What was this junk I just bought??

Buccaneer

I'm probably going to ruin what little reputation I have. I rarely go to Walmart so it just happened that I was nearby one and had to get one thing. I stumbled across the cards display and just out of curiousity, I looked at the unopened boxes. Big mistake. I know nothing (or care one iota) about anything made after 1990 (or 1972 for that matter, but that's being an elitist). Anyway, I saw a box that looks like one of the old Topps box called Bowman Heritage - 8 packs/8 card per pack. It was fairly cheap so I got it not knowing what to expect. What I got confounded me. There were 8 packs but all of them had an end sliced off and then taped up. Mind you, this was a shrinked-wrap box. There were 4-8 cards per pack and after some digging, I discovered they were all 1992 Studio cards. How did this happen?

This had been the only modern issue I have bought in 15 years and it serves me right for even thinking about this junk. Lesson. Learned.

ctsoxfan

Interesting - sounds like you got a box somebody returned to the store after they stole the Heritage cards out of it. Pretty pathetic, but stores like Target and WalMart could care less about cards - people stand there for hours at a time and search packs, and no one cares.

I bet the box was returned to an associate who could care less about the contents, but I can't explain the shrink wrap...

Stone193

Hi Steve
Sounds like a repack - they are looking for the autos and then returning it - you can return it to Walmart and they will give you your money back. Most Topps products have the word Topps printed all over the shrink wrap - so if a box has generic "clear" shrink wrap, it is probably a rewrap.

Sorry to hear about this - it does happen with the Topps heritage since it is so popular - in that case they pull out the SP's and the autos e.g. Walmart does not want to lose you as a customer over a 20 buck purchase.

your friend
Mike

Also Steve, here is an example of an auto I pulled from a pack. I'm not doing the set - my wife bought me a couple of Target blister boxes - they were 19.99. I thought the 55 design was nice but not enough to invest in a set and dealing with SP's.

DeutscherGeist

The shrink wrap is no longer a sure thing about being tamper proof. They sell shrink wrap machines on the open market and they are not that expensive. One has to make sure it is a Topps shrink wrap and then check carefully to see if there is no evidence of tampering. The guys posting above are right--- the employees at Walmart are not that careful about accepting an exchange. Many do not know the shrink wrap has to read topps all over. Buyer beware. Maybe you should return the box to Walmart and explain to the manager what happened. Also, as a good Samaritan, explain to management that you are a real collector and tell them what unscrupleous customers do about the re-wrap scam. I think with a straight forward story like that and the knowledge and alert you offer, they should be greatful. They should at least offer you another box, but this time from an unopened case or at least make sure there is no evidence of tampering on the box. I am sure they will offer the replacement. I would not eat the $20. Let us know what happens.

I like what TOYS R US does. They put packs and Boxes encased in a hard plastic box so no one could search the contents. People cannot spend hours searching packs at Toys R Us. I am surprised Wal Mart is that careless. Wal Mart sells so many products, its employees can not be experts at all of them. It is also so sad that Toys R Us might go belly up because of Wal Mart.

Buccaneer

That's just it, it was a Topps shrink wrap. It has "Topps" in blue spaced every 3" or so. Man, oh man.

Knuckles

Maybe they just cut into it carefully, put the Topps wrap back around the box and then used one of those chip bag sealer things or something to seal where they had cut??

ctsoxfan

<< <i>Maybe they just cut into it carefully, put the Topps wrap back around the box and then used one of those chip bag sealer things or something to seal where they had cut?? >>



That makes sense, but could you imagine going through all that just to steal $20 or so worth of cards? Sad, really....

SDavid

When I was a kid, I worked in a warehouse with a shrink wrap machine. The scammer in question probably just has access to a shrink wrap machine through a job/friend/whatever.

Still, if it's like most retail boxes I've opened, the contents would be worth less than the trip to and from Target. Not a good scam, imo.