Intro to the ToppsNOW group!

sweetcardbro

All-Star
Transactions
168
5.00 star(s)
EDIT: our group has seen a ton of growth since we first began, on here, in the Discord server, and in the Twitter chat. Because of that, I’ve had to make some tweaks to the way things operate for the 2024 season, which can all be found at the Google Doc here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pDMu-95YhMj52VHTSJ7bNtTqkOPd9X4cbS2QdRe3Jvw/edit

Hello everyone!

I'm happy to bring to SCC a group that I've been running on Twitter for a little while now. ToppsNOW is a product Topps sells on their website only--single cards run about $11 and change after shipping and tax, and come with a small chance of getting a parallel of either /49, /25, /10, /5, or /1. They're a blast, commemorating things that happened in MLB the last 24 hours, and are only available for that short time--24 hours. Thing is, they're cheaper when bought in bulk, so a year or so ago I had an idea: why not gather people together to purchase group orders?! We would get cards for the bulk price AND increase our chance of hitting parallels!

So for the second half of the 2022 season, we did that: a group of 30 or so of us on Twitter placed 95 orders, for a total of 725 cards, with an average print run of 4396 per card. We hit 42 parallels: 27 /49, 11 /25, 1 /10, 2 /5s, and one 1/1! (a Josh Jung Call-Up 1st HR card). That's good for a parallel average of .442, and a "slugging percentage" of .674--MVPs by any standard any season!

With the kind invitation of @AndyDrummond and @grapler135s, I'm happy to bring in SCC as part of the ToppsNOW group buying process we started on Twitter. If you're interested in joining that group, go ahead and message me at @sweetcardbro. If not, though, now you can still get in on orders!

The method over here still has to be worked out, but the basics are as follows:

1. Every day, early in the afternoon, Topps will post their NOW cards for sale at https://www.topps.com/cards-collectibles/topps-now/mlbtoppsnow.html

2. Somewhere on here, I'll set up a way for claims to be made: if we end the order between here and Twitter at an order of 5 cards, the cost will be $7/card. If we get to 10 the cost becomes $6/card, and if we get to 20 it becomes just $5/card!

3. Folks in the orders send their amount to me via PayPal, I place the orders with Topps, and when they arrive (typically a full 2-3 weeks later, unfortunately), I'll open the packages live on Twitch to see if we hit any parallels.

**edit for clarity on step 3**: with the 2-3 week delay, I do ask that folks pay up front, to avoid backing out after cards have been ordered.

4. If we did in fact get a parallel (which, again, we did 42% of the time last year), it will immediately get randomed off to someone in the order. If 5 people each bought 1 card in a 5-card order, each person has a 20% chance at the parallel! If someone bought 2 of the 5 spots, they'd have a 40% chance by having their name in the drawing twice.

5. You can ask for your card to be sent to you next day nonmachinable PWE for no additional cost (though a $1 donation to cover the nonmachinable stamps is always appreciated). PWE can be for 1-3 cards. After your stack gets to 4 or more cards, I'll just ask for $4 BMWT when you're ready to ship. The only time that $4 goes much higher is if your stack gets realllly large (which only happened once last season with someone at 35 cards in their stack).

That's about it! There aren't any cards up today, but I expect some WBC ones to be posted soon. Let me know what questions you have and let's have some fun!
 
Last edited:
hmmm I like some ToppsNow every now and then, but I'm pretty picky mostly just my homie Nationals, but I don't always want every event for them.

A downside I can see is sometimes a person could be buying a card or two everyday depending on what sort of stuff or team they like.
 
hmmm I like some ToppsNow every now and then, but I'm pretty picky mostly just my homie Nationals, but I don't always want every event for them.

A downside I can see is sometimes a person could be buying a card or two everyday depending on what sort of stuff or team they like.
That’s the beauty of what @sweetcardbro is doing. You just buy the ones you want, get them a bit cheaper, and get a chance at any parallels the group gets as a bonus.
 
hmmm I like some ToppsNow every now and then, but I'm pretty picky mostly just my homie Nationals, but I don't always want every event for them.

A downside I can see is sometimes a person could be buying a card or two everyday depending on what sort of stuff or team they like.
@AndyDrummond is spot-on: buy what you want, pass on what you don't! For instance, there was a Joey Meneses highlight from the WBC a few days ago (I think on the first post of the March thread?)--down the road, if something similar comes up, you can grab that one but nothing else and be all set!
 
Quick PSA: I will be out of town and off the grid for a couple weeks coming up (starting Monday, July 24th), but @AndyDrummond has agreed to take over posting cards every day, coordinating with the Twitter/Discord folks to tally orders, accepting payments, and placing orders in my absence. Everything should run very smoothly, but if you would like your stack shipped out before I leave, last call will be Saturday, July 22nd--after that I won't be shipping anything until August 10th. Thanks all!
 
So I'm geeking around in our spreadsheets, and while we have to wait until Saturday's opening to finalize the month of June, our yearly numbers here at the haflway point (if we're counting playoffs, which we definitely are), are just awesome:

182 orders placed, 146 so far received/opened
1700 cards ordered--seventeen HUNDRED
Average order size: 9.34 cards

Average days waited from ordering at Topps to delivery to me: 15.71 days

Average print run of cards we order: 3951
Average print run that we get a parallel: 2135

Now for the fun part: parallels...

Of those 146 orders received, SEVENTY FIVE parallels, for an average of .514!
40 blues, 20 purples, 10 reds, 3 oranges, and two 1/1s (Trout and Acuna)
If blues are singles, purples doubles, reds triples, and oranges/yellows homers, that's a slugging percentage of .890

This works out to an "OPS" of sorts of 1.404

In the month of June alone, we ordered 570 cards for 47 different people

This group is a blast, and whether you've jumped into a bunch of orders or none yet, thanks for hanging out enjoying commemorating awesome moments of the world's greatest game!
 
Back
Top