eTopps. The final dagger to collectors.

[HeritageKing]

Topps are fools to think this is just going to go away. Just wait until these cards start showing up in people’s mailboxes in bent up, and then have to deal with all the returns.

[pfb11]

Some guy on facebook:

Ordered around 1500 cards on 9/21
Delivered 10/2
Magnetic cases with holo stickers, with a good number of the stickers stuck to each other or the paper between cards, and others curled up making them pointless.
I paid for USPS but they shipped UPS
7 cards missing and several damaged, particularly the mini cards

while everyone who ordered before that waits

[80s Kid]

Glad I shipped mine last year and avoided this mess.

[Arkcardex]

I have been working with Topps customer service for over a month since I received the email citing the closure of eTopps and options for my cards left in portfolios.
They have tried very hard to help me recover the portfolios I had left over 12 years ago. I had at least 90 portfolios with @20K points and @15000 cards still in storage. A big mess I had given up years ago.
They were able to recover some by my password, some by email address, other by name. It would have cost over $11k to get them delivered. While my accounts have not be finalized, they are working to consolidate them.
Even though the time has expired to elect to take cards in hand, they said they are still willing to give store credit to any open portfolio that can be identified for another 30 days. (@ 31 Nov 2025)
IF you still have a portfolio, it is worth the effort to get store credit at least. Some cards are not available anymore and they are worth more than the $1.50 store credit especially the classic sets.

Give Topps a call M-F 8AM to 8PM EST1-800-489-9149

[Timewarp]

Which cards from your ports are no longer available? That's a lot of cards - good luck to you.

[ewokpelts]

Originally Posted by Arkcardex

I have been working with Topps customer service for over a month since I received the email citing the closure of eTopps and options for my cards left in portfolios.
They have tried very hard to help me recover the portfolios I had left over 12 years ago. I had at least 90 portfolios with @20K points and @15000 cards still in storage. A big mess I had given up years ago.
They were able to recover some by my password, some by email address, other by name. It would have cost over $11k to get them delivered. While my accounts have not be finalized, they are working to consolidate them.
Even though the time has expired to elect to take cards in hand, they said they are still willing to give store credit to any open portfolio that can be identified for another 30 days. (@ 31 Nov 2025)
IF you still have a portfolio, it is worth the effort to get store credit at least. Some cards are not available anymore and they are worth more than the $1.50 store credit especially the classic sets.

Give Topps a call M-F 8AM to 8PM EST1-800-489-9149

anothermold school etopps forum user!

[pfb11]

Which cards from your ports are no longer available

I'm fascinated to know if any cards are unavailable now that WERE available previously. Since they refuse to be transparent about why this is taking so long.

[oddstuff]

It's been mentioned by a few others and unavailable to me also when I placed my order....2002 Kobe. For some reason, that one has disappeared completely. I tried to take in hand 5 years ago and it was out back then.

[HeritageKing]

Originally Posted by oddstuff

It's been mentioned by a few others and unavailable to me also when I placed my order....2002 Kobe. For some reason, that one has disappeared completely. I tried to take in hand 5 years ago and it was out back then.

That is topps fault and not yours. You paid for them to hold the cards for you. Ask then what are they going to do for you? Either they pay you the original price of the current live price, whichever is more. Does that not seem fair?

[Archangel1775]

You know what's crazy, there have been T206 and other tobacco cards 100+ years old found in better condition than these gawd damn cards. Then the whole thing about paying $9.99 for a slabbed and stickered card 25 years ago with the concept of Topps storing them in what would now be called a Vault, only to be told "You should've known" is entirely BS. I have no sympathy for Pre-Fanatics Topps. I'm glad they got checkmated by Fanatics. As for Fanatics trying to fix this, yeah, they got problems and screwed this up in the rush to get the stuff out but at least they are trying.

[Diamondjake]

Originally Posted by Archangel1775

You know what's crazy, there have been T206 and other tobacco cards 100+ years old found in better condition than these gawd damn cards. Then the whole thing about paying $9.99 for a slabbed and stickered card 25 years ago with the concept of Topps storing them in what would now be called a Vault, only to be told "You should've known" is entirely BS. I have no sympathy for Pre-Fanatics Topps. I'm glad they got checkmated by Fanatics. As for Fanatics trying to fix this, yeah, they got problems and screwed this up in the rush to get the stuff out but at least they are trying.

I remember on the etopps forums when people tried to warn everyone the disaster that was coming and they shut down the forums as the fix.

At least they silenced Carlos I guess... makes me wonder what ol' Steve-O and Mark are up to these days.

"LEARN"

[padsfan10]

I was a big eTopps proponent back in the day. Even went to their (1st?) convention in Vegas. Was able to get some of the auto'd cards (Tejada, Cabrera, Iverson) and thought this was the look of the future for sports collectibles.

Chalk it up to another mistake in life. At least I have one LeBron RC and couple of favorites from the inaugural edition.

[pfb11]

Originally Posted by Archangel1775

You know what's crazy, there have been T206 and other tobacco cards 100+ years old found in better condition than these gawd damn cards. Then the whole thing about paying $9.99 for a slabbed and stickered card 25 years ago with the concept of Topps storing them in what would now be called a Vault, only to be told "You should've known" is entirely BS

This is the main thing people are missing. They didn't know to use the word "vault" to hook people back then, but they used other words that implied careful storage and eventual mint delivery.

[no10pin]

Now seems like a good time to share this again. Terms and conditions as they existed while they were releasing IPOs.



The second paragraph is especially relevant.

[pfb11]

For anyone who searching, here's what OCR does with that image:

Purchased cards automatically are placed in your etopps Portfolio, described above. You can choose to leave the cards there, or you may request personal delivery. If you request personal delivery, the Company will send your order to you by UPS or other similar delivery service, and will charge your credit card for shipping, handling and insurance. Please note that only those cards which are left in the Portfolio may be sold on the etopps trading floor at eBay.

The Company will ship cards in "mint" condition (which is defined, for purposes of etopps cards, uncirculated with no more than minor flaws or imperfections), with one card per tamper-evident hard case, and with an authentication sticker on the card itself. You understand that any claim that you did not receive your cards or that your cards were damaged when received must be made
(a) via e-mail, and (b) within 20 business days of your initial request for shipment.

If you did not receive your cards (i.e. they are lost in shipment), and you report such loss within 20 business days of your initial request for shipment, the Company will assist you in filing a claim with UPS, and will pay to you any amounts (if any) that are paid by UPS as a result of such claim. The Company, however, does not represent or guarantee that UPS will pay any such claims, nor does the Company warrant that any payments will be based on the actual or fair market value of your cards. Any such payments are subject to UPS terms and conditions, which generally pays claims based upon the lower of the actual product cost or replacement value, but not to exceed $100 per shipment. The Company is not responsible for lost, delayed, damaged or mishandled shipments. To help guard against late shipments or loss, the Company recommends UPS Next Day Air with signature required. In the near future, the Company expects to offer additional, insure delivery options for high value cards.

If you claim that the cards were received in damaged condition, you must report such damage within the time limit, using the form in the Replacement Cards section of the etopps web site. Upon receipt of your damage report, the Company will send you a pre-paid shipping label, to be used by you to return the card(s). All such claims will be investigated by the Company upon receipt of the returned cards). For claims that are substantiated, the Company will, at its option, either replace the cards) or pay you the then fair market value of the cards, as determined in the reasonable discretion of the Company.
Some cards may not be available for delivery promptly upon conclusion of the ordering period. Prior to accepting orders for such cards, the Company will post a notice at the Web Site advising users when such cards are expected to be available for delivery.

The recipient is responsible for taxes and/or duty charges. Your order may be subject to import duties and taxes which are determined and collected by the country of destination. These charges are based upon the value of the merchandise entering the country. We have no control over the amounts charged and cannot predict what they may be. UPS will charge the recipient all applicable duty, taxes, and/or brokerage fees at time of delivery.

[Baseball4Fun]

Something that I've always wondered, I thought the cards were printed to match the number ordered. But a lot of the cards show print runs of a round number like 10,000. So obviously those are not not print to order numbers. Did Topps actually print 10k cards and nobody knows how many were actually sold? Were the extras beyond the number that was ordered supposedly destroyed?

[pfb11]

Originally Posted by Baseball4Fun

Something that I've always wondered, I thought the cards were printed to match the number ordered. But a lot of the cards show print runs of a round number like 10,000. So obviously those are not not print to order numbers. Did Topps actually print 10k cards and nobody knows how many were actually sold? Were the extras beyond the number that was ordered supposedly destroyed?

Believe it or not, what happened there is they sold 13,971 but capped the orders at 10,000 and sent 3,971 emails saying people had been shut out.

[Etopps]

Originally Posted by pfb11

Believe it or not, what happened there is they sold 13,971 but capped the orders at 10,000 and sent 3,971 emails saying people had been shut out.

I will add to this and say the people shutout did not get their credit cards charged. There were a lot of popular cards sold out that I didn’t get alloted. Also, if a card didn’t get get sold out the print run might be lower but I’m not sure that ever happened or ETopps held the extras back. The small print run cards may have came from the no limit cards (like the Topps now) or ones with a short timed ipo.

Forgive me if my info is off. It’s been about 15 years since I was on ETopps.

[Scrub]

Originally Posted by pfb11

I'm fascinated to know if any cards are unavailable now that WERE available previously. Since they refuse to be transparent about why this is taking so long.

Here is what wasn't available for me...many of these were added at some point during September. There were like less than 10 cards initially. Many of the A&G and classics became unavailable during the exodus...

They calculated replacement value of $227.15 for these 32 cards using the IPO prices. Based on eBay and COMC data, I calculated $637.79, for a difference of about $400. 2002 Kobe ($75), A&G Payton ($120), and A&G Jackie Robinson ($50) were the big cards. I did not contact them on this yet, but plan to soon. If it was a couple of bucks, I would not bother....but this is significant, especially when odds are the cards they will be sending me will be less than mint...

[pfb11]

some real bummers on that list. A few of those were unavailable for me as well. I wonder what happened to so many of the 2003 baseball cards.

[no10pin]

Originally Posted by pfb11

some real bummers on that list. A few of those were unavailable for me as well. I wonder what happened to so many of the 2003 baseball cards.

Truly bizarre. Those cards were made, I've seen them. Where did they go?

What a ridiculous mess they let this become.

[ewokpelts]

Originally Posted by pfb11

some real bummers on that list. A few of those were unavailable for me as well. I wonder what happened to so many of the 2003 baseball cards.

I bet the storage locker got water damage or something.

[Alyndara]

I have both the 2003 Pettite and Clemens that I received about a year ago. If they were "ruined" it was recently...

[oddstuff]

For those that have received your package, was there a shipping update, either by email or at least on etopps site? I've been checking daily on etopps hoping to see a tracking link on the order I've paid for to take the cards in hand. The order is pending since 9/30.

[Outlaw]

This is totally unacceptable.

When all this went down they offered 1.50 per card.
Then they came out with the "fair market value" after the uproar.
I've talked to customer service many times before the "fair market value" email came out and got 5 different reps/operators and then decided to just deal with this by support-email. Told them I don't want the credit then and currently still don't at the current prices shown and I've been advised to not use it until this is resolved.
While its hard to say how much replacement cost would total depending on the grade and so forth but these cards was suppose to be mint/near mint so i would think a grade 8 at the minimum with some 9's and 10's sprinkled in.
Was told and advertised by Topps they were in a climate controlled "vault" and each card was stored in its individual case.
I need to go through my old topps support emails from years ago but i remember it saying "your cards are safe and they will be there when you decide to have them shipped"


Order Type Date / Time Quantity Card Title Store Credit Amount
Out of Stock 08/22/25 5:48 PM

1 Roger Clemens 2003 $9.5
1 Wayne Rooney 2004 $5
12 Roger Staubach $9.5
10 Walter Payton Sb $8
9 Roger Staubach Sb $9
5 Tony Dorsett Sb $8.5
62 Lou Gehrig T-206 $7
31 Nolan Ryan T-206 $7
16 Jackie Robinson T-206 $7
4 Babe Ruth T-206 $7
8 Honus Wagner T-206 $7
51 Mickey Mantle T-206 $7
25 Cal Ripken T-206 $7
1 Presidential Pitch (Wk 16) $2







Just at a glance, 10k plus?

For what its worth i was very active on the etopps site and recognize many of the same usernames on here from back then on the etopps boards.