Shipping fails

[Vintagedeputy]

Been a long time since it happened to me, but there it is.

A few weeks ago I got an email about a sports card auction. I saw a number of cards that I liked and bid on a few and won just this one auction. Centering wasn’t the greatest but I think the 1954 Bowman set is one of the most beautiful of the 50s and I got this Hall of Famer for 15 bucks which I thought was a good deal. Imagine my surprise when the card arrived yesterday between two pieces of foam board but with no penny sleeve or top loader or card saver of any kind.

I emailed my displeasure to the seller who stated that he left shipping to his wife while he was out of town for a family emergency and she apparently didn’t feel that a $15 card warranted any extra protection. I explained to him that it wasn’t the sale price that mattered but it was just good practice to ship a card protected better than this and he agreed and apologized.

It still amazes me that anyone in the hobby would ship a card like this and I know all of you have seen worse too.

[ClementeFanOh]

Good morning Jim- Wow, not good at all. I've been fortunate in this regard
(knocking on the wood in my head as I type). The thing that I've noticed is
not so much the poor shipping protection practices, but rather the bad
judgment and seemingly limitless number of excuses from sellers once they
get paid. For example, in your case why couldn't the seller have posted a
message that he'd be out of town a couple days due to emergency, then
ship after? If the situation truly was an emergency- if he essentially grabbed
his wallet and keys and ran out the door- could he have not posted that
message while eating, waiting as the emergency resolved itself, etc? Or asked
his wife to do so in his stead? If he had time to collect the money, he had
some time to communicate a delay. THAT is what gets to me. For Heaven's
sake, it'd take one minute to post a message on a site, right? Trent King

PS- I'm hoping this comment doesn't usher in some bad karma.

[Vintagedeputy]

I agree, Trent. Perhaps I’m being too trusting of the fact that he said he had a family emergency, but I give him credit for responding to my email right away and completely agreeing with me that it should’ve been shipped better. Maybe I’m just in a good mood today where I might’ve blasted him harder otherwise. In the past, I’ve received cards shipped loose in a box, pennants folded up and rolled into a bag, etc. This one just bothered me because this was a sportscard auction, rather than a random, non-hobby person off the internet. My kids when little would have known to use a penny sleeve and top loader.

A delay of a few days would’ve been annoying, but preferred compared to the shipping method.

Jim

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Good morning Jim- Wow, not good at all. I've been fortunate in this regard
(knocking on the wood in my head as I type). The thing that I've noticed is
not so much the poor shipping protection practices, but rather the bad
judgment and seemingly limitless number of excuses from sellers once they
get paid. For example, in your case why couldn't the seller have posted a
message that he'd be out of town a couple days due to emergency, then
ship after? If the situation truly was an emergency- if he essentially grabbed
his wallet and keys and ran out the door- could he have not posted that
message while eating, waiting as the emergency resolved itself, etc? Or asked
his wife to do so in his stead? If he had time to collect the money, he had
some time to communicate a delay. THAT is what gets to me. For Heaven's
sake, it'd take one minute to post a message on a site, right? Trent King

PS- I'm hoping this comment doesn't usher in some bad karma.

[Zach Wheat]

Was he/she trying to take advantage of eBay's discounted shipping where there is a fine line between protection and going over the weight limit? Just curious

[bnorth]

Did the card get damaged in any way?

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Did the card get damaged in any way?

I don’t believe so. The original sale didn’t have high definition scans and the card didn’t arrive with any creases or noticeable issues. One corner is a little softer than the others but I can’t say that wasn’t the original condition. I’m just glad my mailman didn’t fold it in half to put it in the mailbox.

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

Was he/she trying to take advantage of eBay's discounted shipping where there is a fine line between protection and going over the weight limit? Just curious

No, it wasn’t an eBay auction.

[jchcollins]

Never underestimate the idiot factor when it comes to shipping. I once got a ‘55 Bowman Ernie Banks thrown into a PWE - just the card. No sleeve, no toploader, no anything - and it had a sticky note affixed to the card itself. Incredibly, after I carefully removed the sticky - it seemed no worse for the wear.

If not using eBay, just make sure you are going through a 3rd party who will stand behind you if you run across a seller like that. There are way more of them out there than you would guess…


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[Bcwcardz]

I chalk it up to the fact of so many new sellers in this hobby. They have no idea on how to package and ship cards or memorabilia. They are just in it to make a buck. Just send it out like it’s an Amazon package. No cares in the world . I rarely seen true hobbyists send like this. I don’t buy his excuse either. Glad it got to you in one piece!


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