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Etopps???
kuhlmann
Posts: 3,326 ✭✭
I used to do a lot of trading with etopps and made some good money. i havent checked it in about a year now. Can you still make money with this or is it a break even deal. i remember when they first had the baseball classic set come out i ordered so many of the babe ruth ones and only got a few but i made like 50$ a pop on ebay right away.
Any way just wondering if any of you guys deal with etopps. Is it still a good thing to profit from. also how about the pit ive always lost my a$$ on the pit. how have you guys done?
Sorry last post didnt come in!
Any way just wondering if any of you guys deal with etopps. Is it still a good thing to profit from. also how about the pit ive always lost my a$$ on the pit. how have you guys done?
Sorry last post didnt come in!
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Comments
Thats all you need to know.
Kevin
This program is on the rise, etopps has been making tons of changes lately and the majority of people have seen their portfolios increase in value. My port has jumped nearly 3 grand in the past month alone. With the addition of the card target market (cardtarget.com) etopps is getting more exposure. Look out for the 2004 baseball set especially after the National, all if you who are bashing the etopps program will be ticked off in a few months after you see all of the money that you could've made.
are STILL idiots believing that this stuff is great after topps repeatedly screws you! Everytime this
comes up someone for etopps always tells us what is going up and tells us how many different cards
are up...except those are the cards that very few people bought! 75%+ of the cards they have
put out are dead! and most of those cards have print runs from 3-5 thousand! Why dont you
tell everyone that oh and don't forget to figure the selling price with the added cost of selling...45 cents
to ebay, a dime to paypal....now tell me how many total cards are selling for more than 55 cents over
issue price!
It has to be true that the the only people left in etopps are idiots who don't collect sportcards and
who don't care about money. No sain collector would buy this junk and pay 800 dollars for a Tony
Banks card.
Im stating facts...I was there in November of 2000 when this whole crock started! I cussed out
Harlan Berman for 40 minutes one morning after he sold me cards, took my money and closed
down the site for 4 months! You probably didn't even know what etopps was back then!
This is the wrong board for you newbie! There are people here with common sense, go back
to Steve Brock's board!
Thanks
JS
<< <i>Joe Stalin, please get your facts straight. >>
Don't hold your breath on that one, cause it will never happen........
BOTR
And there are plenty of people here with common sense, just not you. Let's take a look at your last post, so if there are 1 million cards selling for less then IPO price, wouldn't that mean that there are more cards selling for over IPO price. I'm not a math major but it looks like I'm right.
Apparently 75 percent of the cards they put out are dead, maybe you should do the math and then take a look again. The only cards that are dead are the 2002 cards because of their high print runs. Keep in mind though that there are some really nice cards from the 02s such as the Prior rookie, even with the huge print run.
Ebay fees for doing private auctions are just 30 cents and if you do a paypal balance transfer there are no fees for that as well. The tony banks card is only around 350.00 right now just so you know. Here is the best thing you said though, nobody who buys etopps cares about money or knows anything about cards. Well the majority of people who are investing in etopps got out of collecting regular cards because they were losing money doing that. I guess nobody cares about money though and that would be a good reason to why everyone continues to buy etopps cards.
You are a joke on these boards, few people respect your opinion, look at the previous post as well. I know how much you're against etopps, and that is fine. Take a look at etopps in 6 months from now and then let me know how much you regret not taking advantage of a great opportunity. I still love collecting regular cards and that is where my true passion is. I saw an opportunity in etopps in the past 6 months and I have been fortunate enough and have made close to 5 grand. Best of luck with your card collection and I hope it works out for you.
Etopps is a cyclical phenomenon.
The cards in the first 2 years are worth something because there are lower print runs causing a scarcity, due mainly in fact that so few people were aware or unwilling to risk significant money in the cards. Meanwhile cards released in 2002 have less value because so many people saw a chance to make a quick buck, unfortunately there are way too many people collecting these days for just that reason.
Since so many people took a complete bath in the last year or so with etopps, the majority of the etopps collectors have left, hence a smaller print run of the cards, once again scarcity (or the perception of it) has an effect on the value. I would be willing to wager that next year, print runs will increase of each card, causing the same problem as in 2002.
Etopps is not a bad thing, it just isn't the cash cow many are making it, nor is it the money pit either.
I completely agree with basically everything you say. The 2002 cards really don't have any significant value to anyone unless you are collecting the sets. There are the exceptions from 2002 but for the most part the cards will reamin below IPO prices.
It can be very profitable if you pick the right players to buy. I made the majority of my money buying select 2001 football cards and accumulating decent size percentages of certain players and watching the price slowly rise. This is the same thing that a lot of other people have been doing with 2003 football and basketball. It's scary to think that there are certain people that control over 30% of a 2003 card with print runs under 800.
I think 2004 will be interesting. If etopps is smart (like they have been this year for basketball/football) they will eliminate the high print runs of 3000 or more (with the few exceptions of top rookies). Assuming more people get involved in the program then most of the rarer cards, mainly the 2001s should see a steady increase in value. Most investments aren't a sure thing and etopps isn't either. If you pick the right cards to invest in you can make a decent ammount of cash, then again if you pick the wrong cards you can lose a lot as well.
cards, then you went into hybernation and bought 2003 right? Please were are not that stupid!
The 2002 glut followed the high point in etopps history and that means all the "thousands" that
people made on 2001 cards was negated by the 2002, events series, and classics.
Again, I will ask why you mention cards with print runs of several hundred that have performed well, but
fail to mention cards that are selling for 50% or more less that sold in the 5000 range? It doesn't take
a genius to see that sure 1 card has gone up and one card has gone down but while 300 or 400 people
have made money, 15 times that many people have lost money! This is the situation for almost every
2002 card and most of the classics and events..heck some events which sold 8000 cards are selling for
3 dollars or less (those cards were sold for 8 bucks in the beginning!
Im so glad that some of your slithered over to the cardboard forums here, afterall we are all sitting here
losing money left and right and needed to know of a quick way to make it all back. Im on my way
right now to sign up for an account or 20. I wonder if the user name Ernie Banks or Garfield are used yet?
You know I can see how wet behind the ears you are when you say that topps should limit print runs...
why should they if they can sell thousands of each player year after year?? So what does a 3rd year
preston wilson sell for?? LOL nada. You all are sucked in so far you can't get out, you can only
hope to grab more people and attempt to flip or whatever you all call it.
oh and apparently you haven't sold on ebay either, 30 cents to list minimum and then final value fees
and then paypal fees which you can't get around and everyone uses paypal. Heck you have cards
in your portfolios that you have paid for and they still aren't yours!!! You either have to pay to sell
them or pay to get them shipped....you don't even own them, as a matter of fact the only thing
that you own 100% are the losses...congrats!
JS
cards and it IS either gone or very hard to find! Nothing like seeing negatives in front of all the numbers
to get customers there!
Here are some numbers I got from another site:
How about some of these hot players:
Delgado...1028 cards selling above IPO 6104 selling below
Maddux 1031 cards selling above IPO 9863 below
ARod 2212 above 9240 below
Clemens 1462 above 10985 below
Jeter 1041 above 11,054 below IPO!!
The 2002 Randy Johnson sold for 9.50 back in 02 and 6,211 people bought it...it is now worth 2 dollars
after selling fees...thats 46 thousand dollars lost (46,000)
9477 Ichiro buyers in 2002 bought for 9.50 a pop now worth 2.45 cents after fees....topps made 90 thousand
dollars on just this card alone...buyers then took it in the rear for 66,782 dollars. thank you topps may
I have another......
Dunn..6000 sold for 6.50 now worth 1.75 each
Ishii 6000 sold for 6.5 now worth 1.85 each
If I had bought all of these players cards back in 2002 when they were hot I would of been out over 150,000
dollars! AND THATS JUST 4 CARDS FROM A 107 CARD SET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why try to sweep this under the rug?
JS
Game....Set.....MATCH!!!!
But I have to admit - Joe Stalin is right on the money with this one. These cards are a HUGE scam by Topps and they will never hold their value. Edgardo Alfonzo 2001 for like $200 last I checked ( awhile back )? Tony Banks 2001 for $350? Owen Nolan 2001 for $50+ or so?
Listen, even the lowest card produced ( Tony Banks ) still sucks. Why do you think that only 180 or so copies were sold. The guy stinks. I am not a newbie by any means, I do understand that it is the "scarcity" of some of these cards that drives up the values, but owning 180 separate piles of dog pooh, is still owning a bunch of dog pooh. You just have a bit more.
I questioned the values from Day 1. I asked myself "Why can a Edgardo Alfonzo 2001 Etopps sell for hundreds, but a insert of him from any pack/brand with the same print run ( or much less ) will sell for $1 topps on Ebay?" Same goes for Tony Banks, Owen Nolan, Elvis Grbac, etc..
I couldn't get more than about $30 on Ebay for any Edgardo Alfonzo 1/1 card, yet people are pumping out hundreds of $$$ for a card that they will keep in their profile until they realize they were ripped off and sell it on Ebay for $2, 3 years from now. Think about it? I understand that the lure of Etopps is that if you really wanted to, and tried, you may be able to purchase all of the Edgardo Alfonzo 2001 Etopps at one point in your life. There is only like 200+ cards produced. But, if you just wait to pay the $30 for a Fleer Masterpiece 1/1, you can also guarantee that no one else would own that card either.
Now figure it out. The average Alfonzo 2001 Etopps goes for $100 ( I'm sure it is way more, but I haven't looked in over a year ). If you went on a mission to own all of them, it would cost you near $22,000 to do this, give or take. More than likely it would cost more because once some of the nerds realize that you are getting down to the last 10 or so, they can charge you whatever they want in order for you to complete your gay Edgardo Alfonzo worthless set. Meanwhile, some other nerd owns 60 or so different Edagrdo Alfonzo 1/1 cards if he could find them for much, much less. Etopps is not logical one bit. They really are adding to the vault for any of these cards that they sell, meanwhile leaving MOST of the consumers with their pockets turned inside out.
If you made a few $$$ with these things when they first came out, god bless. So did I for a very short time. However, I was smart enough to see the print runs jump up and 30x more people get involved the 2nd time around so I backed off. That surely paid off for me. What I don't get is, what joy do you have owning a 8th year card of Kevin Garnett with a print run of even 1,500? And these days, that would be a low print run for the company.
I have a deal for anyone interested. Send me $500 through Paypal an I promise that i will send you a 1/1 card from each of the following players: Tony Banks, Owen Nolan, Jerry Stackhouse, Edgardo Alfonzo, and Elvis Grbac. Your total cost to purchase their initial Etopps would probably be more than the $500 you send me, so it would be a great deal. After I send you the cards and I put the $400+ I profited off the deal, I will post positive remarks about the way you trade. I promise.
Trust me and anyone that knocks these useless cards - GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL HAVE A SMALL PROFIT. I do not mean to offend any one person who collects these cards. I am just questioning your purpose.
TheRoach
What your saying is very true!!
But dont all of you guys find it WEIRD that lets say for instance lebron james fleer focus. has the same exact card that is #d to 499 and then one is #d to 10. what is the difference in the card for real? one says #d to 499 on the back and one says #d to 10!! but it looks exactly the same.
This is why i think chase cards are starting to flop. if they are going to # a card different then at least change the view of the card.
kuhlmann
I totally agree with that!
Mike
TheRoach
they are unclear on how many are in hand. They also sell these etopps cards on the pit which they
own.....lets review
1) topps makes the card and announces print runs
2) topps sells cards to the pit (which they own) and has yet to tell us how those cards are allocated
3) the cards on the pit are priced based on what "someone" is willing to pay for them.
4) there is no way to see who is buying these cards on the pit
5) these cards are bought back from the pit (who topps owns) and are put up in a rewards offer
made to people how buy many etopps cards.
so etopps=thepit=etopps, topps sells the initial card to itself, then gets to post what that card
is worth on the site and then sells it the higest bidder or buys it back with its own money. Whats
even more odd is that you can't see what etopps cards the pit bought or has in its possesion...one
day a card goes up on ebay, the next day the pit has 50 of them selling on their site..hmmmmmm
still with me?
Etopps stared in 2001 by priting up the cards before they sold them, but many were not sold. Topps
said that they destroyed all the cards that wern't sold (thousands). Later on they would sell the
cards and print up the cards later with the exact sell amount. Back in 2002 they had a few
celeb accounts...Ernie Banks and Garfield....they were allowed to get 8 of a certain player while
the rest of us could only get a max of 1 or 2. Today if you order an etopps card and want it delivered
your credit card is charged instantly but the card might take up to 6 months to arrive at your house
(plus a 5.95 delivery charge)
Still today there is NO visable evidence on how many cards there are out there, how many people actually
possess or how many topps printed up. 186 Tony Banks selling for 300 dollars a piece and un-numbered?
what if a few extras slipped in...could anyone tell?? 600 bucks is a lot of money!
Where did Maddux go?
JS
I owned to Alex Escobar cards which i made good money off and i believed they were #d on the back. i could be wrong though.
Heck i must be wrong bc no one list the uniform #d ones on the back.
in one long strand so if this was your order:
Bonds
Griffey
A Rod
A Rod
Maddux
the numbers on the cards would be 1000,1001,1002,1003,1004....that doesn't prove anything. Im not
sure who was the genius at etopps who thought of this, but then again this is the same company
who sent out an offer on an events card featuring War Emblem and its triple crown win BEFORE
he actually won, and who sent out ads misspelling players names wrong such as Kurt Shilling and
Eddie Matthews!
JS
Joe, I started etopps in August of 2003 during the last month of baseball so I didn't lose anything on the 2002s. All of the 2001s I purchased were on the secondary market, sorry for not being clear about that. Joe, you are wrong about the pit and etopps working together. The etopps cards offered on the pit are "in hand cards" meaning they have been taken out of circulation and are no longer in peoples portfolios. There is no way to put cards back into your portfolio once they have been shipped to you. Also, the shipping prices on the cards have been reduced a lot over the past few months.
Joe, learn how to read. Look at my previous posts where I said the 2002 cards were crap for the most part, nobody was trying to hide that. And look back to my explination of ebay fees again. When you do a private trade with another person from etopps it will cost you 30 cents to list it and the final value fee will only be a penny because that is what the final price is. Then when you get paid from someone else using a paypal balance transfer there are no fees involved (assuming your account is a personal account that doesn't accept credit cards).
TheRoach
Total Print Run 2,106,411
Cards above IPO 512
Cards below IPO 595
Cards above 7 day Avg 417
Total Currently On eBay 9,127
Cards Ended Yesterday 2,054
Cards Ending Today 2,998
Cards Ending Tomorrow 1,150
Total Market Cap $13,995,630
SuperSet Value $12,417.36
That last number, superset value, would be if you had bought one of every card at IPO. That would have cost about $6325 if my math is right so its almost double from its initial cost. I know the chase cards in boxes and packs can be worth a lot, but many gave up chasing in the 90's and have found a new home with eTopps. Hate it all you want - it works for a lot of people. The cards are great, they are individually serial numbered when shipped in hand, and now we have a new market place for them through a private party web site cardtarget.com for instant gratification. With eTopps you don't have to wait for cards in the mail, or even pay for postage. You can keep them nice and easily tucked away in eTopps storage - FREE - and have them sent to you at will.
Yes the success of eTopps in 2001 lead to a massive overselling and loss in 2002. But that has been corrected. As pointed out 2003 football, 2003 basketball, 2003 football classics are all three now over their initial costs. Hockey 03 will be the latest. Baseball 03 is down significantly - could be a nice buying opportunity.
By the way - the smart etopps customers know when to buy at IPO and when not too.
needed help here!! So nice of you to run to their aid even though I have already killed the etopps
beast with those 2002 numbers...Again you mention how many single cards are up and how many are
down but you don't tell us how many cards those number represet....for every card that is up 50%
there are 300 cards that are down 50%...how can you tell us that is good?
I know you bought a bunch of 2002 etopps, so what are you just writing them off like the whole
thing never happened? and events too? I bet if I looked I would see that roughly 80% of all the
cards sold at 9.50 a pop are losing money now....can we ignore that? and why do the up/down
numbers not reflect the cost associated with selling the card....there are ALOT of cards that
sell just above IPO price which after fees means a loss.....why not mention that?
Topps has been taking your money for a long time now but the etopps glasses they gave you are
only available in one color...rose-colored! What- it took them 3 years of taking your money and
overproducing their cards for them to realize that if they want to keep customers, they are going to
have to conform.....but for how long? You know the pool of etoppers are only so big and that the
money within that pool is limited so if one card goes up then another somewhere has gone down!
This sudden low printing will only work for a short time, becase topps has prepared to issue more
and more cards and that only means one thing for you....dropping prices...there just isn't that much
money out there for etopps and the various stunts that etopps pulled like the 800 dollar Tony Banks
all but killed it for any newbies.
They killed it back in 2001 printing up 10000 Ichiro's..sure they sold every last one of them but
that proved that they don't wish to give the collectors anything limited and worth something. It is
sad that you continue to give them your money when they have done nothing for you...heck they
can't even spell the players names right and when they finally try to give something to you , they
give you an autographed etopps card of a semi star! Thanks Wally!
Etopps really had a chance to make a mark in e-cards,but they screwed it when they saw the dollar
signs and got greedy, they STILL TODAY keep in hand numbers and pit.com numbers a secret and it
took them almost 2 years to stop the multiple accounts (which still exist).
As far as the load of crap I sold Ronin, for a grand, those cards today are worth 758 dollars and that is
without selling fees! LOL
I could not think of a worse place to stick your hard earned money than the greedy mouth of etopps.
Anyone thinking about buying this stuff need only visit the 2002 fact pages and see how many
thousands of people topps screwed..people have lost hugh amounts of money and the kicker is....
they don't even own the cards yet!
It was good hearing from you old buddy, tell the old board I said hi and tell Brock to stick when the
sun don't shine!
Thanks
JS (BigLou)
By the way the 02's are still quite a value though they've bounced off their bottoms. The 03 baseball is still down nicely too...but the 03 football and basketball are both above IPO
PS...I know Ronin still thinks of you when he takes that Beemer out for a ride
Just got back from Seattle and checked these boards. I about fell over when I saw your name on here!!! Remember me from the etopps board? I couldn't hang on any longer with etopps. Do you know, or have you heard if Topps is going to advertise their etopps brand anytime soon? In my opinion, thats what is KILLING etopps. People don't know about it!!!
So those of us who listed their cards to sell in 5 or 7 days found much lower prices when those auctions closed. So why can't we offer our cards with BIN at a realistic price? BIN is a standard EBAY option, but not on ETopps. Topps doesn't want it and for their obvious reasons and as such, I will never buy another ETopps card. Plain and simple...it is a scam and many of us fell for it in the initial stages of this scam.
Collectable
Yes eTopps needs to advertise, but no one is expecting them too. Their ads last year fell flat on their face and I don't know if they plan to spend millions on TV again or not? I kind of doubt it - we'll see.
We are expecting fantasy sports to roll out with baseball. We're hoping for a new competition fantasy game involving the cards. This will be a great addition to the etopps community experience. No one has any details yet so right now its just hope - though Topps Inc., did mention it in their quarterly report.