General Forum

I bought a blaster box from Walmart (Topps Series 1) and every card in the box had damaged to one of the corners, corner depends on how they had the colliated in the packs.  While there was no damage to the box, the cards inside all have an issue by which most people would find unacceptable. . Normally I would return them to the store, but with the way things have been going in the sports card world, the Walmart stores in my area have a Zero Return policy on sports cards.  This leaves me with the claims process offered on the Topps website where there are two options...send in specific cards for replacement or similar replacement or send in the entire box. The real stinker is that there was a Molina SP and a Wander Stars of MLB card in there which also have the same corner issues.  Either way I have to mail the cards along with the claim sheet, copy of my receipt and the UPC to Topps for replacement.  Has anyone had success with this in the past and if so, how long did it take?  Did you receive the same cards back or a similar product?  

I've watched a lot of breaks. There always seems to be damage. The breaker returns the cards and then does another video opening the cards they get back.  They're never the same cards. Some times not even the same product.

Ugh...I can only imagine what kind of mess that would create to get defective cards in a break. If they send another product, thats okay as long as its baseball. 

lol. Would you really think they keep "spares of everything" hanging around?

Granted, we were a much smaller company, with a lot less cards going out, but we actually did keep spares of all cards for about a year or 2 when I was at Star. We didn't receive too many requests for replacement, as we had changed our shipping approaches to minimize in-transit damage, but we were prepared if something did come back. This was also 30+ years ago, and the hobby has evolved greatly since then.

I've done this in the past, and I've always received the identical cards in return, including inserts.  Usually takes 2-3 weeks.

To me, it's all just part of the process of being a collector of small pieces of flimsy cardboard. I'm less hung up on condition than many, I guess.

Replying to several here …

The purpose of this thread was to get an idea of what to expect based on others past experiences from this group.

I don’t know what Topps has on hand, but the sheet does say similar if the exact item is not available. I would not expect Topps to locate and pull every exact card that is in the blaster, I’m sure they will send a replacement blaster box which may or may not be 2022 Topps Series 1...who knows.

Condition...it’s the fact that the cards came in an undamaged box, but all the contents are damaged coming out of the box...production/packaging issues at Topps. These are not corner dings...the corners are laid over. As a set builder this is unacceptable. I  would not want these cards in my set and I also would not find these to be acceptable to trade to other members on this site…the contents are really are worthless. 

Appreciate all the feedback...I will probably send the entire box in...I don’t need either the Molina SP or the Wander Stars of MLB  for my collection. Spending $5 postage and receiving another box of product seems like a fair deal to me.  Really, I should be able to return them to the store and let them deal with this, but hey, that’s another thread!

I sent in a Project 2020 card to Topps for replacement in the summer of 2020 and got the replacement (same card) back in summer of 2021. Not sure if things are that crazy anymore.

Just a follow up to this post...I sent the cards back in March...I received the replacement cards earlier this month (October.)  I was starting to have my doubts, but then they arrived.