The Topps “Fool’s Gold” Promotion!

Or so it seems to most collectors. There has been a backlash of negative comments over yesterday’s launch of the 2012 Topps Golden Giveaway that has caused a stir among collectors. What is all the fuss about you may ask? Most people are complaining that have bought a bunch of codes and all they are getting in return is a bunch of virtual coins and very few if any die cut cards. Here is my own personal take on the promotion so far:

Yesterday after lunch I check online and I see the news – “the Golden Giveaway site is live!” Live? I didn’t think it would be live until later. I immediately go to the web site and take a look around. Yep – it’s live all right. But I am at work and do not have my 220 codes with me. From the teaser site that has been up for a few weeks now, I know that if I am among the first 100 people to enter codes and get 200 coins, I get a complete set of 100 Golden Moments die cut cards. I thought I might have a good chance as long as I entered them as soon as I got home because most people are at work right now and most people might not know that the site is live. If only I could get away from work and enter the 220 codes! However, I had a meeting in an hour and didn’t think that I would have time to do so even though I live only five minutes away from work. Since I did not have my codes with me to enter, I decided to read up on the rules and then I came across this piece of information:

“To make the Golden Giveaway even more fun and to reward those that unlock codes quickly the first 100 people to unlock 200 unique coins will automatically win a 1/1 Topps Series 1 card embedded with a 14K piece of gold, the subject of card will be random.”

Now, after reading this I knew from the teaser that there were only 90 “unique” coins so I assumed that they meant 200 total coins and not necessarily unique ones. So I am thinking that since I am at work, I am going to miss out on my chance to win a complete 100 card set of Golden Moments AND a 1/1 Gold Embedded card!! So then I decided to make a break for it. I sped home and quickly entered 220 codes just as fast I could. A little trick I learned from prior giveaways is that you do not have to capitalize the letters as they are printed on the code cards. This made it a lot faster. I kept looking at the time knowing I had to get back to work since I could not miss the start of my meeting. I couldn’t believe it – I actually entered 220 codes in 40 minutes. After doing so, these were my results:

220 codes entered
10 Golden Moments Regular Cards
0 Golden Moments Gold Cards
210 common coins
No prize cards or rare coins

So basically I got 10 cards out of 220 coins. I wasn’t too happy. Not only that, after I passed the 200 coin mark, there was no notification that I was one of the first 100. Dang it! I went online and my results were about the same as others. One member of a popular forum had these results and needless to say he was very disappointed:

839 codes entered
26 Golden Moments Regular Cards
0 Golden Moments Gold Cards
813 common coins
No prize cards or rare coins

After my meeting, I went ahead and contacted Topps. Not to complain because I know they will have their hands full dealing with people who will be complaining. I contacted them to ask how we are notified if we were among the first 100 people to enter enough codes to collect 200 coins. I actually did get a response stating that winners will be notified within two weeks. So, I am hoping to get the 100 card set plus a 1/1 gold embedded card. If this happens, I would be satisfied with the promotion.

When I got home and played on the site some more and read more about it, the less I got interested in it. Why? Mainly because last year, that if you had a black diamond card in your collection, you got your cards shipped for free. These black diamond cards were highly desired by collectors and were serially numbered to 99. I traded a few of these black diamond cards for some valuable vintage cards that I needed for the sets I am working on. This year, the Golden Moments Gold Cards are very similar to the Black Diamond cards in that they too are numbered to 99. However, they are NOT free shippers. The only way to have your cards shipped for free is to have a gold embedded or autograph card in your collection. And what exactly are the odds of getting a prize card? This is straight from the Official Rules:

Prize cards:
A special 1/1 version of the Golden Moments Card of each of the 100 players in the Golden Moments Card set which contains an actual piece of 14 karat gold, odds 1:20,000.
A special 1/1 version of the 2012 Topps Series One of each of the 330 players in the 2012 Topps Baseball Series 1 card set which contains an actual piece of 14 karat gold, odds 1:3,030.

So your chances of having a free shipper are not that good! Not only that but as I write this, there have only been six gold die cuts and ZERO 1/1 gold embedded cards. By now I am positive that there have been thousands of codes entered and to have only 6 gold cards that will be numbered to 99 showing up to this point is not going to rest well with collectors. It seems that Topps is holding back the good stuff since this promotion will last all year. Two years ago, I entered about 300 codes on the first day of the giveaway and was very happy to receive about 30 cards from the 50’s including a couple 1952 cards. This year is definitely a different story.

Since I only have 10 of these base cards and being a set builder at heart, I will not be pursuing this set. Trading will not do me much good since I am not a player or team collector. I think I will cash in my 10 cards but before I cash in I am going to wait to see if I am one of the first 100 to reach 200 coins. Maybe I am and I will be given this set and a 1/1 gold embedded online to redeem. If so, maybe I can get the 10 cards in my online collection shipped to me for free as well.

At this point, I do not think I will be buying anymore 2012 Topps like I planned on doing. Sure I will go ahead and collect the series 2 and update sets to continue my Topps run of sets, but I really hoped that this promotion would have kept me engaged like the promotions from the past two years.

What are your thoughts on this promotion? Do they differ from mine? Please let me know!

Thanks!

Craig from Texas