Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Contradiction that has Become eBay.

In the past I did stories about eBay going BUY IT NOW only. Thanks to overwhelming user response, eBay seems to have scrapped that idea! YEAH!

But the computer take over of so many eBay functions continues & big brother on eBay has never been worse. If you ever want to talk to someone you bought from or someone who bought from you- REMEMBER- Paypal lists the ACTUAL e-mail for these people on your receipt. So DO NOT use eBay Mail unless you absolutely have to. eBay has a computer program read EVERY e-mail you send through eBay Mail!!! If I wanted that, I'd move to Communist Russia!

EBay simply does not make any sense any more. Places have rules- and if you study those rules over and over so that you can become an authority on those rules, you can help enforce those rules- right? That sounds like correct logic, doesn't it? BUT THAT'S NOT HOW THINGS WORK ON EBAY!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't lie and I don't exaggerate. You know why? This hobby and companies involved in our hobby of Sports Cards & Memorabilia do such crazy things that I never have to lie or exaggerate because the truth is even stranger! 

Once again I'm at war with eBay. The ID I've been using for 5-months now: cardsharks ( I changed one letter to avoid eBay identifying me) has built up over (600) feedbacks and according to every regular eBay employee I spoke with by phone I was told many times "YOU HAVE AN OUTSTANDING REPUTATION AS AN HONORABLE BUYER & WE THANK YOU FOR THAT".
Remember I'm permanently suspended from eBay for well over a year now for basically fighting eBay's stupidest rules. All I did was calmly discuss the rules that contradict each other with "specialists" (eBay's term for supervisors) & since I wouldn't agree with the specialists I was permanently suspended. I SWEAR TO YOU THAT THIS IS THE REASON & I WILL GLADLY TAKE A POLYGRAPH TEST TO PROVE THIS!

The main issue was buyers that complain about the absolute worst sellers they encounter to eBay & by feedback and in retaliation the sellers call eBay with frivolous complaints about these buyers. The way eBay's Policy Violation system is set-up is this: ANYONE GETS A POLICY VIOLATION JUST BY EBAY GETTING A PHONE CALL ABOUT THE BUYER/SELLER REGARDLESS OF THE BASIS OF THE CALL OR COMPLAINT! THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE FACT PEOPLE, I PROVED IT OVER & OVER WITH THEM!

Now, the default Seller block for Policy Violations is (4) four in one month. So if you are a buyer who is fed up with newbie sellers who charge $4.00+ to ship one card and then your card arrives: in a plain white envelope with $1.05 postage, or if you bought (4) cards & were charged $1.00 for each additional card & the postage was $2.00 in a .25 cent bubble envelope, or you complain politely to the buyer & they immediately snap back saying "it's none of your business what I charge", or "my eBay/Paypal fees were $1.00, and it cost me most & time for gas to go to the Post Office". MEANWHILE ALL OF THESE EXCUSES ARE AGAINST EBAY'S RULES WHICH ARE CLEARLY STATED! So you call eBay and the employee you speak with tells you that you did the right thing by calling and you should continue to call & leave negative feedback for such things and you shouldn't worry about retaliation because we will help you: IS A BUNCH OF LIES!!!
Once you get a "specialist" on the phone they'll never disagree with the person who told you all those things- BUT they will say: "you must have misunderstood them", or "they wouldn't have said that". SO THEY BASICALLY PLAY GOOD COP/BAD COP!

Over the last two months I've been buying 2011-12 Panini Preferred ON CARD autographs like crazy because one of the hospitalized children I buy cards for wants these sets. The family of this child have given me as much money as they could come up with and I am donating the rest to make this dream come true.
There once was a time in America where you could contact a company and explain the details of a dying 14-year old child who collects cards and even provide the medical records (which the family will gladly do) in order to get a donation directly from the company. However, thanks to the unstoppable greed in this hobby and the current state of this country's economy- those donations DO NOT happen anymore! I did ask Panini for help THREE times over the last two years & they didn't even bother to respond (I contacted five different departments)! So it's up to individuals like myself to make these dreams come true.

BTW- I've been buying cards for this 14-year old dying girl for over 2-years and her doctor told her parents several times in that span that she has a couple of months to live- so I'd like to think that the cards are helping her stay alive.

So far I have spent over $1,500 out of my pocket (literally on my credit card which I don't know how I'm going to pay back) after the $2,000 the family gave me was gone. The good news is that the Crown Royale & Panini Choice sets are over 90% complete!!! We agreed that we would not include any individual cards that cost over $100 each. But in exchange I've been getting as many versions as possible of each Panini Choice cards (Red, Blue, Silver & Gold), Gold Versions of Crown Royale and have over (20) different Silhouettes JSY/AUTO cards too. I have at least two versions of 75%+ of the Panini Choice players. I have (86) of the (100) cards in the Choice set, 75% of the Silhouettes (which I'm adding as a bonus) and have (36) of the (39) Crown Royale cards. The only player that has eluded me in both sets (Crown & Choice) has been Oscar Robertson. I'm willing to pay $40-$50 for each card, but less than (4) of either card has ever shown up on eBay! So there are 35+ of each card still in packs or in other people's sets.

I've found that patience definitely pays off with these cards. The Devin Ebanks redemptions for ANY of his cards were $18-$25 each before the actual cards started shipping 10-days ago. Then I bought the actual Crown card for $12.00 & $12 for the Silhouettes card. SO WHY WERE THE REDEMPTIONS SO EXPENSIVE FOR SUCH AN IFFY PLAYER? Who knows, he sure isn't the next Kobe Bryant!!!
My next mission is to get the Mitch Richmond cards for less than $15.00 each. He's another one that is OVERPRICED, & Tony Kukoc is another one at $25.00 which is NOT WORTH IT. I'll wait until I can get each for $15.00 or less which I'm 75% sure will happen within the next month or so.

Remember to always ask questions & FIGHT anything that you think is wrong- ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE- I'm proof!

Best wishes as always.

James McCay aka Cardcop