Disclaimer
Every word you are about to read is completely true. I shit you not, this really happened!
If you’re reading this then I’m not taking a massive leap in assuming that you are a fan of Star Wars in some capacity. By extension I’m also assuming that you’re familiar with a lot of the merchandise and paraphernalia that’s linked to this great film franchise.
I won’t give you any examples as I’ll be here all day, but I would like to draw your attention to one of the more recent additions to the Star Wars universe of collectibles – the Star Wars Card Trader (SWCT) app.
Produced by Topps and released back in March 2015, the SWCT is an app that provides fans and collectors the platform to open packs of virtual trading cards that they can collect for themselves or trade with other collectors within the app itself. There are many facets to the app so it’s best to read the blurb directly from the Topps web site in the link below.
The app can be an awful lot of fun at times, while at other times it can be downright infuriating. One thing in its favour is that it’s produced a great community of incredibly loyal and rabid fans, many of whom are open to the odd trade or two, or are readily on hand to give you some much needed friendly advice or opinion.
For a succinct breakdown of what to expect in these virtual packs of ‘cards’ pop on over to Gellman at Digital Card Central for an idea of what you’ll be getting for your 25K’s worth of free daily credits.
Part of the big draw of the SWCT app are the inserts cards! Seeded in a variety of different ratios across a whole range of different packs, inserts form the backbone of the collecting ‘chase’. Topps purposely limits the number of inserts that it produces, creating its own levels of scarcity and desirability. For instance, some cards might be limited to 5000 copies within the app but might be easy to obtain at a ratio of 1:15 packs, while others might be limited to less than a 100 copies, increasing the chances of pulling one of those cards to 1:100 or even higher. The number of available inserts and how they’re seeded is completely under the control of Topps.
The range of different inserts has been vast – from locations in the Star Wars saga to vehicles and spacecraft; from favourite characters done in funky designs to digital reprints of physical cards that Topps has released in the real world going all the way back to 1977. There’s been pretty much something for everyone’s taste, and although there have been lulls in the creativity process of these inserts from time to time, there is usually something new coming just around the corner to excite collectors all over again.
But I can hear you all asking where I’m going with this… Well let me explain…
This will be a story long in its telling, so are you sitting comfortably?? Good, then I’ll begin…
Back in June Topps released an exteremely limited insert set based on different Lightsaber designs and they called it ‘Elegant Weapons’. For those of you who haven’t guessed this comes from the Obi-Wan quote when he first presents Luke with his father’s old Lightsaber –
Not as clumsy or random as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.
Topps released four different variations of these cards (see below) and at the time some were amongst the rarest inserts ever to have been released in the apps short life.
- Black – 1000 printed, 1:100
- Red – 500 printed, 1:200
- Blue – 100 printed, 1:400
- Gold – 10 printed, 1:4000
These were incredibly highly sought after cards at the time but the odds of pulling the Gold versions were ridiculously long! 1:4000 was practically unheard of, so rare in fact that these Gold cards were only really the province of those with enough disposable income to pump into the app and purchase extra credits to enhance their chances of pulling one. Add to the fact that the only packs where they could be found cost 25,000 credits each, as opposed to the regular 5,000, and all but the committed collector tended to stay well clear.
But not me!
Around this time these digital cards were starting to surface on eBay. People, it seemed, were more than willing to pay for what amounts to nothing more than an image on a screen, such is the curse of the collector. I have to confess that the idea of pulling one of these rarities with the possibility selling it on really appealed. So I started to save up my credits day after day and then spent them all on a weekly splurge, just to see if my luck was in. But as I already mentioned, odds of 1:4000 are pretty hard to top.
Until one morning, just as I’d woken up and was getting ready to go to work, I knew I had a spare 25,000 credis in my account. With nothing to lose I bought a single pack, and out came this…
Shhhiiiitttt!!!! Now that was unexpected!!!! And only the second one out of the ten Gold Dooku cards to have been pulled from a pack!
After the excitement had died down I made my way to work and wasted no time in testing the waters of eBay, putting the card up for auction during my lunchbreak.
But how much to put it on for? Only two other of these Gold Elegant Weapons had been sold on eBay (an Obi-Wan and an Anakin Skywalker), both going for in excess of $500. I didn’t want to over price myself out of the market, or get TOO greedy, so I listed it for $400 with a Buy It Now offer attached to it. Within a couple of hours I’d received offers of $200, $225 and $250. The card sold for $300 soon after and that was that. Within a 24 hour period I’d pulled and sold a digital card, making myself almost £200 in the process! To this day I think I probably under-priced this, but a sale’s a sale I guess!
Figuring that lightning would never strike twice I decided to hang up my hat and give up on chasing these Gold cards!
Flashforward a few weeks and I’d spotted that a few more of the different card designs had been released but there were still very few Gold cards in circulation. Having amassed a few thousand more credits my thoughts turned once again to the rare and enticing Gold Elegant Weapons set. So one Friday evening after getting home from work I decided, on nothing more than a whim, to open another couple of packs.
First pack in and I literally struck Gold…
My hands shook with a giddy, child-like level of excitement!!! Now this was a BIG DEAL!!! A F*%king BIG DEAL!!
- This was one of the most recent ‘Elegant Weapons’ insert releases
- It was the first to feature a Lightsaber from arguably the franchises most popular character
- It was literally the first Gold Vader to have been pulled from a pack, anywhere in the world!
I immediately jumped on Twitter and put the picture out to gauge folks opinion on the card, entering into a conversation with @waxtopia and @SCUncensored about what to do with the card. Popular opinion was to sell it immediately but it was difficult to pin a potential price on it.
While this was going on I began to receive trade offers for the card through the app. Some were great opportunities to pick up some pretty rare and sought after cards (including a Vintage Han for those of you familiar with that particular Holy Grail) but I wanted to test it on the open market. I struck up a conversation with one guy through the app (whose name escapes me now, but he was a great help) and he put me onto a new website what had recently started with the sole purpose of allowing people to sell digital cards – the Digital Card Marketplace – and he also pointed me in the direction of one particular collector who was quite well known in the community for having one of the largest and most complete collections. This fellow also had a very trustworthy reputation and was well spoken of amongst other collectors.
So I opened up an account in the DCM and put the Vader Elegant Weapon up for sale for $999.00. The benefit of using DCM was that I could bypass the 10% fees that eBay imposed on each of their auctions. I then contacted the ‘uber-collector’ that I’d been told about and offered him first refusal on the card. It’s worth noting that he had a Gold copy of each of the other Elegant Weapons that had been released up to that point. He got back to me, thanking me for the opportunity, and said he’d have a look at the card! This was late on the Friday and it was time to turn in for the night.
When I woke up on the Saturday morning I checked my phone and saw that the sale had gone through. The collector had purchased the card and I was $1,000 richer!! I sent him the card as an ‘in-app’ trade and it was all over. As simple as that… In less that 12 hours it was business concluded!
The mere fact that I had just sold an image from my phone screen for a $1,000 proves that there’s pretty much a market for anything out there. The crazy thing is about the SWCT app is that you don’t actually own the ‘cards’ themselves. Nothing is actually yours. Everything is proprietary of Topps, and if they decide to pull the plug on the app tomorrow then that’s it… Game Over!
Yet fans and collectors from all over the world pump thousands of dollars into the app on a daily basis just to experience the thrill of the chase. Tracking down those elusive inserts and variants in an effort to complete their sets. Such is the lot of the Star Wars fan!
I’ve spoken with many collectors who have been with SWCT from the beginning and there’s a general concensus that the app is losing its way. The ‘fun’ aspecting of trading has slowly been eroded over the months thanks to the artificial values that eBay sales have generated. People see these images as something more than what they actually are, as commodities to be bought and sold.
Somewhat ironically, since that huge sale went through, I’ve concentrated on the trading aspect of the app as it was originally built for. It took me a while to get there but I finally started to figure out what the SWCT was all about and I’ve been having a great deal of fun with it since.
And as for the day I sold a JPEG for $1,000? Well lets just say that I don’t see that happening again any time soon. It did allow me to get a PS4 and a few other bits and pieces, so I didn’t come out of it too badly in the end.
If you’ve made it this far then thanks for sticking with me and hearing my tale to the very end!
See you all next time!
"Red Two Standing By" 