Posted By:
MWRoy,
I conducted a search of eBay using the key words "paper scraps." Here is what I found:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2161588208&category=1440
Please note which category this is -- Collectibles:Postcards & Paper:Scrapbooks
I also found the following:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3117940962&category=11791
Again, please pay attention to the category listing -- Toys & Hobbies:Crafting, Art Supplies:Scrapbooking:Pages, Paper:Other Pages, Paper
As you well know, either of these two categories would be appropriate for the items that you sell. For you to argue that the hand-cut paper scraps you are selling are actually baseball cards or baseball memorabilia, would be analogous to the seller of the second item above putting a frame around the colored scraps of paper and listing them as masterpieces in the "Art" category. For just as you might considering the general "appearance" of your worthless scraps to be similar to ACTUAL baseball cards, so too might one consider 10-cent pieces of colored construction paper to be similar to works of art such as these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3501395888&category=20135
Next, ask yourself the following question -- do most honest sellers on eBay list an item in an unrelated category in order to increase exposure or to mislead the buyer? I don't think there is any question that you ARE NOT selling graded baseball cards; but by virtue of the fact that graded baseball cards often command greater values and greater trust than those that are not graded, you have chosen a clever and deceptive method of categorizing your listings. The fact that some of the bidders in your auctions are unaware of what they've purchased and are naively content in the short-term does not prove that you are a hobby innovator; rather, it demonstrates your prowess as a snake-oil salesman.
One more thing – by cutting apart vintage baseball documents, you ARE NOT creating something that would be considered "memorabilia" by any stretch of the imagination. You are destroying, not creating. There are no dotted lines around the pictures you are snipping with your scissors; there are no price guides that list values for any of your graded abominations. Well, there is one -- the 2nd Annual 2003 "Crap Sellers Guide to smack and other scalawag scraps and rubble." Maybe you can list that as a resource in future auctions.
02-26-2003, 12:49 AM
1896 chopped up Spalding
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