Frequently Asked Questions

What are group breaks and why should I buy in?

A group of people share boxes of cards by dividing up the product by team.Gone are the days where you can run to your local card store and pick up a $2 pack of cards.  Boxes of cards today range between $75 and $700, so group breaking allows the participants a shot at high end products with a low investment.

Many people who personally collect a team are able to get players from their favorite team without having to deal with cards from their rivals.  People who collect a specific player are able to target rookie years and build up their personal collection.  Lastly, people can make money in the card world as they buy in for $20 and hit a $150 card to resell!

What cards get shipped?

Today, all products are different. Some are very base heavy, others are just hits or autos, no base. So, look for each individual break, it will be listed what is shipping. Its general knowledge that for products like NT, Flawless, and other higher end products all cards ship. Lower end price point breaks, base heavy. usually only hits, serial #s, autos, jerseys will ship. Please see each individual break to find out what ships. We wish we could ship all cards, all the time, but it becomes physically impossibe due to the staff we have, and takes extra time to sort all common cards with little or no monetary value. In addition to that, it incurs higher shipping costs, supplies do to weight. This would increase the spot prices dramatically, making the breaks not appealing anymore for lower end stuff.

How do I get in on a break?

Register for our site with your information.  Add a spot in any one of our breaks to your shopping cart or simply buy it now.  Once you are done with your cart, proceed to checkout and you will be redirected to PayPal for a secure checkout.

What happens next?

  1. Come watch us live on youtube.com/tsblivebreaks
  2. Unable to watch live?  Watch all previously recorded breaks on youtube.com/tsblivebreaks
  3. Whether you can be there live or check out the break later, all your cards will be shipped out at the end of the week!
  4. All cards will be sorted and shipped on Saturday via USPS.  All shipments will come with tracking information so you can build anticipation as you await your Top Shelf Breaks Mailday!

Different Break Styles

Team Breaks

Collectors buy a single team from an entire box or case of cards. Teams are priced based on the amount of cards in the checklist for that specific team. If you are an avid fan or personal collector of a specific team, this break style is for you!

Random Breaks

Teams will be sold as fixed price slots. All teams on the checklist will have a slot, sometimes even buy one get one free! The names of the collectors will be thrown into the random.org list generator and we will randomize the order of the collectors. We will then follow the same process with the teams. On an excel spreadsheet, we will line up your name with the team from the random generator and that is your team or teams for the break.

Hit Draft Breaks

All hits from the product we break will be sold as fixed price slots. Buying into this style break guarantees you a hit! We will drop the list of collectors into the random.org generator to determine the draft order. After the product is opened, the collectors will draft the available hit when it is their turn in the draft

Mixers

his style draft allows collectors to get a team from a variety of years of a card product. You can collect your favorite team throughout the years and get whatever hits come to your team. These breaks can be sold as team or random style breaks.

Weird Situations  like multiple team booklets and cards.

If a card comes out with multiple players on it from different teams, the owners of each team will get thrown into the randomizer to give away the card unless one person owns the majority of the teams on the card.  Each team’s owner will get one slot in the randomizer regardless of how many other slots they purchased in the breaks.  Only the owners of the teams on the card will be given a chance at the random.

If a card comes out from a legend or collegiate player and does not specify a major sports team, we will always defer to the checklist.  If the checklist does not specify and the player is currently active, it will go to the team they currently play for.  If the player is retired or no longer in the league, the card will go to the team they had their longest tenure with.  If the player is part of a minor league farm system, it will go to the team who system they are currently in.  If a card comes from a different sport than what we are breaking, we will random the card off to the community!

++++++++++++++++NOTE UPDATE 1-30 2019++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cards that have multiple items on it such as a booklet with mutliple autos, jerseys, or both, we will enter into the randomizer the team for each appearance it has on the card.

if its for instance a booklet with 10 autographs. if 4 of the autographs are chicago cubs players, the cubs will go in randomizer 4 times. the randomizer will always have the number of items on the card in it.

Majority rule. if someones team owner MAJORITY OF THE CARD, the card automatically defaults to that team owner. for instance. a booklet card with 10 autographs. if 6 of the autographs of the 10 are the cubs, the cubs owner automatically gets the card. This goes for any time a team owns majority of appearances on a card, whether its a 3 auto card, or a 20+ auto treasure chest. Majority appearances on a card auto defaults as a winner to that team owner and no randomizer will be run. Its only fair that the person wo owns majority of the card, gets it.

these rules are in effect, there are no changes, additions or deletions to the rule. by purchasing your teams or random spots, you are agreeing to these rules and there are no refunds given. ever. thank you.

Hitless Teams

There is risk that your team(s) may not have any hits, or shippable cards in the break. This is a known fact, upon purchasing your spots, you understand and agree to this. TSB will each week, go through a list that is kept of those who go hitless, taking into account the # of boxes and pricepoint in the break. Keeping in mind to give hitless items to every hitless team/spot in a break of 30 teams with only 2 hits possible. that would end up costing more to ship, than possibly the total cost of the box itself.  TSB adds in extras often in their breaks, panini packs, topps packs. bonuses, weekly grand prizes, and also keeps our spot prices highly competitive (thats fancy talk for lower than others on average). Our goal is to provide you affordable spot prices, and not have to add on 5-$10 a spot to cover expenses of hitless or extra shipping and labor costs. In general we send extras out to those who go hitless in larger breaks, or have multiple spots during  a given week. It pays to be a loyal regular at TSB.

Chat and Interaction

Here at Top Shelf Breaks we thrive on fan and collector interaction.  There is a live chat during every break that is run by youtube.  If you have any questions about the chat, check with us.  If you are having issues or questions we can’t answer, contact us topshelfbreaks@gmail.com