Anyone changing their collecting plans when Topps is gone?

[jchcollins]

As much sadness as the headlines inspired, when I really consider what it means to me - I don't think this will be of huge impact. I have tried multiple times since getting back into the hobby in 2015, but I just can't get into modern. 95% of my hobby involvement right now is in the area of postwar vintage. I will admit to liking Topps Heritage, but if they don't make it all the way up to the 1980's with that run - it won't exactly be the end of the world for me.

In the interim, a lot can happen in 5 years. Fanatics might buy the name, and even if they don't, there are any number of things which conceivably happen that would mean the Topps name isn't completely dead. Any of that impacting my desire to collect modern cards one way or another just seems kind of doubtful to me right now.

While I hate that it's come to this for Topps, I don't think they are 100% innocent either in terms of how the game was played and things went down, and you have to remember too that this kind of thing is not unprecedented in the hobby. There has not been a Goudey or Bowman Gum Company for quite some time. Baseball will go on, and the hobby will go on as well.

[Exhibitman]

Nah, except that I did enjoy the Topps Now products from the Dodgers title run. But my collection basically stops after 1981, which was the last year I was collecting as a kid.

[packs]

If Topps is acquired by Fanatics I hope distribution is improved. The Topps site is horrible and they almost never have any products for sale on it. It seems like if hobby boxes do manage to make it to the site, they're up for an hour or two and then gone. Even when I've managed to win raffles to be included in the chance to purchase products in advance, the site is often buggy and I have a ton of problems trying to check out.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by packs

If Topps is acquired by Fanatics I hope distribution is improved. The Topps site is horrible and they almost never have any products for sale on it. It seems like if hobby boxes do manage to make it to the site, they're up for an hour or two and then gone. Even when I've managed to win raffles to be included in the chance to purchase products in advance, the site is often buggy and I have a ton of problems trying to check out.

I suppose any hope for increased retail distribution is a thing of the past? In 1991 you could find cards for sale at a hell of a lot more places than you can in 2021. I get it, I'm just saying - I understand that most of the praise Fanatics gets for "distribution" is via online methods. That's kind of hard to get excited about, especially if they decide to basically shaft the LCS model.

[ASF123]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

I suppose any hope for increased retail distribution is a thing of the past? In 1991 you could find cards for sale at a hell of a lot more places than you can in 2021. I get it, I'm just saying - I understand that most of the praise Fanatics gets for "distribution" is via online methods. That's kind of hard to get excited about, especially if they decide to basically shaft the LCS model.

The thing is, if you can get cards anywhere, no one will want them anymore.

[packs]

It seems like virtually every product launch is spoken for before it even comes out. The wholesale focus of Topps sucks and it's even worse now that Topps factors secondhand market value into their initial launch. The last Sapphire boxes retailed for over $300 I think.

[jgannon]

I'm so glad I grew up in the era of buying wax packs and cello packs, and didn't have to compete with adults fighting in parking lots over "product"!

[deweyinthehall]

Originally Posted by ASF123

The thing is, if you can get cards anywhere, no one will want them anymore.

Well, not exactly IMHO.

Plenty of people will want them, and I suspect they'd sell rather well IF the set were done right. You'd probably even see more growth in the hobby by drawing in more kids, who'd actually be able to find packs here and there.
This would assure more long term, generational interest in the hobby in the future.

What you wouldn't see is the clamoring, in-store childishness and all the "hot breaks" videos and buy-ins, along with almost instantaneous and ridiculous mark-ups for new product on the secondary market along with it's attendant impact on vintage pricing.

To me, that'd be win-win.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by ASF123

The thing is, if you can get cards anywhere, no one will want them anymore.

I would disagree with that as a blanket statement. The most popular time in hobby history was the late 80's and early 90's - when new packs of current product were available everywhere.

If you are one who buys into the hobby-only, super limited contrived scarcity thing - well then yeah. You might not want those cards.

[ASF123]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

I would disagree with that as a blanket statement. The most popular time in hobby history was the late 80's and early 90's - when new packs of current product were available everywhere.

If you are one who buys into the hobby-only, super limited contrived scarcity thing - well then yeah. You might not want those cards.

There have been massive cultural changes since the junk wax heyday, most notably involving technology, the fragmentation of mass culture into countless consumption options, and what kids are into as a result of the first two.

Responding to this and the post above, color me skeptical that kids will ever again be into collecting pieces of cardboard with athlete photos on them simply for the sake of having them, at least on anything approaching a mass scale. That's not how 21st century kids relate to sports, or the broader world around them for that matter. I know this is not a unique view around here.

Also - even if cultivating a base of youth collectors were a viable strategy, when do corporations ever focus on long-term sustainable development over short-term windfalls these days?

[todeen]

Originally Posted by packs

If Topps is acquired by Fanatics I hope distribution is improved. The Topps site is horrible and they almost never have any products for sale on it. It seems like if hobby boxes do manage to make it to the site, they're up for an hour or two and then gone. Even when I've managed to win raffles to be included in the chance to purchase products in advance, the site is often buggy and I have a ton of problems trying to check out.

Topps.com does suck. It's near impossible to get Topps Now autos and relics. They sell out in minutes. I don't buy boxes, but I suppose the same purchasers sweep in for those too. Although I like the way Topps sells T206 waves on their website.

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