Post your best (or worst) Ebay "Surprise"

[packs]

I was once searching around for CDV's and came across a CDV of every Civil War General and Officer, about a hundred heads all crammed onto the CDV including Grant and Doubleday. I paid $100 for it and then flipped it for $500. A month later, I saw that the person who bought the CDV from me had entered it into a Hunt auction. The CDV sold for $325. Good pay day for me, horrible one for him.

[thekingofclout]

Well I have a big Tupperware box that houses my Bad surprises/mistakes. As we all now know how expensive these Ebay lessons can be... and boy did I pay for my schooling!

At least I was able to learn from some of my mistakes (that's why I have a big box instead of a small one) and over time, a bit more and a bit more.

Because most of these Ebay surprises, good or bad, still fall into the category of good decision or bad.

The life lesson we learned in grammar school, the Three "R's" still apply to collecting. My 3-R's are:

Research, Read, and Remember.

Well, a decade later, and I'm still making mistakes, just less of them and not as costly. But I also reap the rewards of my labor of love. You just have to take the good with the bad. A little Ying and a dash of Yang.

I was given good advice from many. "Don't trust GAI". Nah, I thought, they're Ebay approved. In my bad box there sits a beautiful second year Michael Jordan signed press sheet. Also a GAI Roger Maris 1961 Pin (Pin? I didn't know that GAI slabbed Pins?) in the small version...oops, they didn't make a small version of that particular pin...Shit!

And even earlier than that, I bought a GAI Jimmy Foxx signed George Burke original photo and a GAI Babe Ruth signed 1939 FDC. Damn it...DOH!

The only reason that those two expensive Bad Surprises/Mistakes are not sitting in my bad box is because Marshall bailed me out. It took him several calls to Steve and a letter, but they paid me in four monthly installments. A shout-out "Thanks" Marsh, I owe you...uh..umm... a lot!

Maybe this thread isn't as good as I thought it was! Thanks Mark!

Well that's all I can stomach for now, So after I throw up a few times I'll come back and post some of the good surprises.

Best, Jimmy

P.S. That is Marshall FOGEL not Barkman.

[perezfan]

Great stories, Jimmy...

Sorry to spur those bad memories! But I can relate so much to them, as I think most of us can. There are very few feelings in life worse than being duped, but that's how we ultimately learn and progress.

I would bet that most people on here who deny it ever happening to them are fibbing (or at least not telling the whole truth). Nobody knows everything from "Day 1". That's what makes this hobby a great one... the continued learning and sharing of the knowledge.

The Jimmie Foxx Ball that sits in my shadowbox display represents "attempt #2" at an original one. There were lots of other silly mistakes made along the way as well... including some recent big ones (i.e. that damn Cap Anson Padlock!) Some were driven by the hope of getting something valuable for a great price- though amazingly, I never "bit" at any Coach's Corner offerings... even in the early days (thank God!).

I'll stop rambling, but suffice it to say that despite the mistakes and setbacks, all of our collections are better since the advent of Ebay. I know mine is, and that the good far outweighs the bad. Now, I can't wait to read about your "good surprises", Jimmy. There must be quite a few, given the infinite number of gems you've posted here!

[Orioles1954]

The Bad-----A "raw" 1933 DeLong Lou Gehrig which turned out to be a carefllu designed reprint. Luckily, I got my money back.

The Good----(7) Old baseball cards for $2....which consisted of (6) 1980s commons and a random 1951 Topps Team Phillies card! Flipped for $60

The Great----Cracker Jack with blurry photo. Seller wasn't sure if it was a reprint or not and noted as such in the description. I was looking for adventure. $30 later I got the card. A beautiful 1915 Cracker Jack Louis Evans which got a SGC 84!

James

[BrockJacob]

Most of my bad ebay surprises have been items arriving smashed to hell. I bought one of big Blatz bar display statues and it arrived with the arm broken off the bottle figure and it looked like the seller had taken some sand paper to the paint before he packaged it because it looked much better in the photo. The most dissapointed I've ever been about an item is when this Red Sox figural ashtray showed up broken into about a dozen pieces. I didn't pay a bunch for it but its the kind of oddball thing I love and its the only one I've ever seen. I was really bummed.

[perezfan]

Wow Brock... that was a really rare and possibly unique piece. What a freakin shame... I'd be crying loke a baby! It's amazing to me how these things can survive for 70 years (unscathed), and then get demolished the minute you are about to get your hands on it.

I say punishment by lethal injection, to all of the ebay sellers who put no effort into packaging these fragile and irreplaceable items! Or perhaps that was too "Dorskindy" (to quote another recent thread on the card side).

[vintagesportflips]

My best surprise came in a huge group of more modern football and baseball programs (a couple of box loads), mainly Eagles stuff from the 70s and 80s. As I was sorting through it, at the bottom of one of the boxes, was an Eagles player contract from the 40s, a 1960 Eagles yearbook (which aren't that easy to come by), and a folder of a bunch of team used letterhead, etc.
As an Eagles collector, I was ecstatic with that surprise.

Worst surprise. Several years ago, when I was more into nodders, and trying to complete the relatively inexpensive merger series set, I came across a Baltimore Colts merger series nodder, that had a very odd base. The base was more of a wedge shaped base, with script Baltimore, exactly like you would see on the base of a Baltimore Orioles nodder. I emailed the seller, and he assured me that it was all original, and I specifially asked about how the ankle area looked. It looked perfect in the photos, and I thought it was some very rare prototype or something, so I won it. Upon receiving it, although it was not evident in the photos, the ankles had been obviously broken off, and for some reason attached to the feet and base of a Baltimore Orioles nodder. My prototype was too good to be true. I recall an incredible hassle to get a refund too.

[thekingofclout]

the good ebay surprises that are still in my collection.

About five years ago, I came across this familiar image of Matty. I had bought many times from the seller and I had no reason to think it was anything but a TYPE I image of Matty and a stellar one at that even though there wasn't a scan of the back provided.

So, I won the auction for just over five hundred and was very pleased to get such a terrific deal. About a week later, it arrived safe and sound...

1098.jpg

and when I flipped it over I bout shit myself!

1099.jpg

There was Matty's name written in pencil while in the hand of a certain Charles M. Conlon almost a hundred years ago. Since then, I was able to acquire a companion piece that further supports my claim...

mattypremium.jpg

look at the bottom right corner of the image and you'll see that Conlon was given credit I've researched it ever since and at this time it is evident that this is the only known TYPE I of this image in private hands. I do miss the good old days of Baseball Photography