UFC e-Topps cards coming next week.

[Groat]

Got this email today and thought it was interesting.

As the sport of Mixed Martial Arts grows in popularity, eTopps is proud to partner with the premier organization in the industry to offer Ultimate Fighting Championship® eTopps cards! eTopps is the exclusive online trading card of UFC®, and will begin offering special limited-edition cards in brilliant eTopps technology featuring the most dominant fighters in the UFC®, commemorating their performance in some of UFC®'s biggest events. These cards will be the most beautiful, most premium UFC cards available anywhere!

The First Offering Begins at 4:00 PM on Monday, 7/13, Following UFC 100!

Beginning Monday, July 13, the first eTopps Ultimate Fighting Championship® cards will be available for purchase at 4:00 PM (ET) via online offering. These first cards of the collection will feature fighters who competed in the historic UFC 100, they will be available for one week, and will be sequentially numbered to limited quantities.

Future Offerings Will Feature Top UFC® Performers!

The eTopps UFC® collection will return on Monday, August 10, following UFC 101 and once again capture dominant fighters from this event! Going forward, we will continue to offer special eTopps UFC® cards paying tribute to the Octagon's most dominant fighters, legendary names, current champions and breakout performers!

eTopps Championship Performance Bonus!

As an additional bonus, users owning eTopps UFC® cards featuring a fighter who is the current champion in any UFC® weight division as of the one-year anniversary of the card's initial offering will receive 5 Championship Performance Bonus Reward points.

In order to receive bonus points, an eligible eTopps UFC® card featuring a qualifying fighter must be in your online portfolio at 11:59 PM (ET) on the one-year anniversary of the start of the card's offering. (For example, cards offered during the first eTopps UFC® offering on July 13, 2009, will be considered for eTopps Championship Performance Bonus points on July 13, 2010).

Check eTopps.com regularly following Ultimate Fighting Championship® events to find out which fighters will be featured on these exclusive cards! As always, please do not hesitate to contact us at '[email protected]' if you ever have any questions regarding our service.

Thank you once again for your patronage and continued support of eTopps!

Sincerely,

The eTopps Team

 

[JzWand]

I dont understand the e-topps?

What is this?

 

[Groat]

I dont understand the e-topps?

What is this?

Kinda different. Really a little bit like the stock market. Next monday there will be an initial public offering (IPO) for the etopps cards. You're buying singles and the price is fixed, usually from 6 to 8 bucks. The IPO goes for a week and at the end of the week the cards are distributed on a first come first serve basis. Therefore, just because you attempt to buy one doesn't mean you'll actually get one. You then essentially own the 'rights' if you will to the card. Topps keeps the card enclosed in a plastic case in their facility after they're made (which does take a while... several months at least) and you can request (and pay shipping for) the physical card. While you have the virtual 'rights' to the card, you can sell or trade it like a regular card except the rights are instantly transferred from you portfolio to theirs.

Really, if you want just the physical card it's a big roundabout way to get it. Kind of a pain in the ass, but the cards generally do end up looking nice.

 

[Card Magnet]

Groat explained it pretty well.

You buy the actual card, and eTopps just keeps it stored in their warehouse. You can then trade the rights to the card, or sell it on ebay. You can also have that card shipped to you for a shipping fee.

Personally, I'm stockpiling a few etopps cards of the teams/players I collect, and I'll have then shipped at once to save on shipping. By the time I get everything I want, it will be like a dime per card shipped in one order.