Zeenut Thorpe on ebay

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Posted By: Paul

This was more than I could afford right now, but seemed like a steal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110243604853&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=001

Much cheaper than the one in Hunt's Auctions in a similar grade. What happened here? Are there problems with the seller? If I recall correctly, he has sold a lot of Old Judges in the past.

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Posted By: John S

I have purchased a few cards from this seller in the past...always ungraded but accurately described and authentic. He either is in the possession of or is selling for an individual that has quite a collection. The cards that I purchased were tougher pre-war examples that I purchased at well below market value.

He is an indirect victim of the scams and reprints being sold on eBay.

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Posted By: quan

i emailed a board member and was hoping he'd win it since he bidded very strong on the one in hunt. seller seems fine from past experience.

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Posted By: Wesley

Same questions has arisen about this seller a few years ago when he had a large group of raw OJs for sale. All the OJs turned out fine.

Someone got a very good deal on this Thorpe card.

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Posted By: Andrew

Not only does the seller not grade, but he doesn't respond to emails. If just one of my three emails were addressed, his hammer price would have been MUCH higher.

"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Jong

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Posted By: Kyle

I asked for a guarantee on authenticity, no response, and he lost a grand from me at least because of it.

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

some may not respond when thier integrity is in question. Emails may not be recieved at times because of wording. There are some collectors that think they can abuse others just because they are pre war guys. It is very irritating to be bombarded with question after question when they are redundant. To most they could see this card was real. The guy maybe got bored with the emails, it doesnt make it right to not respond to at least those who were courteous in their writing. Your approach makes a huge difference.


There are enough people on the board that could have answered the questions, you can always buy a partner here.

This doesnt make this guy bad......and you have your opinions.I do not ever recall not getting a response when being polite.

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Posted By: Andrew

Just for reference, here's one of my three emails, the other two had a similar tone. I suppose I could have softened it a bit, but I didn't exactly call him an A-Hole fraudster either. I realize the description indicates USPS Priority, so my question could have been phrased differently, but a response indicating that inusrance is/is not available isn't too much to ask for a "high dollar" card. Again, a seller can do as he pleases, but some of the things he didn't do left $1000s on the table.

Hi, will it be shipped USPS Registered (preferred), USPS Insured, or other?

"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Jong

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Posted By: dennis

if i wanted that card,i'd be pretty upset if i did not bid on a card that hardly goes up for sale,with no auction house fees & it went so cheap, because seller did not answer emails? this seller left a lot of $$ on the table. i'll bet the buyer is one happy guy. it will probably show up slabbed in an upcoming auction asap.

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Posted By: Andrew

I'm certainly not upset over it (banging my head like Homer, yes), but the card not being graded and unanswered emails are the reasons I retracted my snipe.

...and for those who hate grading, find it morally offensive, etc., this usually translates in to lost dollars. So for high dollar cards, maybe go through the rigor of submitting and seeing that reprehensible piece of plastic over your card, but cash a bigger check in return.

Seems like more Zeenuts are coming out due to price run-up, so maybe the duration when key cards are offered will decrease.


"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Jong

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Posted By: Cat

I was the underbidder on the Hunt Thorpe (I went to $8K plus juice and it sold for $8,250 plus juice). I had an extremely healthy snipe on this card, but when my e-mail went unanswered I lowered my snipe by $1,000 just because it made me feel like I was offering some sort of retribution for not answering my e-mail. In the end my snipe didn't go off anyway (it was way above the ending price). I am trying to find out what malfunction occured. With my snipe program I have to type my EBay password into the snipe program on each transaction. I think I may have typo-ed my password. I am feeling a little bit like a blockhead right now.

I really wanted that card too.

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Posted By: Glen Turner

The ebay seller also posts on Net 54. Remember awhile back when someone posted the blog "Show me your nuts". He showed the card then. It was not a very good picture and it was in a semi-rigid. I e-mailed him and asked him if he would send me a nice scan of the card because I keep an album with pictures of rare cards. He sent me this very scan that was on ebay.
What a card!!!

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Andrew, if you 'liked' ungraded cards just a bit more, you'd not have knots on your head and you'd be posting about this bargain card you won and then had graded.

How could you have bought that card graded?? With 2 to 3 times the money you say.

You should be banging your head, because you didn't buy it.


So what you're really fussing about is how you like graded cards and you have anxiety about buying ungraded cards. Don't blame the seller for that.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Cat, that's a pretty awful story. I've had it happen to me but never on a card as nice as this one. Horrible feeling, my condolences. Only consolation is that the card will be available in a much higher grade very shortly in an online auction. You may want to add a zero to your bid, though.

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Posted By: Cat

The good news Jeff is that I have already rationalized my mistake: "You know, that card doesn't fit my collecting focus anyway!"

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Posted By: Fred C

I spoke to Bub for a while in February. He mentioned this card was going to be on ebay soon. He's not too computer savvy. I mentioned to him that he'd get a better price for the card if it was slabbed by SGC but I think he just didn't want to go through the hassle of sending it in. He's sold a lot of interesting material in the past couple of years and he could have maximized his take but he's slow with email and doesn't grade... that's just how he rolls.

Edited to add - there was a discussion about him and his lack of responses to questions, that and he doesn't put much detail into the item description. He "popped-up" on the board after someone directed him to the thread regarding his poor communication skills.

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Posted By: Andrew

Frank, I sort of follow your logic.

However, I'm not really a fan of graded cards. Among various reasons is that I find it silly that a PSA 9 is worth x times more than a PSA 8 due to a pair of subjective eyes. Furthermore, it's a shame the TRUE scarcity often takes a back seat to condition scarcity.

HOWEVER, for "high dollar" cards, I do like the extra layer of comfort (albeit thin) that grading offers. Again, the seller can do what he pleases. However, since money is often the consideration behind selling - save for those who do it for the love of the hobby without consideration of financial game, but then charge multiples of what it would fetch on Ebay - it behooves a seller to keep the buyer in mind when the goal is to maximize financial return. So, the average seller (maybe not the one question) will opt for the first choice:

A
grade the card, spend the ~$30
answer emails
describe card in great detail

B
The opposite

In sum, I can like un-graded more than graded, but only buy graded for cards in which there are at least three zeros in the check amount field.


"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Jong

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Posted By: Bob

So is the consensus that in an SGC 10 holder this card would have sold for more than it did? It sounds like it wouldn't have mattered because the seller's nonchalance with answering questions by legitimate buyers was the reason the card went for a good price, not the fact it was ungraded.

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Posted By: Brian

If it were graded by SGC, sold by the same seller, and the seller behaved exactly the same --> it would have sold for more.