Topps, My Dear Topps

Rejoice for there’s a way to collect baseball cards without the bulk and obsessive need for care of condition!! Oh, this made my wanna be minimalist heart so happy and it got me watching baseball again. Unfortunately there are certain happenings that aren’t making me want to spend more money on this and it doesn’t seem like the company will do anything.

My recent digital addiction has been the digital card trading app called Topps Bunt. At first it was perfect, it scratchs the card collecting itch I’ve been having lately and no cards to guard from time, the baby or dog. It’s got me tuning into games and trying to be a part of the community so needless to say, I really like the app and love using it but I cannot ignore the issues.

Now that the app honeymoon is over, I have a few things that are seriously bothering me because users are spending real money for these “cards” and Topps isn’t responding. I completely understand that products of this nature will have bugs or issues but when you come into a community ran by heart and the passion to collect, expect a good deal of people letting you know when things start to go awry.

First up is the duplicate issue that others and I have been vocal about but we get silence when we answer what packs we are pulling from or no mention of glitches. If you’re paying 5000 coins ($4.99) you should expect to receive NO dups from a pack that only consist of 5 cards, hell I expect that from a common pack of 25 cards (1000 coins) most times but it still happens in app multiple times. Duplicate cards do happen in real packs but at the rate that they happen on a digital platform is and can be ridiculous.

Second issue I would like to bring up is the notifications and how they just don’t happen. In the app you can trade and play cards but the notification system doesn’t work well on iOS, notifications are also non-existent when Topps says they will notify us on something. For example, they were giving out free packs yesterday according to your user name at specific times and said they would notify you beforehand, it didn’t happen and a bunch of us didn’t get the packs. Granted free is free and not asking for handouts but at least let us know when you say you will and make sure trades go mentioned, be it approved, denied or countered.

Last but not least is a suggestion that may tie into the previously mentioned issue. It would be great if when someone responds directly, you get a notification in the “Fan Feed” instead of scrolling endlessly or refreshing to see if there’s a response.

It’s difficult to normally justify buying cards you will never truly own (maybe this can change somehow?) but it sure is fun to trade, collect and play them while real games are going on. Best way I can put it is buying donuts with real money in the Simpsons: Tapped Out game to get a character/building that you can’t earn or buying DLC on a console game. I love the app and wish these things were fixed along with my odds to pull rare cards but that’s a separate post haha.

I bitch because I care Topps, don’t make us not care and listen to us. If you’re on the app, trade with me (WGMeets) and let’s play ball!