Have you ever been ripped off when buying cards?

[GrayGhost]

Dave Bergin's post hit home, as I know the same rip off dealer, and Dave had told me back then bout getting gypped. Luis the Lip as he was called, was a sequencer and a pack resealer, who burned many many people in CT over those years, esp w 84 and 85 topps racks and wax. When he was called out and exposed by a reputable legit dealer, who bought some 85 boxes on a fast turn over, w a lot of trust, his luck started to wane.

[zork1974]

There's a dealer that sets up at the Toronto Expo every year. He has amazing football and vintage baseball. Most of the stuff is raw and looks to be anywhere from a grade of 6 or more. Anyways, I bought a 52 Bowman Sammy Baugh a few years ago from him and sure enough, it came back from SCG as trimmed. $120 down the drain. In the spring, I went back to the guy's table and went through a ton of his stuff as a "possible buyer." Knowing what I know now (what to look for in trimmed cards), he had all sorts of trimmed stuff.

I didn't say anything. I'd like to but to me, the $120 hit was a great learning experience. I'll still buy unslabbed cards but I certainly know what to look for when it comes to ungraded material.

[Ladder7]

Oh Hell yea., One word Fro Joy.

[slantycouch]

Ugh - these stories make me cringe.

I bought a large lot of '33 Goudey commons a few years back and when shipped, the dealer switched about 20 of them with reprints. So odd because he had superb feedback and some great stuff. I was on the road when they arrived at home, and I didn't open them for a week or two. By that time, I figured it wasn't worth the fight. Tried a few times, but ultimately just left him negative feedback and moved on. Guess for the $200 or so it cost me in bad cards, it was a learning experience.

[GasHouseGang]

The resealed pack story reminded me of the time I got ripped off. The 1975 Topps minis were still hot around 1977. I thought it would be fun to buy some packs and open them. Some guy in SCD offered them at some special price so I bought something like 5 to 10 packs (can't remember). I actually bought them to open them. When they came, they looked like regular 1975 packs to me. I opened them, and they had minis, but absolutely no stars and most cards were miscuts. I didn't try to send them back. I couldn't prove they were opened, so I just kept them. Never wanted another mini after that or packs that weren't in sealed boxes.

[DaveH]

Steve,

That's 2 words

[jabiloxi]

I remember this one time at a local store in Elk Grove. I used to go to this store because there were pretty good prices and I was just getting back into card collecting. I noticed this gorgeous Patrick Ewing STAR RC which was priced around $100 I saved up and bought it.

Anyways, a couple weeks later as I am going through my newly acquired cards and marveling over their timeless essence and reliving childhood dreams, I come across my Ewing RC and notice on the back it says in tiny print that it is a reprint. I mean I thought I was pretty good at checking for these things and could have sworn that I had checked the card when I bough it but sure enough it was a reprint.

So, I go to the card shop pissed and tell the guys the situation and that I wanted a refund. It was awkward but I got it. I never went back again and soon after focused primarily on Ebay and graded material.