UPDATE ON AFLAC FIASCO IN 2011 BDPP

[All The Hype]

To be fair, Topps, unlike all the sellers here, doesn't (and shouldn't) particularly care about the secondary market or think about helping sellers/investors/tertiary distributors sell. As manufacturers, they're primary distributors and (quite literally) hold all the cards.

In general this is a good thing, from that vantage point Topps didn't screw anything up even if the tertiary distributors (aka ebay sellers, etc) don't like it.

If Topps didn't screw up (making cards easy to forge) who did? It wasn't me. It wasn't buyers. It isn't the sellers. Topps constantly makes mistakes and this is one of them whether or not it pertains to them...because it pertains to a product they manufactured. Smell the coffee.

The only "mistake" they made from your point of view was to not support the secondary market against dishonest sellers...but that's not their job. Their job is to make baseball cards...

It is also their inherent responsibility as a card manufacturer to be a part of the 21st century and understand that a) the internet and secondary market are enormous parts of the hobby, and b) it is important to collectors to have authentic cards. Making cards that are incredibly easy to forge and authenticate through Topps is very obviously a mistake, whether you think it is or not.

 

[Jaypers]

Topps would be better off no longer inserting AFLACs

You're in luck, Eric - they aren't.

It's Perfect-Game and Under-Armour cards from here on out.

 

[SeattleSports]

I agree with this. For those box busters that aren't part of a forum or do not following topps on facebook or twitter will be screwed on this deal. People are going to contact them to say that their card is fake because it does not have the holographic sticker on them and will severely devalue those cards.

Unfortunately Topps screwed up (again) and there really isn't anything they should do about this situation except fire their entire staff and start over.

To be fair, Topps, unlike all the sellers here, doesn't (and shouldn't) particularly care about the secondary market or think about helping sellers/investors/tertiary distributors sell in order to avoid conflicts of interest. As manufacturers, they're primary distributors and (quite literally) hold all the cards.

In general this is a good thing, from that vantage point Topps didn't screw anything up even if the tertiary distributors (aka ebay sellers, etc) don't like it.

I don't think I've ever read a competent post from you.

No, its that I don't rely on cards (or Topps) as a primary source of income.

What an ignorant statement. Do you think people busting boxes/cases and selling their AFLAC's rely on card sales for their primary source of income? REALLY? Ignorance is not bliss.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

Topps would be better off no longer inserting AFLACs

You're in luck, Eric - they aren't.

It's Perfect-Game and Under-Armour cards from here on out.

ha ha. then they shouldnt insert those either! lol

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

I agree with this. For those box busters that aren't part of a forum or do not following topps on facebook or twitter will be screwed on this deal. People are going to contact them to say that their card is fake because it does not have the holographic sticker on them and will severely devalue those cards.

Unfortunately Topps screwed up (again) and there really isn't anything they should do about this situation except fire their entire staff and start over.

To be fair, Topps, unlike all the sellers here, doesn't (and shouldn't) particularly care about the secondary market or think about helping sellers/investors/tertiary distributors sell in order to avoid conflicts of interest. As manufacturers, they're primary distributors and (quite literally) hold all the cards.

In general this is a good thing, from that vantage point Topps didn't screw anything up even if the tertiary distributors (aka ebay sellers, etc) don't like it.

I don't think I've ever read a competent post from you.

No, its that I don't rely on cards (or Topps) as a primary source of income.

What an ignorant statement. Do you think people busting boxes/cases and selling their AFLAC's rely on card sales for their primary source of income? REALLY? Ignorance is not bliss.

Given your comments/outrage over recent events I naturally assumed cards were all work for *you* and that you were accustomed to that seller's particular point of view.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

It is also their inherent responsibility as a card manufacturer to be a part of the 21st century and understand that a) the internet and secondary market are enormous parts of the hobby, and b) it is important to collectors to have authentic cards. Making cards that are incredibly easy to forge and authenticate through Topps is very obviously a mistake, whether you think it is or not.

People would forge cards if there were value to it, but Topps does not make representations as to whether its cards will attain any future value. From that POV certainly no mistake was made by Topps.

 

[mwashuc06]

hopefully topps will hire smarter people that can number the cards.

 

[hofmichael]

hopefully topps will hire smarter people that can number the cards.

I firmly believe Topps has focused the majority of their resources on their football cards the last 2 years.Their NFL cards have really came along way while the MLB products have suffered from stupid mistakes.

 

[Sean_C]

I would love to know how it is that crap like this can occur. At a certain point, when there are as many screwups as there have been in the QC department, some people need to be fired in order for the problem to be corrected. Hopefully that has or will be taking place sometime soon.

 

[beefycheddar]

I would love to know how it is that crap like this can occur. At a certain point, when there are as many screwups as there have been in the QC department, some people need to be fired in order for the problem to be corrected. Hopefully that has or will be taking place sometime soon.

There has to be people left there for them to be fired.

 

[D-Lite]

To be fair, Topps, unlike all the sellers here, doesn't (and shouldn't) particularly care about the secondary market or think about helping sellers/investors/tertiary distributors sell. As manufacturers, they're primary distributors and (quite literally) hold all the cards.

In general this is a good thing, from that vantage point Topps didn't screw anything up even if the tertiary distributors (aka ebay sellers, etc) don't like it.

If Topps didn't screw up (making cards easy to forge) who did? It wasn't me. It wasn't buyers. It isn't the sellers. Topps constantly makes mistakes and this is one of them whether or not it pertains to them...because it pertains to a product they manufactured. Smell the coffee.

The only "mistake" they made from your point of view was to not support the secondary market against dishonest sellers...but that's not their job. Their job is to make baseball cards...

No, their job is to make money. They make baseball cards to do so. And f'ing up a key product makes them less money in the future. I know, people will still buy this and always will, especially with their monopoly. But, when the day comes that MLB wakes up and allows other licenses in these poor QC issues will definitely impact Topps.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

The only "mistake" they made from your point of view was to not support the secondary market against dishonest sellers...but that's not their job. Their job is to make baseball cards...

No, their job is to make money. They make baseball cards to do so. And f'ing up a key product makes them less money in the future. I know, people will still buy this and always will, especially with their monopoly. But, when the day comes that MLB wakes up and allows other licenses in these poor QC issues will definitely impact Topps.

No, Topps is not a publicly traded company, and thus we only know their primary purpose is to make baseball cards and to abide by the terms of the MLB license when producing MLB cards; besides AFLAC doesn't have anything to do with MLB if I'm not mistaken. Licensing makes no difference - as we know all products sell out even with additional manufacturers anyway.

 

[matfanofold]

The only "mistake" they made from your point of view was to not support the secondary market against dishonest sellers...but that's not their job. Their job is to make baseball cards...

No, their job is to make money. They make baseball cards to do so. And f'ing up a key product makes them less money in the future. I know, people will still buy this and always will, especially with their monopoly. But, when the day comes that MLB wakes up and allows other licenses in these poor QC issues will definitely impact Topps.

No, Topps is not a publicly traded company, and thus we only know their primary purpose is to make baseball cards and to abide by the terms of the MLB license when producing MLB cards; besides AFLAC doesn't have anything to do with MLB if I'm not mistaken. Licensing makes no difference - as we know all products sell out even with additional manufacturers anyway.

Making baseball cards = making money to Topps.

Delivering a product that has a lower secondary market value due to a simple mistake (like not properly marking seeded aflac auto's) has an effect on the overall preceived value of the product. This in theory should make the product less appealing to thoes who buy said product based on speculative secondary value. And when dealing with Bowman cards, expecially prospect products, this is most. Point being, if their goal is to make baseball cards, which equates to making money, a mistake like this does indeed hurt their ultimate goal.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

No, Topps is not a publicly traded company, and thus we only know their primary purpose is to make baseball cards and to abide by the terms of the MLB license when producing MLB cards; besides AFLAC doesn't have anything to do with MLB if I'm not mistaken. Licensing makes no difference - as we know all products sell out even with additional manufacturers anyway.

Making baseball cards = making money to Topps.

Delivering a product that has a lower secondary market value due to a simple mistake (like not properly marking seeded aflac auto's) has an effect on the overall preceived value of the product. This in theory should make the product less appealing to thoes who buy said product based on speculative secondary value. And when dealing with Bowman cards, expecially prospect products, this is most. Point being, if their goal is to make baseball cards, which equates to making money, a mistake like this does indeed hurt their ultimate goal.

Again, "Topps does not, in any manner, make any representations as to whether its cards will attain any future value" on the secondary market. Topps will sell out of this product again next year anyway - and it should because they're just cards... and people want them.

 

[nyc3]

Again, "Topps does not, in any manner, make any representations as to whether its cards will attain any future value" on the secondary market. Topps will sell out of this product again next year anyway - and it should because they're just cards... and people want them.

And if the cards sell like junk with less people chasing them the distributers get screwed cause the sales go down. Which means they order less next year. Let me ask you as I am sure I am not the only to notice this. But do you scour this site looking for topics to just just post the opposite opinion of the majority of the topic? Cause honestly it seems all you do here anymore. Having a different opinion is one thing, but constantly going against the grain just to do it is weird.

 

[matfanofold]

No, Topps is not a publicly traded company, and thus we only know their primary purpose is to make baseball cards and to abide by the terms of the MLB license when producing MLB cards; besides AFLAC doesn't have anything to do with MLB if I'm not mistaken. Licensing makes no difference - as we know all products sell out even with additional manufacturers anyway.

Making baseball cards = making money to Topps.

Delivering a product that has a lower secondary market value due to a simple mistake (like not properly marking seeded aflac auto's) has an effect on the overall preceived value of the product. This in theory should make the product less appealing to thoes who buy said product based on speculative secondary value. And when dealing with Bowman cards, expecially prospect products, this is most. Point being, if their goal is to make baseball cards, which equates to making money, a mistake like this does indeed hurt their ultimate goal.

Again, "Topps does not, in any manner, make any representations as to whether its cards will attain any future value" on the secondary market. Topps will sell out of this product again next year anyway - and it should because they're just cards... and people want them.

Why point out the obvious?

This is not really what we are talking here...

 

[goldenegg1]

Have they made a baseball product yet thus year without a mistake?
Will they ever fire these idiots and hire someone that knows something about cards in general?

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Again, "Topps does not, in any manner, make any representations as to whether its cards will attain any future value" on the secondary market. Topps will sell out of this product again next year anyway - and it should because they're just cards... and people want them.

Why point out the obvious?

If it were obvious some people wouldn't be going nuts LOL. Among other things the statement lets people know things like this can, and will happen and allows for unpredictability in product. Further if Topps didn't state this, they could easily control the secondary market themselves and there wouldn't be a need for prospector/investors... Topps could sell individual cards themselves, assign values to particular cards, produce more of certain cards whenever they wanted, etc.

This is not really what we are talking here...

Sure it almost entirely is. People, mostly investors, are complaining about lack of control and unpredictability in the market and at being at the end of a long string, but Topps has always said they're not interested in value; they're just good at keeping people - both collectors and investors - on a hook/string to keep buying their product. Collectors will always have options.

 

[Crash Davis]

Clearly uniquebaseballcards is clueless. The point here is that we've been down this road before and last year Topps promised that moving forward all AFLACs and NFL Rookie Premiere autos would be serial-numbered. So, yes they messed up. For anyone to stick up for Topps and say that they bear no responsibility for this debacle is delusional. There's no way they can fix this without screwing over a lot of people.

 

[Mudcatsfan]

Again, "Topps does not, in any manner, make any representations as to whether its cards will attain any future value" on the secondary market. Topps will sell out of this product again next year anyway - and it should because they're just cards... and people want them.

Why point out the obvious?

If it were obvious some people wouldn't be going nuts LOL. Among other things the statement lets people know things like this can, and will happen and allows for unpredictability in product. Further if Topps didn't state this, they could easily control the secondary market themselves and there wouldn't be a need for prospector/investors... Topps could sell individual cards themselves, assign values to particular cards, produce more of certain cards whenever they wanted, etc.

This is not really what we are talking here...

Sure it almost entirely is. People, mostly investors, are complaining about lack of control and unpredictability in the market and at being at the end of a long string, but Topps has always said they're not interested in value; they're just good at keeping people - both collectors and investors - on a hook/string to keep buying their product. Collectors will always have options.

Lots of people collect and prospect because they enjoy cards, not just for 'income'. Topps started to serial number their cards because people PREFERED them that way. Its nice to know that my Bryce Harper Aflac auto is more likely genuinely autographed BY Bryce Harper because of the serial numbering. As a baseball fan, that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. It's not a guarantee, but its nice. Not so i can sell it, but so i can have a cool card and believe in its legitimacy.

Now if i want an older Jason Heyward Aflac auto to go along with that, Topps didn't serialize those, so i have no idea if the auto i'm looking at was from a pack, or from the game, or from some pizza hut employee with a lumicolor pen. There's no warm fuzzy feeling with that card and Topps realized that and made it better in 2010.

To not do so in 2011 after setting the quality bar higher in 2010 is a dissappointment to people who enjoy their cards. It's a step down in quality. Topps doesn't HAVE to maintain the quality level they set in 2010, but as a customer its dissappointing.

Please stop assuming every prospect collector is only in it for the cash. Its insulting, it's old, its tired, it's played out.