Upon the stage of the Industry Conference in Atlanta, a riveting revelation was put forth. Amid an industry characterized by speculation, transparency has just scored a major victory. Fanatics Collectibles brings to light their proactivity in assuring their customers of the integrity of their systems. CEO Mike Mahan proudly announced their collaboration with KPMG, the auditing powerhouse, to conduct an independent review of their card distribution processes. Perhaps the most striking feature of this narrative is that it is brought on by Fanatics/Topps themselves, a gesture in a bid to answer the questions clouding collectors’ and dealers’ minds for quite some time.
At the heart of the matter are longstanding concerns about the randomness with which high-value cards find their way into the hands of collectors. The whispers of Fanatics/Topps possibly playing favorites, tilting the table towards large volume customers or notable breakers, have been growing louder through the network of collectors’ circles. Fuel to these flames of suspicion has been social media videos that exhibited breakers landing multiple valuable cards.
However, this has been put into context by Greg Abovsky, CFO of Fanatics Collectibles. Abovsky educates us, noting that the frequent incidence of high-value card pulls by significant breakers is less a result of unfair play and more a testament to the sheer volume they take into their hands; statistics, not manipulation, rules the game.
Adding more teeth to their claims of fairness, Fanatics collaborated with KPMG to conduct a deep-dive audit into their processes. The Texas printing facility, where the avidly sought-after cards turn from digital images to physical collectibles, came under the scanner of KPMG’s experts. The auditors poured over the collation processes, scrutinized production logs of each job, and held Fanatics’ procedures against the high standards of randomness claimed by Topps.
Mahan’s announcement revealed that Fanatics passed this examination with flying colors. KPMG provided their tick of approval, stating that Fanatics/Topps’ procedures are indeed successful in preventing deliberate placement of high-value cards to specific customers. The result was a significant piece of reassurance to the collector community, indeed an industry-first endeavor by Fanatics.
In addition to the heartening audit outcome, Abovsky took the opportunity to clear the air on another frequently aired doubt—whether Fanatics seeds boxes with valuable cards for promotional purposes. To this, he firmly refuted presenting any history of such practices by Fanatics.
But the mission doesn’t stop here for Fanatics. Their vision is to make this randomness audit an annual event, reaffirming their commitment to fairness and keeping the community’s trust in their practices running high. It is a commendable step in an industry often shrouded in speculation, and it will be interesting to see how the results impact collectors’ perception of Topps and the world of card collecting moving forward.
