[rjcj2017]

Friends,

The dooshery in the hobby just keeps getting better and better.

So the last few weeks (well, year-plus overall) I have been concentrating on singles.

A disturbing new trend - shipping without toploaders!

Check out this Marc-Andre Fleury RC I received today ... in case you can't tell from the bad photo, the card is in a penny sleeve and heavily taped to a piece of cardboard:





Can you imagine how fun that was getting it out without damaging the card?

Now, I know some of you think this kind of stuff is "great for the hobby" and will find a way to defend it - "but but but there is a toploader shortage" - but, come on ... give me a freaking break.

I have thousands of cards still in toploaders, so you know what I would do if I was going to sell a card and didn't have a toploader for it already?

Wait for it ... I'd use one of mine!

Wanna know why?

Wait for it, again ...

I'm not a doosh bag!

[akaus]

Yeah I have seen some crazy shipping ways lately. I made a trade with another trader and they wrapped the cards in a paper towel. No sleeves or anything and threw it in a bubble envelope. Somehow no cards were damaged which was nice because they was a Mahomes RC in there.

[kerryandbeth]

Apparently the sender thought the card was still frozen stiff and could not be damaged. Pathetic!

Even if a toploader was unavailable they could have used two pieces of cardboard or thick stock paper.

The worse shipping I ever received was 3 loose cards in a bubble mailer. The sleeves somehow kept the corners safe.

[rjcj2017]

Apparently the sender thought the card was still frozen stiff and could not be damaged.  Pathetic!

Even if a toploader was unavailable they could have used two pieces of cardboard or thick stock paper.

It was in two pieces of cardboard, but that's not my point.

Anyone involved with cards enough to sell them has toploaders and is just using the shortage as an excuse.

[ZSDOne]

It was in two pieces of cardboard, but that's not my point.

Anyone involved with cards enough to sell them has toploaders and is just using the shortage as an excuse.

Plus  with used top loaders you can pretend that you got great deals on them (and make your buyers jealous) by putting valuable cards in top loaders or one touches with low prices tags on them - I have one example that makes me laugh every time I see it - a low numbered Mahomes rookie parallel in a one touch with a $3.95 price tag on it

[rjcj2017]

Plus  with used top loaders you can pretend that you got great deals on them (and make your buyers jealous) by putting valuable cards in top loaders or one touches with low prices tags on them - I have one example that makes me laugh every time I see it - a low numbered Mahomes rookie parallel in a one touch with a $3.95 price tag on it

People are now selling individual used top loaders, not including a card, for $4-5 apiece.

The lunacy has to stop eventually ... right?

[jbissell]

Im not sure the lunacy is going to stop anytime soon. I do think a lot of the people behind all of this nonsense no very little about professional sports, and even less about the players they're flipping. These are people who are truly trying to supplement their income or establishing an income selling cards.

Not saying they all are, but the ones who camp out at stores waiting for them to open and then rushing in like its Black Friday arent into the hobby. They want the money.

[Phillies_Joe]

The whole top loader shortage is a bunch of boulder dash. Plain good old fashioned greed is the truth.

Try the show re mini loaders and mini sleeves for a good laugh......

[kerryandbeth]

I am not sure how low the toploader supply actually is, but the websites for BCW and Ultra Pro both show them backordered until April 2022. So, you cannot even buy them at high prices from the distributors!

[kerryandbeth]

It was in two pieces of cardboard, but that's not my point.

Anyone involved with cards enough to sell them has toploaders and is just using the shortage as an excuse.

Okay, it is possible that they have toploaders.  But, I bought 200 back in March 2020 and then had to buy another 150 in February 2021, and still had to remove them this past weekend from cards for trade in order to topload my PC cards.

It is amazing how quickly they go when the BV keeps increasing on older cards the way it has.