Have Redemption Cards with Upper Deck? Read This.

[Sabrgeek]

Article in the NY Times about UD

And the news is not good. According to this article, UD has not been paying the players for autographs. Considering autographs should be the primary insert in the new UD products, makes you wonder if we will even see any more UD baseball products.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/s...nytimes.com/pages/sports/baseball/index.jsonp

Regards
Rich

 

[David K.]

More bad news! Interesting read...Thanks for the link. Best regards, David

 

[kugelmanco]

Wow!

 

[bblair_2002]

Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya UD!

 

[NYMets6986]

when things go bad they go bad i guess in UD's case

 

[redbird4]

Interesting. Thanks for the link!

 

[Tim Carroll]

Crazy. And just to think that Upper Deck was trying to buy Topps out a couple of years ago.......



Tim

 

[opcfan]

So much for UD auto. redemptions if the don't settle.

 

[Trader Rich]

UD sure went down fast.

Rich

 

[mindbinge]

UD is probably picking where it spends its money right now, with no MLB cards in the near future they really have no reason to hurry up and pay MLB anything...I think they would worry more about new products and whatever they are allowed to sell...what good are a bunch of autos if you cant use them...there is probably more going on here than meets the eye.

 

[mrmopar]

I would say things are going bad for UD, I'd say UD has made things bad for themselves!

Makes the Topps purchase by Eisner's group even more attractive a move at this point.

 

[Sabrgeek]

Actually

UD is probably picking where it spends its money right now, with no MLB cards in the near future they really have no reason to hurry up and pay MLB anything...I think they would worry more about new products and whatever they are allowed to sell...what good are a bunch of autos if you cant use them...there is probably more going on here than meets the eye.

If I read the details of their settlement with MLB correctly; their "BEST" option for inserts in future baseball products would be autographs. In this case, not being able to put in autographs would take away what is probably their best inserts. Remember, they can not use "game-used memorabilia" any more.

So, in this case, the lack of autographs is a big deal.

Regards
Rich

 

[zlw1]

MLB Players Union warns players to stay away from UD
April 19, 2010
Summary
Major League Baseball’s players union told agents in an e-mail message on Friday that the trading card company Upper Deck was experiencing financial difficulty and had not paid a large number of players money it owed them.

The union said it was working with Upper Deck to ensure that the players would be paid. The union strongly advised players not to return to Upper Deck any autographs they had signed for the company or to enter into any new agreements with the company until the payments were made.

The e-mail message was from Evan Kaplan, the union’s director for trading cards and collectibles, and was sent to all player agents. A person who received the e-mail provided a copy of it to The New York Times on the condition that the person not be identified.

A spokesman for the union declined to comment. A spokesman for Upper Deck did not respond to an e-mail message.

About a month ago, Upper Deck settled a lawsuit by agreeing to pay Major League Baseball Properties a “substantial” but undisclosed amount for issuing three sets of cards since last year without a license. It also agreed to pay baseball $2.4 million to settle previous debts.

In the lawsuit filed in January, M.L.B. Properties accused Upper Deck of trademark infringement and asked that it be restrained from using teams’ uniforms, helmets and cap logos.

Last summer, baseball chose Topps as its exclusive licensee, leaving Upper Deck without a license for the first time since 1989.

I'd recommend selling any unused redemptions now. The likelihood of UD satisfying them is going to get less and less.

Article from Sports Collector's Digest

 

[Linn]

I just redeemed one this weekend. I hope they make good.

I had heard that UD lost its football license too. Has anybody else heard that?

Linn

 

[premium1981]

Its sad to say, but this hobby is going down the toilet so fast its not even funny. I have a hard time justifying any purchase anymore.

 

[Vlad's Impaler!]

I have to agree with you on that. I have gone from spending hundreds on boxes of cards every month down to almost nothing on boxes. I pretty much buy singles and thats it.

I am also wainting on two redemptions with UD. Ones a replacement and the other is a Chipper Jones Sweet spot, which has not been signed yet. I have the feeling I won't see it.

Its sad to say, but this hobby is going down the toilet so fast its not even funny. I have a hard time justifying any purchase anymore.

 

[zlw1]

I just redeemed one this weekend. I hope they make good.

I had heard that UD lost its football license too. Has anybody else heard that?

Linn

Yes, they lost that too, last week.

Zac

 

[zlw1]

I have to agree with you on that. I have gone from spending hundreds on boxes of cards every month down to almost nothing on boxes. I pretty much buy singles and thats it.

I am also wainting on two redemptions with UD. Ones a replacement and the other is a Chipper Jones Sweet spot, which has not been signed yet. I have the feeling I won't see it.

There is no reason to anymore.
It's easier buying the singles you want, because at least then, most of the time, you are guaranteed what you buy is what you'll get

 

[David K.]

Don't have any ud redemption cards! Best regards, David

 

[Meliah]

Every hobby is going to have it's ups and downs, cards is no exception Let's just hope that the current companies, and future ones, learn from the mistakes of the past.