One recent search led me to a seller who had recently opened a case of 2006 Bowman Chrome, and had several individual rookies, rookie autos, uncirculated rookies, etc that were of interest to me, and all at reasonable prices.  So I ended up bidding on a whole slew of them.

I didn't win them all, but all told, I won 8 auctions--one uncirculated rookie, one rookie auto, and six individual rookie cards.

Now, they were all listed with $2 shipping, and granted I didn't ask up front about combined shipping or shipping method--but I got the invoice, and the seller had dropped shipping from $16 to $8--which, based on my experience, I thought seemed a little high, but I figured "Eh, could have been worse."

Then, a few days later, an envelope arrived.  Not a padded envelope, just a regular #10 envelope.  Inside, the cards were wrapped securely inside some paper, and taped/stapled into place, so they wouldn't move around the envelope too much--but once I opened that up, I was once again dismayed--the six rookie cards were in penny sleeves only, taped between the rookie auto (in a top loader) and the uncirculated rookie.  That's right, he taped right to the uncirculated case (including the hologram tape seal), with no team bag or anything.

Fortunately, I was able to get the tape off the case with no problems, and all the cards were fine.  But in all, the guy spent $1.34 on postage, and probably less than $0.50 on packaging expenses, for $8 in shipping charges.

I understand I got many of the auctions for very cheap, and the guy was probably just trying to make some additional profit--but even using my shipping methods (all cards in top loader, wrapped in invoice, using padded envelope) and charges (I think I usually at $0.50 per additional auction), there would have been more money made.

And then I wouldn't have made sure to dock him on my review of his shipping charges when I left feedback.

Needless to say, I'm not real likely to buy there again...

Check out my other football related blog, atZoneBlitz.com

How to Not Get Repeat Business on Ebay

Cooley doesn't have his own blog (yet), but has a blog at http://chriscooley47.blogspot.com/ (thanks to Sports Cards Uncensored for that--I thought I beat you to the punch for once!), and contributes to the Shutdown Corner on Yahoo! Sports.  In the past, he has discussed his own fantasy football experiences, including the 2005 season when he knocked one of his own teams out of the playoffs with a three touchdown performance late in the season. 

His most recent entry deals with his re-entry into football card collecting--specifically ending up ripping $70 worth of product one afternoon, and not finding what he was after (a card of himself--sounds like an egotist, but let's face it--I'd do it too).  He did get an Adrian Peterson rookie auto #'d 062/199, though.

Thinking that cards today are pretty cool, he went back to the store and bought more--and now it sounds like he (and his wife) are hooked.

And they've even got a profile up to sell cards on ebay--you can see what he's listed here.  His first foray netted some decent cards--that AP auto is going for about $163 so far (ends in 8 hours or so), and he has a handful of other jersey cards up, going for between $31 and $61.  Looks like today he added a Tom Brady jersey, and a Chris Cooley autographed card--which is already up to $28, presumably because Cooley pulled and signed the card himself.

Looks like there may be more of these in the future--at least until Topps/Donruss/Upper Deck tell him he can't do it any more (would they do that?).

License for phpBay Pro is invalid.

Check out my other football related blog, atZoneBlitz.com

Football Finds its Pat Neshek?

A quick look at recently close auctions show a 1991 Favre Upper Deck Star rookie (the one that you can kind of make out in the header photo above) going for $7.99 in a Buy it Now auction, a 1991 Fleer Ultra going for $6 plus $3 S/H in a BIN auction, another '91 Upper Deck going for $10 (BIN again), and a 2 card lot of '91 Upper Deck going for $13 BIN.  There are a ton of BIN auctions that closed out this morning.

Going back to auctions that closed yesterday, a '91 Upper Deck closed for $3.25+$3 S/H, a '91 Fleer Ultra for $3.05+$2.95 S/H, a 2005 Topps Throwback 1991 Topps BGS 9.5 that failed to get a bid at $9.95+$3.95 (same card sold BIN for $19.95+$3.95 earlier today), a '91 Fleer Ultra that didn't get a bid at $0.99+$2.99 S/H, another with no bids at $0.99+$3, a '91 Upper Deck for $8.00+$4.60 with no bids, and another one that sold BIN for $3.50+$2.

Looking at live auctions, it's going crazy:

'91 Upper Deck, $20.00 + $2.50 with 4 hours left
'91 Fleer Ultra, $10.50 + $2.00 with 3 hours left
'91 Upper Deck, $10.50 + $2.50 with 5 hours left
'91 Upper Deck, $15.00 + $4.95 with 1.5 hours left

There's even an Upper Deck Rookie Debut card (appears to be a 2005, I think, but conveniently there are no years listed in the auction) selling for $10.79 + $3.50 with an hour left (and a seller with a 97% rating, although all from 12 months or older).

My final verdict: Hold on while I get my scanner fired up so I can get my three Favre's listed.  In fact, I even found a '91 Upper Deck BGS 9.5 that had a BIN of $25 + $1.50 S/H, which I decided to snap up--hopefully I won't be late to the gold rush.

Otherwise, I guess I'll just take some Saturday to drive a couple hours east, and find some sucker Packer fan to take it off my hands. Now, the only question is, can I stomach making Favre a Card of the Week on Friday?

Check out my other football related blog, atZoneBlitz.com

Brett Favre Retires: Impact on Hobby