eBay's Rash Attempts At Censorship Of A Single Card

eBay has decided to go on a censorship run removing auctions for the 1990-91 Hoops Mark Jackson #205 card because the Mendez brothers are in the background. For some reason this has taken nearly 30 years to be recognized but these cards have been selling on eBay and only now that the card has made the news has eBay gone on attack. Sellers of the Mark Jackson card have received emails similar to the one I posted below. 

Of course, OJ Simpson, Aaron Hernandez and Rae Carruth have cards are still available by the hundreds. A few months ago, I picked up the Captain Spaulding Museum Monster and Madmen cards on eBay that included real life serial killers Albert Fish and Eddie Gein as well as Lizzie Borden and Jack the Ripper, but those are ok I guess.

I agree there are some items that should be removed, body parts, items used in crimes and such but in this case,  eBay has made a mistake and this is a complete joke of eBay’s policies. 

Panini Goes Dancing For The World Cup

Building on the opening matches of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil Panini has released an unannounced parallel to their insanely popular 2014 FIFA World Cup Prizm release. The “El Samba” (The Dance) parallel are all 1/1 and use a green and yellow printing pattern that was not used in the Prizm release. They will also be releasing an autograph El Samba parallel over the next couple of weeks.

 

The cards are only available on Panini’s eBay store beginning with a 99 cent opening bid and each day a new set of 10 cards will be available for 3-day auctions. The releases will correspond with World Cup games, which run through July 13^th.  I would expect players like Neymar, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Arjen Robben and Landon Donovan to demand a premium.

 

I think this is a pretty cool idea, it has worked well for Leaf and so far the first couple of rounds are doing well. The only negative mark in my book is the shipping charges, because Panini is using Fed Ex Ground they are charging $10.77 on shipping alone., the first couple of days they were actually charging $15 for shipping so I guess it has gotten better. If the shipping wasn't so high I would definitely bid on some of the cards.

A Bundle Of Griffeys

On Monday I came across an auction for a lot of 20 different Griffey cards, they were listed as 1989-2014 and the bid was only .99 cents so I tossed in a bid for $2.25 and waited. He only showed 14 cards in the pictures and his description listed only a couple of the cards that were already shown but there were three cards that I was actively hunting and if I could get all these cards for the price of  a couple of the cards I was hunting I would be happy.

 

In the end I did win with the $2.25 bid, toss in another $2.99 shipping and the package was shipped. I figured at $5.24 for 20 cards I was only paying .26 cents per card. Considering I do not have any local card shops and the nearest decent card show is 31 miles away I don’t get the chance to search through dime and quarter boxes to often.

 

I got the padded envelope today and the dealer sent 20 Griffey cards plus a checklist (showing Griffey) and two cello packs of 1994 Post Cereal baseball cards for a total of 27 cards. All but three of the cards were from the 1990s, but that is ok because I needed all of them. I also exercised another Griffey ghost, 1994 Stadium Club. In the end the price per card was only .19 cents.

 

This was a very nice gesture from the seller, especially after I got the discolored Bowman Best cards last week, which that seller has offered to refund me completely. I sent the cards back to him on Tuesday so hopefully that works out. Here are some of the highlights from this pick up.

 

 

 

And a couple of oddballs

Recent eBay Pickup

This was a recent eBay pickup; I have been looking for a Marvel Comic Panel card since Upper Deck included them in the 2011 Marvel Beginnings release. Prices for the Marvel panel cards tend to end up in the $30-50 range for generic panels and ones including major characters or important events demand a premium, sometimes even going for hundreds. Being a collector on a budget I have been watching for a Marvel panel card that is in my price range and have missed out on a couple on last minute sniper bids.

 

Last year Breygent joined the party and began including Comic Panel Cards in some of their products as well as in packs created for the San Diego Comic Con. Books that they have used comic panels from are Dead World comics, Red Sonja, Vampirella, Warlord of Mars and most recently, Transformers.

 

These cards are all 1/1 and contain a scene panel cut out of a classic comic book attached to the card and framed similar to Upper Deck’s old Masterpiece inserts.

 

I don’t read Dead World but when I came across this premium panel from the front page of a Realm of the Dead comic book for $10 I jumped on it.

 

How much cooler can a comic panel get?

Three Zombies…check

Punk Rocker Zombie…check

Frank Sinatra (looking) Zombie with disembodied head… check

A Topless Zombie Chick…check

Tale Of Negative Feedback

In 13 years of being an eBay member, both as seller and buyer, I have left negative feedback only three times with the last two in 2008 when a buyer went on a bidding spree and didn’t pay anyone. After 5 years of relatively positive experiences I have finally left negative feedback again.

 

I won a card in May, paid and waited. Didn’t hear from the guy for two weeks so I sent an email but he did not respond. I eventually filed a claim, sent another email and no response. A week later I escalated the case and eBay awarded me a refund the next day. Had it ended there I would have just wrote it off as a bad experience and left no feedback, I got my money back so nothing lost.

 

What finally earned the negative feedback was his next action.

 

Two days after I received the refund the guy emails me, he apologizes and tells me a story of death, destruction and pure mayhem that caused him to miss shipping the card. He claims his life was turned upside down and that he did not have access to eBay or his email, something I may have believed had he not won a number of auctions and left feedback during that time.

 

He said he wanted to make amends and told me that he packaged the card and sent it to me even though I had already been issued the refund. I figured the guy was trying make up for the error which I appreciated. Needless to say it has been almost three weeks since he “sent” the card and still nothing and this is what earned him the negative feedback.

 

I know this isn’t a horrible experience compared to some stories I have heard, but it is frustrating when you find something you want, win the auction and then wait until you are disappointed only to have some hope for a positive ending to finally end up double disappointed.

Newest eBay Pickup: A Leaf Valiant Nick Foles Autograph

I have finally added a Nick Foles Leaf Valiant auto to my personal collection. This a two-for-one for me, one of my favorite University of Arizona players currently in the NFL and an awesome Leaf Valiant design and at a bit over $9 shipped I can not complain.

 

What sucks is that I do not like the Eagles; my father is a life-long Giants fan, so I am not too interested in purchasing any of his Eagles cards. Instead I am hunting down his U of A cards from Leaf and Upper Deck. Both companies have done an amazing job, all of his Leaf autos are on-card and Upper Deck included him in the Fleer Retro release so there are quite a few autograph options available. Also if you haven’t had a chance to check out Upper Deck’s SP Authentic Rookie Auto-Patch cards or the SP Authentic Rookie Threads cards you should take a look, they are amazing and next on my "To get" list.

Recent eBay Pickup: 2013 Topps Spring Fever Baseball

I do not have a local sports card shop within a reasonable drive so I was out of luck when the Topps Spring Fever packs were available so I turned to eBay. The Griffey card was my main target so I kept an eye on the auctions and most were ending for a couple of bucks a piece so when I came across a complete set for $9.95 that was ending within minutes and no bids I jumped on it. Toss in a couple of dollars for shipping and I got the complete set for under $15 shipped. What is sad is that within 1 hour of winning the auction two other sets that I was watching ended with a flurry of bids, ending at $19.95 and $20.43 plus shipping.

 

I love this set, the holographic foil face is pretty cool, even the “Spring Fever” logo works really well. The checklist is awesome, where else can you get such a group of players that range from prospects to old school players to HOFers? I am still looking to score a Raul Ibanez autograph soon.