At first, I was willing to spend money on Topps Total Football (TTF) because it offered something that sounded incredibly appealing to me: the ability to print cards of players I actually like, with a chance to get numbered physical cards. As a collector, that idea was very attractive.

But after playing it for a while, I’ve decided I’m done putting money into TTF. And it’s not just for one reason.

First, the box-opening experience is not as good as it looks. Some boxes guarantee two numbered cards, but those can still end up being non-printable digital parallels, which feels awful. On top of that, each pack usually only includes around 8–10 players. So whether you buy a 30-card pack or try to chase a numbered card of a player you like, you end up with a huge number of duplicates.

To be fair, one advantage is that you can at least choose to buy during the specific list drop that includes players you actually want.

Second, printing physical cards requires paying another fairly high fee, and shipping times are unpredictable. Sometimes you really have no idea how long it will take. I was honestly willing to tolerate that, because I cared more about the collecting experience itself.

What finally pushed me away was the customs and shipping situation.

I had one shipment from Europe to the U.S. where the total card value was a little over $80, and I was suddenly asked to pay more than $50 in import duties, otherwise the package would not be delivered. That means all the money spent on the cards and printing can basically become wasted. What makes it worse is that the TTF app doesn’t provide enough flexibility with shipping information. There’s no proper option to enter an alternative shipping address separate from the billing address, or to choose a shipping method that might help avoid such extreme customs charges. For U.S. buyers, that is a terrible experience.

And on top of that, TTF cards simply do not have the same market recognition as Topps flagship products like Chrome. Their resale value is generally much lower. Honestly, the main reason I kept buying TTF was not because I expected strong value, but because I liked some of the card designs and thought they had better personal collection appeal.

But the thing that disappointed me the most was the way serial numbering seems to be handled for printed cards.

This is the part that genuinely upset me.

I had always assumed that physical serial numbers would be assigned based on the order in which people placed their print requests. In other words, if a /25 card showed a global physical count of 0 when I printed it, then as the first person printing it, I should logically receive 1/25.

That’s not what happened.

One time, I was there right when a new release dropped. I bought several packs and got lucky enough to pull a Rooney /25. When I went to print it, the global physical count was still 0. I was genuinely excited and thought I had a real shot at getting 1/25. I waited more than a month, and when the card finally arrived, it was 5/25.

What confused me even more was that two or three days after I placed my print order, I checked again and the global physical count was still only 2. So how did I end up with 5/25? The only explanation I can come up with is that serial numbers are not actually locked in at the time you place the print order.

And this wasn’t a one-time issue.

I also printed two Lampard /75 cards when the global physical count was 6. I deliberately printed two because I was hoping to get matching or consecutive back numbers, ideally something like 7/75 and 8/75. Instead, I received 6/75 and 7/75. That was deeply disappointing. I had spent a lot of money printing cards because I wanted something I would truly enjoy owning, and instead I ended up with cards that just made me feel bad.

So at that point, I decided I was done spending money on TTF.

It’s not because I don’t love football cards, and it’s not because I’m unwilling to spend money on players I like. It’s because I thought I was paying for a better, more personal collecting experience. Instead, what I got was duplicate-heavy packs, extra printing costs, long and uncertain shipping times, huge customs fees, and a serial-numbering process that feels completely non-transparent.

At this point, I would rather spend that money on more established Topps products that are more widely recognized and respected in the hobby.

If anyone else here plays TTF, I’d really like to know whether you’ve had similar experiences, especially with customs fees, printing delays, or serial numbers not matching what you expected.