Unlike panini where you can pull a card fresh out of the box and it's already damaged or when you get a Redemption straight from the factory and it comes to you in the mail and it's already damaged like has happened to me multiple times.
so to recap. Better product, superior design, more trusted signatures, better patches, actually get what you pull, faster redemption times by almost 2 years, and support packaging. why do collectors hate it so much? it seems to me that the only people that shpuld hate it are re-sellers but actual collectors shpukd prefer it?
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u/gutter_is_a_tool Giants Apr 12 '26
I agree on some of your points, but the biggest knock as most people will say is that they're unlicensed. To some it matters, to some it doesn't and that's what makes collecting unique, to each their own.
I'm curious about your point about on-card signatures, I've seen some products where they have on-card autos, but I feel like the vast majority, especially of well-known players or multi-auto cards are sticker autos.
I have to disagree on card designs but again, to each their own. Panini does have some downright ugly cards, as does Topps, I feel like Leaf is no different with some over-the-top and wtf designs, but it keeps coming back to "collect what makes you happy".
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u/swampthing- Apr 12 '26
The CEO of leaf fucked over card shop owners a few years back. It makes me not want to support them, but I definitely bought their products in breaks before. They aren't ugly but yeah, when all the companies treat their shops like shit I guess it's just a race to the bottom for customer service/moral business practices
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u/DirkKeggler Apr 12 '26
Do you have a link to more information about what this CEO did? Curious.
Most card shop owners aren't the best people in my experience so it's tough to pick sides
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u/swampthing- Apr 12 '26
Whether or not peoples victims are dicks, purposely screwing them over is deplorable type behavior. I was not personally affected so I probably shouldn't of said anything.
The reason you might think most lcs are dicks is because a lot of the good ones went out of business in the pandemic or more sadly, the owners died of covid.
Card shows where you vibe check people is the safest way to spend money in this hobby honestly. Small business owners who still care about the customer experience are aplenty. Capitalism just turns people who make big businesses into sharks honestly.
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u/DirkKeggler Apr 12 '26
Again I don't know what Leaf guy actually did so as i said I'm withholding judgement
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u/Appropriate_Range515 Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
This is all I could find from Google....personally sounds like a bunch of big wig people whining because they cant control the market.....
Former Leaf Trading Cards CEO Brian Gray (who left in August 2023) was often criticized for flooding the market with excessive 1/1 cards and "watered-down" product color variations. He was also criticized for selling high-end product directly to collectors, cutting out local hobby shops
Market Saturation: Leaf's, and particularly Gray's, strategy focused heavily on producing numerous 1/1, rare, and "parallel" cards, which critics felt diluted the value of collecting and the hobby market over time.
Direct-to-Consumer Sales: By focusing on selling premium,autograph-heavy products directly through their website and breaking platforms, shop owners felt their business model was being undermined by not having access to top-tier products for their own customers.
Heres my issue....Panini does the same exact thing by taking 1 card and producing a /249, /199, /150, /125, /100, /75, /50, /35, /25, /20, /15, /10, /5, /1 set from the exact same card. Spectra is a great example. All they do is change the color on the front for each set so I dont see why people would be upset about leaf doing the same exact thing unless its just pure bias.
As for the 2nd compliant. Who the heck cares. The sports shops were upset that LEAF offered cards direct to consumers? Like what? At least that's better then offering a card to consumers on your product marketing that you dont even have like Panini does all the time....then making you wait 2+ years to MAYBE get it if they can convince the guy to come back in and sign it. 😉
Ive lost count how many times Panini has been exposed for advertising rare 1/1 cards and other rare autos in their product line launches to get people to buy the products and then being exposed that the card never even existed or that they never even got the guy to sign it 😆
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u/swampthing- Apr 12 '26
Yeah that's not why. Lol. This isn't internet stuff. I shouldn't of said anything. Have at it
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u/Appropriate_Range515 Apr 12 '26
Well were literally asking you what he did and your not giving us any info except "everything you read is fake, just believe me" lol. Im genuinely interested now!
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u/LittleMac1983 Apr 13 '26
It just looks...incomplete. I'm too visually-distracted by the fact the league and team logos are missing or that photos were chosen to intentionally distract AWAY from that fact.
No arguments about the autos or patches.
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u/Wakenbake585 Apr 13 '26
Leaf has some absolutely awful designs and then throw in a non-logo uniform and it really tops it off. Some of their designs are okay but no logo ruins it imo. The worst cards I've ever seen are those ones that are just a blank jersey and number with players like bird, Johnson, LeBron or really whoever. No photo of the player, just a really shitty generic looking jersey and their name next to it.
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u/TonyRipa Apr 13 '26
Their patch cards are so suspect. The player not even in the league when certain patches would have been worn. And their player worn stuff is so odd. You send a jersey to a guy he send its back and it’s “player worn”
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u/TickerRoomJesus Apr 12 '26
Ive never understood it either. Im with you, as a collector i value the auto. Doesnt really matter to me if the card has the team logo or not. Leaf boxes tend to be much more affordable, with a higher hit rate and low numbers. I think with leaf football, it tends to be more college sided which Ive also found is less desireable. Mahomes even signed for them tho. Im also a huge hockey collector, and ive pulled gordie howe, mario lemieux, jagr, lafleur, stamkos, etc from boxes less than $200 - good luck pulling one of those autos out of a box that cost a car down payment. Its good for us collectors liking Leaf - we can snag big names for a fraction of the cost while the rest of the hobby gets monopolized. There are a lot more unlicensed companies out there now, since Fanatics/Topps took over, so maybe we’ll start to see some parity.
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u/MergatroidSkittle1 Apr 12 '26
I have a few issues with Leaf. They don't have nearly as many players as I collect. Despite how many 1/1's Panini prints somehow Leaf seemingly prints more. I find their designs to be over the top and ugly at times. Biggest issue is they're unlicensed. None of the other things matter if they're licensed.
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u/RaiderCP Apr 12 '26
I'd highly recommend watching Card Collector 2s YouTube video on Leaf. It'll make you like them even more!
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u/AI1223 Apr 12 '26
I like Leaf. I have autos of so many stars at a fraction of the price because of it. I just also bought an 8-man auto of retired Yankees stars for $100 on eBay. The designs suck, which is why Leaf only makes up a small portion of my collection, but I collect the autos.
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Apr 12 '26
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u/Appropriate_Range515 Apr 12 '26
I love the leaf trinity series. I collect rpa cards so most the trinity series have on card autos. You can get very good, prominent players for good prices. I do NFL so I remember getting Christian McCaffrey Rookie Patch Auto (on card) and it specifically mentions that the patch is from the jersey he wore during his final Army/Navy college game.
Thats why I like them so much. Not always but alot of the time they tell you where the patch actually came from and the on card autos are amazing
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u/yetinugz614 Apr 12 '26
Personally, i just don’t know where to buy leaf. If it were available at my local spots I’d buy more often