"E cards" on Ebay

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Posted By: Brian H. 

Quite an interesting broken set of 30 was posted today -- really neat cards but condition was iffy. I don't know much about them and just wondered if any of the E card mavens out there had any insights they could share -- Pete, Bob et al....

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Posted By: Dan Mathewson

...and I must ake issue with their description of the card: "...the card is in VERY GOOD condition with wear..."

Criminy, the card has a chunk out of the upper right edge.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1975677440

I really get tired of, and don't appreciate, the BS descriptions people list with cards, just to try and squeeze more money out of people...

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Posted By: Ben

purely out of curiosity...any particular reason why the Matty has different text than the other cards in the set?

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Posted By: petecld

These E98s are the trimmed set that Lipset auctioned.

I love his wording "appears to be trimmed". Kinda like saying the sky "appears to be blue".

Oh, but I'm sure someone will say he's a "nice guy". All the other sellers, except for one honest guy, who sold Lipsets trimmed cards w/o just going out and saying they are trimmed were "nice guys" too.

I have no idea why the text on the Mathewson card is different. My only guess is the used a condensed font to fit the entire name.

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Posted By: runscott

The e98's were advertised as most being "slightly trimmed", but the seller is omitting this bit of information. I emailed him.

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Posted By: Dan Mathewson

...that these are trimmed cards. I sent the seller an e-mail asking him if he guarantees his cards NOT to be trimmed or altered. I did it because I noticed that the has a Blue Bkgd M116 Matty for auction, too. Here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1975664665

It seems that a lot of the M116's I've run across have been trimmed (roughly half, actually), and I just recently noticed that the seller of the M116 is the same person as is selling the Matty E98 mentioned in this thread. I'll be interested to get his response. He'll probably come back with the typical seller response "um...I don't trust any of the grading companies to accurately grade my cards...blah blah blah...BS BS BS...and I, um, cannot guarantee that any of my cards will pass muster with those horrible sheisters at grading companies...double-talk double-talk...so, naturally, NO, I will not guarantee that any grading company will be accurate and therefore I cannot guarantee what I sell to you."

I'll have to wait until I'm back in Seattle to post his reply (assuming he even replies) as I am outta state and my eBay mails go to my work e-address.

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Posted By: Dan Mathewson

Oh, I forgot to mention one thing in the above comment box.

When I looked at the Blue Back Matty M116, it looked to me VERY CLEARLY that the top of the card has been trimmed. The edge looks very very sharp, and it does not run into the slightly soft/touched top corners with any fluidity. The top looks to have been recently trimmed.

This is what frustrates me. The card, overall, looks damm nice. WTF would someone want to "go exacto" on this card? Criminy...

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Posted By: Bob

I don't believe the blue back Sporting Lifes in the auction were trimmed. I can't be sure though, it's been a while. If you bid on the E98s (and I have) do so knowing they are all trimmed except three. If you are looking for color variations and aren't willing to pay an arm and a leg for altered cards for your collection rather than for $$$$, they are nice.

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Posted By: Wes

Lew Lipset did not describe the M116s as trimmed or altered. If he measured the cards himself and determined that they were not trimmed, I don't think Lipset would accept an opinion from PSA or SGC stating otherwise.

The E98s, on the other hand, were described as trimmed in the Lipset catalog.

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Posted By: Dan Mathewson

...if this particular Sporting Life is from that auction or not. This one being auctioned, though, looks like it has a trimmed top edge. It jsut doesn't look right and the edge deoesn't mesh in with the top corners very well.

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Posted By: runscott

Thanks for the email. We measured all of the cards and the ones that were short are listed as being trimmed in the auctions. A few of them are actually long which leads me to believe that there actually might be a slight variation in the size of these cards when they were produced.
Scott

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Posted By: bwparker

I totaled up the thirty trimmed E98 cards that ended today on ebay, and came up with around $2130. The winning bid in Lipset's auction, with hammer fee and shipping, would have been around $1350. After ebay's listing and seller fees, the seller will have netted around $600.

I have dealt with this seller before and had no problems, but I still think he ended up with quite a few extra bucks by not mentioning the trimming in his original posting. Give him credit for mentioning it after being contacted.

Which brings up a point--I think that ebay's format of where additional information to the listing ends up is flawed. It should be placed before the original lot description--I think it quite often is not seen by the bidder because it is so separated from the rest of the description.

And one more thing--the Dahlen card at $212 beat at the winning bid amounts of both Cobb and Wagner? Sure, it is pretty, but that thing is obviously trimmed.

Brian

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Posted By: RC_McKenzie

The pictures were there. If you bid on those "Set of 30's", I guess it was for an upgrade or a filler. You could see the wavy lines on almost every card in the e98's.

As far as the guy buying from the mail order dealers and breaking the set on ebay to make a buck... that's how you do it. Ebay is king. If you find a deal at Mike Wheat or Smolin or Bill Mastro or ShoeBox or Festberg or CleanSweep or Lipset(I thought he was retiring) cards mail order phone in deals.. Take it to the public on eBay and get full coin.

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Posted By: petecld

$212 for that obviously trimmed Dahlen card. Sad. Really sad.

This is why I don't get upset at the AAA garbage anymore. If people want to spend (waste) money on garbage because they don't know any better - whatever, it is a free country.

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Posted By: brian parker

It's a fine, fine thing to make a buck, but to fail to mention that the cards are trimmed, when they were purchased at auction from an authority on the subject, who stated that most were trimmed in his auction description, well that's just wrong, scan or no scan.

Brian

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Posted By: RC_McKenzie

I've done the SGC thing. They stuff their pieholes full of Cheetos, just like PSA. I sold a small lot of 1919 Coupons that SGC graded as "trimmed", that were collected from 3 different places.They were not 'trimmed'. I sold them at a loss on ebay as "trimmed" according to SGC. Those cards weren't trimmed, they just didn't meet the cheeto standard. If any one knows if Verkman still has that Cheif Meyers 1919 Coupon that I bought from Wheat for $95 and I sold to him for $34, Tell him I'll give him $50 for it. Freakin' Cheeto Lovers, the lot 'o ya.

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Posted By: runscott

Lew Lipset knew that the original owner (Don McPherson) trimmed the tops/bottoms off many of his cards so that they would fit in the holders he used. Many of these cards were obviously trimmed, as Don apparently did a poor job of cutting - others he cut more evenly and they simply appear short. If the seller has such information available, it needs to be put in the auction description. Lew Lipsett does this, and so should the people who buy his cards.

SGC or PSA returning a card as showing "evidence of trimming" (BTW,this isn't a "grade")is a completely different situation, as they do not know the history of the card - they are simply looking for "evidence".
So, No, if SGC or PSA returns a card to you as having "evidence of trimming", I don't think you are obligated to put that in your description. From what I've seen stuffed into PSA "Near Mint" holders, I personally feel equally qualified to judge whether or not t206's have been trimmed or not, and you probably should as well. Luckily I have never had SGC return a card to me as showing "evidence of trimming", but I realize that without prior knowledge of the history of a card, that in some instances where a particularly skillful wielder of the x-acto knife has been operating, it must be incredibly tough to tell if a card has been trimmed or not.

Just my opinion - please don't take it personally. And I didn't comment on the "Cheetoh" thing because I have no idea what you are talking about!

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Posted By: Bob

Ruddy slabbers

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Posted By: leonl

I am curious. Have you ever been to an SGC booth at a show or their office? Do you know Derek Grady?.....regards