Do you think we could boycott?

[dashcol]

I know there have been a lot of people always complaining about Topps and all the issues that there are with them as a company from their lack of customer service, horrible redemption program (borderline illegal), them not talking with players or agents enough, and their quality control (5 star chipping anyone?) for starters.

Right now they pretty much have a monopoly on the market which puts us in a horrible position. If we want to continue in the hobby we pretty much need to buy Topps products knowing we may be unsatisfied, or buy unlicensed products from Pannini, Leaf, etc.

As members here at blowout we represent a decent portion of the hobby, and a lot of money to Topps. How much does Houdini break of every product alone? LOL. Do you think we could boycott a couple of their next releases to show them that we want a difference?

I think there may be two things that we could do to make our beloved hobby better:

1) Boycott Topps for a few releases which will hopefully show them that we are sick of it
2) Petition MLBPA so that other brands (namely Upper Deck as they were always the best competition) to allow other brands to have a license so that we can get some real competition going and therefor raising the standards and our selection.


Do you guys have any other ideas on what we can do? I just think it is really time for us to band together and take action. I think we can really change things if we do it together. Especially if we get the few professional ball players on here to join us then we can really show them the whole hobby is together in this.

What do you all think.

[jlzinck]

I know there have been a lot of people always complaining about Topps and all the issues that there are with them as a company from their lack of customer service, horrible redemption program (borderline illegal), them not talking with players or agents enough, and their quality control (5 star chipping anyone?) for starters.

Right now they pretty much have a monopoly on the market which puts us in a horrible position. If we want to continue in the hobby we pretty much need to buy Topps products knowing we may be unsatisfied, or buy unlicensed products from Pannini, Leaf, etc.

As members here at blowout we represent a decent portion of the hobby, and a lot of money to Topps. How much does Houdini break of every product alone? LOL. Do you think we could boycott a couple of their next releases to show them that we want a difference?

I think there may be two things that we could do to make our beloved hobby better:

1) Boycott Topps for a few releases which will hopefully show them that we are sick of it
2) Petition MLBPA so that other brands (namely Upper Deck as they were always the best competition) to allow other brands to have a license so that we can get some real competition going and therefor raising the standards and our selection.


Do you guys have any other ideas on what we can do? I just think it is really time for us to band together and take action. I think we can really change things if we do it together. Especially if we get the few professional ball players on here to join us then we can really show them the whole hobby is together in this.

What do you all think.

no..................

[natbornkiller]

No...........................................
It is a lost cause

[premium1981]

no..................

No...........................................
It is a lost cause


What they said. Waste of time and effort.

[cowboyzqna]

Topps does a lot of things right... and a lot of things wrong :D Such is life.

[duwal]

As members here at blowout we represent a decent portion of the hobby, and a lot of money to Topps. How much does Houdini break of every product alone? LOL. Do you think we could boycott a couple of their next releases to show them that we want a difference?



highly doubt even with the volume of members here on blowout that it would be any kind of blip on the overall global sales of Topps products

[Davesportscards]

Not happening.

[PurpKush]

Yeah couldn't happen. Even if people wanted to, a good portion of the people that would say "Yeah we are boycotting topps. blah blah blah" would be going behind everyone else and continuing to buy topps products.

I've just stopped busting topps wax and only buy singles.

[hche]

If you boycott a product, only the distributors and the LCS are hurting since Topps dont sell directly to us. The distirbutors and LCS placed thier orders for products long time ago.

[dashcol]

This is why I ask you guys first...obviously I am out to lunch on this topic. Just thought it would be nice to do something instead of always complaining. I know whenever I call topps, they do not care about whatever I have to say, nor do they think it is a problem that you wait over a year for a redemption when the 2012 version of the same card is already out there...

I can see though that a lot of people might use it as a reason to buy products cheaper without letting us know they are doing it.

Guess we can only keep putting up with them and venting to each other.

When do you guys think another manufacturer will get a license?

[Stats]

uh.. You realize that you are posting this on a message board created by Blowout Cards, who happen to sell boxes of sports cards, right?

[Chaddie84]

1. Get Everyone to Boycott so prices tank
2. Buy up cases cheap
3. Flip cases
4. Profit

[streetmonkey]

Boycotting on BO would not accomplish much. We are just a small percentage of the card collectors.

[Keyser Soze]

If you boycott a product, only the distributors and the LCS are hurting since Topps dont sell directly to us. The distirbutors and LCS placed thier orders for products long time ago.

They're collateral damage. Boycotting would cause them to buy less product next time. The big breakers participation would be absolutely necessary.

I just think we need to find the right people at MLB licensing office and bombard them with complaints about the single license and how it completely destroyed Topps incentive to create quality products and provide even decent customer service

[premium1981]

I just think we need to find the right people at MLB licensing office and bombard them with complaints about the single license and how it completely destroyed Topps incentive to create quality products and provide even decent customer service

Not trying to be rude, but why would the MLB licensing office care? Their deal is with Topps, not us. They have their contract, and they have their money. I seriously doubt most of them even know how much a pack of cards cost. I think we kid ourselves at times when we are interested in something and think others are too.

[Keyser Soze]

Not trying to be rude, but why would the MLB licensing office care? Their deal is with Topps, not us. They have their contract, and they have their money. I seriously doubt most of them even know how much a pack of cards cost. I think we kid ourselves at times when we are interested in something and think others are too.

I agree to an extent, but any brand SHOULD care if someone is a stain on their name.

[phillies347]

This is a great topic

[premium1981]

I agree to an extent, but any brand SHOULD care if someone is a stain on their name.


Yes, but Topps sucking at times only reflects on Topps. I have never heard one person say that the redemptions not being fulfilled is the MLB licensing office's problem. Or that the refractor lines and smudged autographs are either. Bottom line here is Topps. They do some good, and they do some bad. We have to put up with both.

[dashcol]

uh.. You realize that you are posting this on a message board created by Blowout Cards, who happen to sell boxes of sports cards, right?

Yes I realize that...I wasn't thinking it would that card stores...I never entended on hurting BO or any other store/distributor.

I was not thinking that they buy the cards first, not as the orders come in. Plus I was thinking the sales that would have been Topps could have been replaced by sales of Pannini, Leaf, or anyone else that starts making good products.

Did not mean to upset anyone with this post.

[dashcol]

1. Get Everyone to Boycott so prices tank
2. Buy up cases cheap
3. Flip cases
4. Profit

This was not my intent. I am a collector, not a flipper. I like to trade the cards I get for cards that I PC...I do not think I have ever made a profit off of my collection.

[dashcol]

I just think we need to find the right people at MLB licensing office and bombard them with complaints about the single license and how it completely destroyed Topps incentive to create quality products and provide even decent customer service

Is this possible for us to do? Maybe a petition of some kind? Maybe there are enough members on BO that would make MLB change their mind?

[Metsfan1121]

I think that MLB and/or Topps might care more if Beckett agreed to the petition. They are really the largest non-biased card company.

[darealstunna]

Definitely not.

-we are not organized enough
-we are not disciplined enough
-it is our fault

Next box please.

[go_steelers07]

I think that MLB and/or Topps might care more if Beckett agreed to the petition. They are really the largest non-biased card company.

when did Beckett become a card company?

[death2redemptions]

This would never work and I'm too addicted to stop busting wax

[dashcol]

I think that MLB and/or Topps might care more if Beckett agreed to the petition. They are really the largest non-biased card company.

What would Beckett do for us? I can try to send e-mail to Chris Olds if anyone thinks it would do any good.

[babyfaceposey]

Here is something I found on the situation. This is part of the article from the NY Times.
Based off reading this only way to change anything would be to bring it up with MLB. Boycotting buying baseball cards would not do anything, but hurt Topps. The real way to allow Leaf etc to be allowed to license MLB products would be to boycott going to baseball games,products and not paying for MLB network. How many people would actually do this?

Making Topps the official trading card of baseball follows M.L.B.’s business model. It has, for example, an official car (Chevrolet), credit card (MasterCard), soft drink (Pepsi) and cap (New Era). For that reason, Brosnan said, baseball does not believe there are antitrust implications in entering a similar deal with Topps.

Typically, an exclusive license is more expensive to the company than a nonexclusive arrangement.

Brosnan said that a recent federal court decision that backed the N.F.L.’s right to make Reebok its exclusive headwear sponsor affirmed baseball’s policy.

[Keyser Soze]

I think that MLB and/or Topps might care more if Beckett agreed to the petition. They are really the largest non-biased card company.

Beckett is very biased and is dying. They're a fading force in the hobby. Most collectors laugh at you if you come quoting their values. Unless someone can give me a better argument otherwise, my belief is that the reason Beckett's prices are so ridiculously high is that they're in bed with card companies. They're "book values" are WAAAAAAY too high so that head-in-the-sand collectors think they're getting their money's worth from overpriced boxes/packs. Some collectors are dumb enough to open a $100 box, add up all of the book values of the cards and think "hmmm..... i did good! Paid $100 for this box and got $150 worth of cards", blissfully ignorant to the fact that they couldn't get $30 for those cards in the real world. If Beckett was truly unbiased, their values would more closely align with eBay sales. Isn't it odd that eBay is essentially the biggest card shop on earth, yet Beckett seems to take eBay sales, multiply that number by 3 or 4 or more, and publish them as the cards "value"?

Trust me, Topps has Beckett in their back pocket. Beckett does NOT have collectors best interest in mind.

[Chaddie84]

This was not my intent. I am a collector, not a flipper. I like to trade the cards I get for cards that I PC...I do not think I have ever made a profit off of my collection.

I kid, not to mention a boycott by a handful of collectors on a trading site won't even put a ding into the market.

[babyfaceposey]

I kid, not to mention a boycott by a handful of collectors on a trading site won't even put a ding into the market.

Think if you could get 100,000 people to just boycott the mlb network. Thats almost 20 mil. I think that would get their attention.

[mfisher27]

What other company would be suitable? Upper Deck who made counterfeit cards? Leaf who is always under scrutiny for unethical business? Or how about Panini, the company that releases sell sheet after sell sheet of the same things that almost everyone on the boards hates. Of the 4 possibilities, I think Topps is doing an ok job. Percentage wise they have to have the most popular sets per year.

[robertr1105]

Wouldn't work. You won't be able to get everyone on blowout to participate, and even if you did, its still not that many people compared to everyone else that buys. Too many people, especially those who practically make a living off of ripping and flipping, wouldnt be able to boycott it for too long. All we'd be left with would be those stupid Razor products and Panini celebrity cards that no one cares about. The only plausible suggestion would be petitioning the MLB to give another company a license, to create more products and restore the competition between companies.

[dashcol]

Making Topps the official trading card of baseball follows M.L.B.’s business model. It has, for example, an official car (Chevrolet), credit card (MasterCard), soft drink (Pepsi) and cap (New Era). For that reason, Brosnan said, baseball does not believe there are antitrust implications in entering a similar deal with Topps.

Typically, an exclusive license is more expensive to the company than a nonexclusive arrangement.

Brosnan said that a recent federal court decision that backed the N.F.L.’s right to make Reebok its exclusive headwear sponsor affirmed baseball’s policy.

See, I do not see making Chevy the official car, Mastercard the official CC, is the same. Just because Chevy is the official car does not mean anything. It does not raise the value of the car, it does not make my Mustang any less valuable. It just makes it so that in MLB fields you will not see an ad for Ford, and the WS MVP will win a Chevy not a Dodge. Means nothing to fans. As for the MC being the official CC, does that mean the stadium will not take my VISA? No it does not, again it is an advertizing thing.

[dashcol]

Think if you could get 100,000 people to just boycott the mlb network. Thats almost 20 mil. I think that would get their attention.

I like this. hit MLB where it hurts, and just by boycotting MLB network does not mean we will not see the games. We can all just watch the games online. The only thing is we would have to let MLB know exactly why they are losing customers.

[dashcol]

I kid, not to mention a boycott by a handful of collectors on a trading site won't even put a ding into the market.

I am sure you were. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that I was not trying to pull one over on people and get things cheaper and make more profit myself.

[dhcollecting]

You are better off writing to MLB. Make a good argument for competition.

[abcd1234]

I think a better way to fight the problem is to let ebay card sales prices trend even lower. If collectors aren't shelling out big money for the cards that are supposed to be big money then the card shops should adjust and lower their prices. Because the product is not seen as valuable by the collector. Just a thought. Who knows if this is good idea or not.

[babyfaceposey]

I don't think it has anything to do with the cards that Topps is putting out. Some are very nice, its just their is no competion. I would buy other products if the players were in their MLB uniforms. More competion will push the card market to make better quality cards.

[babyfaceposey]

I like this. hit MLB where it hurts, and just by boycotting MLB network does not mean we will not see the games. We can all just watch the games online. The only thing is we would have to let MLB know exactly why they are losing customers.

Or you just watch the local games on the channels in your area. You still get baseball, but not the game you might want to watch.

[dashcol]

Or you just watch the local games on the channels in your area. You still get baseball, but not the game you might want to watch.

Luckily I live in New England and one of my two teams is the Yankees, so I am all set. Get to watch every game on YES, I just get no Twins games here unless they are playing the Yanks and I prefer to watch the Twins

[JBerg1941]

The one most important detail left out of these discussions is the fact that Topps still generates more than 2/3rd of their revenues from candy sales. So 1/10 of 1% of 1/3rd of their business won't matter to them at all. Add to that the fact that relative to their competition, they do a great job servicing a marginally profitable niche business and care more about their customers than 99.9% of corporate America, and I suggest anyone who finds their "investment" in Topps product to be inadequate perhaps consider lottery tickets or Enron stock instead...

[bullrat]

I think that MLB and/or Topps might care more if Beckett agreed to the petition. They are really the largest non-biased card company.

If you have ever been at Wal-Mart when the jobber is stocking cards, look at the big boxes the cards are in before being put out. They will have Beckett on them. Seems Beckett is in the business of distributing cards as well as putting out price guides. I would not consider them non-biased.