[natejeffries]

I agree with shivelycore. There is no need to rush putting out Bowman Platinum in May, when you can include a lot more of these autos in September.

It sounds like whole process of getting the players to sign the cards is completely chaotic. There should be some set timetables they have in place with players, agents and teams to get these cards finished.

I can understand an occasional redemptions here or there, but I am seeing way too many in the last two years.

And now you can't even tell me which auto I am going to get.

The worst of them all is the expired redemptions. I have had two expired redemptions in my life, and the baseball card companies are lucky I didn't quit the hobby right there.

These redemptions should be open five years. What else are they going to do with the cards?

[woodrowsbat]

I don't think they should get rid of them. Unfortunately they are needed to give a quality product.

What is upsetting is waiting a year or more and still don't have your cards. I said in another thread I have been waiting for 2 Kinsler Triple Threads and a Ramirez auto of the same since last year.

Why are there Kinsler autos out of this years product when the ones from last year are not signed? When they gave him this years cards,couldn't they say"Oh, by the way,you have these to sign to fullfill your obligation to us."

[natejeffries]

The fact that you are waiting for than two months is a primary reason why they should't exist.

[keyser soze]

the only issue with year in advance.... a lot can change with a players "hotness" in a year... some could be the best thing going one day and fizzle to nothing the next month...and the strasburgs and harpers? I don't know they seem to sorta have a lot of hype and selling power behind them and tend to drive product sales.

redemptions are there because for whatever reason the cards/stickers/signing couldn't happen within the window that was needed for schedules for printing/shipping. simple as is. if they could do it in pack they will always do it in pack you think topps wants to pay the labor and overhead costs to run an unnecessary part of the business like dealing with redemptions?

the guy that runs leaf posts over on another forum and he explained the redemption thing really well there as far as stickers/shortcuts on cut autos/reasons for redemptions and stickers.

It's funny that you referred to that post on FCB by Brian Gray, I thought about the exact same thing

[johnxgodfree]

It's funny that you referred to that post on FCB by Brian Gray, I thought about the exact same thing

what really made that post standout for me is where he gave a specific example of why he used X1 card instead of X2 in the product where X1 would have been a less desirable format but a much higher value (IE: cut in a noncut product, redemption, sticker auto) than X2 which would have been available and on card.

if there were no redemptions it would provide much less bang for the buck in auto checklists and people would just be crying that there were not good ones. it makes sense to me that you have timelines and when dealing with celebrities (athletes included) you have to work around when they can do things and their terms and you have to match those up with your own timelines... unfortunately redemptions are not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. like them or not

whether we have topps exclusively running the show, or if there were 10 companies making 10 licensed products. they will still be abundant

[ManuGinobili]

I entered my code today (Aroldis Chapman - Autographed Refractor Card) and its shipment day is 01/03/2012

:$

[sesamestreet4life]

I missed some redemptions recently because they were unbeknownst to me sent via certified mail. ( Their website with dates ect and my previous autos not being certified leads to confusion) No notice was left for me and the Post office sent them back to the sender. I messaged Topps and thus far they have not replied.

I have had many other bad redemption experiences from A.) for some reason they mailed it to the wrong address, B.) they did not have the card and sent me some nobody replacement. C.) a multi-colored patch came and it was a plain white square of thin fabric not even centered in the window .

I can understand some redemptions, however, this year it seems product is LOADED with them ala they don't really have their product at all, they are getting your money sort of like on a pre-order basis and sometimes delivering later. ( I had one box of Platinum where every hit was a redemption card) I would be angry if I bought an expensive product such as Marquee and pulled the big case hit as a redemption, yet that is what I am seeing. The case hit is the big wow of the product for many and it is not there!

Topps is having crappy releases this year. They need to be honest with their checklists and if they cannot make what they say they are going to make then release a new checklist before the product comes out at least. They state that pre-release checklist are subject to change, which seems like a thing to say just to cover ones butt just in case, but it is not a case of "just in case" it is a case of seemingly lying/ fraud over and over again.

[natejeffries]

The truth will set you free!

[keyser soze]

I entered my code today (Aroldis Chapman - Autographed Refractor Card) and its shipment day is 01/03/2012

:$

That is not a projected ship date, that's just the default date that they put on there that is typically 16 weeks from the date you redeemed. In reality, they don't know when the card will be ready to ship, they just hope it's by that date, though it isn't always

---

Obviously, all you guys are missing the point of this years' redemptions.
1) Since Topps is the only one with a license to produce MLB baseball cards, they have to beat themselves to be the first one to sell and ship baseball products.
2) No reason to wait for the cards from the players because again, they will be beaten by themselves to be the first to sell and ship.
3) No other reason than to just have you wait for the card(s) that you you think you're redeeming but you will get whatever they send you. Equal value of course (right?)
4) Whatever high value card that is not redeemed is no real gain for anyone because the card they will send for redemption never existed in the first place. After the redemption card expires, they're still waiting for the player to send it back (so they'll say and that's why they have replacement of lesser value card that they will say equal to what you were supposed to get).
So there..... Thank you.... Just my two cents

and by the way, please continue to buy Topps products. It sure would add to their business...

I have absolutely no clue what any of that means or what you're trying to say

---

I missed some redemptions recently because they were unbeknownst to me sent via certified mail. ( Their website with dates ect and my previous autos not being certified leads to confusion) No notice was left for me and the Post office sent them back to the sender. I messaged Topps and thus far they have not replied.

I have had many other bad redemption experiences from A.) for some reason they mailed it to the wrong address, B.) they did not have the card and sent me some nobody replacement. C.) a multi-colored patch came and it was a plain white square of thin fabric not even centered in the window .

I can understand some redemptions, however, this year it seems product is LOADED with them ala they don't really have their product at all, they are getting your money sort of like on a pre-order basis and sometimes delivering later. ( I had one box of Platinum where every hit was a redemption card) I would be angry if I bought an expensive product such as Marquee and pulled the big case hit as a redemption, yet that is what I am seeing. The case hit is the big wow of the product for many and it is not there!

Topps is having crappy releases this year. They need to be honest with their checklists and if they cannot make what they say they are going to make then release a new checklist before the product comes out at least. They state that pre-release checklist are subject to change, which seems like a thing to say just to cover ones butt just in case, but it is not a case of "just in case" it is a case of seemingly lying/ fraud over and over again.

I never said Topps runs the redemeptions program successfully or properly, just that redemptions, in theory, are sometimes a necessary evil. Just as with nearly everything that Topps does, their performance is dreadful, and they don't even pretend to give a crap

[joe callahan13]

I don't like redemptions. That being said, some people on here are asking for autos that are a year old to eliminate the redemption process, some prefer stickers, some prefer cutting the auto checklist down to whoever comes through on the cards prior to release. Personally, I will HAPPILY go through the redemption process to not have any of those 3 terrible substitutions.

- I don't want your last year's autos. (ESPECIALLY in baseball, where there is a very fine line that runs between "next big thing" and "never will be".)
- I don't want my checklist cut down to the bare minimum nobodies who had more time on their hands than the guys that are expected to be stars, especially since there are probably ones that I have singled out in looking at the checklist that is released LONG BEFORE the product release.
- I prefer an on card auto over a sloppily centered, impersonal sticker that is usually ugly and clashes with the card design. (This one is mostly aesthetic, so it is the best of these 3 terrible options.)

Conclusion: I don't like redemptions, but I will buy a good product with redemptions over a lesser product without redemptions every day.