Online Shopping Spree

2020 can be defined by a lot of different things, but personally in regards to the hobby... it has been the "Year of Cutbacks".  This has has less to do with COVID and more about eBay and COMC charging taxes on sales and purchasing credit... which interferes with my ability to find bargains.  And let's face it... I love my bargains.

If I had to guess... I'd estimate I've cut back on my hobby purchases by as much as 80 to 90%.  I just haven't purchased a lot this year.  But when I look back on things, November 2020 will be the outlier.  

I mentioned on Saturday how I picked up a few things on eBay last week that I will show off as soon as they arrive and are scanned.  A few weeks earlier, I picked up a few singles over at Cincy Cards and Supplies.  Not sure how or where I discovered this online card shop, but while everyone has been digging through 2020's favorite online dime box... I spent an hour exploring Cincy's inventory.

Here are some of the nuggets I dug up...

2016 Leaf Perfect Game National Showcase #BA-292 (#'d 2/10) $4

Miller was the Los Angeles Dodgers first pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.  Prospects are always a gamble, but for four bucks... I couldn't pass this card up.

The card at the heart of this purchase was this Dominic Smith autograph:

2018 Topps Museum Collection Archival Autographs #AA-DSM (#'d 59/99)  $3

I remember when Smith was one of the top prospects in the Mets farm system.  This past season he really broke out at the plate and produced some solid numbers.  He's only twenty-five years old, so it'll be interesting to see how his career plays out.

2016 Panini National Treasures Baseball Signatures #BS-JA (#'d 10/99) $8

This card was the highest priced card of the haul.  I spent a whopping eight bucks for an on-card autograph of the 2020 AL MVP.

The final baseball item of the haul is this "cut" signature of the 1967 AL Cy Young Award winner:

Yup.  That's a label that's been signed and slabbed by PSA and called a "cut" signature.  But for five dollars, it's the latest addition to my Stanford PC.  Here's a look at some of his career highlights provided to you by the kind people at Tristar:

He was also inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2002 along with Rick Burleson, Fred Lynn, and seven others.

Okay shifting gears, here's a cheap autograph of an NBA Hall of Famer:

2013-14 Totally Certified Ballot Busters Signatures #BB-DT (#'d 83/99) $2

I just can't pass up cheap on-card autographs of hall of famers.

And I'll wrap up this post with a very dirty, supposedly "game-worn" swatch of a future hall of famer:

2014 Panini Elite Gridiron Jersey Kings #2 (#'d 4/49) $3

Besides the Smith autograph... I was hoping to purchase four Tyler Boyd cards that were listed in their inventory that were well below market price.  Unfortunately, they had been already sold.  They offered me either a complete refund, but I chose to take a partial refund and have these cards shipped to me.

If you're a collector who knows their minor league prospects, it might be worth your time to check their inventory.  Their website also has a "team" filter if you're looking for a specific team as well as a search engine for player collectors.

As for turnaround time... it did take about two weeks... which is little longer than normal.  However part of the issue had to do with the partial refund.

Well that's it for today.  I hope to have a few other card purchase posts coming up over the next few weeks... along with a COMC haul that may or may not arrive soon.  While we're waiting, why not answer today's question of the day:

Do you shop at any hole-in-the-wall online card shops?

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!