Has anyone risked a "too good to be true" purchase online, and had a positive result?

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by drcy

As someone who worked in art and artifacts authentication, I've seen lots of fakes but have also had people who said they had no clue but had the real deal.

Including a guy who bought a Salvador Dali original print on a lark, and said "Not only do I not know if it's real, I have no idea how to find out." It was genuine.

I hear this ALL the time. "I don't know much about this piece, but I know 100% it is real."

[Leon]

So when one of these deals happens isn't the waiting for the item to be delivered greatly anticipated and a little nerve racking? Fortunately this time there is a good return policy.... It (they)are out for delivery so we will see if they turn out to be hero's or a zero's. ..............(for the record, these today turned out to be duds.)

[Steve D]

I bought a raw T3 Ty Cobb about 16 years ago from a small unknown seller on ebay, that I wasn't completely sure about.

I sent it in to PSA and it came back a 1 (due to a missing bottom corner). The rest of the card though, is flawless.

Steve

[BabyRuth]

Back in 2012 I was scouring Craigslist and found an add for a signed Babe Ruth program. The guy said his mom bought it for him back in 1993. He had a letter from Mark Jordan Autographs (he now works at Heritage). I met the guy in a Friendly's parking lot. Really weird guy, he wanted $4500 for the program.
After haggling for a while he came down to $2500, and said he'll sweeten the pot. He pulls out a signed dinner menu with Cobb, Aaron, Musial, Kaline from his trunk under all kinds of junk, along with original photos from the event (pics of Musial a little Tipsey, Cobb with a Cigarette, etc). He then comes down to $2K for both signed items. I haggle a little more - He throws in a Mantle/Williams signed ball - We settle on $1900 for everything.

Oh and did I mention the Ruth program was also signed by Walter Johnson and was for the War Bond game on August 23, 1942!!!!
It's a jumbo 4 inch signature - just gorgeous!!

I brought everything to JSA at the White Plains NY show a week later - and everything was spot on authentic!!!!!

The biggest score of my collecting days

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by BabyRuth

Back in 2012 I was scouring Craigslist and found an add for a signed Babe Ruth program. The guy said his mom bought it for him back in 1993. He had a letter from Mark Jordan Autographs (he now works at Heritage). I met the guy in a Friendly's parking lot. Really weird guy, he wanted $4500 for the program.
After haggling for a while he came down to $2500, and said he'll sweeten the pot. He pulls out a signed dinner menu with Cobb, Aaron, Musial, Kaline from his trunk under all kinds of junk, along with original photos from the event (pics of Musial a little Tipsey, Cobb with a Cigarette, etc). He then comes down to $2K for both signed items. I haggle a little more - He throws in a Mantle/Williams signed ball - We settle on $1900 for everything.

Oh and did I mention the Ruth program was also signed by Walter Johnson and was for the War Bond game on August 23, 1942!!!!
It's a jumbo 4 inch signature - just gorgeous!!

I brought everything to JSA at the White Plains NY show a week later - and everything was spot on authentic!!!!!

The biggest score of my collecting days

His mom bought it for him? Yeah, that doesn't smell of B&E and selling for drug money.

[BabyRuth]

Ya - his mom bought it for him in 1993, I have the letter from Mark Jordan and the paperwork and credit card slip that she bought it with (all with her name on it).

No B+E, all legit. Why does everyone have to be so negative all the time, Maybe just enjoy a good feel good story once in a while!
That's what this hobby and this forum is all about.

He was just a weird kinda guy from a small Vermont town, but was harmless, not a druggie, just a bit off.

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by BabyRuth

Ya - his mom bought it for him in 1993, I have the letter from Mark Jordan and the paperwork and credit card slip that she bought it with (all with her name on it).

No B+E, all legit. Why does everyone have to be so negative all the time, Maybe just enjoy a good feel good story once in a while!
That's what this hobby and this forum is all about.

He was just a weird kinda guy from a small Vermont town, but was harmless, not a druggie, just a bit off.

I'm not sure how that is a feel good story for anyone but yourself. You got a guy who obviously needed money to go down from 4500 to 1900 while throwing in a bunch of stuff. Sleep well.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by mr2686

His mom bought it for him? Yeah, that doesn't smell of B&E and selling for drug money.

Hey, don't discount mothers. My mom bought me a ton of stuff between the ages of about 11 and 14. There were no legit Ruth autos, no, however there were more than a few Mickey Mantle cards.

[Tripredacus]

Not card related, but I had bought an untested laserdisc player on Ebay for $20 shipped and it worked just fine.

[Exhibitman]

Do AH stories count?

I once made a purchase from Skinner. I forget why but I ended up looking at one of their catalogs and found a lot of miscellaneous cards. The single photo shown had an imperial cabinet of a minor league team a whole bunch of other miscellaneous sports cards, and a bunch of nonsports strips from a tough entertainment set. The description was trash and they were not helpful in response to questions, so I did my own research and was pretty sure that the cabinet had Frank Bancroft. I bid on what I saw and won it. The nightmare then began. Skinner didn't 'do' shipping so I had to contract with a third-party shipper to get the lot sent from New England to Cali. Much anxiety ensued. Eventually I was able to contract with a shipper who demanded $90 to ship a cabinet card and about 50 smaller cards. Rip-off city, but I had no choice.

The box finally arrives after weeks of waiting and it is huge. I open it up and find that one of the two cabinet cards besides the imperial had been improperly packed and broke in two in transit. Yay. My irritation was offset, however, by the bricks of bubble-wrapped cards. Apparently the lot was several times bigger than the cards shown in the photo; the bidders bid on 50-ish items; the lot was more like 250-ish items. One of the most fun and most profitable groups I ever purchased.

[GasHouseGang]

C'mon Adam. You have to show a few pictures. What did you get?

[todeen]

Originally Posted by BabyRuth

Back in 2012 I was scouring Craigslist and found an add for a signed Babe Ruth program. The guy said his mom bought it for him back in 1993. He had a letter from Mark Jordan Autographs (he now works at Heritage). I met the guy in a Friendly's parking lot. Really weird guy, he wanted $4500 for the program.
After haggling for a while he came down to $2500, and said he'll sweeten the pot. He pulls out a signed dinner menu with Cobb, Aaron, Musial, Kaline from his trunk under all kinds of junk, along with original photos from the event (pics of Musial a little Tipsey, Cobb with a Cigarette, etc). He then comes down to $2K for both signed items. I haggle a little more - He throws in a Mantle/Williams signed ball - We settle on $1900 for everything.

Oh and did I mention the Ruth program was also signed by Walter Johnson and was for the War Bond game on August 23, 1942!!!!
It's a jumbo 4 inch signature - just gorgeous!!

I brought everything to JSA at the White Plains NY show a week later - and everything was spot on authentic!!!!!

The biggest score of my collecting days

That Hank Aaron autograph is gorgeous! I Never see any like that on ebay.

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by todeen

That Hank Aaron autograph is gorgeous! I Never see any like that on ebay.

You probably won't for the most part. Although he used that style of H in the 50's and into the 60's...slowly started morphing to what it is today, the Capital A in is last name seems to show up in 1958, mainly on balls, but goes back to the large lowercase A after that.

[Jason19th]

Just posted s bunch of images on the memorabilia side. Picked up a real 1945 Negro Baseball Pictorial Year Book for 35.00. I think most assumed it was a reprint