thecardswap

March 1st was nerve-wrecking before the break even started. It was the biggest break that I would be running to date and to say I was nervous was an understatement. After some issues going live the night before with a giveaway, I wanted to make sure that everything went smoothly, but more importantly, that everyone enjoyed themselves. This was a big deal to me because it was the first case I had purchased (the case was split into 2 breaks) and it was the first break that I ran that sold out. I wanted it to go well for everyone's sake. For 2 weeks, I promoted on Instagram and Sports Card Forum , which included a giveaway to some SCF members in exchange for banner advertising. It sold out, and the next break was getting planned with no issues so then I was only worrying about the first break. I didn't want to sound like a noob, I didn't want to sound forced, and I really didn't want any technical issues.

When I get nervous, I am only nervous up until whatever the event is. Then once it starts, I don't normally feel the nerves (unless something is off). This was the same case on Thursday. Aside from the randomizing of teams being a little tough to see on the screen (resolution in place for next break), I felt comfortable and was ready to break to see what we got. Adjustments were made with the streaming so I was confident that the stream would look better than the night before. It just all comes back to me wanting everyone to enjoy themselves and have the break not feel like it just thrown together. Overthinking aspects are what caused me to wait to long to actually schedule and start to promote.

Time to rip! There could be countless blog entries on countless blogs complaining (and praising, I have those stories too) about Topps and the legend of their amazing collation. But what happened on Thursday was poor collation and probably just somebody not doing their job. After the 3 first jumbo boxes were opened, we found NO AUTOS! Each box promises one auto and 2 "relics" per box. I use the " " because the fact that Topps counts the commemorative pieces a relic is silly to me and a lot of people. The 6 "relics" were there that were supposed to be there. Everything else seemed to be there. No Auto. No Auto. No Auto.



Everyone was disappointed, no one more than me. Couldn't blame them. The great thing was everyone was cool with me and felt bad for the process. So that was definitely a weight off my chest. Still need to make it right for them though. So now what? Call Topps obviously. I called the next morning at 9am and spoke to a rep who couldn't get any of the information correct. I wasn't surprised when she called back 2 hours later to verify the same information I had given. Because get this, she got it wrong the first 3 times we went through it. She apologized, could tell me annoyance and said she would call me back with more info soon. In about an hour, she called back to verify my address. She was going send me out 3 new Jumbo boxes. That was great news. What about the other 3 boxes? I can't imagine those have the autos in the them. Especially if they have the same date stamp on the lid. So my instruction was to open them. If no autos, then submit an official claim to Topps - which needs to include a letter and has to be mailed to Topps, apparently I am disputing a case from 1988. The rep was very nice and did what she could, my only worry now is the resolution on this claim. The 3 replacement boxes will be what I use for the next break so once I get tracking info on those, I will schedule the next break.




Time to rip the second three! NO AUTOS again. That's right, a whole case of Topps Jumbo with no Autos. very unbelievable and I await to see what Topps does to fix the issue. In the early 90's, when the market was flooded and it was the beginning of the inserts and subsets, there were boxes that you knew a certain pack position would mean a certain "hit". It's 2018 and apparently, they haven't found a better way. Each of the six boxes had the "relics" in the same exact pack position. #5 and #6. Very disappointing and makes buying packs not as random as you think. Aside from this, is the noticeable runs of the same cards stacked in a row. The one that comes to mind here is a stack that contained - JUDGE LL - JUDGE FS - HOSKINS RC - HAYS RC - URENA RC - now I am well aware that this might 5 of the best 10 cards in the base set so getting them is not a bad at thing. But during this the first break, we pulled that combo of cards, in the same order 6 times. Then when you talk to Topps they say that "it's all random". Now that is insulting everyone's intelligence to a new level.




After opening these three boxes, and not having autos to pass on the buyers of the first break, my focus quickly became "making sure everyone gets something". I handed out the 6 new "relics" from the second three boxes to the teams that were drawn last night. It wasn't ideal, but without those autos it was the best I could do at the time. Like I said earlier, everyone in the break was so cool and understanding, so that really took the pressure off but it still wasn't enough to make me not want to do more for them. Especially to a few folks who didn't get much to begin with. I'll have the lots ready soon to go out.

Stay tuned for the resolution from Topps and any other updates. I will do a part 2 of this entry.

- Aaron B www.thecardswap.net