Originally posted 9/11/12 on our website:
http://www.freewebs.com/ourtradingcards/apps/blog/

Let me first start off by saying that I do not (yet) collect Hockey cards. I am an old school Baseball card collector. I prefer to collect sets as opposed to chasing the box/case hits. However, since Topps has the exclusive rights to the MLB license, it limits the products and designs available to baseball card collectors. That is frustrating as a collector when I see much better quality in the NFL, NBA and NHL cards.

I recently watched a live box break of the 2012 Panini Prime Hockey, brought to you be my twitter friends Card Board Radio (http://tinyurl.com/8frzqfc). I was fascinated by the quality of the product. It was bold with bright colors. The Autos jumped off the cards. The base cards were all numbered. It offered a variety of rookies and veterans. The patches were very colorful with team colors.

Having team colors on a card, to me, is very important. I am an Oakland A’s fan and I just LOVE spending big money to get a patch that is white. I hope you caught the sarcasm there. If not, I will wait for it to catch up. White? Really, Topps?

Now, I will not pass myself off as an expert on hockey. I have not broken a box or even opened a pack. I am just a casual observer who admires the product. I must say, however, that I am intrigued enough to consider buying a pack/box. I give credit to Panini for developing a product that is so good, that a non-collector of the sport is considering using “baseball card money” to purchase a hockey product. That means that have went above and beyond their call of duty to offer a solid product to their customers.

Credit to Panini! I have always admired Panini since 1988 when I bought my first Panini book to fill with stickers! I am envious of the work that they do and wish I had a chance to buy their product with a MLB license attached!

And a special thanks to Doug at (@cardboardradio) for sharing his video and offering his insight! (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cardboardconnectionradio) Doug hosts a Wednesday and Friday evening radio show. I highly recommend checking them out! It’s a great listen and well worth the time!

Till next time,

Ben

Follow us on twitter @ourtradingcards

Originally posted 9/5/12 on our website: http://www.freewebs.com/ourtradingcards/apps/blog/

We ventured into one of four local card shops (LCS) this morning. Our mission was to redeem the 2012 NFL Kickoff redemption cards inserted into random 2012 Topps football packs. It is said that a Jumbo box will have approx. 4 redemption cards per box, while the hobby boxes will have 1-2.

Due to supply and demand, all local card shops set limits on how many packs can be redeemed. Some set the limit of 1-2 packs per day. Others, said 5 per person for the ENTIRE promotion! How is that fair to that one person that bought 2 Jumbo boxes?? That person has to now become creative in redeeming their 8 cards!

According to the information that we, the collectors/patrons, have received… Each LCS, received only enough packs to redeem the cards that would’ve come from the products that they sold. Which makes perfect sense Topps! If I bought my product from a store that is further from my house a few weeks ago, when the product dropped… Or if I bought mine through the internet or private distrubutor… Then that would penalize the LCS that I went to, to redeem my packs!

Two friends of mine each bought enough product that they ended up with a large quantity of the redemption cards. One friend had 66, while the other had 30. The LCS that we went to this morning, only received 125 packs. So as we do the math, we will see that my two friends would have redeemed the majority of the packs amongst themselves (had they been allowed to).

I don’t believe there should be limits. Allow us to redeem ALL of our cards with our LCS during a preset time on the calender! And then have the LCS, redeem them with Topps on our behalf. And we can come in a few weeks later to receive our packs in hand! That way EVERYONE will get EVERY pack that they have PAID FOR!

It’s only fair Topps. I know I am but one cosumer. But I believe I speak for quite a few of your loyal paid customers. Please help us get what we have paid for!

(And don’t get me started on in pack auto redemptions! Or your first 10,000 pack redemptions from the 2012 Bowman product! I am still waiting, Topps, for my free pack)!