Here we go again (Obaks pack)

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Posted By: warshawlaw

You know, the more you insult me, the more obvious it is that you don't want to address what you actually wrote. My commentary at the top was unnecessarily polemical, for which I apologize (I must have had a lousy day). None of that changes the wording in the listing, however, which is misleading.

Just so there is no mistake, here is your description of this item, verbatim:

"Early Obak Cigarettes Complete Unopened Box BASEBALL.
Full unopened box of Obak Cigarettes. The tax stamp on top of the box is unbroken. Early packages of Obak Cigarettes contained Baseball Tobacco Cards that featured players from the Pacific Coast League and Northwest League. This box is NM and super clean. Add $6 for shipping."

You said "early packages" of Obak Cigarettes contained baseball cards. You described the item as an "early Obak cigarettes complete unopened box." A box is a type of package. When I read this with the word "baseball" right beside it and with the item listed in the prewar baseball cards listings, I certainly thought that you were suggesting this early Obak package might have a baseball card in it. Clearly, I was not the only one with this reaction.

One of the things I did manage to learn in law school is that the best way to say something is to come out and say it as clearly and unambiguously as possible [for you dead language fans, "expressio unis excludio alteris" [probably misspelled]: the expression of one thing excludes the alternative]. If your listing had said initially that there cannot be any baseball cards in this package/box, there would never have been an initial post on this issue. It didn't, though, did it? Taking what you wrote in the best light for you, you made an ambiguous choice of words that needed correction, which you have now made. At worst, however, it would be easy to conclude that you intentionally chose your wording so as to suggest that the item might have a baseball card in order to raise bidders' interest in it while planning to use the distinction between "package" and "box" to explain any subsequent discrepancies.

You've been honest in your dealings with me and others I know and I've never had a bad or cross time with you, so I prefer to conclude that you simply chose poor wording for the listing.