I won a case on eBay as a SELLER...

Here's my story.  I got the new iPad mini for Christmas this year, so I decided to sell my iPad 2 because no one needs two iPads.  The item sold on December 31st, which was great because I had a plan for what I was putting those funds towards.

I mail the iPad January 2, since the post office is closed New Year's Day and I get a message from the buyer...  "You sent it to the wrong address, that is my sisters house."  So I told the buyer that since it was her confirmed address and the only way to protect myself, even if she told me this earlier it was still going to that address for my protection since eBay "never" rules in favor of the seller.  She says ok, my sister will mail it to me...

January 27:  Buyer has opened a case.  Really?  No e-mail nothing, just opens a case.  Suddenly my mint condition, perfectly working, barely used iPad "stop working after 3 use"... Yes, that was English.  I asked if it was charged, if it was plugged in during a power surge, etc.  I tried every which way to help despite not offering a return.  I also looked up her eBay ID to see any other purchases recently, and she purchased the Square Trade Warranty on items up to $500.  She bought it yet clearly didn't try to use it, if in fact there was a broken iPad sold to her.

January 30:  Naturally eBay said she can return it.  Wonderful.  It was well documented that this iPad had traveled the world once I mailed it so I decided to one up this con artist.  I called Apple and got the serial number confirmed for my iPad so that I would be certain it was mine coming back....

February 5:  iPad arrives.  I opened the box, it was well packed.  The iPad box was completely crushed in one corner and that was not at all what was sent.  I open the box, immediately notice a scratch that mine did not have.  I check the serial number.... NOT THE ONE I SOLD.  Nice try lady.  So now I call eBay, explain the item is not what I sent her and that I have proof that I never owned this serial number iPad nor was it ever registered to my Apple ID or name.  They put me on hold to contact the buyer and find out what is going on....  Guy gets back on the phone, says well third party shipping is not covered by eBay Buyer Protection so they are ruling in my favor and she gets nothing back.

While yes, it is great that I don't get screwed in the situation but what if it had gone directly to her, would I still have had a valid case with eBay?  Their ruling is based on the 'ring around the rosey' shipping they did with the item not that she tried to pull a fast one.  I'm happy to have won the case but I am annoyed that this person will likely do this to another person in the future with no repercussion unless the seller can prove with serial numbers what she did.

I know I shouldn't be annoyed about this anymore but it is still bugging me.

Moral of the story:  If you sell any items with serial numbers, list them in the auction as proof so they can't bother even trying to pull a fast one.  Luckily I had mine verified and both mine and the broken one sent to me were given to eBay for the case file.

Dear idiot eBay sellers...

Why do you list OBVIOUS fake "patch" cards online that no one believes are real? Actually, one person did believe that they were real because they were dumb enough to spend $66.00 hard earned dollars on the most insanely fake card.

See the $66 stupidity by clicking here. Let's call that Dumb Ass #1.

The next card I discovered last night while doing my usual search. It is /740 yet contains the only patch card with that serial number in the entire set. Wow! What a great pull, right? Not so much. Here is the ULTRA RARE patch card. Dumb Ass #2. BUT WAIT!! The SAME seller has another patch card for sale.... Look at this nonsense. Only $99.99! Oh. My. God. Must buy. NOT.

I linked all of these auctions to Topps on Twitter and they have yet to respond. Several other people also asked about the cards last night in tweets and from what I have seen there has been no response to anyone.

I know for a fact that companies like Louis Vuitton and Coach have people monitoring eBay for fakes and knock-offs because I know people who have gotten letters from eBay and the companies saying that they are not allowed to sell knock-offs online even if the auction explicitly states that they are NOT real. Where is the protection for sports memorabilia collectors or card collectors, Topps? How do they get alerted to this and do nothing and have no response?

I honestly think eBay needs to give their employees a class on this stuff because they supposedly have people who patrol auctions looking for things of this nature but it seems like they have no idea what they are doing when it comes to this particular topic.

None of the card companies have ever had an archive of pictures of the cards they produce that have patches or are 1/1 types of cards and they really should. How about maybe just an e-mail devoted to report fakes or investigate fakes? Then at least we could think that someone is looking out for us and more importantly protecting the integrity of the company. If you just started collecting and didn't know any better, bought one of those cards then found out... It probably would turn you off to collecting or to buying from that company even if they say they had nothing to do with it. At least for me it would be a turn off.

Thoughts?

Fail Horn Friday -Fake Patch Edition

Last night I was searching around looking at Robinson Cano cards on eBay when I stumbled upon an auction that was ending relatively soon. I knew immediately I had caught someone with a keen knife and some spare patches laying around to do a nice butcher job to a card that is already hard to get.

Take a look at this completed auction for a 2010 Topps Tribute Cano "Patch" and see what you think. I had tweeted to Topps last night with a link to this card and was informed that it is indeed a fake card and that their legal team was going to be looking into the matter. This seller has apparently take other cards to the chop shop as well.

This seller has over 600 cards for sale currently and they are all high end cards, autos, game used or patches. Take a look at this 2009 Topps Triple Threads Adrian Peterson Patch, which looks like a regular card you could pull in a pack.

Now I am not saying every card this seller has is fake. Nor am I trying to point out some negative aspect of collecting. The reason I am writing this post is that I know there are many collectors just getting back into the hobby and maybe you see one of those Cano cards of a player you like and you end up getting duped. I don't want to see that happen to anyone.

Another idea I had about this seller is that he may buy bulk lots of high end cards and not look at every single one when he buys it, however if that is the case he should notice them when he scans them. Anyone dealing with cards as a business would know that you would NEVER get a DUAL PATCH /25 like that. So even when I tried to play devil's advocate on this, the guy is still wrong. You should know better if you are running a "card store" on eBay from "Rookie Card USA".

An interesting eBay scam

It appears that sellers have found a new way to avoid paying eBay. Apparently this guy refuses to pay eBay's final value fees and would rather try and scam the system.

Let me show you what he does:

-Don Mattingly auto BIN for $4.23

-Don Mattingly auto #2 BIN for $4.23

-Mickey Mantle autographed plaque $17.99

Now, if you looked at those you can see what I am talking about. How the %$# does eBay allow this to go on? I will not say if me or someone I know has reported this days ago, but even still, don't they have someone who is assigned to each category to monitor things when red flags come up?

The funny thing is, the dude picks and chooses what he will play by the rules with and what he won't. Take a look at some of the other items he has for sale. Some have normal shipping, and then there is a CD that costs $20 to ship.

Not for nothing, I have sold plenty of things on eBay in my day and I sure as hell didn't want to pay the final value fees but you know what? That's life.

Has anyone else come across sellers like this? Do you think it's important to report them or would you just (obviously) avoid purchasing items from someone doing this?

Here's your sign.

Every so often we like to post eBay idiots on here. Well, I like nothing better than to procrastinate homework by rummaging eBay looking for nonsense items. Today was no exception.

Here is our first bozo. This auction claims to have a "foil error". No, it's just poor quality control but thanks for playing. Here's your sign.

Next up will be a card that you will hate/love if you collect Stephen Strasburg. It's cool if you like having an obscure card in your collection, it's not so cool if you aren't willing to pay $20+ for a base insert.

Now these are interesting. There are a bunch of these no foil variations floating on eBay and I honestly can't remember if I saw any like this in the case. I really didn't look at any of the base cards at all. If anyone ended up with a sparkle card or a no foil card, please let us know. I'd be interested to see what really ended up coming out of that case.

I think the better question is why are they calling them variations? We all know how they ended up like that, but I don't see that as worth listing on eBay for $5.00 when I could get the actual card for a quarter.

I'm sure I will have more tales to share later. I am waiting on another offer rejection (Some people apparently think Cano autographs /50 are worth $150) for a card I reallllllyyyy want so I am sure I will troll around eBay looking for something else.

Does this seller go into the Hall of Shame?

Earlier this week I went on a little binge on eBay. I picked up a couple of single cards I really liked to save myself from buying a box of something I can't afford and really won't want once I open it. I decided to put in an offer on a 2010 Topps Triple Threads Adam Lind auto, and I won it. Great. Today I get my mail and there it was, within days I got my card. That made me happy, until I opened it.




Now, I can't get mad because the card isn't damaged and was wrapped in bubble wrap however, the card is missing on essential element. Look closely... Click to zoom in... That's right, no top loader. Not even a penny sleeve. Just thrown in a team bag. Sigh. I know Lind isn't all that good, but he deserves a toploader.

Game Used... Underwear?

I know there have been jokes about what part of the pants they choose to cut and put into game used pants cards, but this is a little goofy.

It seems as though someone took the time to custom make a custom card of Jay Bruce using his underwear... at least I am assume they are his underwear. Or he could be cutting up Hanes tighty whiteys and gluing them onto cards.

Maybe you are a Phillies fan and would prefer Ryan Howard's drawers.

Or.... Joe Mauer's drawers...

I guess everyone in baseball is a briefs kinda guy.

Famous Fabrics comes up big?

Yes, Famous Fabrics is what I said. Do I know much about them? Not really. What I do know is that they apparently got their mitts on what they anticipated to be a hot item this year. I'm not sure how Topps didn't have something to do with this Strasburg 1/1, but I don't see what is so great about this product.

You take game used jerseys or hats, write a name on a card and glue a piece of fabric to it, and I am supposed to want this? How are these cards even nice to look at? Look at these Jeter cards. Why on Earth would someone buy those when they could buy this one? Again you can take all the "slabbed" authentication stuff as you wish, I wouldn't spend a dime on this stuff.

This last card is not from Famous Fabrics, and might even be dumber than their cards. Actually, they are dumber. I just happened to stumble on these admittedly "replica" dual jersey cards of Derek Jeter and Babe Ruth, some with Mantle and Jeter.... Honestly, who the %&*# wants this crap? Gee, I can't wait until they come out with "Modells replica jersey cards"- "this rack hung jersey card of Derek Jeter card has been authenticated to come right off a Modells rack in New York City."

eBay Idiot of the week

I was supposed to remember to post one of these a week, but I never remember. I did remember today, and I will explain why I chose Dead wood as this weeks idiot.

Plain and simple: He has sucked. If that person thinks that card is worth 1/10th of that price (market value) then they should have their head examined.

I think that this awesome card would be priced in that range but this person is slightly more in touch with reality. If I won the Mega Millions tonight I would probably buy this and feel overjoyed that I didn't get ripped off on a POS card of Joba the Dud.

Today's eBay Idiot

Dearest Sooz,

I apologize in advance for not being able to buy this Jeter card for your birthday. This man wants lots of money that I will never have, and if I ever do have that kind of money I am going to run far, far away. Of course, you will be asked to go as well. With all the money we can buy a small parcel of land and fill it with cardboard boxes in our top secret location and write our blog from the underground.

Signed,
Your best worst friend.

eBay Idiot of the week

Well, this one made me laugh out loud literally. It made me laugh for two reasons, one I have a metal card similar to this but it's a copper/gold looking one of a Topps card and two, who is the hell would pay for this?

This whole free listings thing on eBay is going to provide me with lots of idiots who decide that they are going to list a few real things since the other 100 crappy things were free.

Congrats dude, you are the Idiot of the Week. On the bright side, you can earn $200 in eBay bucks...

eBay Idiot of the week

I'm surfing around eBay because I am a millionaire looking for cards (read: broke and sarcastic) of Adam Lind to finish a project, and I come across another one. Another bozo that thinks they have the card that will pay off their car loan, or student loan, or whatever.

Now granted, this Adam Lind 1/1 is a sweet looking card but, seriously dude? You wouldn't get that much if Albert Pujols signed that card. I happen to have the "crappy" version of the same card the that's serial numbered to /199, which I paid like $4.00 for at the time. Looks like I win.

This may become a routine post for us, finding idiots to post for our own amusement.

Can't wait to see what the 1/1 sells for....

EDIT: The same seller is also selling this Adam Lind 1/1, some "fan" is right.