eTapps

As I usually do on Mondays, earlier today I checked eTopps to see what the offering would be for the week, if anything.  With the regular football season finished, I wasn’t really expecting any new cards, but thought there might be an update as to what program was coming next.  There was an update alright:

Dear eTopps Community,

Thank you for participating in this year’s NFL football release as well as your continued enthusiasm for eTopps card offerings over the past ten years. Moving forward, we no longer plan to offer new cards each week. For now, we will continue to offer weekly catalogs and a baseball fantasy game, and we will maintain trading, selling and shipping services for eTopps cards.

We look forward to sharing new digital developments with you in the future, and thank you for your support of eTopps.

Sincerely,
The Topps Company

I read this as a notice of the end of eTopps despite the vagueness of the wording.  The message states they no longer plan to offer cards “each week,” but doesn’t say, “ever.”  And they also mention they are running the baseball game again this year, although I don’t know how that would be any fun if there is no baseball offering for 2012.   Again, I interpret this message as eTopps is done, but will keep the site running only to allow existing cards to be traded and cards in portfolios to be shipped (at the new higher costs which went into effect today).  I did not take the note about “sharing new digital developments in the future” too seriously.  I think if they had some sort of plan for new developments or programs in mind, there would have been a lot more optimistic tone to the note.  It’s too bad if in fact they are done.   I would have loved one more run of T206 cards.  

I’m a little bummed.  I’ve been on eTopps almost since the beginning and have for the most part enjoyed what the program offered.  The cards have been very nice for the most part and the site offered a lot of entertainment with trading and games.  I’ve also enjoyed sending in-hand cards to folks that have never had them before.  The end of eTopps also takes away a lot of subject matter for my blog, which really stinks.     

  

Oh well, nothing lasts forever.  The concept of eTopps is still relevant in my opinion.  Maybe something better will take the reins on this niche of the market, or perhaps eTopps just needs to regroup and start from scratch at some point in the future.