Oh let me count the ways Topps has fracked up in 2010

[allstars]

Your attitude just stinks man, thats all i'm saying. You've been in business for 13 years, yet you're here bashing Topps daily. Where would you be without Topps? In other words, don't be a hypocrite.

AOL message boards? not me man, never been on them. If you're talking about Usenet, then yea, those were the only internet forums I was ever on. But I don't remember you from back then.

 

[blanning71]

To the OP--I would NOT come to your shop with the negativity that you share towards this amazing hobby. I think that,instead of bashing the hobby, you should focus on how to educate your customers on how to adapt to the major, and seemingly long lasting, changes that affect us today. Being educated as a shop owner is a major hurdle that we all face today. The uneducated owners that simply stock shelves on gut feeling and lack of depth in knowledge is what will kill the hobby to an extent.

In my opnion, hobby shop owners need to have a wide breadth of knowledge in all sports. If collectors are getting burnt out with the Topps stuff, bring in new products and sports and introduce them to the folks that by from you. Hockey for example sells better than any other sports on the secondary market. Hockey collectors are absolutely nuts when it comes to buying up singles. I know, because I have sold them and people in hockey land play with deepr wallets and are extremely passionate about their players and their collections. A Dion Phaneuf autograph to you might be crap. But if you throw it up on the bay and get a pretty penny for it, you'll change your tune. So will your customers over time. I've seen this happen. THe shop I used to work at used to NEVER get in hockey products. After the folks learned a little about it, the owner decided to start stocking some and let me tell you, it has been non stop hockey ever since.

Diversity and selection is a great way to bring more people in. Think about it.

And to the person asking about the Strasburg National giveaway card...........it was a fiasco. People were pushing little kids out of the way to get one of these. I got in line on Sunday of the show and was lucky enough to land one for my PC. I think Topps could have gone about this in a different manner in how they did it.

 

[hofmichael]

To the OP--I would NOT come to your shop with the negativity that you share towards this amazing hobby. I think that,instead of bashing the hobby, you should focus on how to educate your customers on how to adapt to the major, and seemingly long lasting, changes that affect us today. Being educated as a shop owner is a major hurdle that we all face today. The uneducated owners that simply stock shelves on gut feeling and lack of depth in knowledge is what will kill the hobby to an extent.

In my opnion, hobby shop owners need to have a wide breadth of knowledge in all sports. If collectors are getting burnt out with the Topps stuff, bring in new products and sports and introduce them to the folks that by from you. Hockey for example sells better than any other sports on the secondary market. Hockey collectors are absolutely nuts when it comes to buying up singles. I know, because I have sold them and people in hockey land play with deepr wallets and are extremely passionate about their players and their collections. A Dion Phaneuf autograph to you might be crap. But if you throw it up on the bay and get a pretty penny for it, you'll change your tune. So will your customers over time. I've seen this happen. THe shop I used to work at used to NEVER get in hockey products. After the folks learned a little about it, the owner decided to start stocking some and let me tell you, it has been non stop hockey ever since.

Diversity and selection is a great way to bring more people in. Think about it.

And to the person asking about the Strasburg National giveaway card...........it was a fiasco. People were pushing little kids out of the way to get one of these. I got in line on Sunday of the show and was lucky enough to land one for my PC. I think Topps could have gone about this in a different manner in how they did it.

Great post and suggestions Blan.

 

[allstars]

To the OP--I would NOT come to your shop with the negativity that you share towards this amazing hobby. I think that,instead of bashing the hobby, you should focus on how to educate your customers on how to adapt to the major, and seemingly long lasting, changes that affect us today. Being educated as a shop owner is a major hurdle that we all face today. The uneducated owners that simply stock shelves on gut feeling and lack of depth in knowledge is what will kill the hobby to an extent.

In my opnion, hobby shop owners need to have a wide breadth of knowledge in all sports. If collectors are getting burnt out with the Topps stuff, bring in new products and sports and introduce them to the folks that by from you. Hockey for example sells better than any other sports on the secondary market. Hockey collectors are absolutely nuts when it comes to buying up singles. I know, because I have sold them and people in hockey land play with deepr wallets and are extremely passionate about their players and their collections. A Dion Phaneuf autograph to you might be crap. But if you throw it up on the bay and get a pretty penny for it, you'll change your tune. So will your customers over time. I've seen this happen. THe shop I used to work at used to NEVER get in hockey products. After the folks learned a little about it, the owner decided to start stocking some and let me tell you, it has been non stop hockey ever since.

Diversity and selection is a great way to bring more people in. Think about it.

VERY WELL SAID, THANK YOU BLANNING71!

 

[mancini79]

The OP made some great points about Topps this year. His attitude and language just makes it difficult to stay on topic. That being said, Topps has made it difficult from a shop owners stand point. Owners don't put out products that they think are great, they sell products that customers demand. Topps is the only game in town for baseball. Of course he has to hype up the product, it's his livelihood. Problem is that Topps has done very little to help the shop owners. I could care less what Topps has done for them in the past, many hobby shops are closing down or struggling to stay open. The exclusivity agreement with Topps isn't killing the hobby, it's how Topps is handling it.

 

[allstars]

To the OP--I would NOT come to your shop with the negativity that you share towards this amazing hobby. I think that,instead of bashing the hobby, you should focus on how to educate your customers on how to adapt to the major, and seemingly long lasting, changes that affect us today. Being educated as a shop owner is a major hurdle that we all face today. The uneducated owners that simply stock shelves on gut feeling and lack of depth in knowledge is what will kill the hobby to an extent.

In my opnion, hobby shop owners need to have a wide breadth of knowledge in all sports. If collectors are getting burnt out with the Topps stuff, bring in new products and sports and introduce them to the folks that by from you. Hockey for example sells better than any other sports on the secondary market. Hockey collectors are absolutely nuts when it comes to buying up singles. I know, because I have sold them and people in hockey land play with deepr wallets and are extremely passionate about their players and their collections. A Dion Phaneuf autograph to you might be crap. But if you throw it up on the bay and get a pretty penny for it, you'll change your tune. So will your customers over time. I've seen this happen. THe shop I used to work at used to NEVER get in hockey products. After the folks learned a little about it, the owner decided to start stocking some and let me tell you, it has been non stop hockey ever since.

Diversity and selection is a great way to bring more people in. Think about it.

VERY WELL SAID, THANK YOU BLANNING71!

The OP should suck it up, take a deep breath & say "Yes I was a greedy mouron for ordering all this BC." Don't blame others for your shortcomings.

 

[blanning71]

I've seen more shops fail because the ownership wouldn't listen to the pulse of the hobby and instead, decided to point out all that was wrong with it. In doing so, they missed out on a great opportunity to expand and grow interests of customers.

 

[mancini79]

The OP should suck it up, take a deep breath & say "Yes I was a greedy mouron for ordering all this BC." Don't blame others for your shortcomings.

He wasn't being greedy, he ordered what his customers requested.

 

[allstars]

The OP should suck it up, take a deep breath & say "Yes I was a greedy mouron for ordering all this BC." Don't blame others for your shortcomings.

He wasn't being greedy, he ordered what his customers requested.

Don't be naive brotha. We all got greedy with BC. Now we'll all take our hit, and life will go on. Whether you want to moan 7 groan about it depends if you wake up with your boots on or with your ******* on.

 

[mancini79]

To the OP--I would NOT come to your shop with the negativity that you share towards this amazing hobby. I think that,instead of bashing the hobby, you should focus on how to educate your customers on how to adapt to the major, and seemingly long lasting, changes that affect us today. Being educated as a shop owner is a major hurdle that we all face today. The uneducated owners that simply stock shelves on gut feeling and lack of depth in knowledge is what will kill the hobby to an extent.

In my opnion, hobby shop owners need to have a wide breadth of knowledge in all sports. If collectors are getting burnt out with the Topps stuff, bring in new products and sports and introduce them to the folks that by from you. Hockey for example sells better than any other sports on the secondary market. Hockey collectors are absolutely nuts when it comes to buying up singles. I know, because I have sold them and people in hockey land play with deepr wallets and are extremely passionate about their players and their collections. A Dion Phaneuf autograph to you might be crap. But if you throw it up on the bay and get a pretty penny for it, you'll change your tune. So will your customers over time. I've seen this happen. THe shop I used to work at used to NEVER get in hockey products. After the folks learned a little about it, the owner decided to start stocking some and let me tell you, it has been non stop hockey ever since.

Diversity and selection is a great way to bring more people in. Think about it.

I agree that shop owners need to adapt to the changing hobby, but some of what you mentioned doesn't work everywhere. I worked in a hobby shop for 6 years and it was extremely rare to see somebody jump from one sport to another. I agree that the Hockey hobby is strong, but it doesn't have as many fans. A customer is going to collect what they watch, and if they don't watch hockey, they aren't buying hockey. Instead they would stay within the sport but were brand specific. Topps now has the sole responsibility to keep people interested in the baseball hobby. Telling customers to collect another sport isn't the solution here. Topps needs to create products that will appeal to Hobby shops and bring customers to their store.

 

[mancini79]

[quote="Warrens All Stars":33ne00rs]

The OP should suck it up, take a deep breath & say "Yes I was a greedy mouron for ordering all this BC." Don't blame others for your shortcomings.

He wasn't being greedy, he ordered what his customers requested.

Don't be naive brotha. We all got greedy with BC. Now we'll all take our hit, and life will go on. Whether you want to moan 7 groan about it depends if you wake up with your boots on or with your ******* on.[/quote:33ne00rs]

I have no idea what you just said, but I'm not moaning and groaning, just stating the facts. He had customers that wanted to buy cases, he ordered cases. He said himself that he's not sitting on a lot of BC product so he bought conservatively. In this scenario, I'm not seeing the greed. If he were sitting on cases of the stuff, then that would be a different story.

 

[NECpilgrims8]

I just read this entire thread and...wow.

Only one thing comes to mind as constructive criticism for you Mike.

You need a new website. One with a real domain name and a real layout. Hell, even if you don't want to sell through your website, at least use a clean looking wordpress template for your site.

It pains me to see you site be so 1993-AOL-beckett-trade-page-esque.

 

[A_Pharis]

I just read this entire thread and...wow.

Only one thing comes to mind as constructive criticism for you Mike.

You need a new website. One with a real domain name and a real layout. Hell, even if you don't want to sell through your website, at least use a clean looking wordpress template for your site.

It pains me to see you site be so 1993-AOL-beckett-trade-page-esque.

That is what happens when people believe the Intuit "do it yourself easy" website commercials. There's a reason people pay to have websites done.

 

[Sportsnutcards]

For those blasting the OP, do you really think Topps did a good job with their product line this year?

 

[ThoseBackPages]

For those blasting the OP, do you really think Topps did a good job with their product line this year?

Could Topps have done better? of course, everyone can do better.

is Topps penetrating the NON hobby store aspect of sports cards? i certainly hope so, since its not the hobby store that's going to save this hobby in the long run.

 

[JoshHamilton]

For those blasting the OP, do you really think Topps did a good job with their product line this year?

Of course not. They mailed it in knowing they have no competition.

I really do feel bad for the shop owners. They're the ones getting screwed by this. They can take a moral stand and refuse to buy from Topps, which could put them out of business and keep them from feeding their families; or they can continue to buy Topps stuff and get screwed over but at least keep the heat on at their house. It's a no win situation.

If anyone else made this thread, it wouldn't be 5 pages long. But the OP has a long history of being a whiny, obnoxious ******

 

[David T.]

For those blasting the OP, do you really think Topps did a good job with their product line this year?

Could Topps have done better? of course, everyone can do better.

is Topps penetrating the NON hobby store aspect of sports cards? i certainly hope so, since its not the hobby store that's going to save this hobby in the long run.

Not everyone. Not UD or Donruss/Panini.
And while I don't agree with the way the OP expresses himself, I do agree with most of what he says.
I miss having choices.
Not so much with UD, but I really miss DLP.
David

 

[ThoseBackPages]

For those blasting the OP, do you really think Topps did a good job with their product line this year?

Could Topps have done better? of course, everyone can do better.

is Topps penetrating the NON hobby store aspect of sports cards? i certainly hope so, since its not the hobby store that's going to save this hobby in the long run.

Not everyone. Not UD or Donruss/Panini.
And while I don't agree with the way the OP expresses himself, I do agree with most of what he says.
I miss having choices.
Not so much with UD, but I really miss DLP.
David

UD couldnt have done better? Maybe if they didnt piss on the MLB, they'd not be finished
DLP put themselves out of business with their own version of overproduction, mainly killing the 1/1's

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

I really do feel bad for the shop owners. They're the ones getting screwed by this. They can take a moral stand and refuse to buy from Topps, which could put them out of business and keep them from feeding their families; or they can continue to buy Topps stuff and get screwed over but at least keep the heat on at their house. It's a no win situation.

To be fair being a shop owner is normally a very difficult proposition, at best, to begin with. Unfortunately this doesn't make the current situation easier to bear... but that's the way the hobby has always been.

IMO the hobby has generally always rewarded collectors more than sellers.

 

[blanning71]

To the OP--I would NOT come to your shop with the negativity that you share towards this amazing hobby. I think that,instead of bashing the hobby, you should focus on how to educate your customers on how to adapt to the major, and seemingly long lasting, changes that affect us today. Being educated as a shop owner is a major hurdle that we all face today. The uneducated owners that simply stock shelves on gut feeling and lack of depth in knowledge is what will kill the hobby to an extent.

In my opnion, hobby shop owners need to have a wide breadth of knowledge in all sports. If collectors are getting burnt out with the Topps stuff, bring in new products and sports and introduce them to the folks that by from you. Hockey for example sells better than any other sports on the secondary market. Hockey collectors are absolutely nuts when it comes to buying up singles. I know, because I have sold them and people in hockey land play with deepr wallets and are extremely passionate about their players and their collections. A Dion Phaneuf autograph to you might be crap. But if you throw it up on the bay and get a pretty penny for it, you'll change your tune. So will your customers over time. I've seen this happen. THe shop I used to work at used to NEVER get in hockey products. After the folks learned a little about it, the owner decided to start stocking some and let me tell you, it has been non stop hockey ever since.

Diversity and selection is a great way to bring more people in. Think about it.

I agree that shop owners need to adapt to the changing hobby, but some of what you mentioned doesn't work everywhere. I worked in a hobby shop for 6 years and it was extremely rare to see somebody jump from one sport to another. I agree that the Hockey hobby is strong, but it doesn't have as many fans. A customer is going to collect what they watch, and if they don't watch hockey, they aren't buying hockey. Instead they would stay within the sport but were brand specific. Topps now has the sole responsibility to keep people interested in the baseball hobby. Telling customers to collect another sport isn't the solution here. Topps needs to create products that will appeal to Hobby shops and bring customers to their store.

I wouldn't force anything on them at all. But if they are constantly tired of the lackluster products that Topps baseball is putting out, do some research and suggest alternative sports or products that may be of more interest to them. Hockey isn't a heavily watched sport here but when collectors found out about the lasting value of the cards as well as the design and collectibility, they were eager to try. It can be the same with basketball and football as well.