Calling Out DA Card World on its Bogus Bedard Bounty

It’s easy to talk the talk but not walk the walk.

Last month, DA Card World surreptitiously posted on its blog that the $1 million dollar bounty for finding the 2023-24 Upper Deck Connor Bedard Gold Outburst 1/1 Young Guns card was “no longer an active bounty, it has expired.”

Now, I realize that DA Card World made this sneaky “announcement” on December 9 – over one month ago – and that this is old news.

However, like a lot of things that happen in December, this got lost in the shuffle, flew under the radar – whatever metaphor you want to use – because of its timing around the holidays. Heck, I didn’t even hear about this until December 20. 

I also needed some time to stew on this a bit and mull things over before I chimed in my two cents.

Back in March, DA Card World – an online retailer of new, unopened trading cards – made headlines when the company announced on its blog that it would pay the princely sum of $1 million dollars to anyone who finds the Gold Outburst Parallel of Connor Bedard’s 2023-24 Upper Deck Young Guns rookie card. The Gold Outburst parallels are numbered 1-of-1 and only found in hobby boxes available from card stores. 

Here is an excerpt from the company’s blog:

The most sought-after Connor Bedard rookie card could get you $1,000,000 from us.

[S]o keep your eye on the prize as you rip through hobby packs. Hardcore and casual hockey collectors around the world, it’s your time to shine for a shot at a million for the coveted Gold Outburst Bedard YG

However, DA gave one very big caveat:

Here’s the thing. The card must be in good condition. That’s right, no damage like dents, dings, creases, or scrapes. It should look like it would grade a 9.

Everybody was talking about the million-dollar Bedard card. It made headlines on all the hobby blogs and publications. 

This in turn inflated hobby box prices of 2023-24 Upper Deck Series Two Hockey cards to about $330 for a 12-pack box; not only because one in every nine boxes or so had a Connor Bedard Young Guns rookie card, but because, YOU NEVER KNOW, THIS MIGHT BE THE BOX WITH THE MILLION DOLLAR CARD INSIDE OF IT!!!

So, sure, let’s pay almost triple of what a Series One box was selling for. 

What DA Card World did was artificially inflate the demand – and thus, the prices – of hockey cards the company was selling. Heck, this inflated everyone’s price. $330 was the going rate from other online retailers, from brick-and-mortar card stores, and at card shows.

What is even more impressive, though, is that DA did this without spending any money. The company SAID that it would pay someone $1 million for the card. But DA Card World also said that the card must “look like it would grade a 9.” 

Really, though, it seems like DA was leaving itself an easy way out of paying the $1M bounty if the card was ever found. Anyone can find a flaw on any card if given a little time and a strong magnifying glass. 

But over the next nine months – despite the sheer number of ’23-24 Upper Deck Series Two hobby boxes opened – no one found this Gold Outburst Bedard card.

Then breakers moved on to other products, with many already labeling Bedard “a bust” because he is only scoring a point-per-game while playing for a last-place team – in his second season. 

Bedard’s Young Guns rookie card steadily decreased from selling at $700 to around $200 as the supply met the demand and the hype died down. 

DA and other online card retailers dropped the price of ’23-24 Upper Deck Series Two hobby boxes from $330 to a more-realistic, but still-inflated price of $230.

And finally, in December, DA stated that it would no longer be offering $1 million if someone found the Bedard Gold Outburst Young Guns card – not as an announcement on its website’s home page. Instead, the company stealthily updated its blog post from March 4 about the Bedard Bounty, with just this little snippet of text at the top: 

*** UPDATE – December 9th, 2024 – This is no longer an active bounty, it has expired.***

Here’s a screenshot that shows the update:

The timing of this update was suspect. The prices of Series Two boxes were down, and spending was up during the holiday season. Many collectors who didn’t bite at $330 for a hobby box might buy one at $230 – or ask for one for a present. 

Imagine buying unopened boxes of ’23-24 UD Series Two on December 8, only to find out a day later that if you did pull that Gold Bedard Young Guns, that it was “no longer an active bounty.” Aren’t you glad you literally bought into the hype? 

Well played, DA Card World. You talked a big game, got a ton of publicity and artificially inflated prices of new cards that you were selling, then quietly backed away when no one was watching. 

The Bogus Bedard Bounty is one of the many topics we talked about in the most-recent episode of the Puck Junk Podcast.

But what do you think about this? Leave a comment or hit me up on social media and let me know your thoughts. 

Note: This article is an updated version of an editorial that originally appeared in Volume 3 – Issue 2 of the Puck Junk Newsletter. For stories like these, plus news and updates about hockey cards and collectibles, subscribe to the newsletter here.

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