That's not Rod Carew

I had a successful day of bidding last week on ebay. Three Hall of Fame relic cards from the same seller. Shipping was a flat $3.00 for all orders won if the cards were paid on one invoice. I spent a total of $9.59 on the three cards. That's $3.20 per card (on average), $4.20 per card if you consider shipping.

So, what did I win?

• 2009 Icons Legendary Icons Jersey Wade Boggs
• 2009 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Jersey Jim Rice (41/75)
• 2003 Finest Refractor Bat Rod Carew

What did I receive in the bubble mailer today?

• 2009 Icons Legendary Icons Jersey Wade Boggs
• 2009 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Jersey Jim Rice (41/75)
• 2003 Topps Finest George Foster Autograph

It is a very sweet card. Shiny and the pen was put right to the card. No sticker here.

George Foster is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Doesn't mean that I don't like the card. I really, really do.

But, my moral compass quickly started spinning wildly. I knew what I had to do. I contacted the seller and told him that what I received is not what I ordered.

While I waited for his reply, I thought that he might respond with, Oh, my mistake. Go ahead and keep it. I'll get your Rod Carew out later today. Sorry.

Nope. Here's what he said...

Send back i will fix

I responded that I could send it back if he'd provide the postage paid bubble envelope. Then I wrote and asked if there was any way to stay within the boundaries of ebay rules, could I buy it from him.

His reply...

we have sold that to another customer :(

No, Thank you for being honest. No offer to knock some off the next shipping fee if I win another auction from him. Just 12 words, an emoticon and no punctuaion.

I'll be shipping it back to him either Wednesday or Thursday.

When I get the Rod Carew card, I'll post about it.

Working in IT

Recent comments on my last post have led me to think that I wasn't clear about the cards that I purchased on ebay. Lest anyone think that I'm living the Beverly Hillbillies lifestyle, rolling in mountains of cash while only buying old cards because the new shiny ones are expensive, let me assure you that I'm not.

The gift card was for $25.

The T206 was had for $9.95, plus $3.79 S&H. $13.74 total.

The Exhibit Cochrane was had for $1.04. The "Wide Pen" Cochrane was had for $12.50. Same seller, so a combined S&H of $3.50. $17.04 total.

Three cards delivered for $30.78. Strip away the S&H charges and I picked them up for $23.49.

I do count the cost of the S&H, so I guess I was lying. Have you known an IT guy who doesn't?

My three newest cards

 
are my three of my oldest cards.

I have had a sucessful string of bidding on ebay recently.

I was able to complete some of my objectives for collecting.

In a post from January I tried to define my goals.  I'm still tweaking that list (in my head).  Here's a portion of that post...

What I want...
* Cards that are meaningful to me (yeah, that's vague)
* Game Used and Autographed cards
* Hall of Fame players
* A T206 card
* A pre-1900 card

I was able to win a T206 card.  Cy Barger.

I can cross that one off the list.

Then I was able to get a Mickey Cochrane. A 1948 Exhibit Baseball's Great Hall of Fame.


The same seller had a 1936 Goudey "Wide Pen" of Mickey Cochrane. This is the card that I wrote about for the Fourth Blog Bat Around.

Now for the fun part.  I work in the IT field.  I do many things, but helping people get their PCs back working is one of them.  A friend brought me their horked PC.  I was able to unhork it quickly.  She was very appreciative and brought me an ebay/paypal gift card.  The gift card covered all three of these cards.

I'm a happy man.  

I mentioned that these three are three of my oldest.  The other card that is one of the four oldest is a T205 card.  Another card for another post.