Trust in any industry is contingent upon transparency and fairness. With growing concerns surrounding the distribution of high-value cards, Fanatics/Topps took it upon themselves to engage KPMG, a leading audit firm, to inspect their distribution procedures. This move towards full disclosure seeks to alleviate prevalent worries among card collectors and dealers about the impartiality and randomness of highly prized card distributions.
Fanatics Collectibles CEO, Mike Mahan, announced, at the Industry Conference in Atlanta, that after several rigorous months of review, KPMG authenticated Fanatics/Topps’ protocols. The audit firm attested these procedures indeed prevent the deliberate placement of prized cards with particular customers.
It’s been no secret that suspicions have swirled around Fanatics/Topps, with accusations of the company favoring large volume customers or notable breakers—those who open packs of trading cards on live streams. Social media has only served to fan these suspicions, with videos showing breakers pulling multiple valuable cards from a single pack, prompting questions about the randomness of pack contents. Nonetheless, Greg Abovsky, CFO of Fanatics Collectibles, stressed that the frequency of high-value pulls by major breakers is a statistical inevitability due to the volume they handle. Consequently, these occurrences do not hint at any manipulation of the packing and distribution process.
The audit summoned upon by Fanatics/Topps was no cursory check. KPMG carried out a meticulous review at the Texas printing facility which produces the cards. The firm intensely examined the collation process and the production logs for each job to guarantee that the distribution of cards is genuinely random—just as Topps claims. This unprecedented initiative, according to Fanatics, aims to bust myths and confirm the integrity of their distribution process.
High on the company’s agenda was also debunking another prevalent suspicion among collectors. Abovsky pointedly stressed that Fanatics has never seeded boxes with valuable cards for promotional purposes. In fact, to prove their commitment to transparency and fairness, Fanatics plans to make this randomness audit an annual event.
This ambitious step by Fanatics/Topps not only shows the company’s dedication to upholding a fair practice but also sets a precedent in the industry, with fervent hopes of building a deeper trust within their community. The news of the independent audit is a welcome announcement for card collectors and dealers who can now trade and collect with a renewed sense of confidence in the Fanatics/Topps brand.
