The dfwcardshark Ebay Superfractor Scandal

[MoreToppsPlease]

Anyone who doesn’t normally expect hobby fraud and deceit like this just isn’t paying attention, it always happens when money is involved and no oversight exists.

Heck, plenty of people exist in the hobby simply because there’s no oversight.

[Nester99]

Originally Posted by theshowandme

A really good collector notes that he bought Vladdy and Bichette clears off the same seller some time back.

The guy had the story down even then (I represent a group of collectors)

https://x.com/nesterp99/status/1736826848049508653?s=46

This is me, Ask me anything (besides pronouns)

[Bowman1951]

Originally Posted by Nester99

This is me, Ask me anything (besides pronouns)

Sure! If you aren't verified on Twitter, then how are you able to write such a long post?!

[bustsomewax]

Originally Posted by Nester99

This is me, Ask me anything (besides pronouns)

How deep do you think this goes? Did this seller have 1000s of listings or just a few high end ones?

[johnlocke36]

Originally Posted by bustsomewax

How deep do you think this goes? Did this seller have 1000s of listings or just a few high end ones?

I think it’s prob safe to assume that a non 0 amount have also been sold on other accounts/in person etc. so likely much deeper then anyone could imagine

[ken161]

Originally Posted by ArsonCuff

I saw this on Twitter and saw Topps state they were looking into it. Topps "We have been made aware of this account and are actively investigating." I guess an Ebay seller name dfwcardshark was selling loads of rare cards that are potentially duplicates or assumed taken out the backdoor from Topps or the printing shop for them. Read they had lots of rarities from other brands too and not just baseball.

One person looking into it claims that this seller had 12% of all 2023 Bowman Draft Superfractors. Then lots of talk and people mad that if those are the real ones did they ever even have a chance etc. etc. Anyway, seemed like a relevant thing to know about that is going on and I could not find a thread here about it.

Cool ebay handle. In the mid-90s, Pete Williams wrote a book called "Card Sharks" which was an unflattering history of the Upper Deck company. One of the scandals mentioned was that the printing presses were ordered to resume cranking out several cards which had become hot on the secondary market. They included, if my memory serves, the 1989 Upper Deck Griffey rookie and 1989 Upper Deck reverse photo Dale Murphy. I believe the cards went out the back door, almost like printing money.

To be honest, I'm not shocked by this latest Fanatics scandal. If anything, I'm surprised more of this stuff hasn't happened in recent years given the big boom in card prices.

[Nester99]

Originally Posted by Bowman1951

Sure! If you aren't verified on Twitter, then how are you able to write such a long post?!

I love this question !!

I tried to type this story out at 280 characters and just got frustrated and stopped. I saw fanatics responded today and said i need to share my experience.

I purchased verification this morning just to get around the limit. They asked for my Drivers license and i did not send it, Thus not verified but still get the longer posts. - They also said it takes 4 days to get a checkmark, which for me may never come as don't want to send them ID.

Also i did see an option for the $29 tier (yes that's a thing) where you can be verified and HIDE the checkmark.

[Nester99]

Originally Posted by bustsomewax

How deep do you think this goes? Did this seller have 1000s of listings or just a few high end ones?

They only have feedback in the 700 range so cant be that much volume on this account. i bet a ton was sold at live shows.

The guys who run the Dallas show reached out for some info as this could really effect them if fake/stolen cards hit their show regular. sadly i did not have much helpful info.

I want to say they had maybe 20-30 clears at the time, so not a crazy amount. Lots of no names. i bought the biggest ones.

A person in my SP chat group bought 3 clears at 25 per.

Both of mine got authenticated via Ebay and Slabbed at BGS so i doubt they are fake, probably backdoored or Repritned from the same facility. However no matching #'s have been seen yet for the clears (admittedly this would be hard to find anyway)

The seller also had high end panini cards which leads me to believe it was arising from the Printer.

[Philthy]

This is from @beisbolcardblog on twitter -

Less than 5 minutes after I tweeted out that I had a source with direct connection to DFW, the
@Fanatics
CEO of Collectibles,
@MikeMahan
, called me directly to discuss the pending investigation. He and his staff have been working throughout the weekend and continue to make this unfortunate event their top priority.

Mike informed me that the Topps cards on DFW's eBay account were STOLEN. These cards are not fakes or customs but are incomplete Superfractors that did not pass quality inspections due to lamination issues and were set aside to be destroyed before being smuggled out of the facility.

There is a VERY limited amount of these cards, and collectors will not have to worry as none of the damaged/stolen cards made it into packs. They are also easily identifiable as the serial numbering was stamped on the back of the card instead of the front.

Furthermore, all grading companies have already been alerted by Fanatics and have agreed to not grade any of these stolen, incomplete Superfractors.

Mike has PROMISED me that every single collector who purchased a stolen Topps card from DFW will be reimbursed by Fanatics and that the company will take stringent efforts to keep this from ever happening again.

[3124508 on COMC]

Originally Posted by Nester99

They only have feedback in the 700 range so cant be that much volume on this account. i bet a ton was sold at live shows.

The guys who run the Dallas show reached out for some info as this could really effect them if fake/stolen cards hit their show regular. sadly i did not have much helpful info.

I want to say they had maybe 20-30 clears at the time, so not a crazy amount. Lots of no names. i bought the biggest ones.

A person in my SP chat group bought 3 clears at 25 per.

Both of mine got authenticated via Ebay and Slabbed at BGS so i doubt they are fake, probably backdoored or Repritned from the same facility. However no matching #'s have been seen yet for the clears (admittedly this would be hard to find anyway)

The seller also had high end panini cards which leads me to believe it was arising from the Printer.

Just another day at Beckett as far as they’re concerned. The grading company of choice when it comes to covering up the sins of the DFW area. That has to be the most incestuously scammy locale across the globe when it comes to sports cards.

[mattglet]

Originally Posted by Philthy

This is from @beisbolcardblog on twitter -

Less than 5 minutes after I tweeted out that I had a source with direct connection to DFW, the
@Fanatics
CEO of Collectibles,
@MikeMahan
, called me directly to discuss the pending investigation. He and his staff have been working throughout the weekend and continue to make this unfortunate event their top priority.

Mike informed me that the Topps cards on DFW's eBay account were STOLEN. These cards are not fakes or customs but are incomplete Superfractors that did not pass quality inspections due to lamination issues and were set aside to be destroyed before being smuggled out of the facility.

There is a VERY limited amount of these cards, and collectors will not have to worry as none of the damaged/stolen cards made it into packs. They are also easily identifiable as the serial numbering was stamped on the back of the card instead of the front.

Furthermore, all grading companies have already been alerted by Fanatics and have agreed to not grade any of these stolen, incomplete Superfractors.

Mike has PROMISED me that every single collector who purchased a stolen Topps card from DFW will be reimbursed by Fanatics and that the company will take stringent efforts to keep this from ever happening again.

They didn't pass inspection because of lamination issues but still had the serial stamped on the wrong side? Or are they saying the scammers stamped incorrectly?

[theshowandme]

I agree that Dallas is a dump

[mbrahv1984]

Originally Posted by Bunny Hop

oh wow a TON of personal pronouns in that post! That's what we're concerned about, right?

Uhhhhhh..... what?

[Skipscards]

Originally Posted by mattglet

They didn't pass inspection because of lamination issues but still had the serial stamped on the wrong side? Or are they saying the scammers stamped incorrectly?

They are saying the scammers stamped incorrectly.

[boxbuster7]

Originally Posted by Philthy

This is from @beisbolcardblog on twitter -

Less than 5 minutes after I tweeted out that I had a source with direct connection to DFW, the
@Fanatics
CEO of Collectibles,
@MikeMahan
, called me directly to discuss the pending investigation. He and his staff have been working throughout the weekend and continue to make this unfortunate event their top priority.

Mike informed me that the Topps cards on DFW's eBay account were STOLEN. These cards are not fakes or customs but are incomplete Superfractors that did not pass quality inspections due to lamination issues and were set aside to be destroyed before being smuggled out of the facility.

There is a VERY limited amount of these cards, and collectors will not have to worry as none of the damaged/stolen cards made it into packs. They are also easily identifiable as the serial numbering was stamped on the back of the card instead of the front.

Furthermore, all grading companies have already been alerted by Fanatics and have agreed to not grade any of these stolen, incomplete Superfractors.

Mike has PROMISED me that every single collector who purchased a stolen Topps card from DFW will be reimbursed by Fanatics and that the company will take stringent efforts to keep this from ever happening again.

And we're supposed to actually believe him after all these scandals this year

[whitmm]

Will they be going after DFW? Or pressing them to find out who they were getting the cards from? Or doing a thorough internal investigation to find the employee that stole the cards?

Or will they say it was dumpster divers or something ridiculous like that?

[houdini]

Originally Posted by RCCTHREE

There's also the mystery of the 2013 Kris Bryant autos blue and black wave /50 being graded by beckett but never found in any bowman product.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...autos-surface/

I can answer this mystery.

I got this a few years ago from a high topps executive that had already left Topps.

Topps originally planned Bryant to be in 2013 Bowman Draft - but Bowman Draft orders were so strong they decided they did not need him to move it. (Topps had not advertised Bryant but Bryant had posted a photo of his signed superfractor.)

Instead they added him to 2014 Bowman and sent him new cards to sign.

After Bryant really blows up they realize they are sitting on a gold mine of 2013 Draft autos. They decide to insert them into 2014 Bowman Chrome.

At the time, Topps had a ton of really old employees (his words remember, not mine). Guys that had been working for Topps forever. One of these older employees was in charge of inserting the 2013 Bryant autos and he decides on his own NOT to insert a few colors. Blacks and greens I think. Maybe waves as well I don't remember. His reasoning was that those colors were not in Bowman Chrome so they shouldn't get those colors of autos of Bryant.

Apparently Topps was not happy about this decision being made by this sole employee, but it was too late. So they decided to grade these cards and use them as high end fulfillments - like redemptions they couldn't honor and stuff like that.

A photo later emerged showing a stack of these cards raw that a Beckett employee took before grading.

When he left Topps, they still had many of these Bryants, but some had been used for redemptions and some had been inserted in stuff like grab bags.

[RCCTHREE]

Originally Posted by houdini

I can answer this mystery.

I got this a few years ago from a high topps executive that had already left Topps.

Topps originally planned Bryant to be in 2013 Bowman Draft - but Bowman Draft orders were so strong they decided they did not need him to move it. (Topps had not advertised Bryant but Bryant had posted a photo of his signed superfractor.)

Instead they added him to 2014 Bowman and sent him new cards to sign.

After Bryant really blows up they realize they are sitting on a gold mine of 2013 Draft autos. They decide to insert them into 2014 Bowman Chrome.

At the time, Topps had a ton of really old employees (his words remember, not mine). Guys that had been working for Topps forever. One of these older employees was in charge of inserting the 2013 Bryant autos and he decides on his own NOT to insert a few colors. Blacks and greens I think. Maybe waves as well I don't remember. His reasoning was that those colors were not in Bowman Chrome so they shouldn't get those colors of autos of Bryant.

Apparently Topps was not happy about this decision being made by this sole employee, but it was too late. So they decided to grade these cards and use them as high end fulfillments - like redemptions they couldn't honor and stuff like that.

A photo later emerged showing a stack of these cards raw that a Beckett employee took before grading.

When he left Topps, they still had many of these Bryants, but some had been used for redemptions and some had been inserted in stuff like grab bags.

Omg I have been wondering about this one for YEARS, so they did end up using them as redemption replacements, wild! I guess what I still don't understand is why there was no "1st" label on the card, if the original plan was to put him in 2013 draft wouldn't they have been printed that way? Idk I think about that card too much lol, thanks Houdini for the insight!

[StateEx]

Interesting stuff. I bet DFW dumped all the superfactors at once out of concern that once more were in the wild people would notice the numbering problem.

[thenightman]

Originally Posted by StateEx

Interesting stuff. I bet DFW dumped all the superfactors at once out of concern that once more were in the wild people would notice the numbering problem.

Dump them to who? Whoever buys them can’t sell them, ever. At least not online.

[StateEx]

Originally Posted by thenightman

Dump them to who? Whoever buys them can’t sell them, ever. At least not online.

Dump them to any patsy that'll pay. Counterfeiters (which is pretty much what this is) aren't usually worried about their victims.

[Bunny Hop]

Originally Posted by mbrahv1984

Uhhhhhh..... what?

I was ribbing a post above mine. Carry on.

[Bowman1951]

Originally Posted by Nester99

I love this question !!

I tried to type this story out at 280 characters and just got frustrated and stopped. I saw fanatics responded today and said i need to share my experience.

I purchased verification this morning just to get around the limit. They asked for my Drivers license and i did not send it, Thus not verified but still get the longer posts. - They also said it takes 4 days to get a checkmark, which for me may never come as don't want to send them ID.

Also i did see an option for the $29 tier (yes that's a thing) where you can be verified and HIDE the checkmark.

Haha awesome!

I was mad confused when I saw it, because it's been something that has hamstrung me for a long time but no way am I giving that Elon clown a dime for a social media platform that's always been free to use.

[Jyodon]

Like someone said earlier, if large amounts of $$ is involved, there will be corruption. Especially when there is minimal oversight for these things.

I've been suspicious that there's a way to identify boxes that have hits via the stickers on the boxes or certain features. Hell the kaboom scandal proved the stickers shed light on case hits. That's why after 2022 optic basketball, you saw the numbers start to get totally randomized. Topps stopped putting stickers on 2023 update and beyond. There's something going on at the place they boxes these things.

[bear0555]

Originally Posted by houdini

I can answer this mystery.

I got this a few years ago from a high topps executive that had already left Topps.

Topps originally planned Bryant to be in 2013 Bowman Draft - but Bowman Draft orders were so strong they decided they did not need him to move it. (Topps had not advertised Bryant but Bryant had posted a photo of his signed superfractor.)

Instead they added him to 2014 Bowman and sent him new cards to sign.

After Bryant really blows up they realize they are sitting on a gold mine of 2013 Draft autos. They decide to insert them into 2014 Bowman Chrome.

At the time, Topps had a ton of really old employees (his words remember, not mine). Guys that had been working for Topps forever. One of these older employees was in charge of inserting the 2013 Bryant autos and he decides on his own NOT to insert a few colors. Blacks and greens I think. Maybe waves as well I don't remember. His reasoning was that those colors were not in Bowman Chrome so they shouldn't get those colors of autos of Bryant.

Apparently Topps was not happy about this decision being made by this sole employee, but it was too late. So they decided to grade these cards and use them as high end fulfillments - like redemptions they couldn't honor and stuff like that.

A photo later emerged showing a stack of these cards raw that a Beckett employee took before grading.

When he left Topps, they still had many of these Bryants, but some had been used for redemptions and some had been inserted in stuff like grab bags.

Wow, so this was about as bad as it looked. Thanks for the info. Always suspected that Topps' greed contributed to this. The worst part was them fooling everyone into thinking the 2014 would be the rookie auto and not the 2013.