Topps Living Set

[astroshane]

What a way to start of 2025, Rogers Hornsby ! One of the greatest of all time, a complete legend. Artwork looks amazing as well. I really like the look of the rustic wood planks behind him.

[Chihuahuas]

Originally Posted by astroshane

What a way to start of 2025, Rogers Hornsby ! One of the greatest of all time, a complete legend. Artwork looks amazing as well. I really like the look of the rustic wood planks behind him.

Agree. Gland slam on Hornsby!
Both cards HRs for sure.

Long live the Living Set.

Happy New Year all.

[astrotrevor]

More pre-war greats and please. Great way to kick off 2025.

[tdubs1010]

Are the bundles gone? I see the prints went up 5 dollars. That is not ideal. However the ones already listed from previous runs are still 19.99. Odd...

[dherm360]

Originally Posted by tdubs1010

Are the bundles gone? I see the prints went up 5 dollars. That is not ideal. However the ones already listed from previous runs are still 19.99. Odd...

Might be killing the set collector

[Joliet Jake]

Topps MLB® Living Set® Card #793 - Rogers Hornsby - PR: 2,316
Rogers Hornsby is the St. Louis Cardinals 34th franchise and team member, and 96th Hall of Fame member featured.


Topps Living Set Fine Art Print #793 - Rogers Hornsby


Topps MLB® Living Set® Card #794 - Camilo Doval - PR: 1,202
Camilo Doval is the San Francisco Giants 29th franchise and 27th team member featured.


Topps Living Set Fine Art Print #794 - Camilo Doval

[Joliet Jake]

Awesome to see another all-time great like Hornsby in the set.

Jared, a couple errors on the Hornsby card.
He was born in Winters, TX, not Chicago, IL, where he died.
Next to the trivia answer there's an unnecessary close bracket after the colon.

It should read Ans.: Josh Gibson... instead of Ans.: ] Josh Gibson...

[TUAlum96]

Originally Posted by tdubs1010

Are the bundles gone?

Oh man, that would be bad. Boosting the cost of getting the two cards each week from $11.99 (bundle price) to $17.98 might just drive me out ... and I've got a complete set to this point. Hopefully this is just a glitch that will get sorted out.

[Chihuahuas]

Originally Posted by TUAlum96

Oh man, that would be bad. Boosting the cost of getting the two cards each week from $11.99 (bundle price) to $17.98 might just drive me out ... and I've got a complete set to this point. Hopefully this is just a glitch that will get sorted out.

I have same question and concern. No bundle price might price me out.

[Lawmaker]

Not good

[Joliet Jake]

I've been buying from the same eBay seller for years (spw2214), and he currently has the bundle listed for $9.99.

Interesting that he has the bundle image from Topps, but I can't seem to find the bundle itself on the Topps site.

[Natsfan32]

Did they really increase the price of the two cards from $12 to $18? A 50% increase? I could see 10-20% but not 50%.

[Chihuahuas]

Originally Posted by Natsfan32

Did they really increase the price of the two cards from $12 to $18? A 50% increase? I could see 10-20% but not 50%.

You would think after record setting print runs and year they have had profits would be up & wouldn’t increase any prices for 2025

[Natsfan32]

I assume that the Ebay sellers who are selling this week's releases at 2024 prices will change their listings.

[jaredkelley]

Originally Posted by Natsfan32

Did they really increase the price of the two cards from $12 to $18? A 50% increase? I could see 10-20% but not 50%.

Is this the first price increase in the 8 years of the set? I am pretty sure it's the first increase since I came onboard, but I am not aware of the price point from 2018-2020.

I guess it should have been expected that a price increase would eventually happen. I'm honestly surprised we didn't see increases over the last 3 years, while inflation skyrocketed in every other consumer sector. I am bummed to see the bundle disappear. I thought that was good for sales, but maybe I'm wrong.

Will this increase in the base card value help increase secondary market sales? If so, hopefully collectors will see less $2-3 sales on eBay. This isn't my area of expertise, so I would love to hear someone more savvy in sales analytics/marketing give their thoughts.

[TUAlum96]

Originally Posted by jaredkelley

Will this increase in the base card value help increase secondary market sales? If so, hopefully collectors will see less $2-3 sales on eBay. This isn't my area of expertise, so I would love to hear someone more savvy in sales analytics/marketing give their thoughts.

I can only speak anecdotally about what I and a few others I’ve talked to are going to do, but … for me, instead of paying Topps $12 for a bundle, I’m going to start buying from bulk sellers on eBay who are buying in enough quantity to pay $4.50 per card. When it was close ($12 vs. $10-$11), I was fine buying from Topps, collecting points, and having a slim chance at a parallel. But at a Topps price point of $18, I’m going with the bulk resellers. So Topps will actually get less money from my weekly purchases.

And, as a set collector who bought from Topps weekly, it’s not the first price increase. When the program started, a 3 card bundle was $14.99. Then when the switch to two cards a week was made, there was a subscription option for a couple of years that priced the two card bundle at a discounted $10.99. When the subscription went away, the bundle was a uniform $11.99, and now without the bundle, it will be $17.98. So my per card cost through Topps has gone from $5 to $5.50 to $6 to $9, just to give some history.

It would have been nice to at least have had some notice from Topps that the bundles were going away.

[jaredkelley]

Originally Posted by TUAlum96

I can only speak anecdotally about what I and a few others I’ve talked to are going to do, but … for me, instead of paying Topps $12 for a bundle, I’m going to start buying from bulk sellers on eBay who are buying in enough quantity to pay $4.50 per card. When it was close ($12 vs. $10-$11), i was fine buying from Topps, collecting points, and having a slim chance at a parallel. But at a Topps price point of $18, I’m going with the bulk resellers. So Topps will actually get less money from my weekly purchases.

And, as a set collector who bought from Topps weekly, it’s not the first price increase. When the program started, a 3 card bundle was $14.99. Then when the switch to two cards a week was made, there was a subscription option for a couple of years that priced the two card bundle at $10.99. When the subscription went away, the bundle was a uniform $11.99, and now without the bundle, it will be $17.98. So my per card cost through Topps has gone from $5 to $5.50 to $6 to $9, just to give some history.

It would have been nice to at least have had some notice from Topps that the bundles were going away.

Thanks for the insight. The multi-card price points have certainly fluctuated a lot then over the last 8 years.

Part of me hopes that Topps is planning on a killer 2025 lineup of players (i.e. Hall of famers) and wanted to maximize sales foreseeing a higher demand for the lineup. On the same token, I'm a little nervous what a "hot" year in the Living Set portends for the future.

[tdubs1010]

Originally Posted by jaredkelley

Thanks for the insight. The multi-card price points have certainly fluctuated a lot then over the last 8 years.

Part of me hopes that Topps is planning on a killer 2025 lineup of players (i.e. Hall of famers) and wanted to maximize sales foreseeing a higher demand for the lineup. On the same token, I'm a little nervous what a "hot" year in the Living Set portends for the future.

I hate this the most for you and Angel, Jared. This will be the last year of the living set if these prices are what they are is my guess. I own about 275 of the prints, and I will not be buying many at 25 dollars. I guess since they are print to order it won't really affect Topps that much. I fear print runs on the cards are going to dip down into the 500-700 card range on anyone who isn't a HOFer or big time rookie. There aren't that many HOFers left to make, so it is perplexing.

I want this set to go on forever, and I hope it does. I will still buy one of each card every week, but my two sets are for sure being cut down to one set. Getting rid of the bundle makes ZERO sense. Whoever made that decision is clueless. The subscripton was amazing, and they should have never stopped it.

Oh well... let's see what happens in 2025, but not a good start to the year for The Living Set. The artwork on Doval and Hornsby is exceptional however. Well done!

[Chihuahuas]

Originally Posted by jaredkelley

Thanks for the insight. The multi-card price points have certainly fluctuated a lot then over the last 8 years.

Part of me hopes that Topps is planning on a killer 2025 lineup of players (i.e. Hall of famers) and wanted to maximize sales foreseeing a higher demand for the lineup. On the same token, I'm a little nervous what a "hot" year in the Living Set portends for the future.

I’m just hoping $ increase fairly passed to the artists doing so much work. I appreciate the workload that must get to be a grind with weekly artwork/deadlines.

[dherm360]

Originally Posted by jaredkelley

Is this the first price increase in the 8 years of the set? I am pretty sure it's the first increase since I came onboard, but I am not aware of the price point from 2018-2020.

I guess it should have been expected that a price increase would eventually happen. I'm honestly surprised we didn't see increases over the last 3 years, while inflation skyrocketed in every other consumer sector. I am bummed to see the bundle disappear. I thought that was good for sales, but maybe I'm wrong.

Will this increase in the base card value help increase secondary market sales? If so, hopefully collectors will see less $2-3 sales on eBay. This isn't my area of expertise, so I would love to hear someone more savvy in sales analytics/marketing give their thoughts.

the Bundle used to be 3 cards when the set first started, then they dropped down to 2 and I believe didn't change the price of bundle

[spw2214]

Originally Posted by Joliet Jake

I've been buying from the same eBay seller for years (spw2214), and he currently has the bundle listed for $9.99.

Interesting that he has the bundle image from Topps, but I can't seem to find the bundle itself on the Topps site.

I know it's not quite the same as buying direct from Topps, but I've offered a bundle subscription service for a long time. If anyone is interested, send me a message. As for the bundle image, that was just some quick Photoshop work.

[jdandns]

Like Joliet Jake above, I've been buying LS cards from spw2214 for some time now.

Highest possible recommendation.

[Natsfan32]

I see that the card price goes down from $8.99 to $4.50 if you buy 20 cards or more. So why would anyone want to buy 1 card directly from Topps at $8.99.
That is a bizarre spread. Sounds like Topps doesn't want to handle retail orders anymore. Is there a standard mark-up for re-sellers?

Also, the way Topps did this is very questionable from a marketing standpoint. Most companies try to justify price increases by blaming increased costs, and giving fair warning to their customers. To spring a 50% increase on customers without warning or explanation is an amateur move. My guess is that Topps decided that without a larger profit the Living Set isn't worth their time and energy.

[Natsfan32]

Originally Posted by spw2214

I know it's not quite the same as buying direct from Topps, but I've offered a bundle subscription service for a long time. If anyone is interested, send me a message. As for the bundle image, that was just some quick Photoshop work.

What will you be charging for the bundle going forward, and how do I sign up for your subscription service?

[eecheerow]

I live in Canada, so it’s always been a struggle to keep up with the set.

I collected the set in its entirety until Topps dropped to two cards a week from three, but I back-filled a bit, picked up cards or players I liked, and bought a number of others on the cheap to the point where I’ve got close to 550 of the soon-to-be 800 cards in the set.

I haven’t bought from Topps in ages… shipping has long cost more than the cards themselves, so I rely on eBay and COMC. Even going that route means I’m at about $10-11 CAD a card on eBay, provided I can find someone who ships to Canada using a PWE. I can’t really foresee myself continuing if the price per card climbs much higher, which is a shame because I love the set… it’s the only baseball card I’ve been collecting the past few years and I don’t really have interest in collecting modern day sets with all of the parallels, etc. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.