Almost a year after submitting the redemption, it finally showed up! Was starting to think I’d never see it 😂
Really happy with how it looks!
Would you guys hold or sell? And what do you think it’s worth?
Almost a year after submitting the redemption, it finally showed up! Was starting to think I’d never see it 😂
Really happy with how it looks!
Would you guys hold or sell? And what do you think it’s worth?
Been waiting all month for this one. Had notifications on, was on the landing page from 10 AM.
12:01 PM: in the queue, Hobby Box showing available, estimated wait 97 minutes.
12:13 PM: estimate drops to 3 minutes. Hobby Box already sold out.12:01 PM:
12:16 PM: estimate drops to 4 minutes. Hobby Box still sold out.
So being there two hours early did nothing, and the wait estimate was completely useless. Meanwhile I'm sure plenty of these are already on eBay from people running multiple devices.
Ended up grabbing some value packs because I still love the hobby, but this one stung. Anyone else get a real shot at a box, or was it bots all the way down?
I wanted to share my experience with the 2026 Panini Prizm FIFA World Cup Hobby Preferred release because this one honestly pissed me off more than just “missing a drop.”
I had been checking Panini’s website basically every day for months waiting to see when this product would finally release.
Once the date/time was available, I put it on my calendar and made sure I was ready.
I was on Panini’s website right at 11:00 AM when it went live.
I was able to add one box at $274.95 to my cart and immediately tried to check out.
Then, for roughly 15 minutes, I kept getting:
“Unable to process your request. Please try again.”
Over and over.
I kept trying while the box was still sitting in my cart.
Eventually, the product changed to SOLD OUT.
The box was still in my cart, but Panini then told me I had to remove the sold-out item before I could continue. Shortly afterward, it disappeared from my cart altogether.
What makes this even more frustrating is that I buy cards directly from Topps.com pretty regularly, including limited releases and products that sell out quickly, and I’ve never had anything remotely like this happen.
Obviously Topps drops can be stressful too, but if I’m there on time and manage to get something into checkout, I’ve never had the website repeatedly block me from completing the transaction for 15 minutes until the product is gone.
I know websites can have issues. That happens.
So I immediately went to Panini’s support page to report it.
Their support form also gave me an “Unable to process your request” error.
You honestly can’t make this up.
I eventually managed to submit a complaint and I also emailed Panini directly. I explained exactly what happened, included screenshots, and asked if they could review the situation and possibly allow me to purchase one box at the original $274.95 price.
I wasn’t asking for a free box.
I wasn’t asking for compensation.
I just wanted the opportunity to purchase the box I had spent months waiting for and was already actively trying to buy while it was available.
It has now been several days and Panini hasn’t responded at all.
And that’s probably the most disappointing part.
I completely understand that limited products sell out. If I had slept through the release, showed up five minutes late, or just wasn’t fast enough, that’s part of the hobby.
But that isn’t what happened.
I spent months checking for this release.
I planned around the drop.
I was there at 11:00 AM.
I got the box into my cart.
I tried to pay for approximately 15 minutes.
Panini’s website repeatedly failed.
The product sold out.
Then even their support page failed.
And now I can’t even get a response.
For a company selling highly anticipated limited products, I really don’t understand how collectors are supposed to have confidence in releases like this if being prepared and showing up exactly on time still isn’t enough because the site itself can’t process the purchase.
Screenshots are attached in chronological order.
Has anyone else had this happen with a Panini drop? And if you contacted support, did they ever actually respond or make it right?
UPDATE: I’ll update this post if Panini eventually gets back to me.