Delivery Delay Announcement: WBC & 08-09 Basketball

From etopps updates:

Subject: Production Update
Date: 06/30/09
Due to production issues beyond our control, etopps is experiencing delays on delivery of the following cards:

2009 eTopps World Baseball Classic

1: Yu Darvish WBC
2: David Wright WBC
3: Jin Young Lee WBC
4: Frederich Cepeda WBC
5: Derek Jeter WBC
6: Yulieski Gourriel WBC
7: Gift Ngoepe WBC
8: Norichika Aoki WBC
9: Ichiro WBC
10: Dae Ho Lee WBC
11: Hisashi Iwakuma WBC
12: Tae Kyun Kim WBC
13: WBC Champion Patch Card

2008-09 eTopps Basketball

22: Dwyane Wade 2008-09
23: Mario Chalmers 2008-09
24: Jason Thompson 2008-09
25: Shaquille O'Neal 2008-09
26: Roy Hibbert 2008-09

We expect to have these cards available for delivery by the week of July 27th. We apologize for this delay. Please continue to check eTopps Updates for additional information.

Sincerely,

The eTopps Team

In-Hands Now Ready For Shipment

Etopps posted this announcement yesterday:

The following eTopps cards have printed, and are ready for delivery starting 5/11/09:

2008 eTopps Football

43 Pittsburgh Steelers 2008
44 Arizona Cardinals 2008
53 Colt Brennan 2008
54 John David Booty 2008

eTopps Allen & Ginter Super Bowl Champions

7 Brett Favre SB
8 Tom Landry SB
9 Emmitt Smith SB
10 Walter Payton SB
11 Jerry Rice SB
12 Peyton Manning SB
13 Roger Staubach SB
14 Tony Dorsett SB
15 Lawrence Taylor SB

eTopps Event Card

6 Steelers Win Record Sixth Super Bowl
44P Barack Obama

2008-09 eTopps Basketball

1 Chris Paul 2008-09
2 Eric Gordon 2008-09
3 Michael Beasley 2008-09
4 Kevin Love 2008-09
5 Brook Lopez 2008-09
6 Dwight Howard 2008-09
7 Marc Gasol 2008-09
8 Sun Yue 2008-09
9 Joe Johnson 2008-09
10 Kevin Garnett 2008-09
11 Allen Iverson 2008-09
12 Kobe Bryant 2008-09
13 O.J. Mayo 2008-09
14 Chris Bosh 2008-09
15 D.J. Augustin 2008-09
16 Danilo Gallinari 2008-09
17 Russell Westbrook 2008-09
18 Carmelo Anthony 2008-09
19 Derrick Rose 2008-09
20 Rudy Fernandez 2008-09
21 Marreese Speights 2008-09

We appreciate your patience as these cards were manufactured. Please continue to check eTopps Updates for additional information on future print runs.

Sincerely,

The eTopps Team

Delay of in-hands

Etopps added this announcement to its updates page:

Due to production issues beyond our control, etopps is experiencing delays on delivery of the following cards:

2008 eTopps Football

43: Pittsburgh Steelers Team Card 2008
44: Arizona Cardinals Team Card 2008
53: Colt Brennan 2008
54: John David Booty 2008

2009 eTopps Allen & Ginter Super Bowl Champions

7: Brett Favre SB
8: Tom Landry SB
9: Emmitt Smith SB
10: Walter Payton SB
11: Jerry Rice SB
12: Peyton Manning SB
13: Roger Staubach SB
14: Tony Dorsett SB
15: Lawrence Taylor SB

2009 eTopps Event Cards

6: Steelers Win Record Sixth Super Bowl
44P: Barack Obama

2008-09 eTopps Basketball

1: Chris Paul 2009
2: Eric Gordon 2009
3: Michael Beasley 2009

We expect to have these cards available for delivery the week of May 11th. Please continue to check eTopps Updates for additional information.

Sincerely,

etopps Team

Making An Exception The Rule

Here's an update from etopps that was posted this morning:

The following eTopps Football cards have printed, and are ready for delivery on 2/2/09:

2008 Football

James Hardy 2008
Matt Forté 2008
Joe Flacco 2008
Peyton Manning 2008
Michael Turner 2008
Eddie Royal 2008
Jonathan Stewart 2008
J.T. O'Sullivan 2008
Felix Jones 2008
Tim Hightower 2008
Brett Favre 2008
Steve Slaton 2008
Chris Johnson 2008
Matt Ryan 2008
Matt Cassel 2008
Rashard Mendenhall 2008
Drew Brees 2008
DeSean Jackson 2008
Kevin Smith 2008
Adrian Peterson 2008
Donnie Avery 2008
Steve Breaston 2008
Chad Pennington 2008
BenJarvus Green-Ellis 2008
Jamaal Charles 2008

* * * *

This morning in my inbox I received a couple of emails from etopps I wasn't expecting: the announcement of today's Basketball IPOs and an etopps basketball classic of President Obama.

What makes this so unexpected is the timing. We usually get these emails hours after the IPO release time of 1pm EST. Rather than making it an effort for us to look up what's going to be offered by clicking here and there on the site, etopps handed us the offering in our inboxes to let us know what's going on.

I remember before Mark took over the etopps reins that we had no idea what was being offered until IPO time. Between these two different marketing tactics, I'll take what we got today any time. And I really, really hope etopps will continue this trend moving forward for each week's IPOs with basketball, baseball and football and whatever they will offer in between these sports.

Another Obama card is smart. Whether people like it or not, it will sell in-hand easily and will receive more attention because it's a regular-sized in-action photo of Obama rather than a earlier picture of him.

If you haven't noticed, Obamania is in full-swing again since the Inauguration and for etopps not to take advantage would be foolish. They can cover their losses with the low-appeal basketball takes in with this card.

If you can sell both this basketball card and Obama's presidential candidate card in hand together, you will do well.

Etopps Offers Discounted Shipping

If you sell in-hands take advantage of this to reduce your overhead:

Exciting Shipping Announcement from eTopps!

Announcement: Special Discounted Shipping Offer!

eTopps is offering special discounted shipping rates from January 19^th, 2009 through February 9^th, 2009!

During this three-week period, users can request shipping for a maximum of 300 cards per port. See below for reduced shipping rates.

Cards	Regular	Special Rate	% Savings
15	$18.95	$13.99	26%
50	$49.45	$35.99	27%
100	$91.95	$64.99	29%
200	$176.95	$129.99	27%
300	$261.95	$189.99	27%

* Continental US and Canada only; additional fees apply for shipments to Canada.
** We apologize, but points cannot be used for this shipping offer.

NOTE: This offer applies to shipping requests. Your deliveries are subject to regular shipping schedules.

We look forward to seeing you on eTopps through 2009 and into 2010, and we hope you take advantage of what we have to offer you! As always, please do not hesitate to contact us at 'support@etopps.com' if you ever have any questions regarding our service.

Thank you once again for your continued support of eTopps!

Sincerely,

The eTopps Team
http://www.etopps.com/

47 Cards Ready For Delivery this Friday, 4/18

Looks like these cards passed their QA:

Subject:	Production Update: Cards Available For Delivery
Date:	04/16/08
The following cards will be available for delivery Friday, April 18th: ALLEN & GINTER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES 2008 Hillary Clinton John McCain Barack Obama Mitt Romney ALLEN & GINTER SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS Troy Aikman SB Terry Bradshaw SB Tom Brady SB John Elway SB Joe Montana SB Joe Namath SB 2007 FOOTBALL Marion Barber Ryan Grant Andre Hall Zach Miller Jamarcus Russell Drew Stanton Brian Westbrook 2007 FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS Dallas Cowboys 2007 Green Bay Packers 2007 Indianapolis Colts 2007 Jacksonville Jaguars 2007 New England Patriots 2007 New York Giants 2007 Pittsburgh Steelers 2007 San Diego Chargers 2007 Seattle Seahawks 2007 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2007 Tennessee Titans 2007 Washington Redskins 2007 Manning Leads Giants To Victory In SBXLII 2007 BASKETBALL Ray Allen Carmelo Anthony Mike Conley Javaris Crittenton Glen Davis Kevin Garnett Al Horford Dwight Howard Yi Jianlian Rashard Lewis Jermaine O'Neal Greg Oden Chris Paul Luis Scola Sean Williams Nick Young 2007 BASEBALL Andy LaRoche 2007 Please continue to check eTopps Updates for additional information. Sincerely, The eTopps Team

Storing Your In-Hands: Hello Monster Box, Bye Bye Baggies

So now you have a bunch of etopps cards from etopps via UPS. Each card is still in its "baggie." Each card can be considered genuine mint. Rubber bands and bubble-wrap are strewn all over the floor. Whatever adrenaline you had in receiving them is now receding. Now what.

If you do not have that many in-hands, the box that etopps supplied for shipping the cards makes a nice storage container but if you are receiving these cards to re-sell them, the box they came in is not exactly what you want for the long haul. It will take time to find a card that sold on ebay if you store all of your in-hands in five or ten of these boxes.

Rathern than creating a monster with your inventory, I recommend a sports card Monster Box.
The picture above holds 3200 regular cardboard cards and costs roughly $5 online. They are bought and sold unassembled and are easy to put together. They come in different sizes in width based on rows. I have both 2-row monster boxes and 5-row boxes.

You can divide your cards by sport or by year. Those of us who have done card shows depend on this type of box to transport inventory. After I injured my back, I bought some 2-row boxes to prevent re-injury.

While it's tempting to keep your cards in the baggie that came with the card, storing the cards in their baggies in these monster boxes is not your best option. Each row of a monster box fits the width of an etopps in-hand card perfectly but the added width from the baggie will be more of a hinderance than an asset.

Instead I would recommend removing the etopps cards from the baggies and keep the baggies someplace else (such as the etopps shipping box) and use a different product to protect your etopps cards from scratching each other. Enter the funyet bag. Maybe this is abbreviated from "Are we having fun yet?" but I doubt it. They fit each in-hand snugly and have an adhesive seal to close each bag. These are indispensible for the 2005 in-hands to make it easy to include each card's Certificate of Issuance.

If you sell an in-hand on ebay and ship it in a fun-yet within a baggie inside a bubble-lined mailer, you're going to have a satisfied buyer who will appreciate your business.

You can buy them from an etopper who sells them in bulk. For more information, email him ultrasportscollectibles@yahoo.com

Etopps Announces Shipping Delays Due to Discounted Offer

Subject:	eTopps Shipping Delays
Date:	03/04/08
Due to the overwhelming number of orders placed during our Special Discounted Shipping Offer, we are experiencing some delays in processing all shipping orders for etopps cards. Our processing center is working diligently to get all orders out in a timely manner. If you need to have cards shipped immediately, we suggest that you select the NEXT DAY AIR option for shipment. Please note that Next Day Air orders placed after 12 noon (ET) will be shipped on the next business day. Thank you once again for your continued support of eTopps! Sincerely, The eTopps Team

Inspecting for and Reporting Damaged In-Hand Cards

Today is the last day to receive discounted bulk shipping on etopps cards. It's a good deal that is offered (at the most) once a year. Usually what occurs some time after this promotion is a freeze on all shipments for a period of weeks to count their inventory. As soon as this gets posted on the homepage, I'll post it here.

(Speaking of inventory, now is the time (if you haven't already) to ramp up your baseball listings on ebay. Spring fever--I mean, training--is in full-swing and baseball buying is heating up.)

If you have taken advantage of the the discounted shipping, you probably have received the cards by now or will be receiving them soon. Each card is inserted in, what etoppers call, a "baggie" which is a sealable (a la ziploc) that is great for protecting each card's case from scratching into others.

When you order a few, etopps sends the cards in a padded jiffy envelope. When you open this up, you will find a few small bubble-lined enveloped. They fit one or two baggied etopps cards in each envelope, depending on how many you ordered.

With bulk shipping, you most likely have or will receive a box from UPS. Inside the box, you will find the baggied cards grouped together in bubble-wrap. I wouldn't stab the bubble-wrap. Find where the bubble-wrap has been taped together and remove it this way. The baggied cards will be held together by rubber band across the width and length.

There's not much friction on these bags that hold each etopps card. Once you remove the rubber bands, be careful in how you hold them and where you are. I usually remove the rubber bands over a bed or couch because the bags are slippery when you have three or more in your hands. If you are standing and they land on a hard floor, you could damage the acrylic casing.

I write all of this because it's good information on how to package multiple in-hand cards for shipment if you get a big order on ebay. I have followed these steps for shipping and have never had a problem with the cards getting damaged in transit.

The most important thing you can do when you receive these cards is to inspect them for damage. Here is a checklist on what to look for:

1. When looking at the card, make sure the etopps hologram sticker is at the bottom of the card, not at the top.

2. If the card is supposed to be serialized or have a total print, is it on the back of the card or (for 2005 cards) is the Certificate of Issuance included?

3. Are there any bits of the acrylic case (or debris) sandwiched on the front of the card or the back? If a case is damaged, bits of the case will usually show up somewhere in the case.

If a piece of the case is on the card, it's likely the surface will be scratched since the piece is most likely sharp. Over the years, etoppers on the etopps message board have reported "foreign" objects in the acrylic case such as a strand of hair. There was a famous "booger" card several years ago that made it to ebay. All of this is unacceptable.

4. Check the surface of the card. This is the most time-consuming and the most likely problem you can encounter. Because the cards have a reflective surface, move the card a little in your hand to let the available light reflect off the card. This way you'll have a better chance at seeing any damage on the cards.

The most likely problem is tiny pock marks or dots on the surface of the card. If you want to have the card graded, it's in your best interest to have this card replaced because Surface is the toughest sub-grade for an etopps card and will most likely determine if you'll get a total grade of 9 or a 9.5 by BGS.

If you like to get your cards shipped to you as soon as they become available, be aware that these surface issues may crop up more, especially when the card you wanted had been delayed due to printing problems in the past. For example, I ordered a Joba Chamberlain card as soon as it became available and I found about a dozen tiny dots on the card. Same happened with getting Reggie Bush's rookie card delivered.

If you are unfortunate to have a card that is damaged in some way or if the card is anything but in genuine mint condition, you can file a damaged card dispute. I would write here how to get to this link on the home page but for some reason, if you submitted your claim you will not get a response from etopps. This has happened to me the last two times I completed the form on their website and hadn't heard from them after a week. I called and they confirmed: do not use this form on their website.

Instead, they suggested to call etopps customer service (1-800-489-9149) to report the damage. Most likely once you explain the damage, they will send you by email a UPS label to ship the card back to them. It takes about a week to 10 days to receive the replacement card.

If you plan to sell in-hands at an upcoming card show, it is a good idea to factor in this time-frame for replacing cards that are damaged.

Take Advantage of Discounted Shipping and Reward Points Allocation.

If you have been planning to take some of your cards in-hand, the planets are aligned in your favor right now. You just received reward points for 2007 Football and the A&G Superbowl Champs and there are still five days left (until March 3rd) to get a discount on having cards shipped in bulk. ($35.99 for 50 cards, $64.99 for 100 cards, $129.99 for 200 cards, and $189.99 for 300 cards.)

If you want to take out more than 50 but less than 100, you can always make two orders: one with the discounted shipping and one with your reward points.

If you never ordered a card to be taken out of your online portfolio to be shipped to your home, it's quite simple. On the etopps homepage, after logging into your account, place your mouse pointer over the "My Etopps" header. A menu drops down and click on "My Portfolio." A side menu will appear and click "Take Delivery." This will take you to the Delivery Order page in which you can choose which cards in your portfolio based on the pull-down menu for sport and year.

When you get to the shipping page, make sure you have the correct address. Since etopps uses UPS (Ground or Next Day Air), make sure you are not using a P.O. Box number for a street address. UPS Ground costs a wincing $6.95 (7 reward points) for the first card and .85 for each additional card while UPS Next Day is $15.95 for the first card and $1 for each additional card. If you live in the same UPS zone as their fulfillment center (Delaware), there's no reason to order UPS Next Day since it takes the same amount of time as UPS Ground. Since I live in NJ, I usually receive my cards within a day or two depending on when the order is shipped out of their storage facility.

When checking out, you will have the option of using either reward points or paying with the credit card you have on file. If you do not have enough reward points (1 point for every $1), you cannot pay for part of your order with the points and the remaining balance with your credit card. (This is on my etopps wish list)

If you are just taking less than four cards that are not more than $30 in value, you have the option of getting the cards shipped by USPS. The cost is $4.25 for the first card and .70 for the second and the third card. So three cards will cost you just $5.65 (or 6 reward points) which is less than one card using UPS Ground(!)

When selecting UPS you also have the choice of getting signature confirmation as you go through checkout.

If you are lucky enough to live near a Topps Home Team Advantage preferred etopps store, shipping is only .65 per card.

On another note, don't forget to vote: I created a poll about where to have this summer's econ. Voting ends tomorrow evening.

More 2007 Football available for delivery

From the etopps updates page:

Subject:	Production Update: Cards Available For Delivery
Date:	02/25/08
The following cards have been printed and are now available for delivery: Football 2007 Derek Anderson John Beck Lorenzo Booker Reggie Bush Braylon Edwards Ted Ginn, Jr. Frank Gore Chris Henry T.J. Houshmandzadeh Chad Johnson Kevin Kolb Terrell Owens Brady Quinn Sidney Rice Tony Romo Kolby Smith Troy Smith Ladainian Tomlinson Wes Welker Deshawn Wynn Selvin Young Please continue to check eTopps Updates for additional information. Sincerely, The eTopps Team

Etopps In-Hand Shipping Discount

Exciting Shipping Announcement from eTopps!

eTopps is offering special discounted shipping rates from February 18^th through March 3^rd!

During this two week period, users can request shipping for a maximum of 300 cards per port. See below for reduced shipping rates.

Cards Regular Special Rate % Savings 50 $49.45 $35.99 27% 100 $91.95 $64.99 29% 200 $176.95 $129.99 27% 300 $261.95 $189.99 27%

* Continental US and Canada only; additional fees apply for shipments to Canada.

** We apologize, but points cannot be used for this shipping offer.

NOTE: This offer applies to shipping requests. Your deliveries are subject to regular shipping schedules.