Fleer Team Action Debacle
BearCollector
Posts: 124 ✭✭
Well, they went and did it. If anyone hasn't noticed yet, football Master Sets of players who played in the 70s and 80s are being dramatically altered as Fleer TA cards are being yanked from the sets unceremoniously and without warning. While there is certainly a purist point, the fact that these have been allowed since Day 1 and 10+ years later now being deleted is painful on many fronts for us Master Set builders. Besides the hundreds or thousands of $ invested to get these added to the sets, we lose out on the fun of the chase and the niche these cards filled in chronicaling on field moments of many legendary players from their prime playing years. Very disappointing. Will PSA reimburse all of the investment they triggered by having these in set compositions over the years?
Comments
Very disappointing indeed.
Add it to the growing list of narrow-minded, vastly impacting, poor decisions to come out of the PSA Set Registry staff over the past year or two. Outside of company sets, I have a hard time seeing the Registry survive, let alone grow, over the next 5 years. Eventually a lot of small, short-sighted decisions will add up to long-term catastrophe. Sadly, that seems to be the track the current staff and their supporting "experts" are on...
Most that know me here know I'm not a negative person. I've been a PSA loyalist and registry die-hard for nearly a decade... but at this point, I'm about a nats hair away from losing all confidence in any PSA personnel that have a hand in the Registry!
I checked my player set that I collect, and the Fleer cards are still listed. This is after I submitted a Fleer card to be added to the set a few weeks ago, and haven't heard back yet.
I quickly checked some sets, and only saw the Payton set being effected. Do you have other sets this happened to?
Happened to my Terry Bradshaw Master Set. They are still showing in the set composition but no longer show that I have them registered.
Amen brother.
bobsbbcards SGC Registry Sets
Some of my other sets (Greg Pruitt, Joe Washington, retired Earl Campbell) seem to have had these changes made earlier, as the Set Composition for each doesn't show any Fleer TA cards and what ones that were in them are now in my "My Inventory which does not match my sets" area. Singletary Master is in process similar to the Payton set, which had EIGHTEEN (18!) Fleer cards listed prior to this.
2 cards taken out of my Ozzie Newsome Master Set...
Hey everyone,
I’m glad I found this post. Just as BearCollector stated, 18 Payton cards have disappeared in the blink of an eye. No matter that some of us have spent big $$ obtaining them to build up the set. And, if PSA follows the rules that they’ve suddenly enforced, there may be several other cards that don’t conform to their Registry rules and removed in short time. It sucks. I sent a long email to the Registry powers-that-be and hope they have some kind of response. It’s unfortunate that PSA has suddenly changed the rules in the deep end of the game, all to the disadvantage of the collector. I’m not sure what will happen with the Registry sets in the future. How many people want to allow PSA to play judge/jury with their “financial” investments, and then turn around and say collecting should just be for fun. Strange times everyone.
Rick G.
Well my player set just got hit, all cards eliminated.
Did I miss PSA's explanation as to why they did this?
I did write an extensive letter to the people in charge of the PSA Set Registry. This was the reply I just received. We shall see what happens.
Check the attached file below.
Time4aGansett, which sets were you collecting? All Fleer Team Action stuff?
It happened to my Marcus Allen master set.
I was just wondering about this as I was looking over the Staubach set composition. Disappointing to put it mildly. I can't imagine being a Payton collector and seeing the set reduced by 18 cards.
Anyone have updates on this situation?
Below is the letter I just recently received from the Registry people at PSA. It looks like the FTA cards will be removed from the different player Registries. Not good on any front. The only thing I was offered was a grading voucher for 5 regular submissions. Oh well!
“I’ve reviewed this situation with Gayle Kean and have seen scans of a few of the cards that were removed. Generally, I will side with our members when cards are removed from sets. It is really the last thing we want to do. But in this case, I must agree with Gayle. The cards show multiple players and there is no mention of Walter Payton anywhere on the card. In fact, no jersey of the players imaged on the cards mentions Payton, at least not on the cards that I reviewed. PSA does not label the team cards as Patton or any player for that matter. The same card could qualify for any number of players and for that reason, they simply do not qualify in the player sets.
Regardless if the value of the card is low or high, pulling cards from sets when the cards were erroneously added is difficult for us to do and we completely understand the disappointment this might cause. However, it is important that we keep our sets uniform, especially when it comes to the very competitive player sets. We always work to correct errors when we find them, because ultimately, our sets must be consistent throughout.
Please accept our sincerest apologies. Thank you.”
BJ Searls
Set Registry & Special Projects Director
Collectors Universe, Inc.
512-496-5018
I guess I can agree with her about some of the cards. But some cards don't depict player name but are obviously the player pictured. But by doing this to the Fleer Team Action cards, does it open itself to other issues? Good example would be Topps team cards, which I have always hated as being part of the master sets.
Not sure how this decision came about? Some master set collectors complain?
I’m not sure how it all came about. I’m upset that they removed a bunch of cards that I really liked and cost some good $$ too. I guess that PSA didn’t like that more than one player could be identified on the card, and the fact that it did not have a specific player name on the card. But, I believe that was a licensing issue with Fleer, not because they didn’t want to include the name on the card. One thing I have noticed is that some other player Master Sets still have the FTA cards included. I don’t know if they will be removed all around, or if some registry collectors complained. I wish I knew.
To make a blanket move such as this PSA should have come out and officially state why this was and is going to be done, on their site for all to see. For the few that read this thread we are now aware that they will not include these cards in the master sets, but what about the rest of the collectors who have no idea? Big money could continue to be spent. Sorry for your good money spent going wasted. What sucks is that this came out of nowhere.
I see there are a lot of significant price reductions in the bigger name Fleer TA cards listed now too (Montana, etc.). Seems like perceived sales value will take a hit. I have to believe the reductions are related to the removal of these items from master sets, especially with the bigger sellers like 4SC and such.
I wrote a long letter to PSA explaining a lot of the thoughts we have been mentioning. What’s strange is that the FTA cards have been included from day one (from what I understand) and many, many collectors have either graded or paid for these to be included. Then, in a total about face, PSA made it seem like they were doing us all a favor and decided to follow their original rules of not including such cards in the Master sets. I know that several collectors complained, but it was all to no avail. I even mentioned to them that the Set registries live and die by the collaborative efforts of a handful of people, really. It’s the give and take, or buy and trade, between collectors with a similar like that keeps the sets fun and interesting. But, it was a simple response that they offered; the name isn’t on the card and the card can be one or more players. So, those types of cards would be removed. There was no care that tens, hundreds, or thousands (in some cases) have been spent to be faithful to the set and keep the registry afloat. I’m not sure of what to think. I love Walter and I will collect the player that I love, but my allegiance to the Set Registry is neither here nor there. I want the collection to be interesting and worthy of who I believe Walter was, no matter that PSA change the cards in the middle of the game. I would hope that other player collectors voice their concern to PSA and at least offer their two cents.