[jaredhuizenga]

State tax return came this week, so while I was at Target today I thought, "Why not drop $50 on a box of Elite Extra Edition? 3 autos and 2 serial numbers ... what can go wrong?"

Turns out, quite a bit can go wrong. Had I got this box 2 years ago when they were $30, I wouldn't have been pleased. At $50 I feel like Chris Hansen should be asking them to take a seat.

Complete. And total. Garbage.

These were the "best" of the base and inserts


And here's my "3 autos" and 2 serial numbered cards. Fortunately, the Panini website and app is down so I can't even see what garbage is available for 250 points. I'll stick to Topps from here on out.

[saturatedpratt]

That's pretty rough- especially for the price. I was anti-Panini for a long time, but I've hit some great autos out of both Donruss and Prizm over the past couple of years- enough to to keep me coming back (as much as the putrid Donruss base set tries to drive me away). Don't think I'll be biting on this one though. Thanks for the PSA anyway...

[Hofcollector]

I hate Panini. Sorry for your horrible break bud.

[jaredhuizenga]

Thanks, guys. I've always really liked EEE. Used to get 2 or 3 autos and a Team USA jersey card in there and it was $30. $50 for 2 low-end autos and a points card hurt.

Oh well, wasn't expecting to see my refund this year (back taxes and all), so it was really just bonus garbage. lol

[ne12bc12]

Ouch is about all I can say. Sorry man.

[jaredhuizenga]

Ouch is about all I can say. Sorry man.

Thanks. On the "bright side," the rewards site is back up. So, for my 250 points and another $4.50 shipping I can get a Tyler Jay auto.

After this turd of a box and the ridiculously long wait times to get redemption replacements from previous years of EEE, I think I'm done with Panini for a good long while.

The only exception to that might be Donruss. Donruss has been good to me the last couple of years.

[once78]

I was a heavy basketball collector till Panini killed it...Wish they would leave baseball and fold, bad business. Sorry for your break!

[djohn]

It sucks when the points card is worth the most in terms of resale value. You can easily sell it for $7.50 on Blowout forums, or possibly more. The points catalog wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to pay for shipping on top of it. That was the worst thing Panini did, as the shipping cost usually outweighs the street value for the cards you can get (unless you save up a bunch of points).

[rjcj2017]

I will say this ... I like the flexibility of the points program (i.e. I got a Peyton Manning jersey card with my points out of a similar EEE baseball box), but two major B.S. problems I have with the program ...

One, you have to pay for shipping. I swear this whole thing should be or actually is illegal.

Two, it's not like they keep current inventory to match up with your product.

Example ... as a Lions fan I bought a fair amount of Panini retail product hoping I'd hit an Ameer Abdullah mem or auto card.

I never did pull one until a couple of weeks ago (finally!), but the whole time I was racking up redemption points this season, they never had any 2015 rookie stuff that you could claim on the rewards site.

Point being, if you did buy one of these EEE boxes (I bought three and got a redemption in two of them), it would be nice if you could actually select an auto from the same set, so that you felt like you got what you were trying to pull in the first place.

I feel your pain, buddy!

[jaredhuizenga]

I was finally able to log in to the website and it appears they've added some 2015 EEE to the fold. My 250 points could land me a Tyler Jay auto.

Not necessarily what I would want, but at least there's some PC stuff in there and a lesson well learned. Donruss better nice and sweet to me again this year or I'll be back to strictly Topps and Bowman.