[novakjr]

I believe eTopps are only sold online...What happens is that Topps basically has a pre-printed amount of these cards(I think they're all encapsulated), and then sells them on the eTopps site. You don't really get the card though, you are legally the owner of a card that they keep for you, and then they run their silly stock market type crap, where the card is traded and sold without ever really physically trading hands. It was originally supposed to fluctuate based on how well a player did in any given year...Basically, their original thought was that a rookie card wasn't always gonna be the most expensive, rather the player's most productive season would be.. They started doing it in 2000, and things had originally gone as planned. You'll also notice the spike in that chart at around '02. Basically there were 2 main cards carrying that market, and it slipped once people started removing the cards from the eTopps marketplace. Hmmm! Who could've that been from? Yep, Pujols and Ichiro pretty much killed it, thus leading once again to the rookie card proving most valuable among modern collectors, and they've been struggling ever since to get it back on track.

You could opt to physically receive the card too. Which alot of people started doing. I picked up a psa 9 of the '01 Ichiro for about $5 on the bay a few years ago....Pretty nice looking rookie card of the future hall of famer. I wouldn't mind landing an '01 Pujols either, but am not really concerned with it. Other than that, it was just another failed fad, in the lackluster modern industry.