Break Rules, Odds & Fairness

1. What a repack break is

A traditional box break opens sealed factory product. A slab repack break is different: before the stream we buy a group of individually graded cards from PSA, BGS, SGC, CGC, or similar services, sleeve them, and seal them into an opaque repack. Each slab already has a known player, set, and grade, but you do not know which slabs are inside a given break, only the counts and ranges we publish (section 5).

Because the cards are already graded, there is no raw-card condition question: what you see on camera when a slab is revealed is what ships to you, in the holder shown, with the grade shown. Grades are the grading company’s opinion, not ours, and we do not re-grade or guarantee them.

2. Buying a spot

• A break is divided into spots, one per team in the league that the break covers (for example, 32 spots for an NFL break, or 33 where a league has 33 teams or we include a bonus spot; the listing states the count).
• Spots are sold on Whatnot, normally by auction, so the price of each spot is set by the bidders in the room, not by us. Occasionally we list spots at a fixed price; the listing says which.
• Buying a spot buys you the right to receive one randomly drawn team and every card revealed in that break whose featured player belongs to that team. You are not buying a specific team or a specific card.
• Whatnot handles payment and sales tax at checkout, and buyers pay shipping at Whatnot checkout. A spot purchase is governed by Whatnot’s terms and is final once the draw has begun, except as Whatnot’s own policies provide.
• You must be 18 or older to buy a spot, and you must comply with Whatnot’s rules. One person may buy more than one spot in the same break.

3. Every spot must sell before the rip

We do not open a break until every spot is sold. If spots are left after the auction, we keep selling them live, and may lower the starting price on remaining spots until they fill. This means no card in a break can ever go to a “house team” or back to us: every team is held by a paying customer before the first slab is revealed.

If a break cannot be filled during the stream, we do not run it. Any spot purchases for that break are cancelled and refunded through Whatnot, and the same repack may be offered again in a later show.

4. The team draw

After the last spot sells, we draw teams live on camera, one at a time, in the order the spots were sold or in the order shown on the Whatnot break list. Each spot receives exactly one team, each team is assigned exactly once, and the assignment is read out and recorded in Whatnot’s break tool and in our own Break Command Center before any slab is revealed. Once the draw starts, teams cannot be traded, swapped, or refunded through us.

Then the reveal: we take the slabs out of the repack one by one, show the front and back to the camera, name the player and team, and assign the card to the holder of that team. Cards featuring a player who is a free agent, retired, or unaffiliated with a current team are assigned to the team printed on the card, or, if the card shows no team, to the team we announce on stream before the reveal. Multi-player cards go to the team of the player named first on the front of the card unless we announce otherwise before the reveal.

5. What every break discloses

Before spots go on sale, each break lists, in the Whatnot listing and on stream:

• Slab count, the exact number of graded cards inside the repack.
• Floor range, the approximate value range of the lowest-value cards in the repack, based on recorded sales when we assembled it.
• Case range, the approximate value range of the top card or cards (the “case hits”), on the same basis.
• The sport or league, the number of spots, and the sale format (auction or fixed price).
• Any special rules for that break, such as bonus spots or how unaffiliated players are assigned.

Ranges are estimates from comparable sales at the time we built the repack; card values change and we do not update the ranges after listing. We never describe a specific card as being in a repack unless it is, and we never show a card on stream as a “possible hit” that is not actually in that break.

6. Odds and no guaranteed value

Every spot has an equal chance of receiving any team. What a team receives depends only on which players are in the repack, which is fixed before the stream and unknown to you. Because there are usually fewer slabs than spots, many spots will receive no card at all, and a spot that does receive a card may receive one worth less than the spot cost.

Your chance of receiving at least one card is roughly the slab count divided by the number of spots, adjusted for how the players in the repack are spread across teams. We publish historical hit rates by team on our break stats page so you can see how past breaks played out; those numbers are history, not a prediction, and the mix of players in each repack is different.

Nothing about a break is a guarantee of value, a return, or a profit. Buy spots because you enjoy the break and want the cards, and only spend what you can afford to lose. Trading cards are collectibles, not investments.

7. How we randomize

Teams are drawn using one of two physical methods, both performed in full view of the camera:

• Deck of team cards. One card per team, shown to the camera, shuffled on camera, and dealt face-down to the spot list in order, then turned over one at a time.
• Wheel. A spinner or on-screen randomizer listing each team once; each spin assigns the landed team to the next spot and removes that team from the wheel.

We announce which method is being used before the draw. The draw is never done off camera, never redone once it has started, and never influenced by who bought which spot. The repack itself is sealed before the stream and is not opened, re-sorted, or altered once spots go on sale. If a camera or connection issue interrupts the draw, section 9 applies.

8. Staff do not buy spots

Trusted Rips owners, employees, contractors, moderators, and their household members do not buy spots in any Trusted Ripsbreak, under any account, and do not receive cards from a break other than as a paying customer of another seller’s show. We do not hold spots for ourselves, fill unsold spots with our own accounts, or take back cards after the draw. If a spot is ever mistakenly purchased by someone connected to us, it is voided and refunded and the break is re-run or re-drawn on camera before any slab is revealed.

9. If the stream fails

Streams drop. Here is what we do, so nothing is left to guesswork:

• Before the draw starts: we resume in a new stream, announced on Whatnot, and continue selling or begin the draw there. Your spot purchase carries over.
• During the draw: teams already drawn and announced on camera stand. When we are back, we show the recorded list of completed assignments and continue from the next undrawn spot with the same method. If we cannot show the completed assignments on camera, we restart the entire draw from the beginning.
• During the reveal: cards already revealed and assigned stand. When we are back, we show the remaining slabs still sealed and continue. If the repack was disturbed while offline, we say so and reveal the remaining cards one by one on camera as usual.
• If we cannot resume within a reasonable time (normally the same day), we finish the draw or reveal in the next scheduled show and post a notice on the site and on Whatnot. Recordings of every break are kept so any customer can ask to review the draw.

We do not cancel a break because of who won a card, and we do not re-draw teams because a stream dropped after the draw was complete.

10. After the break: shipping and buybacks

Cards are cataloged and, in most cases, ship the next business day using the label Whatnot generates for your order, packed in a sleeve inside a bubble mailer. If you win several cards in the same show they ship together where Whatnot allows. See the Shipping & Refund Policy for the details and for what to do if something arrives damaged or wrong.

For some cards we may make a Trusted Buyback offer in your account before the card ships: cash, Whatnot coupons, or a mix, in exchange for the card. You have 24 hours to decide and the card ships automatically if you do nothing. Those offers are governed by the Trusted Buybacks & Coupon Terms.

Your account’s My Rips page records every spot you bought, the team you drew, and each card you received, along with the last recorded sale value we cataloged for it, so you can see your history and profit or loss over time.

11. Conduct on stream

Our chat follows Whatnot’s community guidelines. We remove and may block anyone who harasses other buyers or our staff, attempts to sell or trade spots outside Whatnot, or accuses the draw of being rigged without asking us to show the recording first. If you ever think something was done wrong, message us on Whatnot or email info@trustedrips.com with the break date and the time in the stream, and we will review the recording with you.

12. Questions

We may refine these rules for future breaks; the rules in force when you buy a spot are the ones that apply to that break, and the current version is always at trustedrips.com/break-rules. Questions: info@trustedrips.com.