More eBay Randomness

My mom is terrible about being unorganized. She is notorious for starting a file for a project, only to start a second one and never keep everything together.

Why do I mention this? Well, because I evidently inherited that trait (and if you know me, that drives me crazy). I was looking through some folders and found a second "scanned" folder with some cards that I have yet to post.

So....let's look at those.

First, I snagged this 2014 Topps Supreme Supreme Stylings orange auto numbered to 15. I like the Supreme concept, but these cards seem to be subject to chipping more than any other.

I also grabbed a pink parallel from 2014 Topps Update of Nick Martinez.

Here's the entire reason I found that second folder: I was searching for this card! It's a red refractor from 2013 Bowman Chrome of my boy Matty Harrison. This one is numbered 4 of 5!

Standard gold parallel from 2013 Topps, numbered to 2013 (duh).

And lastly. the pink parallel from 2013 Topps. I can't believe that I had these and forgot about the second folder. Oh well, it is what it is.

I hope everyone had a good Sunday!

Random eBay Purchases

My scan folder is getting full. I've been pretty bad about scanning cards and not cropping them or sorting them, much less posting them. So let's knock a few out.

Isn't this card beautiful? Perhaps I'm biased (as if that's really questionable), but the red and blue really work for this card. Add in the fact that it's a Roogie auto that I picked up for less than four dollars, and the card is even more awesome. I'm seriously thinking of PCing Odor now that Jackson has moved on. Some of his cards can be pricey, but I really like him as a player, so I may see where it goes.

The next few all fit nicely into my Harry PC. 

First, I grabbed this card. It looks like the generic base card from 2014 Topps, but it isn't. Figure out what's different? I'll give you a few seconds.............Okay, time is up. This is the team set card. Notice the lack of foil in the name, the wave, and the Topps logo at the top. All I need for the rainbow now is the acetate parallel numbered to 10 and the platinum 1/1.

Here's the 2012 black parallel. I've seen this card on eBay a few times, and it seems like it is always listed at some ridiculous, astronomical price. This one was listed at 99 cents (I believe) and I was the only bidder. Pretty sweet.

Okay, so I already have this card. It's the 2008 Bowman Chrome auto. I snagged this lot of 2 for a whopping $3.24 cents. I have no interest in having duplicates of non-auto cards, but when it comes to autos - especially Bowman autos - it's hard for me to say no. Especially when I get two for less than $5.

Speaking of 2008 Bowman Chrome autos, here's Harry's gold parallel, numbered to 50. This one wasn't terribly cheap. It cost me just more than $20, but it was the first one I've seen on eBay, so I debated with myself about how much I was willing to spend. Fearing that I wouldn't see another one for a while. I set my limit at $25. They nearly got every penny of that limit, but I cam away with the card. It's quite a beauty, but definitely different than the current gold parallels.

So there's the lowdown on my eBay purchases over the past few months. Nothing terribly exciting, but I love them all. I've realized that my Harry PC is probably my favorite of the bunch, with his cards being relatively cheap and there being enough cards to get that I'm not experiencing any kind of lull. Be sure to check out my PC page to see if you have any of the cards I need - I'm especially lacking some of the older cards.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Saying Goodbye To An Old Friend

If there's one thing that I've learned since jumping back into the hobby, it's that my collecting tastes and habits change. Sometimes they change overnight, sometimes they change over the course of months. I say all of this because I decided to say goodbye to one of my player collections.

Not just any PC, but my main PC: Luke Jackson.

Jackson cards were just getting too expensive for me to afford. I couldn't justify paying a large amount of money on one card when that money could buy 10 to 20 cards for my other player collections. That being said, I've been enjoying grabbing cards for my Matt Harrison and Nick Martinez PCs recently, and these cards are far more affordable.

So, with all of that in mind, I ventured in to my local LCS and asked if he would be interested in the Jackson PC. Much to my surprise, he made an extremely fair offer that consisted of a good bit of cash and a couple boxes of cards. 

Which cards, you ask? Well, Heritage and Bowman Draft, of course. Want to see what I pulled?

Okay, I'll share.

I opened the Bowman first. Pretty standard stuff, but the auto was a good one:

Michael Chavis of the Red Sox. The card seems to belling pretty well on eBay, but I think I am going to hold onto it. Earlier in the year, I pulled some decent base autos from Grant Holmes, Trea Turner and Derek Hill (which I also pulled his blue auto), so this will fit in nicely with those.

I haven't had much luck with colored refractors, but that changed yesterday. Check this out:

BOOM. Erick Fedde red refractor numbered 5 of 5. This one is already on eBay.

After this, I moved on to the Heritage. The last box I opened was a Yankee hotbox of sorts, with the panel featuring Tanaka and the Tanaka action variation. What did this one have in store?

First, an action variation of King Felix.

Then the bubblegum stain variation of Ian Desmond.

A Chrome parallel of Josh Harrison.

A refractor of Javier Baez and Jorge Soler.

What about the hit? What could it possibly be?

A Bobby Richardson auto. Another damn Yankee hit! I feel like I am opening these for The Lost Collector! 

Well, that's it for now. I really enjoy opening both of these products, but I am pretty sure these are the last boxes I will be purchasing. I might buy some loose packs of Heritage at Target, but that would be the extent of it.

And a final goodbye to the first collection that became a true PC: Mr. Luke Jackson. It was a fun ride, but everything must come to an end.

PS - I am going to sort my Heritage today. I'm going to have a few extras and all inserts I pull are for trade, so keep an eye out if you have any needs for the set!

2015 Heritage Box Break

I bought a box of 2015 Heritage a few weeks ago. I still love the cards, but I wish there was a bit more confidence in the "hit." The past two years, I've pulled a Mike Moustakas Clubhouse Collection relic. I was ready to burn the card shop down if I pulled another one.

So, did I pull another one?

No, I didn't. Moustakas didn't have a relic in this year's Heritage.

Thank. You. God.

So what did I pull? Well, the first good card was a Chrome refractor:

My scanner sucks, but this is a Mike Trout refractor, numbered 309/566. Not a bad start.

I also grabbed one of the scratch-n-sniff bubblegum stain back variations:

Mr. Josh Donaldson. Not bad again.

Last but not least, what about the promised hit?

An auto, Joe Christopher of the Red Sox. He only played one season in Boston, and had a relatively average career.

Still, an auto is better than a relic any day.

I should note that I also pulled a Masahiro Tanaka action variation and my box loader had the Tanaka rookie cup on the panel. However, before I thought to scan them, I sent them to The Lost Collector (I try to get rid of Yankees as soon as I get them - I don't need that kind of bad karma!). So, maybe he will post about them. If not, I'm sure you can find images on eBay.

I will probably be getting another box soon. Hopefully, I will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed this one!

My Biggest COMC Purchase: Part 2

If you missed Part 1, check it out. Or don't, I'm not your boss.

Make your decision yet? If you're still here, great. If you just came back from Part 1, thanks for reading. It helps me feel good about myself.

So, the second part of my COMC purchase definitely represents the largest portion of the purchase. I mentioned a while back that I wanted to start putting more effort into my Bowman Autograph Project. This was a good start to that. In total, I bought nine new cards. Let's check 'em out.

2010 Bowman Draft Jake Skole Auto

2008 Bowman Chrome Julio Borbon Auto

2008 Bowman Chrome Engel Beltre Auto

2007 Bowman Draft Michael Main Auto

2007 Bowman Draft Blake Beavan Auto

2007 Bowman Signs of the Future Matt Merricks Auto

2007 Bowman Draft Signs of the Future John Rheinecker Auto

2003 Bowman Signs of the Future Ben Kozlowski Auto

2001 Bowman Kevin Mench Auto

Big fan of all of them, especially the Mench auto, but that's probably because he's still a big favorite of Rangers fans. Fun fact - Mench earned the nickname "Shrek" because of the Size 8 cap he wore. I wear a 7 3/4, so I'm close.

So there are the addition to the project. I will be making some aesthetic changes to the project page in the coming days, so keep an eye out. If you have any of the cards I need, let me know so we can work something out!

My Biggest COMC Purchase: Part 1

Remember when I bought the 2011 Bowman Heritage Bryce Harper auto? Well, as I always do, I started to regret it. I would look at holes in my collection and imagine how many of those I could fill with the money I spent on the Harper.

So I sold it.

And I made $40 more than what I paid! So I decided to fill some holes. Which led to my largest purchase on COMC (in terms of number of cards). So it's time to share some of those.

Part 1 will center on the cards I bought for a couple player collections. First up, let's see what I got for the Matt Harrison PC:

My first Harry refractor from 2008 Bowman Draft. This one is of the blue variety.

These three hail from the flagship 2009 Topps product. From top to bottom: black parallel, Walmart black parallel and gold parallel.

These are from 2011 Topps. On top, the diamond parallel; below, the factory set limited edition.

On to the Nick Martinez PC:

Here's the 2014 Topps red hot foil parallel.

And the last three for this post. From 2013 Heritage minors, we have the base, black border and Venezuelan parallels.

So that's part 1. Part 2 is coming soon....and it will have a lot of scans. Prepare yourself!!!

Can We Have A Quick Conversation about eBay?

Yesterday, I logged on to Freedom Cardboard (I like to look at the box breaks section) and I came across a discussion thread regarding one seller's opinion on being, well...I'll just share the whole post with you:

This is directed at the buyers who have absolutely zero clue what tact is. If you want to buy something on eBay from someone and think or even know that an item is overpriced, insulting the seller and telling them the Price of their item is not the way to go. It is a quick way to lose all credibility and willingness from a seller to work with you. If you want the item or are interested, maybe try a different approach. Maybe reach out to the seller and say… I am interested in this card/item but it is out of my price range. If you ever decide to come down in price please keep me in mind. Just, anything other than trying to tell someone what THEIR card is WORTH. It isn’t your card, you are not required to buy or even LOOK at it. As a buyer and seller I am from both sides of the coin.

As a buyer: are there cards that I want that I feel are overvalued. Of course I do. Do I fault the seller for pricing it high? NO. It is their card. THEY can do what they want with it. Would I ever tell a seller what their card is worth and try and shame them into lowering the price. NOPE. Tell me how many times this has ever worked for you? I will try to build a rapport with that seller in a positive way then, see if they would negotiate/work with me.

As a seller: Any person that tries to TELL me “how it is” immediately goes on my BLOCK list. Do I price things up high? I do, because I am in no need or rush to sell, and if someone is willing to pay a premium for a card then I will be willing to sell it. Also, if people approach me in a reasonable/positive manner then I also may be willing to negotiate a deal, or at the least I keep an open conversation. Then, if I ever do decide to sell at a lower price, they are on my list of people I will reach out to and make a deal.

This isn’t a call out to anyone in particular; I am just tired of some people telling me HOW IT IS? Enough already!!! 

Okay, that seemed a little angry. Sure, if there is debate on the value of a card, I get it. But there are also instances where a seller is CLEARLY overpriced (remember this one that PATP shared with us?). These are borderline scandalous, in my opinion, because I feel the seller is trying to dupe someone with little knowledge of the card into paying an exorbitant amount for it. It's dishonest and shameful, and I wish there was some way for eBay to fix that (now, if it is listed as as auction and someone overpays, that's their own fault).

With that in mind, I responded to the post with this:

So, honest question here: if you had an item listed with a high BIN with OBO, do you get offended if someone makes an offer and, in the comments, notes that the last few cards have sold for a significant amount less? I've done that...I want to make a fair offer, but the last thing I want to do is offend the seller, so I explain the reasoning for my offer. However, if that is still a problem for sellers, I would like to know so I don't offend.

Naturally, I got something like this back:

Is telling someone that their same item sold for less really going to change their mind most of the time though? Probably not. If someone was truly lacking knowledge on pricing for something, then they might recognize a pricing error and adjust via this method, but most people want the price they feel in their head is what "it is worth". It's funny though, people get butt hurt about the funniest things sometimes.

So, what do you think? Personally, I think the original poster went overboard. eBay is an anonymous marketplace where buyers and sellers never actually have to meet, so lowballing and similar tactics are the norm. That being said, if you aren't sure you want to sell the card or are in "no rush" to sell it, why even list it? You are setting yourself up for a headache and it's on you, as the seller, for setting something so high they feel the need to tell you about it. Obviously, there are going to be people on occasion that tell you you are overpriced because a) they think you are overpriced when you aren't, or b) are jsut trying to get you to lower the card so they can get it for a steal. But I think the majority of people are trying to negotiate in good faith.

What say you, oh mighty blogospere?

The USPS Makes Me Nauseous

A couple weeks back, I posted about my 2015 Topps S1 jumbo box. In it, I pulled a David Cone auto and a Dillon Gee framed parallel numbered to 20. I decided to send those to Keith over at the Homerun Apple.

I almost got sick when Keith sent me this picture:

This is the first time I've had something like this happen.

It looks to me like someone deliberately tore the envelope open. That's pretty shitty (pardon the language).

Keith, I'm terribly sorry. I am looking for replacements to send your way now.