First Buzz: 2020 Topps Series 1 baseball cards

[BigSlim16]

After about a week of wheeling and dealing, with some eBay sales that came through last night I am officially in the black off my jumbo case. What they say is true, it’s a lot of work but it’s nearly impossible to lose money on Series 1

[FT35]

OK after opening a little of this product and seeing it in hand, I feel more confident in reviewing...

When I first saw the 2020 Topps design previewed here a while back, I was shocked at how that design made it through the decision-making process. If you guys remember, the card used in the preview was the Christian Yelich horizontal base card. After opening a fair share I am starting to believe the Yelich is one of the worst cards in the set to be used as the preview! The rest of the cards look OK. It's not a design that will go down as one of my favorites, but it is growing on me--mostly because of the rainbow foils.

The parallels:

These are rough because like many have said, aside from their location in the pack, there is not enough to distinguish them from the base cards--the horizontals especially since there is very little card dedicated to conveying the fact that it's a parallel. I've always liked subtleties when it comes to design but many will miss horizontal gold parallels completely. All that said...the rainbow foils are the big win for 2020. These turned out really well and I think they will find their way into a lot of collections over time--especially the golds. They are great looking baseball cards.

The card backs:

Awful. I never really pick on the card backs much because who cares, but it's 50% of the card and should matter a little more than it does. I say this for both Topps and Panini really. Someone should have spent more time with the back design. I do graphic design and understand the limitations of trying to fit a ton of text into a small space...however...there is a design nuance op that was missed this year. The grey on grey graphic element (from the front) should have been the team color instead of the grey. Right now, the only color is the small highlight of the team name--leaving WAY too much grey on the back. These 2 colors should have been swapped--making the fair share of the graphic element at the top the team color.
Another way they could have broken up the grey was to add a team logo or even a small player photo in the space underneath the number. That could have served as the pop of color.

Photography:

A step up for Topps I think. I've noticed that the flagship photography has been improving ever since they have added the SP's. What I think is happening is that they bring 4-5 of their top photos to the table to choose the SP/SSP worthy images, then the "loser" is used as the base card photo. Harper and Acuna are great--there are some great commons as well (Kingery comes to mind).

Inserts:

Inserts took a little step up as well from recent years. I think the 85 set turned out great. The Turkey Reds are a nice change and the chrome parallels with color is a nice add to retail buyers who aren't getting the silver packs. They took some time on the die-cut inserts too which is nice to see that not all inserts have the "filler" feel to them (like I'm afraid has been the case for the last few years with Topps inserts--very bland and 1-dimensional). But that's coming from someone who lived through the 90's when inserts were not good but great (and also not 3 per pack).

Overall:

I think it's a good product. I think it will grow on many people the more the year goes on and I know I will be looking to buy Topps in the same way as I have for the last few years. I'm excited to see what the design looks like in chrome too!

[jswin1]

Originally Posted by BigSlim16

After about a week of wheeling and dealing, with some eBay sales that came through last night I am officially in the black off my jumbo case. What they say is true, it’s a lot of work but it’s nearly impossible to lose money on Series 1

2020 Topps was the first case I've ever opened. I'm really new to selling this stuff off. What's your opinion on the best way to make some money on these cases? Sell off team sets? player lots? combo? sell all the hits? all of the above? am I missing something?

it looks like the teams sets net only about a buck or two on eBay after shipping and eBay fees. is this really worth it, or am I missing something?

sorry such a noob.
thanks

[Clause37]

I just resorted to the Topps website for hobby boxes after seeing that any on ebay are almost equally priced with longer shipping times, let alone an online store. I'm glad I picked up what I did pre-order. I don't see demand lessening soon enough for the prices to start dropping down again.

This is crazy, $68 for a series 1 hobby box is a reasonable choice. I may skip hobby series 2 completely and just get retail hangers.

[wyguy11]

Originally Posted by Clause37

I just resorted to the Topps website for hobby boxes after seeing that any on ebay are almost equally priced with longer shipping times, let alone an online store. I'm glad I picked up what I did pre-order. I don't see demand lessening soon enough for the prices to start dropping down again.

This is crazy, $68 for a series 1 hobby box is a reasonable choice. I may skip hobby series 2 completely and just get retail hangers.

So you know, many people are posting that hobby is brutal. Suck it up and go Jumbo is what I hear. Or buy singles also is what some say they wish they had done instead. Search up in this thread.


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[wyguy11]

Originally Posted by Clause37

I just resorted to the Topps website for hobby boxes after seeing that any on ebay are almost equally priced with longer shipping times, let alone an online store. I'm glad I picked up what I did pre-order. I don't see demand lessening soon enough for the prices to start dropping down again.

This is crazy, $68 for a series 1 hobby box is a reasonable choice. I may skip hobby series 2 completely and just get retail hangers.

Read up in the thread, there’s literally people talking about how easy it is to make money off cases.

DM them, they will most likely help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BigSlim16]

Originally Posted by jswin1

2020 Topps was the first case I've ever opened. I'm really new to selling this stuff off. What's your opinion on the best way to make some money on these cases? Sell off team sets? player lots? combo? sell all the hits? all of the above? am I missing something?

it looks like the teams sets net only about a buck or two on eBay after shipping and eBay fees. is this really worth it, or am I missing something?

sorry such a noob.
thanks

I had a couple nice autos which took up a big chunk which helped, but besides that I think there is value in everything in the case. My approach was selling all autos/relics, rookie lots, silver pack chrome lots + any chrome color, #'d parallels, SPs, gold foil lots, rainbow foil lots, insert lots, and star player lots (Tatis, Alonso, Trout, Vlad etc). I also kept a few cards for the PC and to send into PSA which will pay off down the road. I didn't get into any team sets or complete sets as I didn't think that was worth the hassle of sorting and listing. But I think Series 1 is all about maximizing value and getting the most out of your case

[jswin1]

Originally Posted by BigSlim16

I had a couple nice autos which took up a big chunk which helped, but besides that I think there is value in everything in the case. My approach was selling all autos/relics, rookie lots, silver pack chrome lots + any chrome color, #'d parallels, SPs, gold foil lots, rainbow foil lots, insert lots, and star player lots (Tatis, Alonso, Trout, Vlad etc). I also kept a few cards for the PC and to send into PSA which will pay off down the road. I didn't get into any team sets or complete sets as I didn't think that was worth the hassle of sorting and listing. But I think Series 1 is all about maximizing value and getting the most out of your case

For the gold foil lots, rainbow foil lots, gold lots, do you just do a lot of various players or did you rip so much that you are actually making lots of single players?

[BigSlim16]

Originally Posted by jswin1

For the gold foil lots, rainbow foil lots, gold lots, do you just do a lot of various players or did you rip so much that you are actually making lots of single players?

I pulled out the star players to sell separately, but for everything else I just keep them as one big lot

[letsgocapitals]

BSG Grading - https://www.ebay.com/itm/2020-Topps-...4AAOSwNIFeQvv6

[ThoseBackPages]

Originally Posted by letsgocapitals

BSG Grading - https://www.ebay.com/itm/2020-Topps-...4AAOSwNIFeQvv6

[ThoseBackPages]

"BS"Grading

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by wyguy11

Read up in the thread, there’s literally people talking about how easy it is to make money off cases.

The people saying how easy it is to make money off cases generally are those who value their own time/labor at $0.

Between opening/sorting/listing/packing/shipping, it probably takes at least 10-12 hours of labor to maximize value from a case, if not more.

[JeffN]

Does anyone know if the silver packs that come with boxes can be weighed? Asking because I was looking at a few on eBay, but if they can be weighed for the autos and color parallels, then I won't waste my time....thanks

[base set]

Originally Posted by letsgocapitals

BSG Grading - https://www.ebay.com/itm/2020-Topps-...4AAOSwNIFeQvv6

Killer turn around times.

[yrocks2001]

Originally Posted by JeffN

Does anyone know if the silver packs that come with boxes can be weighed? Asking because I was looking at a few on eBay, but if they can be weighed for the autos and color parallels, then I won't waste my time....thanks

They can be, I believe colored parallels are thicker too

[travuw]

Originally Posted by mfw13

The people saying how easy it is to make money off cases generally are those who value their own time/labor at $0.

Between opening/sorting/listing/packing/shipping, it probably takes at least 10-12 hours of labor to maximize value from a case, if not more.

No doubt, it's a ton of effort. I consider the entertainment value of opening everything and pulling hits on a case to be worth 25% of the cost. The thrill is a big part of the expenditure. I feel like this offsets the re-sell effort, although I find that part cathartic...to a point.

[fitefanSHO]

The Turkey Red inserts are like photocopies of real Turkey Reds.

There is no texture to the front.

[JeffN]

Originally Posted by yrocks2001

They can be, I believe colored parallels are thicker too

That's what I figured...thanks

[towerymt]

Originally Posted by JeffN

Does anyone know if the silver packs that come with boxes can be weighed? Asking because I was looking at a few on eBay, but if they can be weighed for the autos and color parallels, then I won't waste my time....thanks

I've seen a couple of listings for lot of 10 packs. hmm....what's missing...12 packs per case.

[evileddie]

Originally Posted by JeffN

Does anyone know if the silver packs that come with boxes can be weighed? Asking because I was looking at a few on eBay, but if they can be weighed for the autos and color parallels, then I won't waste my time....thanks

I would only buy them in lots of 12 and from a seller with great feedback. Even that doesn't guarantee anything, but at least that way you know they busted at least a case and are a reputable seller. I bought a lot of 2018 Silver Packs off ebay and they all came unsearched thankfully. I am not a pack searcher at all, highly against it, but you can easily tell if the silver pack has a hit in it. Don't even need to weigh them, you can tell just by holding them.

[evileddie]

Also, they are more watered down than years past. Out of my 5 cases and 60 packs I only got 13 non-base. In previous offerings I would average a non-base in about every 3 packs.

[LittleJimmies]

Bought a few hangers purely out of FOMO. This is my first flagship launch since getting back into collecting. I know the consensus is flagship is a must collect and the purest product due to it's history, but I just have zero love for this product. I just find the design too boring and bad to get past. I do think the design will translate well to chrome, but I'm out for any flagship this year.

[fitefanSHO]

It’s just fun calling it “flagship” isn’t it??

[Campbelljh3]

Anyone finding series 1 Walmart Tins? Were these cancelled?