Topps is taking aim at the latest trend in product tampering with a new policy that targets the use of CT scanning to see inside sealed products before they are opened.
The new “Intrusive Device Policy,” which falls under the company's Code of Conduct and Retail Standards, was included in the latest service agreement sent to customers and businesses with Topps direct accounts. News of the policy change was first reported by Rob DeMay on the NEO Cards & Comics YouTube channel.
According to a copy of the agreement obtained by cllct, the policy covers a variety of tampering methods with CT scanning and the weighing of packs or boxes specifically highlighted.
“Blind packaging is a core tenet of the trading card collecting experience and is a practice that goes back to the creation of trading cards,” Topps wrote under the policy. “Topps uses significant time and resources to ensure that collectors can experience the joy of the hobby, including by randomizing trading card products so that the contents of any factory sealed pack, box, or case are unknown until purchased and opened by the end-collector.
"To protect this foundational feature of the trading card hobby and to prevent consumer fraud and other harms, Topps strong discourages and strictly prohibits the use of any tool, method, technology, or other means, including, without limitation, CT or any other scanning technology, weight scales, or other means of any kind on any trading card product.”
Under the agreement, direct customers agree to not use an intrusive device on any trading card product as well as refuse to sell any product they believe has been subjected to any intrusive device or tampered with in any way.
According to Topps, any breach of the policy can result in the card company suspending any associated accounts, the cancellation of any outstanding orders and a lifetime ban from all platforms operated by Topps or any affiliates.
Topps might also attempt to recover “any and all direct and indirect damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, indirect, exemplary, consequential, and/or punitive damages for lost profits, lost time, loss of goodwill, loss of business reputation or other like damages.”
Though it’s currently unclear how long CT scanners have been used to see inside sealed boxes of trading cards, the hobby at large was introduced to the concept in June 2024 when a number of social media posts appeared to show the practice and its benefits.
Shortly after those posts showed X-ray technology could be used to see inside two sealed cases of Panini America’s ultra high-end Flawless Basketball, a consulting and inspection service posted its own research showing how CT scanners could be used to see inside sealed boxes of Pokémon cards.
Industrial Inspection & Consulting scanned Pokémon cards as a case study to showcase the power of its CT scanners, which at the time were used primarily to ensure items from various fields were manufactured properly. Since then, the company has started offering a number of CT scanning services specifically targeted at sports and trading cards.
Less than a month after the company’s first case study on collectible CT scanning was made public, a YouTube video emerged showing similar technology being used by an individual outside of an industrial or medical setting.
Posted by Ahron Wayne in late July, the video showed a CT scanner viewing through multiple layers of Pokémon cards to see a holographic card toward the back of the pack. An applications engineer with previous experience working with X-ray technology, Wayne purchased the two CT scanners used for the project on eBay in 2023 for $1,500.
The new policy from Topps is the first major step taken by a trading card manufacturer against CT scanning publicly, and closely aligns with the company’s push for a “Hobby Shop 2.0,” which Topps and parent company Fanatics have described as a new standard for how modern shops and other trading-card businesses should operate.
Officially announced during last April’s Topps Industry Conference, the push for a new standard includes the company evaluating partnered hobby shops on a three-point scale. At the time, Topps had evaluated between 60 and 70 shops in-person on categories such as retail, marketing and operations.
In order to earn or maintain direct accounts with Topps, which deliver sealed product allocations, shops and other trading card-related businesses must sign the service agreements and consistently remain in good standing.
Topps declined to comment further on the new Intrusive Device Policy.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.