Before today I hadn’t put much thought into the “Topps Now” program. I don’t care at all about baseball. That’s item number one. I’m no curmudgeon, but I find a lot of the internet “advances” in the hobby disconcerting.
On the Beckett Radio episode that dropped today, the guys talked about it a bit and I am at least warming to it. Unless there’s a Jedd Gyorko that comes available I won’t likely buy one, but I’m more likely now than I was three hours ago.
There are things Topps does with this program that I like. They announce print runs. I really like that. They mail them out in a few days. That is also well done. They are getting rookie cards into the market much faster than they could before. I also love that there’s just a 24 hour window to get your card.
I know the concept is new, but here’s what I don’t get…some of the secondary prices. I understand the novelty of Francisco Liriano being the first card in the set. I guess in a way he’s the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr.
I’m all about free market and a card is worth what someone is willing to pay, but how is this card selling for up to $100? It is a non-auto, non-memorabilia. non-rookie card with a print run of 266. I’ll be floored if you can find me a card that is base (no auto, mem, rookie) that has that print run and sells for anywhere close to that. I could be off base, but I doubt it.
I’m not trying to be negative, I’m just looking at the numbers. I analyze numbers all day at work and sometimes it crosses over into the hobby. That card above sold for $100 (I know it doesn’t show as sold, but it was). Meanwhile, what about the card below?
This card is numbered out of $10 and sold for $7. I fully understand that it was an auction, which is a dangerous way to sell. However, how much more tough is this card to come by than the one /266? All I can come up with is that people are attempting to build a master set of Topps Now, but how many people are there?
This isn’t a thing that’s exclusive to Topps Now. It’s the latest and greatest thing however, and that brings it to the forefront of collectors’ minds. It’s a numbers game, and that’s something that I think about.
Feel free to comment below with your thoughts on these secondary prices. You can also tell me how dumb I am if you would like.
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I love the idea, personally, and I’ve already purchased three different cards (all the Bryce Harper ones). But, the Liriano and the Royals card should not be selling for that much. Period.
I suspect the seller with the $99.99 price is looking for an impulsive bite from an uninformed collector – it isn’t really what the cards would usually go for, though presumably there might be stronger demand for certain cards of certain player.
That’s a sold price, not an asking price…and a few were sold at that price.
The set has a 1993 Topps Finest feel to me. It’s inventive with the concept of previous day’s highlight, announced print run. The Bartolo Colon HR card has really helped the set take off. 8000-plus cards printed! I’ve bought the 3 Harper solo cards, Cutch, Kang, and Bryant. 20 cards each.