Tips for Finding Obscure Cards at eBay

[rhettyeakley]

Actually you have gotten some great tips from people but apparently since they may require some work on your part you aren't interested in them. My advice would be to be appreciative of any tips you get but that may be too difficult. People spend a lot of time and effort finding those pickups you spoke of, when you are willing to do the same you will probably have some cool pickups to share as well.

[brianp-beme]

I agree with Rhett...I have been collecting vintage consistently for 30 years and my dilligence has paid off with plenty of little nuggets over that time. It however, has almost been a second job for me. Like Rhett has, I feel that I have provided lots of useful information on this board about a variety of subjects, but this is one each collector should have to be forced to stick their nose to grindstone until it is almost a divining rod for locating cards.

Brian

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

Actually you have gotten some great tips from people but apparently since they may require some work on your part you aren't interested in them. My advice would be to be appreciative of any tips you get but that may be too difficult. People spend a lot of time and effort finding those pickups you spoke of, when you are willing to do the same you will probably have some cool pickups to share as well.

+1

That's why I come home from the National physically exhausted--I roam the floor from before opening until the close every day searching for hidden gems.

[packs]

My best deals of all time all came from accidental hits on casual typos.

Example: I picked up a Bob Ewing Carl Horner cabinet because I typed in baseball cabient instead of baseball cabinet.

Example 2: I was searching GC Alexander and accidentally typed in GL Alexander. Much to my surprise I stumbled upon a listing for a GL Alexander signed baseball. It was an authentic Grover Cleveland signed baseball with a Buy It Now of $80. I scooped it right up.

... Or you could just get lucky. Ran into this on ebay yesterday while searching "Seattle Pilots". It was mislabeled as "Navy or Seattle Pilots early PCL Photo". Had to look twice and thought I recognized the jerseys. Sure enough, it really appears to be Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot vs. Scott Motors of Reno of the Western Nevada League. Scott Motors was a team from 1932-35, and I'm assuming it is 1935 from the cars in the background.

Jimmy Claxton played for them from 1933-35. The pitcher in this game is right-handed. The first baseman has a similar build to Claxton (about 5'9" & 170 lbs.), but it is tough to tell if his glove is on his left or right hand. Can anyone tell by the way he is coming off the bag? Claxton also played right field in '35.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251006787928...84.m1439.l2649

Unfortunately the seller would not provide information from the reverse of the photo as suggested in the description. It's a nice photo and goes with a Scott Motors Ticket I already have so I shelled out $10 and am hoping for the best.

[dstudeba]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

Actually you have gotten some great tips from people but apparently since they may require some work on your part you aren't interested in them. My advice would be to be appreciative of any tips you get but that may be too difficult. People spend a lot of time and effort finding those pickups you spoke of, when you are willing to do the same you will probably have some cool pickups to share as well.

Time? Effort? That is no fun.

[collectbaseball]

There's no 'solution' to the issue of finding things... you really have to churn through listings to find things. But there are ways to expedite the process. A few things I've learned:
1. Make use of all the different search variables ebay allows: () "" - *
2. Look through the advanced search options... different things will come up if you limit your search to items with only 10 bids or to items with no bids at all
3. Try out different spelling errors
4. Don't discount buy it now listings--I always thought it was easier to find 'steals' in auctions and BIN generally overpriced/good deals snatched up in an instant. But last week I picked up two Thornton Wilder (author, not baseball related) signed books for a grand total of $70 or so from two different sellers in BIN listings.
5. Always look at a seller's other listed items... as the saying goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire."