25 Case 2024 Topps Chrome Player Auction (15 Jumbo & 10 Breakers)- Ends Monday Night

[trmpetyjo]

This was a rough night for auctions. With the home run Derby and Trump on stage at the RNC convention I had a feeling the bids wouldn't be coming hot and heavy. Hopefully next time we can get it some good action going

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[Cyris]

Originally Posted by DaryanLenz

It’s really not on anyone other than Houdini. Part of being a breaker is assuming the risk of an undersell when running these, and I love Houd’s as much as anyone but I know of breakers who take baths all the time on certain breaks and that’s part of the reality of breaking. Disagree all you want, it’s totally ok with me, but the whole point of running a business is assuming the risk that comes with that business and doing the honorable thing when you miscalculate a business opportunity.

It says in the first post of this thread that the break would have to hit a minimum of 70k to run. We didn’t hit that.
It’s real easy to say someone else should just take a 20k loss on a break when it isn’t your money

[DaryanLenz]

Originally Posted by Cyris

It says in the first post of this thread that the break would have to hit a minimum of 70k to run. We didn’t hit that.
It’s real easy to say someone else should just take a 20k loss on a break when it isn’t your money

I’m not upset but that’s business bro. I’m not saying it isn’t forgivable, even if there is small print with this disclaimer, but it’s certainly not good business. At minimum, a compromise should be offered.

[kidbrando]

Originally Posted by DaryanLenz

I’m not upset but that’s business bro. I’m not saying it isn’t forgivable, even if there is small print with this disclaimer, but it’s certainly not good business. At minimum, a compromise should be offered.

It’s actually terrible business to take huge losses . You won’t stay in business very long doing so. And transparently I believe this audience cares being about to continually participating in Houdini’s bigger bowman breaks rather than topps chrome.

I understand you may have missed out on getting some spots - but I would bet a large majority of people here aren’t losing any sleep over it.

[Chrisreed619]

Originally Posted by DaryanLenz

It’s really not on anyone other than Houdini. Part of being a breaker is assuming the risk of an undersell when running these, and I love Houd’s as much as anyone but I know of breakers who take baths all the time on certain breaks and that’s part of the reality of breaking. Disagree all you want, it’s totally ok with me, but the whole point of running a business is assuming the risk that comes with that business and doing the honorable thing when you miscalculate a business opportunity.

Yeah, no.

Learn how to read before giving anyone lectures on honor, especially Houds, here.

[BabaORiley]

This should be a wake up call to Fanatics, more than anything else. It won’t, but it should. This is actually a pretty damn stellar RC crop and still fell well short of being doable. These prices simply do not work.

[Bosoxfan5990]

“For this break to run, we have a minimum goal of ~$70k to break even.”

Houdini was extremely transparent in the OP.

In fact, he has this disclaimer for all large breaks he runs.

[Bryan Collects]

I don’t feel like there were many “steals” at all. If anything, a lot of people (including myself) were going to take a bath with their spots. Even with the built-in inflation of the MVP a buyback prospecting, the prices just never made sense. With only 3 autos on average per player, the big spots were never going to hit enough to make it worth it. And more than 50% of the auto checklist would lose money even at $25-30 a spot. With the dilution of the autographs, the money was never going to be right for this break.

Also, as a business owner, my clients need my services. They realize that forcing me to operate at a loss is untenable long term. I’m not sure why breakers should be held to a different standard than every other business. This break wasn’t a contract, but even if it was, there are typically clauses in place to protect both sides if a contract becomes financially non-performable. If you enjoy Houdini’s breaks and care about him as an individual, asking him to light 25k on fire is a perfect way to make sure he isn’t able to sustain his business as it currently operates. I feel like we should all be happy we got the dopamine release of the auction with none of the financial risk.

[Riverdome]

Originally Posted by Bryan Collects

And more than 50% of the auto checklist would lose money even at $25-30 a spot. With the dilution of the autographs, the money was never going to be right for this break.

This!

[mjhdrew]

No problem Houds! Totally reasonable. Thank you for trying to make it work!

Originally Posted by houdini

Hey everyone, I have some bad news. We are going to end up about $20k short of the minimum we needed to run this break. We are at $46k and there is just no way we are making that up, you know?

It is my fault. I shouldn't have mixed in the Breaker's Delight cases honestly, but here is the thing - even if we take out all 10 Breaker's Delight cases out of the break and leave every bid intact, we still wouldn't break even.

I am really sorry. We haven't had to cancel an auction for not making the minimum in a long time, but we just couldn't afford to run this one without at least coming close to the minimum we set - and we are nowhere close.


We can still run Topps Chrome breaks on release morning, but we can't do this one unfortunately.

[PoPCulture]

Originally Posted by Bryan Collects

I don’t feel like there were many “steals” at all. If anything, a lot of people (including myself) were going to take a bath with their spots. Even with the built-in inflation of the MVP a buyback prospecting, the prices just never made sense. With only 3 autos on average per player, the big spots were never going to hit enough to make it worth it. And more than 50% of the auto checklist would lose money even at $25-30 a spot. With the dilution of the autographs, the money was never going to be right for this break.

This is spot on and the (what I thought were) insane bids are reason I’m surprised to see this fall 25k short. I overpaid on my most expensive spot by quite a bit (($90 over next closest bid) and knew there was no way I would come close to breaking even. All of the auto spots I lost on and even the one I won were not going to come close either unless a /25 or lower were hit. Can’t wait to see the Fanatics Live breaker’s struggles to fill these tomorrow. Fanatics needs to wake up to the market.

[HoldenRAGE]

I honestly cannot believe anyone is actually upset with Houdini lol

If anything this is on Topps. Topps Chrome is such a watered down product. I haven't purchased Topps Chrome since Topps falsely advertised the SP players in 2022. I did trade for a box at last years National because I love the 2023 RC's and got like $40 in cards if that. Base cards are absolutely worthless since they seemingly print a couple million of each one. If you buy a hobby or jumbo box you aren't just losing a little bit of money, 99% of the time you are taking an absolute bath. The print run is simply too massive for Topps to be charging what they charge. You're far better off buying singles of the players you want from the guys who ripped boxes and are desperate to recover a small percentage of their losses.

Thanks for trying though Houdini! These are always fun

[bub838]

These are the same whiners who buy a blatantly mispriced card and expect the seller to just give it to them.

[memyselfandi23]

Originally Posted by bub838

These are the same whiners who buy a blatantly mispriced card and expect the seller to just give it to them.

Someone posted on X how ten years ago a box of Topps chrome (with two autos) cost like $56/box. If one auto today is $200 and 3 autos is $400, figure equivalent is $300/box at today’s prices. I know there’s been some inflation … but that’s a compound annual increase of >18% per year. Now If I knew the print runs from 2014 compared to today, I wonder what that would show.. 10x the hobby?

[rob11nats]

Originally Posted by bub838

These are the same whiners who buy a blatantly mispriced card and expect the seller to just give it to them.

It's actually even worse because Houdini explicitly said there was a min aggregate bid amount to run! That's not "fine print" like this clown above said, it's an essential term.

This was going to be my first break in years and I'm disappointed it didn't fill, but appreciate your efforts Houdini!

[crpav]

Sad to see a large Houdini break not happen but unfortanuately it's business and the hobby market is in a tougher time than the past few years.

I'm just saying maybe the breakers should try and get it through to Fanatics the upwards linear non stop cost/pricing isn't working. Or am I just dumb for saying that?

[PoPCulture]

I’m hoping you’re still able to do some of these as PYT or PYP. I’m looking for a couple of players but definitely not willing to risk the high price of randoms to try to get them. Good luck with however you choose to break them. Prior to today I have always thought that it’s a great thing to be sitting on 40 cases of a new product. Now I’m not so sure that’s a good thing lol.

[houdini]

I love player auctions. I love them. I started doing large player draft breaks on Blowout in 2011. I did not invent them, but I made them famous. I created the 1st 100 case player break over 10 years ago.

Along the way, there have been some growing pains. Not every auction worked out. In order to stay in business, I started adding minimums to my player auctions. Every once in awhile, that minimum was not met and the entire break was scrapped.

That has not happened in several years, but it most certainly has happened - maybe 2 or 3 times ever. In those breaks that it happened, you will find the same posts saying I should have just sucked it up and taken the hit.

I have personally taken the hit plenty of times, but that is when I have (rather foolishly) posted "Guaranteed" in the title of the break. I only do that when I know that no matter what happens, I can afford to absorb the loss. I cannot afford to absorb this loss and so that is not in the title.

Topps Chrome is not a good candidate for player auctions honestly - but neither are flagship or Heritage and they worked this year so I thought I would give it a try.

Saying I posted "small print" in the op so I wouldn't have to take a $30k hit is kind of funny to me because other than the print being rather on par with the rest of the thread, that's exactly what I did and why I did it.

Does this mean the hobby is doomed or that Topps Chrome is doomed? We just ran a 111 case player break of Heritage. Heritage. If that doesn't say the hobby is ok, I don't know what does.

I am sorry that this break didn't happen. Maybe if I didn't combine products or end during the HR Derby or made it less cases...

I am not sorry I tried though. Pushing into different breaks is what has made me successful, but only a fool expects to never miss.

[trmpetyjo]

I think the auction format is amazing and fun. It gives small fries like me a chance to get a player. I definitely cannot compete with some of these deep pockets but the auction format allows me to go all in on one or two spots and get a good shot at some nice stuff. However, I do wonder, what would something like this look like in a pick your player break? No auction, just every player has a set price, the board is opened and the first to claim the spot gets it.

It would be more work for the breaker to have the price everything, but I wonder in a situation like we have here what a 10 or 15 case pick your player would look like? Is that worth considering down the road?

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[cardtrader22]

Originally Posted by DaryanLenz

I’m not upset but that’s business bro. I’m not saying it isn’t forgivable, even if there is small print with this disclaimer, but it’s certainly not good business. At minimum, a compromise should be offered.

Says the "bro" who claims cards and doesn't pay...I guess that's "good business"???

[Jmay]

I took my saved $ and put it into Tier 1 divisional
Few spots left!
Case break


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[StlBen]

Well if anyone knows somewhere else I can get 20+ cases of Victor Scott cards hit me up...

[Boo]

Originally Posted by StlBen

Well if anyone knows somewhere else I can get 20+ cases of Victor Scott cards hit me up...

Ebay has a 50 case break up

[DaSwam]

Originally Posted by houdini

Hey everyone, I have some bad news. We are going to end up about $20k short of the minimum we needed to run this break. We are at $46k and there is just no way we are making that up, you know?

It is my fault. I shouldn't have mixed in the Breaker's Delight cases honestly, but here is the thing - even if we take out all 10 Breaker's Delight cases out of the break and leave every bid intact, we still wouldn't break even.

I am really sorry. We haven't had to cancel an auction for not making the minimum in a long time, but we just couldn't afford to run this one without at least coming close to the minimum we set - and we are nowhere close.


We can still run Topps Chrome breaks on release morning, but we can't do this one unfortunately.

Thanks for all your work. I'll be looking out for the next player break!

[bigdaddyhen]

I think it was the breakers delight being mixed in. I think it helped inflate some of the bigger spots that are limited to those boxes, like the legendary autos, but the bread and butter is on the base spots, and I think the lack of those, plus the smaller total card count from those hurt.

I think some also may be more used to the Bowman drafts, where you only get the chrome, which makes up a small part of the product. So folks are used to X cards for a spot in Y cases, but that would be higher here is you get all the cards.