Welcome to our community

Be apart of something great, join today!

So, it's a consensus that Topps screwed up TChrome...

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

matchpenalty

New member
Jan 12, 2009
6,914
0
North East
No, Topps Chrome is fun cheap rip now. Only people pissed are preorder people, win some lose some doing that. Average Joe Collector should be very happy with low prices right now.
 

Bob Loblaw

Active member
Aug 21, 2008
11,214
5
Bright House Field
matchpenalty said:
No, Topps Chrome is fun cheap rip now. Only people pissed are preorder people, win some lose some doing that. Average Joe Collector should be very happy with low prices right now.

If the product is selling below cost, a day after release, while it may be short-term good for the collector to buy cheap wax, it's not long-term good for the hobby.
 

markakis8

Active member
Oct 31, 2008
12,081
2
leatherman said:
Can you please summarize what happened with Topps Chrome?

In a nutshell - people preordered cases based off one thing - Topps switched the checklist around, adding 100% more autos, etc - then prices of cases dropped (Strasburg getting hurt also helped) and now cases are available for much cheaper than what they were going for presell
 

boxbreaker

New member
Aug 9, 2008
425
0
the stated content is off. 90% of boxes have 4 not numbered refractors instead of the six that was on the sales sheet. the great auto checklist got brutalized by adding 25 more autos that are not exciting to the hobby. this is a classic case of why sales at any cost is not a good plan.

based on what i have seen and busted i would not buy it for more than $40 per box. it really reminds me of 2008 bowman chrome.
 

matchpenalty

New member
Jan 12, 2009
6,914
0
North East
This will be a nice reminder on how quick a hype train can come crashing down. Oh I'm sure we will see the same crying when Bowman Chrome hits. No one like to bitch and complain more than baseball card collectors. But next year the sheep will all be back in line waiting to catch the Harper bandwagon bus when it starts to roll. It's a great hobby!!!
 

cgilmo

Well-known member
Administrator
Aug 6, 2008
37,213
35
Alpharetta, Georgia, United States
boxbreaker said:
the stated content is off. 90% of boxes have 4 not numbered refractors instead of the six that was on the sales sheet. the great auto checklist got brutalized by adding 25 more autos that are not exciting to the hobby. this is a classic case of why sales at any cost is not a good plan.

based on what i have seen and busted i would not buy it for more than $40 per box. it really reminds me of 2008 bowman chrome.


it's much better than 08 chrome


There are a lot of nice autographs to be had. The odds on hitting color is a bit long.
 

Crash Davis

New member
Aug 19, 2008
685
0
markakis8 said:
leatherman said:
Can you please summarize what happened with Topps Chrome?

In a nutshell - people preordered cases based off one thing - Topps switched the checklist around, adding 100% more autos, etc - then prices of cases dropped (Strasburg getting hurt also helped) and now cases are available for much cheaper than what they were going for presell

I find this all to be nothing more than a case of sour grapes mixed with greed.

People got all hot under the collar when Topps added a Strasburg autograph, so they pre-ordered this product, thus driving the case prices through the roof.

To meet the demand, Topps cranked the presses. Better off giving everybody what they want rather than have people complain that they didn't get enough.

You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't!

So Strasburg gets hurt, and the cases drop in price before release. Since when has Topps Chrome been a money maker in terms of selling over cost by the case? 2005 Updates and Highlights. And even that wasn't a winner out of the shoot.

Now everybody is angry because they lost money on pre-sell buys, and by everybody I don't mean the distributors.

So Jeff - if you consider the small herd of angry collectors on these forums who voiced their displeasure about Topps Chrome to be a "consensus," well I agree with your statement; however, I don't.

I ripped five boxes at $60 per. I didn't get a monster hit. But it was fun. It was cheap. It was no different than any other year.

If you're really going to bitch and moan (not directed at Jeff), do so about the quality control for it's really terrible. I had a full box which contained all off-centered rookie cards to the tune of 80/20. Most cards were warped. It was a horror show.

But as for the content - I can't remember any Topps Chrome product that boasted any base autograph that would sell for $200 out of the pack like this year's with Strasburg. Even the second-tier autographs have a higher resale value than 99% of Topps Chrome autos from previous years.

Am I missing something?!
 

Mighty Bombjack

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
6,115
12
It is the nature of the beast in this business.

Topps makes their products MTO (made-to-order, which means they first print a sell sheet with projected checklist and chase card ratios, then distributors place their orders based on the sell sheet and perceived demand, and Topps prints and packages exactly the amount that was ordered.). This is a good business model and prevents them from cranking up the presses later if demand shoots up (a la certain former competitors). In this case, the stuff was ordered during Bowman's hype train, which meant that Topps had to up everything to meet demand. Unfortunately, that means adding a ton of less desirable autos to the checklist and spreading the refractors a little thinner. It probably also led to the lack of quality control (for which there should be no real excuse).

Topps was simply meeting the demand; it's just that demand CRASHED during product printing and packaging.
 

RL24

New member
Dec 12, 2008
3,469
4
Colorado Springs, CO
Mighty Bombjack said:
It is the nature of the beast in this business.

Topps makes their products MTO (made-to-order, which means they first print a sell sheet with projected checklist and chase card ratios, then distributors place their orders based on the sell sheet and perceived demand, and Topps prints and packages exactly the amount that was ordered.). This is a good business model and prevents them from cranking up the presses later if demand shoots up (a la certain former competitors). In this case, the stuff was ordered during Bowman's hype train, which meant that Topps had to up everything to meet demand. Unfortunately, that means adding a ton of less desirable autos to the checklist and spreading the refractors a little thinner. It probably also led to the lack of quality control (for which there should be no real excuse).

Topps was simply meeting the demand; it's just that demand CRASHED during product printing and packaging.


That's interesting, I didn't know that they were MTO. Deep.


I thought everybody was pissed because so many cases were made. The print run (and supply/demand) on the base cards will be more like 1987 Topps than 2009 Topps Chrome.
 

pigskincardboard

New member
Nov 4, 2009
5,444
0
Toronto
Mighty Bombjack said:
It is the nature of the beast in this business.

Topps makes their products MTO (made-to-order, which means they first print a sell sheet with projected checklist and chase card ratios, then distributors place their orders based on the sell sheet and perceived demand, and Topps prints and packages exactly the amount that was ordered.). This is a good business model and prevents them from cranking up the presses later if demand shoots up (a la certain former competitors). In this case, the stuff was ordered during Bowman's hype train, which meant that Topps had to up everything to meet demand. Unfortunately, that means adding a ton of less desirable autos to the checklist and spreading the refractors a little thinner. It probably also led to the lack of quality control (for which there should be no real excuse).

Topps was simply meeting the demand; it's just that demand CRASHED during product printing and packaging.

First, I'll say I haven't followed this situation that closely.

Now, what Topps did was all well and good but Topps obviously had to make the cards and procure more autographs. Based on the excuse that Topps always gives, "Athletes takes foreverz to sign," they should've known well in advance and an updated checklist should've been released.

They probably made the decision after the first week based on sales. To continue to provide a checklist that is knowingly false isn't covered by "subject to change w/o notice." At that point, they're knowingly deceiving the buyer.
 

JoshHamilton

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
12,205
320
Don't you get basically 1 ref/x per pack in retail? That seems a lot better, even if autos are tougher
 

brouthercard

New member
Jan 15, 2009
3,740
0
Honestly, though, this is still one of the BEST Topps chrome product that Topps has ever produced in baseball, and definitely the best since 2005.
 

Crash Davis

New member
Aug 19, 2008
685
0
pigskincardboard said:
Mighty Bombjack said:
It is the nature of the beast in this business.

Topps makes their products MTO (made-to-order, which means they first print a sell sheet with projected checklist and chase card ratios, then distributors place their orders based on the sell sheet and perceived demand, and Topps prints and packages exactly the amount that was ordered.). This is a good business model and prevents them from cranking up the presses later if demand shoots up (a la certain former competitors). In this case, the stuff was ordered during Bowman's hype train, which meant that Topps had to up everything to meet demand. Unfortunately, that means adding a ton of less desirable autos to the checklist and spreading the refractors a little thinner. It probably also led to the lack of quality control (for which there should be no real excuse).

Topps was simply meeting the demand; it's just that demand CRASHED during product printing and packaging.

First, I'll say I haven't followed this situation that closely.

Now, what Topps did was all well and good but Topps obviously had to make the cards and procure more autographs. Based on the excuse that Topps always gives, "Athletes takes foreverz to sign," they should've known well in advance and an updated checklist should've been released.

They probably made the decision after the first week based on sales. To continue to provide a checklist that is knowingly false isn't covered by "subject to change w/o notice." At that point, they're knowingly deceiving the buyer.

And exactly how was the checklist "knowingly false?"

They added autographs. They didn't switch out Strasburg for Kevin Russo and not let anybody know until the product released.
 

bmc398

New member
May 25, 2009
2,312
0
It will happen like this....early on when its $50-60 a box sales will be slow. Boxes will creep down into the $40s and maybe touch $30s this winter with nothing to generate excitement and the good autos out of this set (or shoot, even ones that sell for $25) being about one in 3 boxes based on the cases ive seen opened in person and online.

My theory is this....Topps cranked the presses to meet demand, sure. Once Stras got hurt they decided to bulk it up and make the odds even longer.

I don't think its solid reasoning but they have assured themselves one thing....that plenty of the product is left to bust when Stras comes back off of surgery in 2012. Thats a long long time away but distributors and other outfits will have cases and cases and pallets worth of this stuff even then.

While I think Brents estimate of 8K cases is strong, I don't think 5-6K is out of the question in the slightest.

This stuff will get a bump anytime one of the longshot guys in the product starts performing. The bad side of that is that they will be super hard to hit, and this stuff will be around forever. Hope they paid Lincecum a lot for having his mug on the box, cuz its going to be seen for a long time collecting dust in hobby stores.

Im less bitter than most because I hit a Stras ref auto and some decent parallels, but the other 2 guys at my break were livid because they MIGHT be able to get $300 back from their $700 investment.

I know the Hobby is all about fun, but whats the fun in busting 12 boxes to get nothing but scrub autos and crappy OC and marked up base cards?
 

matchpenalty

New member
Jan 12, 2009
6,914
0
North East
brouthercard said:
Honestly, though, this is still one of the BEST Topps chrome product that Topps has ever produced in baseball, and definitely the best since 2005.


No doubt. Chance at some sweet autos and breaking wax is going to be cheap for those wax crack addicts.
 

Members online

Top