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So I am in the store the Monday of 2012 Topps Triple Threads release week with tweet deck open, and all the sudden it gets hit with with a lively back and forth about release dates. This debate was largely between Brent Wiliams, who is a very visible bulk breaker and lister and The Topps Company.
The issue apparently started when Topps contacted Brent after he posted up his break of Triple Threads before release date. His break was pretty below average. It did have a couple of really good cards like that Henderson patch, but there were only two cards that would cover the retail cost of the box. In the opinions of some, this causes people to shy away from products thinking that all cases are that dull and unimpressive.
Not being behind the scenes working for a distributor any more I can’t say exactly how it went down. But from my own personal experiences knowing that the very real possibility of the only game in town putting any sort of embargo on you can be a pretty scary situation. I flubbed up a release date not too long ago myself and had to call a contact of mine at Topps to self report the incident to avoid getting “cut off” as they say.
As they approached Brent he took to twitter and shared a bit of the interaction with his followers with these tweets.
It’s a pretty interesting line of conversation, as both sides have valid points. Topps absolutely has the right to police the release dates of their products. Every single manufacturer in an industry with demand for new and unique products does this from Apple to Wizards of the Coast. The issue comes when some people are allowed to list early for years and nothing is done about it. The last tweet points out that TNT North New Jersey breaks and lists early all the time and nothing is done about it. One twitter user even said that he breaks early all the time, although he wasn’t bold enough to throw his identity out there.
I do think that @cardboardlifer (Steven Judd, formerly a Donruss employee) takes it way too far when he uses the phrase con/scam because it’s certainly not applicable to what happens when Topps sells products. However it led to the conversation that Brent sharing the results of his mediocre case hurt over all sales of the product. Card collectors are indeed fickle, but saying that one early unimpressive case can kill a product is just silly. If you look at the market for this product right now it’s a clear indication that him posting the break had no affect on secondary market sales.
Other twitter users weighed in with their own opinions about the matter.
That “YouTube cat” is long time breaker Chris Justice, owner of The Hobby Box in Wilmington NC and Cards Infinity. Chris is pretty much the go to guy for online YouTube breaks as he has been doing it for years with very few customer service complaints. I would guess that he is as visible if not more so than Brent and Becca as his breaks are live videos and not just scans.
I would say to Topps that release dates only matter if they are absolutely enforced. I understand that some product leaks out, but it wouldn’t be so wide spread if it were important to you guys. And I am not talking about important enough to take action when someone complains about it. I am talking about being pro active and stopping your partners from habitually breaking your rules without consequence.
This tweet is exactly true Topps, but with so many people breaking and listing early the playing field isn’t level as it stands if you follow your rules.
The issue apparently started when Topps contacted Brent after he posted up his break of Triple Threads before release date. His break was pretty below average. It did have a couple of really good cards like that Henderson patch, but there were only two cards that would cover the retail cost of the box. In the opinions of some, this causes people to shy away from products thinking that all cases are that dull and unimpressive.
Not being behind the scenes working for a distributor any more I can’t say exactly how it went down. But from my own personal experiences knowing that the very real possibility of the only game in town putting any sort of embargo on you can be a pretty scary situation. I flubbed up a release date not too long ago myself and had to call a contact of mine at Topps to self report the incident to avoid getting “cut off” as they say.
As they approached Brent he took to twitter and shared a bit of the interaction with his followers with these tweets.
It’s a pretty interesting line of conversation, as both sides have valid points. Topps absolutely has the right to police the release dates of their products. Every single manufacturer in an industry with demand for new and unique products does this from Apple to Wizards of the Coast. The issue comes when some people are allowed to list early for years and nothing is done about it. The last tweet points out that TNT North New Jersey breaks and lists early all the time and nothing is done about it. One twitter user even said that he breaks early all the time, although he wasn’t bold enough to throw his identity out there.
I do think that @cardboardlifer (Steven Judd, formerly a Donruss employee) takes it way too far when he uses the phrase con/scam because it’s certainly not applicable to what happens when Topps sells products. However it led to the conversation that Brent sharing the results of his mediocre case hurt over all sales of the product. Card collectors are indeed fickle, but saying that one early unimpressive case can kill a product is just silly. If you look at the market for this product right now it’s a clear indication that him posting the break had no affect on secondary market sales.
Other twitter users weighed in with their own opinions about the matter.
That “YouTube cat” is long time breaker Chris Justice, owner of The Hobby Box in Wilmington NC and Cards Infinity. Chris is pretty much the go to guy for online YouTube breaks as he has been doing it for years with very few customer service complaints. I would guess that he is as visible if not more so than Brent and Becca as his breaks are live videos and not just scans.
I would say to Topps that release dates only matter if they are absolutely enforced. I understand that some product leaks out, but it wouldn’t be so wide spread if it were important to you guys. And I am not talking about important enough to take action when someone complains about it. I am talking about being pro active and stopping your partners from habitually breaking your rules without consequence.
This tweet is exactly true Topps, but with so many people breaking and listing early the playing field isn’t level as it stands if you follow your rules.
