Online Cards: eTopps, Topps Now, Living Set, TBT, Topps Bunt, etc
 

Anybody buy Topps Now? I much prefer Topps Now over buying packs. Prior to this year I just bought the cards I wanted. In 2022 I hardly got any parallels. So this year I subscribed with a guy on Facebook to get all the cards of the Cincinnati Reds for $5. It covers his cost and increases his odds of hitting a parallel. I get 50% off the original price. It's win-win.

I also buy the Spring Training sets hoping for the bonus cards each season. This year I bought 4 teams, Reds / Mariners / Guardians / Astros. I just got super lucky for the first time, and I will get the Elly de la Cruz bonus card for his cycle. If you're all looking for a Cruz card to own from 2023, the bonus card will be a nice pick up if you can find it on Ebay - total print run will be 303. Far less than any of the base cards.

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Tim,

You'll probably get more responses in the "Modern Baseball Cards Forum (1980-Present)", rather then the BST forum.

I've dabbled a little bit. Not in the baseball though. Picked up a few young basketball players first Topps cards that will probably end up flaming out on me.

Couldn't resist picking up a bunch of the recent draft pick card of Victor Wembanyama, even though the print run on that is probably going to be higher then any other Topps Now release ever, but still probably lower then a traditional base set (if Topps still had the rights to do that).

Amazingly, I couldn't bring myself to pay 4 grand for his autographed card release from Topps. :rolleyes:

I did pick up a good portion of the Muhammad Ali "People's Champ" collection, that was released on a weekly basis back in 2021. Not technically a Topps Now issue, but a similar concept from them.

Picked up packs of 5 cards at a time, and was lucky enough to score quite a few parallels over the year, since they weren't huge print runs. Even got sent a Gold 1/1 on one of the releases.

Topps Now
 

Only have one Topps Now

Now that he is tops, I think I did okay.

https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...i-topps-living


Whoops! This is a Living card, not a Now Card

he is still living though.

been meaning to add to this thread.
2023 May Card of the Monthhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...42a0dfbd28.jpg

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2023 Guardians Road to Opening Day bonus card.
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this is just fine to post! the living set is really nice! I need to change the title of this thread to "internet offerings." it would encompass eTopps, Now, Living Set, Throwback Thursday, etc.

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I love Topps Living, although I'm not as active with it as i was when it first came out. IMO that Ohtani should be his top RC, just can't beat the artwork, but I guess that's the difference between us vintage guys and the modern/ultra-modern collectors.

Tim - I'm somewhat indifferent on the Topps Now cards. Some of them are no doubt iconic, but it seems to be a little all over the place. It kind of reminds me of that basketball NFT product, that thank god I don't remember the name of... at least you get a card in hand though. Huge Reds fan though like you, I believe you sold me some items in the past, and almost pulled the trigger on the Elly 2-3-H steal but just couldn't do it looking at some of the crazy high prices, maybe they were parallels though. Regardless, I think there is definitely a place in the hobby for it though... I always try to think back in time with these types of sets and imagine if whatever event it was ending up being a major moment in MLB history. Like imagine if Topps Now was around in 60 and they came out with a SP card for Maz's homer, how cool would that be? I love the concept, it's just hard for a stubborn pre-war collector to buy anything that looks modern, although I have splurged this summer with the Reds rookie class, has to be the best ever in franchise history.

I am still trying to figure out what I want from Topps Now. I don't want everything. I have always liked stupid niche sets. So preseason team sets called "Road to Opening Day," and the card of the month, and the All Star Set, and the Post Season sets are probably what I will wind up repeating.

I started in 2019 or 2020 with just a card or two. I really like Now from the team collector perspective. It's so convenient. This Reds "Road to Opening Day" is my fourth year. I enjoy the Bonus cards. For Reds, the Wade Miley bonus card was cool. they don't really hold any value though.

I started following Topps Now Facebook group last year. They do group buys, 50% off per card and if parallel cards show up they bingo ball those to the buyers. I didn't get any parallels last year buying direct from Topps, so I figured I might as well save 50% of my money if I'm not going to get any parallels. I did get an Eugenio Suarez parallel card earlier this year out of the group buy. When Elly got called up I subscribed to the Reds buyers group. So I have splurged too this year! Between Elly, Abbott, McLain, Steer it's at least 2 cards per week. Much more than last year!

it's so convenient knowing I don't have to check the website every day.

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I have a lot of the Topps Now cards from the first few years of their release (2016-17-18?) but then I got kind of bored of / overwhelmed by them.

the 2016 cards can be worth money, especially the #1 card of Francisco Liriano ($1000... with consistent sales in this range). And the 2016 Cubs World Series cards remain very popular. In addition to the Reds, I'm also a Cleveland Indians fan....what a heart breaker.

(pic is not my card) https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...45842157c9.jpg

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April 2023 card of the month. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...42072183f2.jpg

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If I am at a game where they issue one, I get it. I was at a couple of all star games, home run derbys and the game where Pujols surpassed Frank Robinson on the all-time HR list. These augment my memories nicely.

Great card from last year. wish they had made an emblem like that for Pujols 700.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...afd594e4c3.jpg

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Speaking of......and it's a SP 09/49 (top left)

great card! thanks for sharing.

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I do like their authentic relics they get for special games. much better than pack pulls! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...21a462946b.jpg

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Agreed! To bad no matter how fast I am, I have never come close to buying one, lol (always sold out by the time I log in)

I'm not a Phillies fan, it just so happened this was magically available when I was looking for Houston cards for my son so I bought it. I've never been able to secure a Reds auto or relic.

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Got this one on my desk at work. 2016 Topps Now 663 and 665.

His "true" RC in my opinion.

I had a friend who was a Cub fan. He was very excited in 2016. Great centerpiece.

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I like the call up cards and I think eventually they will become more popular. They are only in Topps Now product, and they pair well with Bowman 1st cards.

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Exactly how I feel about them. Currently they don't get that respect, but they're progressing in popularity.

I saw some healthy early bidding on S.Suzuki and C.Morel "Call Up" cards before they got "RC-shield" designation cards. Graded versions were selling for very healthy prices. This wasn't as hot of a thing for other guys in the past (at least Cubs players I've casually tracked).

2023 June Card of the Month. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4494a8b14e.jpg

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Ohtani has had some big moments this year. Maybe none bigger for him and his fans in Japan than the WBC.

that's a great card. they remade it as a NSCC wrapper redemption. I think it's /100.

This is the WBC online set.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3172539907.jpg

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I’d argue his true rookie is his 2016 Topps card from the Season Ticket Holder set, as that has a Rookie logo on it. That said, it’s certainly closer to a rookie than the 3,000+ different cards of his from 2017….

I like the Topps Now cards a lot. I just get from my favorite players—got Judges 2016 and some of the 2017 and now picking up Volpe’s as they are released…. Topps goes a little overboard though—I think Judge had north of 100 in 2017 alone.

From 2023 WBC "All World Baseball Classic Team" set

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2023 WBC
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2023 RTOD bonus
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Please move out of BST

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All Star Game sets are arriving now.

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Kyle Tucker bonus card for 3 HR game.

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2023 RTOD Bonus card, Framber Valdez No-hitter.

2023 July Card of the Month Vlad Guerrero.

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This Ohtani/Trout WBC strikeout card has gone psycho billy Cadillac. PSA 10 is hovering between $150 and $180. It is not a low print run card.

Ungraded base cards are $30 - $40.

The NSCC version has settled to $150 ungraded.

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Sales for this Elly De La Cruz RTOD Bonus are all over the place $115 - $300 in ungraded form. PSA 10 just sold for $715 on August 20. Print Run is 306, and it is considered the card to have from this year - outside of autos and parallels.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...fb6ed9d382.jpg

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Yes, indeed. I am surprised by how quickly the 10s sell on eBay.

I see the Topps Living set is up to # 652 this week. Must be a very expensive set when you figure in the individual card prices.

I hear about a couple of guys who set build. I only buy Reds cards, and they get one or two a year, so it's not bad for me.

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Back in 2019 I started a thread right here at Net 54 about the 2019 Topps Living card of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who at the time had just made his Major League Debut. It had an officially announced print run of 27,749.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...8c967322_z.jpg

The reason I started the thread was because of something on the back that I found very amusing. Before I tell you what it is, let's see if you can spot it. Here's the image...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3a23f265_b.jpg

The card notes that he made his ML Debut 4/26/19, and his lifetime stats are as of 4/29/19. Lifetime stats: 3 games, 12 at bats. That's what I found so crazy. Particularly since this will be his only Topps Living Set card as long as he's with Toronto.

(Note: the last post in the thread I linked to was dated 5/21/19, over four years ago. I've linked to it primarily for historical, educational, archival and research purposes.)

Good point! It is a little weird with RC in this set. It's obviously a money grab.

Glad you posted and I hope your health is holding up.

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I was into Etopps for a while. Bought a card in the first football release,
Unfortunately the platform had some problems.

Like whenever I'd try to order a bunch of cards, I'd get shut out for silly stuff like "you wanted 10 but there's only 9 left so you get nothing. Not even the other cards you wanted."

Then the prices got raised.

All while someone or a group of people were crashing prices. Listings on Ebay for 20+ of a certain card at $1 each but only for approved bidders, and they never answerd when I asked how to get approved.

I had all the ones I had shipped to me and it may have cost more than the cards. They're nice cards though...

Interesting, Topps doesn't charge shipping anymore unless you want rushed delivery.

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darn, I should have waited. I got mine maybe 2018 or 19?
I hadn't really looked at the online list, or tried to buy them on ebay. I was getting worried that they'd either consider them abandoned, or suddenly decide I had to get them, but I'd miss the email.

I picked up a bunch of Topps Now cards of better players (not superstars or key rookies) for 50 cents each in value boxes at the NSCC. For those who listen to Dr. Beckett's podcast, we went back and forth on this topic and it's worth a listen.

To me at the 50 cents price point picking up people such as Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman (going from memory as I have yet to process anything I bought at the NSCC) is worth doing so at any time with the reduced print runs from base cards

My opinion only

Rich

August card of the month.

Attachment 589250

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Spencer Steer "Living Set" base, and black text variation. If you haven't followed Living Set in 2023, the black text bio (over red background) is new, #/10.
Attachment 589251

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I don't listen to pod casts. where do I find this episode?

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In Japanese. It says "Phenom Collects Win In MLB Pitching Debut."

Attachment 589280

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This is the best link to his podcasts. Find the ones post NSCC we were on and one of them have some dicussions on this

https://beckettinsights.podbean.com/

Regards
Rich