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

[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.

[shagrotn77]

Originally Posted by mr2686

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.

Nobody put a gun to the guy's head. Maybe find someone else to pick on.

[Kzoo]

After it popped up on Ebay on Memorial Day in 2017, I studied this Campanella for a week. I was 99% sure of the sig and took the chance. The guy was selling it for his neighbor in Florida, whose husband was deceased, but used to be an autograph collector. All other items from his collection had sold years prior, but she found this card and a 48 Bowman signed Berra RC (Mill Creek still has it for sale) while cleaning out her roll top desk. I think starting bid was $25 and it's the most expensive thing I ever bought on Ebay. I had butterflies in my stomach for weeks, first waiting for it to arrive, then waiting for a response from PSA. Happy how it turned out.

[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?

[Exhibitman]

It's all long gone; I bought the lot for resale. There was an imperial cabinet of a minor league baseball team, a few boxing cabinets including a 1920s large mounted photo by Hall of boxing HOFer Jack Delaney that was broken in transit, and hundreds of 'actor-animal' strip cards and other entertainment and boxing cards. Also a bunch of sports photos and other ephemera. What was amazing was the sheer volume of what was omitted from the AH description and photos.