30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Disappointment and Delight

Sometimes it's easier for me to simplify my collection by breaking things down by decades.  The 90's were about inserts and parallels.  When I think of the 80's, I think of rookie cards.  And even though I didn't start collecting baseball cards until around 1981, I classify the 70's as the era of fantastic food and restaurant issues.

Like many of you out there, I have a deep appreciation for Kellogg's lenticular cards.  Ever since I got my hands on the 1976 and 1977 sets, I've been trying to collect a complete run of Kellogg's cards from 1976 to 1983.  I just need the 1978 and 1979 sets.

Earlier in the week, I thought I had secured a 1979 set, when I won this auction:


It was a Kellogg's lot that included two 1979 sets and another Kellogg's set from either 1980, 1981, or 1982.  The winning bid was $41.30 (+ $7.70 shipping), which would have been a really great bargain.  The 1979 sets alone sell for around $28 to $34 each.  The third set would have been icing on the cake.

Unfortunately a few hours later I was very shocked to see that the seller had issued a full refund and a brief eBay message stating "I refunded you".  eBay stated the product was damaged, so I messaged the guy and asked him if all of the sets were damaged... hoping that maybe he'd send me one of the 1979 sets and give me only a partial refund.  He responded with that they were "damaged" and he didn't want to risk going through the whole "refund" process when I received them.

To make a long story short... I was super disappointed and felt like these sets were conveniently damaged, because these sold for way below market value.  I don't make a habit of leaving "negative" feedback, but in the heat of the moment, I did.

On a more positive note, I received a PWE from Peter over at Baseball Every Night.  Inside was this note:


Here's the card that went along with his note:


2018 Stadium Club Autographs #SCA-PB

Like it?  I love it!

This is my very first Blackburn autograph... and it's a beauty!  It features a well cropped action shot with the Oakland Coliseum in the background.  Seriously.  It doesn't get cooler than that.

Thank you Peter!  It temporarily helped me take my mind off of my eBay issues.

But wouldn't you know it... I had another issue with an eBay purchase.  This one didn't involve a refund.  It involved packaging tape being directly applied to the PSA slab containing my very first Larry Walker autograph:

1990 Score #631

Ugh.  Seriously?  Who applies packaging tape directly onto a graded card holder?  I tried to carefully remove it, but it still left glue residue all over the place.  Guess the vendor hasn't read Gavin's public service announcement.

I cleaned it up with WD-40, some laptop wipes, water, and a microfiber towel.  

The result:


I'm pretty excited to add this card to my collection.  Walker doesn't have a lot of certified pack-pulled signatures... and the ones I have seen feature him in a Colorado Rockies uniform.  

I've been trying to find an autographed rookie card for my Montreal Expos PC for quite some time in the $20 range, so I was pretty excited to land this for $12.05 CAD (+ $4 CAD shipping), which converts to $12.63 USD.

Do you have a supply of blue painter's tape?

I'll go ahead and wrap up this post with another positive story.  In addition to Peter's PWE, I received one from Steve over at 1975baseballcards.  Unlike the eBay seller above, he used blue painter's tape to secure the cards:


Inside were three 1991 Topps baseball cards:  Bill Bathe, Russ Swan, and Jamie Quirk.  Only these weren't your everyday commons.  These were the famous glowbacks:


A few weeks ago, he sent me a 1991 Topps Dave Valle glowback and I tried to convert my iPhone into a UV light.  It didn't work, so I went out and purchased a cheap $8 light on Amazon Prime, which I used to check the three cards above.


I looked for the Valle to check it, but I seemed to have misplaced it.  I remember labeling it a glowback on a post-it note and thought I inserted it into my Cheap Cool Cards binder.  However when I looked this past week it wasn't there.

As soon as I'm finished building all of my care packages, I'll clean my office.  Hopefully this story will end on a positive note and I find it.  Then again... I heard all bad things come in threes.

Thank you Steve for these awesome glowbacks!  All three have been added to the binder for safe keeping.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

13 comments:

The Lost Collector said...

Boy I hate when sellers pull antics like the one above.

If you're interested, Walker has been a great TTM signer over the past few months. could always send a out a RC that way for a signature.

Peter K Steinberg said...

I keep meaning to buy more blue painter's tape and just never remember. Which I think makes me a jerk. But not compared to the eBay reneger. Terrible! I'm glad that the card reached you and that you love it! Makes me so happy! Happy Saturday!

night owl said...

I have a virtually endless supply of blue painters tape. I may never need to buy another one again.

Brett Alan said...

You absolutely should leave negative feedback when a dealer pulls something like this. It protects all of us.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Those glowbacks are something else. So crazy that someone actually discovered them. Great mail day and bummer about the attempted Kellogg’s purchase. The only time I have left negative feedback is with a very similar situation. Snagged a deal, and they didn’t want to honor it.

sg488 said...

His feedback would make me cautious before bidding,97.5?

Nick Vossbrink said...

FYI the yellow ink on 1987 and 1990 Topps also glows under UV. There are no variations those years though but if you like the glow effect and ever find your blacklight again you can have some fun with those cards as well.

Commishbob said...

Feeling your pain as I've had three 'completed' sales go south on me in the last month...a 'complete' set that was light about 30 cards... a 'sorry, I had previously sold the card' excuse and someone who TAPED their business card to the cover of a magazine I won! Ridiculous.

On a positive note I just today got three 40 cent cards sent to me in penny sleeves inside sturdy toploaders and each closed with a blue tape pull-tab!

Mike Matson said...

I need to get some painter's tape. When I don't have, I'll fashion a little envelope out of paper and tape that. (Meaning, card inside a penny sleeve and top loader wrapped in paper with a piece of scotch tape holding the paper to itself)

Once I get some US Based International stamps, Walker is one of the first I'm sending to..

Bulldog said...

Never heard of the glowbacks until now. Great post and too bad you missed out on the Kellog's cards. Good post. Thanks.

Fuji said...

the lost collector - i was pretty annoyed by the guy. he's relisted the item, but i'm not going to bid on the item. i'l have to get walker's address and give him a try.

peter k. steinberg - lol. you did fine with the shipping. truly appreciate the blackburn. it arrived in gem mint condition

night owl - can never have too much blue painters tape. i use it at home, in my classroom, and for care packages

brett alan - glad to hear that. i was wondering if i was too harsh. i think i've only left negative feedback a handful of times in 20+ years of usage

sumomenkoman - the glowbacks are pretty awesome. had to invest in a uv flashlight, but it was worth it.

sg488 - he only had around 50 feedback at the time of my bidding... one being negative. for the price, i was willing to risk bidding. ended up coming out being a bitter customer ;)

nick vossbrink - wow. very cool. had no idea. uv flashlight was the best $7 to $8 investment

commishbob - oh dang. that's terrible buddy. i'd be very upset. hope the guy who sold you the set took care of the 30 cards or gave you a partial refund. and i hope your magazine wasn't damaged.

mike matson - i use blue painter's tape, but it's not the end of the world for me when someone doesn't use it. as long as the card arrives safely... that's the most important thing. in fact, i reuse old top loaders with scotch tape on them all of the time.

bulldog - the glow backs are very cool. i'm tempted to dig in and see if any of my other 1991 topps are glowbacks

Comatoad said...

I use painters tape on all my mailings. Another tip, is using alcohol-based hand sanitizer to help get rid of tape scuffs. If you use just a wee bit and rub it in, it's amazing what it'll clean up.

Fuji said...

As a teacher, I have plenty of this stuff lying around. I'll definitely give this a shot. Thanks.