Nothing in particular that I feel like blogging about today, so I figured I’d just hit some random topics.

First off, I find it strange that Topps moved Series 1 up by 2 weeks.  I haven’t seen a product move up on the release calendar in quite some time.  I suppose it is good since it will give us a longer window to sell off before Series 2 comes out.  It will also give everyone longer to sell the product before the season starts.  Part of me wonders if this was their intended release date all along.  Maybe they listed the initial release date 2 weeks later in case they run into production issues.  I know from when I worked at Upper Deck that it is nearly impossible to push a product up 2 weeks this late in the game.  Not to mention the fact that this is a product that requires a lot of cards being printed.  Either way, it’s at least a good sign that Topps may start hitting more of their release dates.

It seems as though 2011 will be quite a bit different than 2010 was, in regards to trading cards at least.  In 2010 we saw the beginning of the year go crazy with Topps 1, Bowman and a few others.  Topps then produced the everliving ton out of the later products.  This caused them to drop significantly in price.  Meanwhile, Panini stuff didn’t really do much all year.  Some of the football did okay, but none of it really moved too much.  And 09-10 basketball really didn’t do much as far as movement.  In addition to this, we didn’t see a lot of older products go up much.  There was a little interest here or there, but nothing major.

So far in 2011 we’ve seen a big hike in almost everything.  2005 football stuff has gone crazy with Aaron Rodgers making the Super Bowl.  2009-10 basketball has also gone crazy with Blake Griffin playing out of his mind.  A lot of the 2010 football stuff has started creeping up a bit as there just isn’t a lot of any of it out there.  There haven’t been many football products lately that have come out and gone crashing down.  We’ve even seen a little comeback from products like Topps Platinum and Crown Royale.  Maybe this is a sign of things to come.  2010-11 basketball has also sold relatively well.  Again, I think a lot of it is limited production.  I see most of the 2011 baseball stuff being pretty hard to find.  Topps is not going to overproduce like they did last year.  We may see a stinker or two, but I’m pretty confident in just about everything I’ve seen so far.

I am very interested to see how the Topps Five Star and the Panini National Treasures FB products do this year.  It will be the first time that we don’t have an Exquisite product.  Even if UD ends up making a collegiate Exquisite, it won’t have the same impact.  If the Five Star and Treasures are put together correctly, I could see them both doing very well.  One thing we learned last year was that the absence of Exquisite does make the other high end cards more sought after.  You can see this in basketball with the way the Blake Griffin RC sells.  I’ve seen them go for over $3K.  That wouldn’t be happening if he had an Exquisite Auto Patch RC too.

I haven’t seen a whole lot about the Treasures yet, but the Five Star looks fairly decent.  It looks a lot like an Exquisite product.  Hopefully both Topps and Panini do these products the right way.  The three main keys to me are nice patches, good collation and limited redemptions.  If they hit on all of those keys, we should see solid products.  I don’t think there will be a ton of either one of these out there, so that should help as well.

Totally changing gears here as I dive into the weekend of sports.  The Packers and Steelers both held off comebacks and won their respective conferences.  Both looked to be pulling away at the half, but stumbled a bit in the 2nd half.  I give the early advantage to the Steelers, but I’ll discuss this more in my Super Bowl preview later in the week.

Blake Griffin put up another huge game this weekend.  I thought he was going to get a triple double as he had 8 assists at halftime.  He had some absolutely insane dunks in the game.  The ally-opp reverse was something that not many guys could pull off.  Then his three pointer as the shot clock expired was just icing on the cake.  Golden State left him wide open about 4 feet beyond the arc and he nailed it.  He really is something special.

In other NBA news, we continue to wait on the Carmelo trade.  I think he will end up getting trading, but I just wish it would happen.  I’m kind of tired of hearing about “how close” a deal is when nothing ever happens.  I still believe he will end up a Knick.  We also saw Kevin Durant hit his first game winner.  It was quite a shot.  You should definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.

Not a ton of news in hockey.  I’m still awaiting the return of Sidney Crosby.  It’s sad to see the league without its best player.  Hopefully this won’t have any long term impact on Crosby.

The Australian Open has been pretty solid so far.  Nadal looks as unbeatable as ever.  Federer has shown a few signs of rust so far.  However, until someone beats him, he still has a great shot.  Andy Murray has looked remarkable as well.  On the women’s side, it’s much more wide open.  Wozniacki and Clijsters appear to be the favorites, but I could see any of the final 8 winning the whole thing.  Sadly the U.S. did not represent.  There is not a single player left.  It would be nice to see some male U.S. players spring up as Roddick just doesn’t seem to be able to make that next step.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week.  I’ll definitely post something later this week about the Super Bowl and perhaps something before.

Josh

It should be an exciting week this week. We have 2010 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Football, 2010 Topps Platinum Football, 2009-10 Panini Hall of Fam Basketball and 2010 Topps UFC all shipping this week.

Keep in mind that we will price match any products on our site. So, if you see a lower price somewhere else, don’t hesitate to contact us via e-mail or phone.

Have a great week and look for more specials and blogs coming later this week.

Thanks,
Josh

Upper Deck has lost the Football License for 2010.  This is huge, as I’m sure you are all aware.  In my opinion, this really hurts the football market.  There were several products every year that I really looked forward to.  I don’t think Panini or whoever else might also have a license (Topps? Press Pass? someone new?) can fill that void.  SPx, SP Authentic, Ultimate Collection and Exquisite Collection are four products that everyone looks forward to each and every year.  With all due respect to National Treasures, Leaf Limited and any others, they don’t touch these products.

The designs, the on-card autos, the nice patch cards.  All of these things make products like Exquisite, SP Authentic and Ultimate Collection much better than anything else on the market.  I just don’t see any possible replacements for these types of products right now.  Maybe Panini will surprise me and make something awesome.  However, I think there will be a serious void in the high end section if they don’t.

The NFL must be very confident in Panini and whoever else gets a license.  I feel confident in saying that if you asked the average FB card collector what their favorite products were, UD’s would be at or near the top.  Certainly single cards show this as SP Authentic and Exquisite always carry the most value for RCs.  And Ultimate has some of the highest Legend type of single card sales.  On top of all of that, I feel like UD is more innovative.  They do tons of inscriptions.  They do tons of super patch cards.  They do a lot more multi-signed cards.  They definitely stand alone in terms of on-card autographs.  If Panini wants to really be successful, they should take these ideas and run with them.  Sure, they could keep doing their products the same as always.  I’m sure they’d probably sell fairly well since there won’t be as much competition.  However, they could really grab the bull by its horns and make some awesome stuff.

The sad thing is that the end consumer is ultimately who gets screwed.  With a lack of competition, we’ll probably see inferior products.  This is not a knock against Panini.  This is simply economics.  And because there are less products, they will probably all sell fairly well.  Meaning the demand won’t force the companies to load any products or improve them.  Single card sales will ultimately tumble and every product will be a loss for the box/case breaker.  Not to harp on Panini, but we’ve seen this in some of the Basketball this year.  Products like Panini Limited, Panini Certified and Panini Threads have all sold well for me and for most.  However, they are nearly impossible to get your money back out of when you open them.  I would challenge anyone to find a lot of super high end Panini cards that sold well.  I just looked on eBay real quickly and only found 9 Panini Autograph cards form 2009-10 basketball that sold for over $200.  UD only made 4 products for 09-10 BK and there are over 20 cards that sold for over $200.  I think this is a direct result of not having designs that match UD and not having on-card autographs.

Look, I’m not saying UD was without fault.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  They had WAY too many redemption cards.  They had collation issues.  Their customer service can be laughable at times.  Panini has these things already going for them.  Why not push it over the top and make the products superior as well?

Anyway, it will certainly be interesting to see how this re-shapes the Football market.  Please feel free to leave comments about how you feel.

Thanks,

Josh

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TORONTO/NEW YORK/CARLSBAD/ARLINGTON (March 24, 2010) – The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) and National Hockey League (NHL®) today announced multi-year trading card license agreements with Panini America and The Upper Deck Company.

“The NHLPA is excited to renew our long-term partnership with Upper Deck and to welcome Panini into the hockey trading card marketplace,” said Adam Larry, NHLPA Director of Licensing. “We look forward to working with both of these companies to provide quality NHL player products and exciting new choices for fans and collectors of all ages.”

“Having considered the input from all stakeholders, we have concluded that a semi-exclusive model would bring customer choice, revive legacy brands and add new and innovative products and marketing initiatives that appeal to all consumer segments,” said Dave McCarthy, Vice President of Integrated Marketing, NHL.

“Upper Deck is very pleased to continue its 20-year trading card partnership with the NHLPA and the NHL,” said Richard McWilliam, Upper Deck’s Founder and CEO. “Since 2005, through its exclusive partnership with the NHLPA and the NHL, Upper Deck has taken the category and Upper Deck’s hockey brands to unimaginable levels. For the past 20 years, Upper Deck has been the only licensed company consistently producing NHL trading cards. We will continue to deliver high-end excitement and innovation and I am happy to say, our best is yet to come.”

“Panini is delighted to be extending its partnership with both the NHLPA and NHL to produce trading cards; this further establishes Panini’s strategy to rapidly become the most comprehensive publisher of trading cards domestically and enhance the presence of North American sports,” said Mark Warsop, CEO Panini America, Inc. “We are extremely excited about growing hockey trading card sales through our extensive marketing programs, and by bringing back heritage brands such as Zenith, Score and Crown Royale.”

For Upper Deck, this announcement marks a new chapter in a 20-year partnership with the NHL and the NHLPA, one that saw Upper Deck operate as the exclusive NHL player trading card manufacturer since the 2005-06 NHL season. For Panini, it means the introduction to hockey of new brands such as Adrenalyn and Certified, and the return to the hockey market of some hobby favourites issued under previous Donruss, Score, Pinnacle and Pacific licenses.

The 2010-11 NHL trading card season is scheduled to launch this August with the release of Victory from Upper Deck, while Panini has tentatively marked Score as its first release under the new license.

Incoming search terms:

• nhlpa topps hockey cards

2009 Upper Deck Prominent Cuts is in stock and ready to ship. It’s a very unique product and appears to be pretty cool. There is definitely some cool stuff in there for sure.

I also got some more 2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition BB in stock. Get that one while it’s here as it will be gone soon.

If you would like to pre buy anything, please do soon asap as the manufacturers are really limited some of the stuff in the future. I may not have much of some of this stuff to sell, so I don’t want anyone to miss out on anything.

Good luck to everyone with your brackets. Enjoy the March Madness and have a great week.

Thanks,
Josh

March Madness is upon us.  I hope everyone has their brackets ready.  I picked West Virginia to win it all.  I watched most of the Big East Tournament and they looked really impressive to me.  Knowing my track record, they will probably lose in the 2nd round.  Good luck to everyone on your brackets.

I’m going to be sending out some specials every day this week.  There is not a lot of new product out right now, so I’m going to try and drum up some interest in some of the current and older products.  Today, I have the following products on sale:

2001-02 Pacific Titanium Hockey- $39.99 per box, $699.99 per 20-box case

2004 Fleer E-X Football- $74.99 per box, $879.99 per 12-box case

2006 Upper Deck Epic Baseball- $104.99 per box, $799.99 per 8-box case

2007 Upper Deck Premier Football- $107.99 per box, $1049.99 per 10-box case

2009-10 Panini Certified Basketball- $73.99 per box, $579.99 per 8-box case, $1700 per 24-box case

Check back each day this week for different products.  I have them all linked to the specials section, so you can simply click on that to see what’s on sale each day.  On top of this, each product that is purchased will be extended for another day.  So, if you all keep buying the products, they will stay on sale for a long time.

Have a great Tuesday!

Thanks,

Josh

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• wordpress blogs

We have brought back the 2008 Upper Deck Icons FB pack giveaway.  Every order on the website (excluding pre-sells) will qualify for free packs of Icons FB.  For every dollar you spend, you’ll receive that amount in SRP of these packs.  So, for $100 you’ll get $100 worth of packs.

2010 Benchwarmer Ultimate is in house.  This is a very limited product and has great re-sale value on eBay.  This product is not for everyone, but it’s definitely a fun product to bust and gets you most of your money back.

In hobby news, Upper Deck has settled with MLB.  They will be allowed to continue selling the products that have already released.  However, they won’t be able to put any logos on going forward.  Not sure how this is going to alter UD’s future plans.  However, it’s nice to have the issue behind us and to not have to worry about it.

This week has been fairly slow for releases, but it should pick up later in the month for sure.  Hopefully Exquisite FB will release before the end of the month.  There looks to be some very cool stuff in there.

And, in case you missed it, Topps has signed a deal with Team USA to put them into 2010 products.  They will appear in 2010 Bowman making it an even better product.  I wouldn’t wait to pre-order this one as I have a feeling it’s going to shoot up.  Have a great Thursday.

Thanks,
Josh

Here is the breakdown on the Team USA in 2010 Bowman:

The insert set, which will be branded Bowman Chrome, will be seeded 1:4 packs and will also include the following parallels:

Refractor Parallel Sequentially numbered to 750.

Blue Refractor Parallel Sequentially numbered to 250.

Gold Refractor Parallel Sequentially numbered to 50.

Orange Refractor Parallel Sequentially numbered to 25.

Red Refractor Parallel Sequentially numbered to 5. Hobby Only

Super-Fractor Parallel Sequentially numbered 1/1. Hobby Only

Printing Plates Sequentially numbered 1/1. Jumbo Box Only

This will be the first and last time collectors will have a shot at the 2009 teams in Topps products.

The subjects are as follows:

Topps announced on Wednesday that it is now the official card of USA Baseball.

The deal is an exclusive multi-year licensing agreement that adds to a Topps portfolio already including exclusives for Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball. As the official card of USA Baseball, Topps will have the lone rights to USA Baseball trademarks,logos and other intellectual property for use on cards of USA Baseball players.

The deal includes cards, autographs and game-used equipment from USA Baseball’s Collegiate, 18U and 16U National Team players to be featured in a variety of Topps products each year. The first Topps set to include USA Baseball players in 2010 will be Bowman, which arrives in May.

“Twenty-five years after collectors were first introduced to USA Baseball, our organization is pleased to have Topps, the industry leader, return as the exclusive home for USA Baseball trading cards,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO. “We look forward to working closely with Topps as together we provide collectors with a look at the future of America’s game on trading cards.”

Upper Deck had been the official card manufacturer for USA Baseball box sets since 2003 but did not help produce the set in 2006. Topps, on the other hand, included USA Baseball cards in its 1985 set as well as in its annual Traded sets from 1988 to 1993.

“Now we’re the only trading card licensed by Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and USA Baseball,” said Warren Friss, Vice President-General Manager of Topps Sports and Entertainment. “We are covering the game of baseball at every level.”

USA Baseball cards have included the first appearances of such stars as Mark McGwire, Ryan Howard, Dustin Pedroia and countless other players in the past.

Each year USA Baseball selects nearly 60 players for its teams, giving collectors the first opportunity to see the future stars of baseball. The 2010 Bowman set will include cards of the 2009 Collegiate National Team and the 2009 18U National Team.

In addition to the Topps sets featuring USA Baseball inserts, the annual USA Baseball National Teams Box Set also will be manufactured by Topps and will continue to be the exclusive place to get all members of the USA Baseball National Team in one set. The box set is scheduled for a December release this year as it will be in each of the remaining years of the agreement.

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We have put a bunch of products on sale for the weekend.  These specials will only last through the end of this weekend.  Here is a list of everything that we are offering:

Baseball:

2002 Leaf Certified- $59.99 per box, $349.99 per 6-box case

2006 Upper Deck Epic- $104.99 per box

2007 Upper Deck Black- $83.99 per box, $459.99 per 6-box case, $799.99 per 10-box case

2007 Upper Deck Exquisite Rookies- $109.99 per box, $529.99 per 5-box case

2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition- $52.99 per box

2008 Razor Letterman- $31.99 per box, $319.99 per 10-box case

2008 Razor Signature- $31.99 per box, $319.99 per 10-box case

2009 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects- $52.99 per box, $619.99 per 12-box case

2009 Bowman Sterling- $193.99 per box, $789.99 per 4-box case, $1549.99 per 8-box case

2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition- $72.99 per box, $1469.99 per 20-box case

2009 Topps T-206- $68.99 per box, $689.99 per 10-box case

2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars- $69.99 per box, $1409.99 per 20-box case

2009 Upper Deck SP Authentic- $85.99 per box, $1029.99 per 12-box case

2009 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection- $85.99 per box, $1289.99 per 15-box case

2010 Topps Series 1- $47.99 per box, $569.99 per 12-box case

2010 Upper Deck USA National Team Set- $78.99 per box, $789.99 per 10-box case

Football:

2008 Bowman Chrome- $42.99 per box, $429.99 per 10-box case

2008 Donruss Threads- $54.99 per box, $649.99 per 12-box case

2008 Leaf Certified- $52.99 per box, $414.99 per 8-box case, $1239.99 per 24-box case

2008 Topps Chrome- $43.99 per box, $529.99 per 12-box case

2009 Bowman Chrome – $46.99 per box, $469.99 per 10-box case

2009 Playoff Contenders- $104.99 per box, $1249.99 per 12-box case

2009 Topps National Chicle- $67.99 per box, $819.99 per 12-box case

2009 Upper Deck SP Signature- $35.99 per box

Basketball:

2009-10 Donruss Elite- $80.99 per box, $969.99 per 12-box case

2009-10 Panini Limited- $80.99 per box, $1219.99 per 15-box case

Hockey:

2009-10 Upper Deck Black Diamond- $76.99 per box

2009-10 Upper Deck Black- $156.99 per box, $1569.99 per 10-box case

In addition to these sales, we have 2010 Upper Deck Series 1 BB, 2009 Topps Platinum FB, 2009-10 Upper Deck Trilogy and 2009 Topps Sterling BB all ready to ship.

We have also added several retail items to our site.  They include:

Packs:

2009 Donruss Classics FB- $.99 per pack or $74.99 for 100 packs

2009 Donruss Elite FB- $.99 per pack or $49.99 for 100 packs

2009 Donruss Threads FB- $.99 per pack or $74.99 for 100 packs

2009 Playoff Prestige FB- $.99 per pack or $49.99 for 100 packs

2009 Donruss Americana- $.99 per pack or $59.99 for 100 packs

Blaster Boxes:

2009 Donruss Classics FB- $11.99 per box

2009 Donruss Elite FB- $9.99 per box

2009 Leaf Certified FB- $14.99 per box

2009 Leaf Rookies & Stars FB- $11.99 per box

2009 Playoff Prestige FB- $9.99 per box

2009 Score FB- $9.99 per box

Retail Boxes:

2009 Donruss Elite FB- $19.99 per box

2009 Donruss Gridiron Gear FB- $24.99 per box

2009 Donruss Threads FB- $24.99 per box

2009 Playoff Absolute FB- $34.99 per box

2009 Playoff Prestige FB- $19.99 per box

2009 Score FB- $19.99 per box

2009 Donruss Americana- $24.99 per box

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Josh