They did. They learned that in spite of it all, people will still buy the product hoping for the lottery hit. Repeat after me: "The secondary market means as much to Topps (or Donruss, or Upper Deck, or Mattell, etc., etc.) as a big bowl of dog drool." Topps doesn't make their money on the secondary market, they make it with the cases they sell. As long as people buy those cases and save or bust them, they make money. As long as they sell the cases for $120 a box or whatever they charge the dealers, wholesalers, distributors, etc. They don't care much if the individual cards sell for $1 each or $200 each. In a perfect world they'd rather it sold for more, to prime people for the next set they produce, but realistically they know even if they put out garbage, they'll still sell a load of cards because people all want to get rich quick.