Why on Earth did I buy this?

[frankbmd]

Not a personal confession, but looking for the most ridiculous deal that you have ever made not limited to overpayment, losses on a sale, postal shenanigans, fraudulent victimization or criminal incarceration. Each post is eligible for a virtual sticker secured by bitcoin.

Please limit your comments to tales of woe regarding sports cards or memorabilia, if you are competing for a sticker.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Have those virtual stickers been third party authenticated, Frank?

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Have those virtual stickers been third party authenticated, Frank?

This post does not qualify for a sticker.

For clarification, trading disasters are okay like the collector who traded his 52 Mantle for a 1987 Fleer Bo Jackson RC.

[G1911]

I have purchased multiple cases of 1988 Donruss. For cash money. While sober.

Can I get a sticker?

[JollyElm]

A new listing for each card I buy off of eBay appears in the same grade/shape for a minimum of 25% less than what I just paid for mine before the one I bought even reaches my door. Does that count?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

When I first started doing shows as a dealer at 14 years old I was always desperate to get "older" star cards. In about 1988 now at 16, the father of a teacher at my high school had a decent 1965 Yaz, which was AMAZING to me at the time. I offered to sell it for him and take 10%. He said he wanted $85 (even in the late 80's craze that was too much) and I said I might have to take less. His response was "That's OK but I want $85" To me that meant try like hell to get $85 but if you have to you can take less.

It took almost half a year but I finally managed to get $60 for it. I called him to tell him I had $54 dollars for him and his response was. You told me I would get $85. Basically what he meant when I asked him about taking less was 'you do what you want but I'm getting $85' Was a hard lesson and $31 that hurt back in those days!

[raulus]

It's been a few years.

I got conned by a goon who convinced me that he actually had the goods. It was a long con over several months, and I fell for it. And I'm a professional skeptic! I literally get paid every day to exercise professional skepticism. And so it's certainly humbling to admit it.

And unfortunately, I lost a lot of money. And I mean a lot. So much that I'll decline to actually disclose the full amount. But whatever you're thinking, it's probably more. I suppose the good news is that since it was just fun money and not rent money, nobody died in the process. But there was definitely no fun involved.

Still makes me mad enough to chew nails and spit rust every time I think about it. Luckily, as time goes on, I think about it less, but every once in a while, something will remind me, and I'll just shake my head and wonder what I could have possibly been thinking. Perhaps the worst part is my wife knew it the whole time, so now I have periodic reminders of her superior judgment whenever we have a difference of opinion.

Luckily it didn't stop me from collecting. But it definitely set me back a bit, and made me a lot more wary when I do direct deals.

But maybe my willingness to admit my spectacular failure will give others the space to admit their own stupidity. This is a safe space, and chances are whatever you've done pales in comparison to mine, so feel free to share.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by raulus

It's been a few years.

I got conned by a goon who convinced me that he actually had the goods. It was a long con over several months, and I fell for it. And I'm a professional skeptic! I literally get paid every day to exercise professional skepticism. And so it's certainly humbling to admit it.

And unfortunately, I lost a lot of money. And I mean a lot. So much that I'll decline to actually disclose the full amount. But whatever you're thinking, it's probably more. I suppose the good news is that since it was just fun money and not rent money, nobody died in the process. But there was definitely no fun involved.

Still makes me mad enough to chew nails and spit rust every time I think about it. Luckily, as time goes on, I think about it less, but every once in a while, something will remind me, and I'll just shake my head and wonder what I could have possibly been thinking. Perhaps the worst part is my wife knew it the whole time, so now I have periodic reminders of her superior judgment whenever we have a difference of opinion.

Luckily it didn't stop me from collecting. But it definitely set me back a bit, and made me a lot more wary when I do direct deals.

But maybe my willingness to admit my spectacular failure will give others the space to admit their own stupidity. This is a safe space, and chances are whatever you've done pales in comparison to mine, so feel free to share.

Come on man, details? That is so vague I say no sticker. Here is my equivalent tale of woe -- I once overpaid for a card.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Come on man, details? That is so vague I say no sticker.

No soup for you!

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Come on man, details? That is so vague I say no sticker. Here is my equivalent tale of woe -- I once overpaid for a card.

Specifically which specifics do you specifically request? You want the play by play, start to finish, and leave out nothing?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by raulus

Specifically which specifics do you specifically request? You want the play by play, start to finish, and leave out nothing?

Some description of cards involved and how it unfolded, I assume you don't want to name the con man.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Some description of cards involved and how it unfolded, I assume you don't want to name the con man.

Not sure that I even know his real name. I do know his alias, or what he called himself. I also think that several of the other parties that were allegedly involved were probably just alter-egos. Nowadays, anytime I run into someone with the same last name, I immediately assume they must be fraudsters. Just an unconscious knee-jerk reaction.

Basically his dad had just died and left behind a very nice collection. I'm a Mays collector, and based on some of the scans he sent to me, for example, there was a Mays 52T in PSA 8. And based on the PSA cert, his dad would have had a very nice collection indeed, because this cert was connected with a very significant collection in the PSA set registry.

We discussed it for a while, and his attorney contacted me (again, probably just him through another email address spoofing the attorney). I checked out the attorney's license with the state bar, and everything checked out. We agreed to meet in a couple of weeks to do the deal. He would deliver the cards, we would agree on a final price based on everything there, and I would pay him. We signed some legal docs. I agreed to pay a small amount as a deposit to hold the deal.

And, not that different than most cons, it slowly unfolded. There were delays. There was a need for more money to hold the collection. There were more delays. We communicated almost every day. The attorney sent me details and court orders and whatnot. It was always the case that we were going to meet in a couple of days and settle up. Almost there! Not quite...almost there! Just a few more days and a few more dollars.

And hell, once you're in it a little, and you're believing everything they have to say, then it's easy to keep baby stepping your way through it. You start looking for reasons why the inconsistencies and nonsense must be accurate. And so you just keep going. Total sunk cost fallacy at play, and yet it's a powerful psychological feature.

Eventually I started to push them a bit, and only make payments over more secure channels like paypal goods and services, or using a credit card.

I think the final straw that eliminated all doubt in my mind was when he charged my credit card about 15 times over the course of about 3 days, running up around 10k per charge. Luckily, I got the credit card company to reverse all of those charges, but it took a long fight. The goons asserted that they had provided construction services on my house, which was completely risible, but the credit card company bought it. So then I had to spend a lot of time convincing the credit card company that this "vendor" was not a real business, and they had never actually done anything other than attempt to (and succeed at) stealing my money.

As a worthless side effect, nowadays, just about any time I try to buy anything, my credit card company sometimes just denies the charge, and often they immediately text me to make sure that it's legit.

So there you go. Con artist 101 all day long.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I think where you went wrong was when he said he needed more money to hold the collection. You already had a deal and that was BS. Live and learn I guess. I had a friend who bought and paid for a 311 Mantle and received a 57T Mantle instead. We finally got his money back but it was an effort.

[bmattioli]

Junk wax over 1986 Fleer Basketball..

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think where you went wrong was when he said he needed more money to hold the collection. You already had a deal and that was BS. Live and learn I guess.

Wasn't the first stupid step, but it was a big one.

[Schlesinj]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

This post does not qualify for a sticker.

For clarification, trading disasters are okay like the collector who traded his 52 Mantle for a 1987 Fleer Bo Jackson RC.

Dr. Becket said on his podcast he traded a 52 mantle for a Betamax player.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Schlesinj

Dr. Becket said on his podcast he traded a 52 mantle for a Betamax player.

Not at all personal to you or even critical, but IMO the main reason card doctors who are little better than thugs have been so successful infiltrating the hobby is that a lot of wealthy bright and successful guys just left their common sense at the door when it came to cards.

[Rhotchkiss]

Nicolo, that’s a hell of a story. Thanks for sharing it. Hopefully it helps someone avoid a similar result.

Thanksgiving of Freshman year of college, 1992, I agreed to give my brother all of our collection for $100 and I got to keep the Clemente rookie. Later that year he sold the entire collection at a show for $10,000!! He was a 16 year old sophomore and got $10k for the collection I mostly put together. There is no way whatever I did with the $100 was worth it (probably smoked it over Thanksgiving holiday).

Lesson is - at least get $200 when you give your brother the collection

[BioCRN]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Thanksgiving of Freshman year of college, 1992, I agreed to give my brother all of our collection for $100 and I got to keep the Clemente rookie. Later that year he sold the entire collection at a show for $10,000!!

$10,000...wow. That's a lot of Todd Van Poppel, Kevin Maas, Scott Erickson, and Brein Taylor RCs.

[Bill77]

For me it was towards the end of 2001. I bought a box of Topps Traded and pulled a Pujols rookie and the gold version as well. I traded the regular Pujols straight up for an 87 Topps Barry Bonds. Just to make it sting a little bit more I bought a box of older packs of cards from Target about a month later and pulled the same Bonds card only in much nicer condition.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by BioCRN

$10,000...wow. That's a lot of Todd Van Poppel, Kevin Maas, Scott Erickson, and Brein Taylor RCs.

Lol. We had two complete 1986 Fleer basketball card sets, every garbage pail kid ever made (series 1-??), tons of 1980s stuff (like 100 1985 McGuires, Boggs, Gwynn, etc), as well as the “old” stuff I liked. I specifically recall a bunch of 1949 and 1950 Bowman HOFers, rookies of Gibson, Frank and Brooks Robinson, Drysdale (Dodgers Sluggers - I loved 1957 topps), McCovey, Aaron, Banks, Killebrew, Lasorda (good coach at the time), Stargel, Rose, Carlton, Seaver, Sutton, Niekro, etc. We also had every Topps Mantle from 1957-1969, as well as many mid-career HOFers. Finally, a few t206s- like Young with glove and Bresnahan with bat (my first t206 ever). I am not saying they were mint - many far from it- but we put together a real good collection for a couple of teens. We would hustle at shoes, trade with friends, and often sell/have tables at shows.

By 1990, there was topps, Fleer, donruss, sportflicks, upper deck, and bowman. It became too difficult to fools which rookie was worth owning. Plus, we were buying a ton of every kind of card of rookies (the goal was 100 of each). I felt the whole thing had gotten crazy/stupid and I was convinced the bottom would fall out. We really didn’t collect much in 1991 and 1992 (my junior and senior year of highschool). And then freshman year I made my dumb transaction. However, today, it’s a great story and my brother and I have great memories

BTW- I feel today about cards the same as I did in 1991 with all the craziness. That is why I only collect super old, blue chip players and sets - they have always been valuable and have gone up over the 4 decades I have been collecting

[pokerplyr80]

Years back I had a similar deal, but on a much smaller scale. It was a Craigslist add (yes I know) and a bunch of raw 50s and 60s cards. The guy had several scans, and any time I asked for a specific scan of a card he produced it. I wound up sending him $8k, but PayPal goods and I made sure I itemized the list of the big cards with the payment. This was the only thing that saved me in the end.

A similar story followed, delays with excuses, pictures of him in the hospital, his "wife" started emailing me with the status of his condition. Finally his wife mailed me a box that he claimed as a bonus for the delay. It was a bunch of 90s cards worth maybe $5. I disputed the charge the day the box arrived, and recorded a video of me opening this box. Apparently when you file this type of dispute the other party has 10 days to submit their own evidence. This 10 day period was filled with increasingly aggressive emails with excuses that were more and more unbelievable. In the end he submitted nothing to PayPal and I got my $8k back. Lesson learned, if the deal sounds too good to be true, it is.

[Exhibitman]

Listening to some of these stories I don't feel like a lonely fool. I got ripped off last year by an eBay con artist from Mexico goes by barbacoa215. He sells fake cards and laser prints of real cards. He sends them from Mexico City to avoid authentication. When you file a claim to return the cards he accepts the return. You then discover that eBay won't give you an international return label and that tracked return shipping to him (NON-refundable) is so expensive that it practically costs as much as the cards. So I sent the cards regular, he claimed he never got them, and I ate my payment and my return shipping costs. I then found out he's pulled this scam repeatedly.

All I can say is that if barbacoa215 ever shows up at a National I will kick 100% of his ass.

[Tyruscobb]

In late February 2020, I consigned several items with an auction house. I was convinced Covid-19 would produce a significant recession and the card market would soon tank.

My plan was to sell before the crash and then buy back the same cards, but in better grades, for less money. Thus, I’d improve my collection and put some money in my pocket, or use the extra money to further expand the collection.

The card were all nice, but lower graded ones. The lot included a Ruth, a few Mantles, and a Mays rookie. Although I turned a profit, I didn’t gross enough to buy back the same cards, let alone nicer copies. I sold at the worst possible time - right before the boom. Impossible to predict, but still stings.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

When I first started doing shows as a dealer at 14 years old I was always desperate to get "older" star cards. In about 1988 now at 16, the father of a teacher at my high school had a decent 1965 Yaz, which was AMAZING to me at the time. I offered to sell it for him and take 10%. He said he wanted $85 (even in the late 80's craze that was too much) and I said I might have to take less. His response was "That's OK but I want $85" To me that meant try like hell to get $85 but if you have to you can take less.

It took almost half a year but I finally managed to get $60 for it. I called him to tell him I had $54 dollars for him and his response was. You told me I would get $85. Basically what he meant when I asked him about taking less was 'you do what you want but I'm getting $85' Was a hard lesson and $31 that hurt back in those days!

That would not have been the lesson I would have learned if I were in your shoes. The lesson I would have learned is that some people are idiots who aren't worth dealing with, and that sometimes, those idiots receive $31 less than would have liked for their cards.

[hcv123]

Back around 1990-91 I was new to dealing cards. A guy brought a great looking 56 Mantle - I don't recall how much it was, but it would have been a big purchase for me back then. After buying it I learned (from someone else looking at it) that it was trimmed. A few weeks later I was set up at another show and had cards laid out on my table (prior to having showcases). I had the Mantle out and was offering it for significantly less than I had paid noting it was trimmed. Yes, I turned around for a minute and when I turned back the Mantle was gone - someone had stolen my trimmed '56 Mantle!

Another one that just came to mind was the Michael Jordan rookie I won in an auction run by a guy who owned a card shop near Albany NY (I forget his name) - It was NRMTMT and a card that got tucked away as Jordan is my favorite player of all time. An article came out about Jordan fakes and upon examination, I think a year later, I learned that the example I had was a fake! Not sure exactly why (perhaps because I was young), but felt embarrassed about going back and asking for a refund.

[Leon]

I have bought several fakes on eBay. I think all of the bigger ones got remedied. The last one was a picture of an N173 I bought. IT would have only been an ok deal, even if real LOL...

Actually, I also bought a fake Mayo HOF'er not too long ago and had to go to ebay management for resolution...the guy guaranteed returns then opened a case when I did!

If you have been doing this 20+ yrs, you have some stories!!

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Listening to some of these stories I don't feel like a lonely fool. I got ripped off last year by an eBay con artist from Mexico goes by barbacoa215. He sells fake cards and laser prints of real cards. He sends them from Mexico City to avoid authentication. When you file a claim to return the cards he accepts the return. You then discover that eBay won't give you an international return label and that tracked return shipping to him (NON-refundable) is so expensive that it practically costs as much as the cards. So I sent the cards regular, he claimed he never got them, and I ate my payment and my return shipping costs. I then found out he's pulled this scam repeatedly.

All I can say is that if barbacoa215 ever shows up at a National I will kick 100% of his ass.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Snowman

That would not have been the lesson I would have learned if I were in your shoes. The lesson I would have learned is that some people are idiots who aren't worth dealing with, and that sometimes, those idiots receive $31 less than would have liked for their cards.

Never any shortage of that lesson running an auction

[Mark17]

About 15 years ago, when I was collecting GU bats, I spotted an auction on ebay that was closing with just a couple minutes. It was an H&B signature model Owen Bush. Well, I knew right away that was the famous Tiger, Donie Bush, and was hoping and assuming other people might not know this. So I quickly got my snipe bid in, and won it for a few hundred dollars. Boy was I excited!

About a week later I received a USPS medium size flat rate box. Inside was a mini bat of Owen Bush. I scrambled back to the listing, re-read it closely, and sure enough, buried in the description was: 16". In my haste, I hadn't noticed it. I eventually sold it, being clear it was a mini bat, and took hit of a couple hundred dollars. Not the most I've ever lost on a transaction, but probably the biggest emotional up, then down.

[ClementeFanOh]

I don't feel so bad now! Maybe 30 years ago, I traded a beautiful Walter
Payton rookie for 2 college football programs. The programs are wonderful and
still in my collection. That taught me the meaning of "loss" in the card world

Trent King

[ullmandds]

My CV of being ripped off as far as I can remember:

c1982 was sold fake mayo cut plug lave cross at a card show in NJ...As a 14 yo I didn't know the backs should be black! I ate the loss.

1989 was sold a fake fro joy uncut sheet at the LCS at college in newark, DE. I ate the loss.

early 90's bought a 71 thurman munson card at a show in nj area...later discovered the corners had been filled in with marker. I still have it.

EBAY

bought a fake T3...which in person was pathetic...a photocopy glued to a rigid backing. I ate the loss.

bought some fake playballs(reprints) off ebay...was refunded.

Net54 BST

Bought a 33 WWG Ruth card from a supposed mexican cartel associate/member? Card turned out to be real.

Recently was almost ripped off from a card wanted thread...got refunded.

Not too terrible for 40+ years in the hobby.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

I don't feel so bad now! Maybe 30 years ago, I traded a beautiful Walter
Payton rookie for 2 college football programs. The programs are wonderful and
still in my collection. That taught me the meaning of "loss" in the card world

Trent King

By Shel Silverstein (one of THE greatest authors of all time, fact)

Smart

My dad gave me a one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more then one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes-- I guess he didn't know
That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!
And I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head--
Too proud of me to speak!

[frankbmd]

I'm quite sure at this point that everyone is wondering what it takes to get a sticker. For a historical example the first sticker will be awarded to the guy who claimed that a valuable Mantle Mantle card that he allegedly owned was stolen from him while in line to buy to buy a triple scoop waffle cone at the National in Chicago several years ago. The allure of the triple scoop waffle cone is a powerful force compared to the allure of an early Mantle card worth thousands. Sticker #00000001 is reserved for the waffle cone aficionado.

[Seven]

Pure postal shenanigans on the part of my local post office. I won an auction for a 1953 Bowman Mickey Mantle in a PSA 2.5. It was delivered to the wrong house. PO gave me the runaround, it ended up on ebay again, with the seller living in New Jersey. I eventually got the money back for the card, after a long month. This was during the crazy bull run of vintage, so by the time I got the money back, a Mantle that presented similarly was well over a grand, which I couldn't swing at the time. I settled for buying a nice looking "Authentic" Copy. for around $350.

Still annoyed about the card. Was probably cracked and reslabbed at this point but it is what it is.

[egri]

If we can include purchases I didn't make, when I started building my signed 1953 Topps set, Satchell Paiges were selling in the $1,000-1,200 range, and could be found for under $1,000 with enough patience and proper alignment of the heavens. Those prices stayed the same for years, and there was always at least one on eBay. I kept putting off picking him up, thinking that the prices wouldn't move much, he'd always be around, and I didn't want to pick up Paige and then not have the funds to jump on a tough card. Well the tough ones either didn't set me back what I thought they would, or I got left in the dust. Then a couple years ago, I saw a Paige go for around $1,800 and thought 'that guy overpaid'. I haven't seen one that low since, and the most recent one sold on eBay for several multiples of the ones I passed up.