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.

[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

[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.