Topps/Fanatics 2022 Topps Chrome Judge/Goldschmidt buyback program

[G1911]

Originally Posted by packs

This program isn't for flippers though. You don't receive any money for your cards, you receive store credit with the hobby shop. I think it's meant to drive interest in other products since Topps Chrome was such a turd of a release.

It seems like the hobby shop makes out like a bandit, per usual. They'll sell inflated boxes on store credit and then cash in with Topps again on the backend with overpriced common cards.

Hobby shops have struggled to even remain in business the last couple decades. They don’t usually make out like a bandit.

[packs]

Have you been on What Not? Hobby shops are going virtual and the break game is exploding. They make more money per box breaking all 30 teams than they ever did selling the product to one person.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by packs

Have you been on What Not? Hobby shops are going virtual and the break game is exploding. They make more money per box breaking all 30 teams than they ever did selling the product to one person.

Yes I am very well aware of breaking. Of course they break at a profit, filming a half hour video, shipping to 30 people, of course it costs more than selling the box to a single buyer. Shops are not making out like bandits, that’s why the vast majority of them fail and there’s not many left still standing. With distributor allocation, overhead, rent, operating a hobby shop is expensive and the profit margins not high enough for most to survive for more than a few years. It’s not a bandit operation.

[packs]

Originally Posted by G1911

Yes I am very well aware of breaking. Of course they break at a profit, filming a half hour video, shipping to 30 people, of course it costs more than selling the box to a single buyer. Shops are not making out like bandits, that’s why the vast majority of them fail and there’s not many left still standing. With distributor allocation, overhead, rent, operating a hobby shop is expensive and the profit margins not high enough for most to survive for more than a few years. It’s not a bandit operation.

I guess it depends on definition. When I said hobby shop I didn't necessarily think of hobby shop solely as a brick and mortar store with a lease. A lot of the hobby is online now. It's very difficult to order something like a case of 2022 Topps Chrome from Topps as a normal consumer. Those roads tend to be closed off to the everyman and always open to distributors who pay bulk rates.

That's where my bandit comment comes from.

Also, the product's retail price and resale prices are almost never equal and the distance between the two is almost always automatic. Take the Logofractor boxes as one small example. They cost $45 when they were released but almost immediately got dialed up to $125 per on the secondary market. There's a ton of money to be made in the hobby if you can get the cards in bulk. And you definitely don't need a lease or employees to capitalize. You can do it from your house and by yourself.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by packs

I guess it depends on definition. When I said hobby shop I didn't necessarily think of hobby shop solely as a brick and mortar store with a lease. A lot of the hobby is online now. It's very difficult to order something like a case of 2022 Topps Chrome from Topps as a normal consumer. Those roads tend to be closed off to the everyman and always open to distributors who pay bulk rates.

That's where my bandit comment comes from.

Also, the product's retail price and resale prices are almost never equal and the distance between the two is almost always automatic. Take the Logofractor boxes as one small example. They cost $45 when they were released but almost immediately got dialed up to $125 per on the secondary market. There's a ton of money to be made in the hobby if you can get the cards in bulk. And you definitely don't need a lease or employees to capitalize. You can do it from your house and by yourself.

To get product direct, one has to have a brick and mortar store. It's a Topps requirement for product. I believe most of the distributors are using the same criteria, and even with one, it's difficult to get much of the good stuff and requires the shop to order quantity of the sets that don't sell too.

This is why the side hustle breakers charge so high - they aren't getting the product at distribution cost or direct. Many of them are scammy and scuzzy, and some are a straight rip off. But these breakers aren't the ones eligible for the $20 program under discussion? That's for hobby shops.

Online exclusives are usually a big win or a total bust. They get bought up by the bots if people think it will be a winner, and prices escalate until people stop paying them. But online exclusives like Logofractor that skip distribution channels entirely are separate. How Logofractor specifically is popular right now is beyond my comprehension...

Buying non-exclusive product, like base Chrome, off Topps' website is usually a rip-off and can be done much, much cheaper through other avenues.