Can The Youngest Sports Card & Autograph Collecting Generation Destroy This Hobby For Good?

YES, That's a BIG 10-4!

Much greater than 50% of all under age 30 (or so) collectors in this hobby never had a Price Guide to give them even the slightest bit of hobby INSIDE INFORMATION, "Reader's Write" in Beckett was gone years ago (where if you knew enough things about the hobby, you could learn more by what Beckett DID NOT say to answer a collector question- than by what they did say!) and Beckett's only purpose that they have served in this hobby for over TEN years was to promote EVERY product, every card company told Beckett to heavily promote and that was their SOLE JOB! You see Beckett has always WORKED FOR THE CARD COMPANIES, but never more-so that after 2004. Mike Payne who was the President of all of Beckett in 2001 told me in an e-mail "You do things we could never do- because we are afraid of losing advertising dollars from card companies that we couldn't go on without." I'm paraphrasing of the top of my head, but everything in that statement I just typed was discussed between Mike & I at least once in 2001 with the exact meaning of that statement. That was him admitting that Beckett worked for the card companies and not for collectors at all anymore- AND NEVER AGAIN!  

Most dealers became so jaded and greedy that they'd never dare tell anyone anything that they considered to be "hobby secrets", so where in the world were these below 30 collectors going to learn anything conducive to being a smart collector who know what products to stay away from, and what to collect? THIS GENERATION HAD NO ONE!!! So this created an environment where they decided to come up with their own interpretations of what goes on in this hobby and 90% of it COULDN'T BE MORE INCORRECT! In short, this created an entire generation of hobby egotistical DUMMIES who listened to no one who tried to help them for free by sending LONG explanation e-mails after people like myself saw them being ripped-off by BIG Full-Time eBay Sports Card sellers who nearly all OVERCHARGED for Shipping & Handling which has ALWAYS been against eBay's Rules! Then to stop this, eBay made all bidders and winners of items ANNONYMOUS! So the most educated buyers/sellers on eBay could no longer warn this UNEDUCATED generation which was the worst thing eBay ever did. It also made it quite difficult to spot SHILL-BIDDING which occurs FREQUENTLY in the Sports Card area on eBay since they made bidders mostly ANNOYMOUS!  

Since I embarked on ridding this hobby of as much fraud as I possibly could- all by myself in 1997 online, I knew for a fact that I would have a rather large following even though there was no such thing as: Labels or web site/page Tags yet to help put your pages in Search Engines. This had to be done manually for EACH PAGE which was a long boring process or if you were rich you'd have to pay someone to do your work for you. I always believed that money means NOTHING at all when you are fighting a just cause because if you have that fire in your belly to fight the good fight- there's not enough hours in a day to work on doing the fight of your choice and I enjoyed fighting Card Company & Price Guide fraud more than most could ever understand.. I KNEW this had been occurring since I started in this hobby as a full-time collector in early 1987. So I spent over 14-years gathering as much inside info from every angle in this hobby so that one day I'd know this hobby far better from every angle than any other single person that existed. I hit that point in early 2001.

 

After the first two years of having my web site "Sport's Collector's Scoop" on AOL's FREE Web Site service, I had a mailing list of close to (200) hard-core, very educated collectors who wanted to know anytime I uncovered anything new as far as previously UNKNOWN wrong-doings by anyone that would directly negatively effect collectors who I put on my e-mailing list. Most times it went out Monthly, but anytime I uncovered something important, I'd send an UPDATE to the whole group.

 You need to understand that the only people who PAID others to set-up and run web sites for them in the 1990's was relatively obscure web sites like: small bakeries, specialty retail shops, and stuff like that. I was the very first person to have a web site devoted to fighting fraud in any hobby run by just one person 100% FOR FREE and I did it only to HELP ALL COLLECTORS, especially children that most hobbyists (and Price Guides, Card Companies way before anyone else, etc.) seem to have totally forgotten about; which is simply SHAMEFUL!

Until everyone gets on board to FIGHT all Card Companies/Price Guides starting with the worst (as of November 2015) - Topps, Beckett, Upper Deck, then Panini: everything will continue to get worse and worse for collectors and our hobby will be GONE FOR A VERY LONG TIME until a baseball year like 2001 comes along again (free of steroids this time) if that's even possible which I'm not sure it is.

James McCay -my direct e-mail since 2004: cardcop04@gmail.com

 

SECRETS EBAY NEVER WANTS YOU TO KNOW!

SECRETS EBAY NEVER WANTS YOU TO KNOW!

I've been wanting to cover this topic for quite some time now, but my discovery of this secret had nothing to do with myself (since I haven't been on eBay for a year or more) and my eBay Member helpers weren't involved in this specific fiasco either. So I waited to totally protect the person who reported this NIGHTMARE to me with absolute proof (copies of eBay e-mails, copies of the CROOK seller's eBay e-mails, etc.).

 

This story starts with a semi-expert female Tiffany collector and her grown children who chipped in to buy a $500.00+ Tiffany item from an eBay Seller. The children also did all of their homework before buying this Tiffany item for their mother's birthday. This is a very honorable woman whose been more in her life than anyone deserves because quite frankly this world is full of scumbags who couldn't care less about anyone but themselves and they are more an enemy to decent people in this country that the IRS, the Government, and the 1% of Super Rich people COMBINED. I say this because 99% of the time these SOCIOPATH scumbags have had a lifetime of practice stealing from people, so the average person would never have a clue that they were being scammed until it was way too late. If you think you are immune: YOU ARE JUST AS IGNORANT AS YOU ARE EGOTISTICAL AND DESERVE WHATEVER HAPPENS TO YOU! Fraud is at an all time high in all areas of collectibles and you all need to wake up and accept this as fact!     

 

I have been investigating fraud at all levels in the sports card and memorabilia hobby at my own expense to help others since 1992 with as much vigor as if I was being pain a Million Dollars per investigation, but I do every one for free. I know no one else does this, but then again I never met anyone like myself before and neither has any hobby expert (as per their words if they took the time to get to know me).

 Either I do something to the absolute best of my ability, and/or will learn everything I can possibly learn before doing any investigation- OTHERWISE I WON'T DO IT AT ALL. I admit there are several things I REALLY wish I could fight since 2005 but my illnesses just won't allow me to and that bothers me every single day.

 

So this woman gets her Tiffany gift and red flags are seen. So the woman starts questioning the buyer and the answers don't fit, or change with time. Then the seller lists ANOTHER ONE of the EXACT SAME Tiffany item (which was SOLD OUT by Tiffany for a LONG time) that she was given as a gift from her children that bought it from this same eBay seller.

Of course the buyer files an eBay Buyer Protection case at this point. Anyone would have been confident that they had an iron-clad case against the seller, BUT NOT ON EBAY!!! eBay tells her she needs a letter FROM TIFFANY (not a Tiffany expert, or Tiffany Retail store) but from Tiffany itself ONLY! Tiffany sellers who are experts likely know that Tiffany will not issue letters stating one way or the other whether their items are authentic. But why would an average knowledgeable Tiffany collector know this?  

 

This woman did not know that: as why would she? This is not something Tiffany advertises, nor is it something eBay advertises anywhere either. It's something collectors ONLY find out AFTER THE FACT the hard way.

 I call this FRAUD, plain and simple!

It turns out that eBay has UNWRITTEN RULES as rules that TRUMP their BUYER PROTECTION POLICY (and Seller Protection Policy too!) in all collectibles categories!

If you pay more than $500.00 on eBay for anything that can be construed as a collectible and it turns out to be FAKE: you are ON YOUR OWN! eBay's Buyer OR Seller Protection Rules or Policies no longer apply.

SO IF YOU ARE A COLLECTOR OF ANYTHING; THIS APPLIES TO YOU AND YOU HAD BETTER READ CLOSELY OR YOU'LL BE STUCK WITH A WORTHLESS PIECE OF JUNK AND YOU'LL BE OUT $500.00 (or your children will as was in this case).

 

I have never been more sickened by learning such information, NEVER! The ONLY WAY you may be able to get around this and force eBay to enforce THEIR RULES is if you are willing to pay an attorney THOUSANDS of dollars to win your $500 back??? This of course is something only the top 1% of the USA population might do, but then again even the ridiculously rich in most cases are not stupid enough to spend thousands to win $500??? It just doesn't hold water, which is EXACTLY why eBay does this!

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I have a Sports Card and Autograph story that falls right in with this Tiffany story, but on the other end of the spectrum.

First I need to say that I do not think anyone should be allowed to sell ANY autographs on eBay unless they are On Card Certified Autograph Inserts from established card companies since their Authenticity rate since 1990 is over 99.99% AUTHENTIC! No one can claim an Authenticity Rate anywhere near that number.

I personally would allow Steiner and Tri-Star Autographs to be sold on eBay because the have spent decades building a reputation for selling autographs that they have only personally obtained in-person at private signings. They don't sell autographs they bought from others (at least that's what I know) if it's proven otherwise for either company- then I'd make sure those autographs would NOT be allowed to be sold on eBay.   

 

Now I'll quickly explain WHY I said this.  It is far too easy to forge autographs: I've forged autographs and sent them to PSA/DNA or James Spence (or someone in my group has with other members present) and they were Authenticated as real EVERY time!!! I feel safe to say that there are as many Authenticated forgeries on the market as there are real Authenticated autographs. Is 50% Authentic a justifiable reason to pay as much (or more) for an Authenticated autograph vs. an On Card Certified Autograph Insert from a large card company? Well that's what's happening on eBay for over a year now!

 

Too much time has passed since Operation Bullpen from the FBI out of San Diego was fresh in people's minds and a whole new generation of IGNORANT BUYERS are buying forgery after forgery on eBay simply because they are TOO LAZY to do just a little research on Google!

ANY AUTOGRAPH COLLECTOR (other than ONLY On Card Certified Autograph Insert collectors like myself) NEEDS TO GO TO GOOGLE and type "Operation Bullpen FBI San Diego" and read until your eyes can't take anymore. Then wait a couple of days and start where you left off until you read the ENTIRE Operation Bullpen report!  OR you can go to Amazon and buy: Operation Bullpen Paperback – October 15, 2006 by Kevin Nelson  -

ISBN-10: 0978634004

ISBN-13: 978-0978634001

eBay has ANOTHER UNWRITTEN RULE for sellers of autographs and any collectibles. Regardless of whether you accept returns OR NOT (which is a "CHOICE" EBAY give every seller). If the buyer complain that they want a refund, eBay will AUTOMATICALLY GRANT THAT REFUND! So why does eBay give sellers a choice to check off as to whether they want to accept returns or not? TO GIVE SELLERS A FALST SENSE OF SECURITY, that's why!

 

eBay doesn't know, nor do they care that there are many buyers on eBay (mostly the young generation who learned FRAUD from the last generation) who buy MINT cards purposely so that they can switch it for their damaged card and then they will request a return. When the sellers says what ALL their listings say: "WE DO NOT ACCEPT RETURNS", they simply contact eBay, open a case saying they received a damaged item (a lie), and eBay will AUTOMATICALLY ISSUE THE BUYER A RETURN. To add insult to injury eBay makes the seller pay the return shipping fee for the lying buyer!!!

 

THE SICKEST PART OF ALL OF THIS IS THAT NO ONE HAS ENOUGH MONEY, BRAINS, OR ABILITY TO START AN AUCTION ONLY SITE THAT FOCUSES ON COLLECTIBLES ONLY WITH RULES THAT BENEFIT EVERYONE EQUALLY TO GET ALL OUR COLLECTIBLES OFF OF EBAY WHICH WILL BANKRUPT THEM???

COMC is a joke if you need to sell because you need money, like many do for medical bills thanks to F-------- USELESS OBAMACARE AND BUDGET CUTS TO THE DISABLED AND ELDERLY!!! If you cash-out of COMC THEY GET 40% (if you are owed $100- you only get $60??? Come on now...)!!! I have a very high level of INTEGRITY AND HONOR, so I can't sell my items through crooks on eBay by consignment (WHO ALL SELL AUTOGRAPH FORGERIES THEN BLAME THEIR CONSIGNEES), I don't need to mention any names. So what option is there??? NONE!

 

I live on Social Security Disability (since 2003- I "WON" it in 2006 after 3-yrs of fighting) which hasn't increased yearly in SIX YEARS! Then my mother stole over $10,000 from me to gamble with (she's the worst gambling addict I ever thought existed & ONMLY on slot machines). HER ENTIRE HOUSE IS OWED ON LOANS FROM GAMBLING!!! Sure the Government try to make it LOOK like they raise SS & SSD by $40-$60 a year, but then my Food Stamps are LOWERED by EXACTLY THAT AMOUNT OF MY INCREASE EVERY TIME OR THEY RAISE MEDICARE PREMIUMS TO THE EXACT AMOUNT! Do they really think we are that stupid, NO they just know we are too sick to do anything about it.

 

Try living on $1,180 a month in this economy. I am legally homebound and 99% bed-ridden and thanks to 'budget cuts" I can't get any help from the government (city, state, or federal) at all. I can't stay on my feet for more than 5-minutes or I will collapse. Try being 6 ' 7" tall & 255 pounds and collapsing with no strength in any of your limbs. Each time I fall it's life-threatening. Plus I have no family, my mother's mind finally snapped after living with severe mentally illness and she's in a Nursing Home with no mind left, and my father who abandoned us when I was 18-months old passed away in April, 2015. So now I have literally no family left being an only child OF an only child. Not that my family ever did much to help me, but it was more important just knowing they were there- even though they were little to no help. And forget about "friends" when they realize how sick you truly are they are GONE- that was 2007.

 

Just know I'm still fighting for all collectors no matter how sick I get. Maybe this will eventually inspire SOMEONE to do what I did when I was healthy from 1997-2004 online with a website fighting hobby fraud when I won EVERY case I investigated at one level or another. Don't forget I put TWO card companies OUT OF BUSINESS by myself (Playoff and Pacific) for fraud most wouldn't believe and had NO ONE helping or guiding me. Think what you could do if you get a group of a dozen or so hobby experts who are collectors only- fighting only for collectors?

PLUS YOU HAVE ME TO GUIDE YOU!!!

James McCay - cardcop04@gmail.com

 

   

NEW: TOTALLY FAKE "AUTHENTICATOR" - Matthew A Moser in OH. You MUST READ THIS!!!

As most of you know I'm very, very sick. Not in the- "I feel like crap now, but I'll be better soon.". But in the- "I've felt as bad an anyone reading this has ever felt and it just keeps gets worse!". I've been legally HOMEBOUND/99% BED-RIDDEN since 2009, and there is absolutely nothing any doctor can do to help me. In fact the way the USELESS FDA Rules stand and keep getting worse for intractable pain patients like myself, they are making life FAR HARDER ON ME (and tens of thousands others) THAN IT NEEDS TO BE!
Yet I still have a fire lit in me to stop as much hobby fraud as I can BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE is doing it right or effectively because they are afraid to lose what little money they are still making off of this hobby. I HAVE NEVER NEEDED TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF THIS HOBBY (because I had professional skills in a few different areas having nothing to do with Sports Cards & Memorabilia), SO THERE NEVER WAS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST WITH ME AS THERE IS WITH NEARLY EVERYONE ELSE! Which I must say sickens me.

I busted a NEW 100% FRAUDULENT Authenticator who started this year (2015) encasing autographs in PSA/DNA like cases.

Here one:

 

The HGAcard.com (look at their website) is completely worthless, useless, and a complete waste of your time because the website is missing EVERYTHING a true authenticator would want to put on t5heir website if they were legitimate. Like their TRUE hobby experience, his site mentions NONE!

If you've already put your trust in this moron like the eBay seller who tried to sell this card above on eBay for over $40.00- you threw your money out the window and now implicated yourself in a fraudulent venture.

 

HGA (Historical Grading and Authentication) is nothing but a scam. If anyone spend an hour (it took me three hours because of my physical disabilities) looking into this seller, they would have found the exact same things I did:

 

1) The "authenticator" who told me by e-mail that he "has been an autograph expert since the early 1990's" is only 25-years old right now which he also admitted in another e-mail a few days later. SO HE'S BEEN AN AUTOGRAPH EXPERT SINCE BEFORE HE WAS BORN!!!

 

2) The "authenticator" lives with his parents (Chris & Candice both in their mid-50's) in Whitehouse, OH. I have the exact address, but he only puts a PO Box on his website (BECAUSE HE IS A CROOK!). 

 

3) I contacted one of his big eBay sellers and asked a couple of questions. His seller told me Matt Moser (Matthew A Moser to be exact) is the person he had his cards authenticated by, and that he has been using Matt Moser for about two years. Before 2015, he ran Grade My Cards according to his seller (which ironically Moser denied). He also gave me Matt Moser's phone number: the one Moser gave the seller which is a cell phone. Why didn't he give his seller his home address land line (which I have as well) WHERE HE LIVES WITH HIS PARENTS? Because again, he is a CROOK!

 

As far as I'm concerned: CASE CLOSED with Matthew A Moser & HGAcard.com (or Grade My Card). They are all worthless CRIMINAL enterprises just to make money.

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I've said this before and I'll say it again; DO RESEARCH ON ANYONE YOU ARE THINKING OF USING. Right now I wouldn't recommend ONE authenticator or Forensic Document Examiner for that matter because there is no licensing required for either, so they people think they can just start a business because there is ABSOLUTELY NO 100% TRUSTWORTHY WATCHDOG IN THIS INDUSTRY.

 

The only autograph you can trust are established CARD COMPANY On Card Certified Autograph Inserts. If you buy ANYTHING else, you are on your own & there is a 75% chance that you will buy a FORGERY if it is not a CARD COMPANY On Card Certified Autograph Insert which have a 99.99% AUTHENTICITY RATE since 1990!

 

James McCay aka Cardcop

Forensic Document Examiner since 1999 (only for free).

Hobby fraud investigator since 1992 (only for free).

 

I have also donated close to 3-MILLION sports cards &

autographs to hospitalized/underprivileged children every

year since 1989.

 

 

   

 

MANY 2015 UPDATES: Topps & Panini Redemptions +++

PANINI POINTS INSTEAD OF REDEMPTIONS

Well by now most know that Panini turned to a POINTS system (instead of REDEMPTION cards) to choose from cards they put up on a special website. At first I thought this may be an improvement UNTIL I found the OUTRAGIOUS SHIPPING & HANDLING FEE they charge to ship your card to you. It's over $4.00 to ship one card! That's certainly not worth it if you are trying to redeem 400-points or less since nearly all of those cards can be bought on eBay for $5.00 or so.

Plus Panini has been sending absolute CRAP replacement cards for older actual redemption cards they have owed to collectors. I was owed (4) FOOTBALL redemptions that were owed to me for well over 4-months and they send me four worthless common player STICKER basketball autographs. PANINI KNOWS THAT I HATE STICKER AUTOGRAPHS AND USED TO GET ME ON CARD REPLACEMENTS IN THE PAST (considering that 75%+ of all my redemptions since 2011 had to be replaced!).
No matter how many people tell them that they WANT THE REDEMPTIONS they sent in a good majority of the time and have no choice but to accept whatever card companies pick for you: they should go above and beyond to help you get a replacement you would prefer in order to keep this hobby alive!!!

Now just like Topps, Panini doesn't care at all about collectors anymore!

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Topps is just as bad as ever with replacing redemption cards if you are LUCKY enough to get that done AT ALL!

 

Topps hasn't sent MOST actual redemptions owed from late 2011-late 2013 at all because: THEIR EMPLOYEES AT DURYEA, PA STOLE MOST OF THESE REDEMPTION CARDS! Both a CS Supervisor and regular employee told me this whole story personally by phone in 2012-13: it has also been told to other collectors and dealers by DIFFERENT C.S. employees until Topps told them to SHUT UP about this truthful story.

 

In the process of this clusterfrack Topps had all their Executive e-mails and phone extensions BLOCKED from any contacts OUTSIDE OF TOPPS communications! There are only two reasons for them to do such a thing: the Executives don't want to be bothered, or other Topps Managers want to hide these facts from Topps Executives. IN ANY CASE THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST SCREW-UP IN THE HOBBY IN AT LEAST A DECADE AND NATURALLY COLLECTORS GET SCREWED MORE THAN ANYONE!!!

 

About a year ago a Topps CS Manager told me- "don't accept replacements for cards you really want, we'll be replacing those autographs with the actual card you are owed when the season ends for the athlete."  That turned out to be just another of Topps' lies that are more often spewed by Topps than the truth since 2011. 

I've been waiting for two 2013 UFC Knockout ON CARD Autographs: Alistair Overeem and Antonio Nogueira. UPDATE- 5/13/15 STILL WAITING!

In very early January 2015 on Topps Redemption card UPDATE: http://toppscards.tumblr.com/  they stated that they are working hard to get these UFC autographs completed and shipped. WELL I STILL DON'T HAVE EITHER OF MY UFC AUTOGRAPHS AND THEY FINALLY UPDATED THAT STATEMENT IN EARLY MARCH AND THE PLAYERS LISTED THAT TOPPS OBTAINED WERE NOT THE PLAYERS I HAVE BEEN OWED FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS!

 

Then I received a BADLY damaged Blake Bortles Topps Finest STICKER Auto/PATCH card #/50 from a pack. There was a bubble under the sticker almost the size of a dime. COME ON NOW, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO QUALITY CONTROL?  This is the SECOND time in a year that I got a badly damaged $100+ Topps card right out of a factory sealed box. The first one I just donated because I was so stressed out by Topps that I couldn't handle it at the time. But I wasn't giving up on this Bortles. Topps was lucky I gave up on the damaged Eddie Lacy/Gio Bernard DUAL Auto/PATCH card numbered to /25. I don't even own a Lacy autograph now because of this screw up by Topps and I won't buy one because 95% are STICKER AUTOGRAPHS and the ON CARD autographs are TOO EXCPENSIVE!. It had a bad dinged corner AND a terribly scribbled Bernard autograph that NO ONE would be able to identify as his autograph??? 

 

So I spent like $7.50 sending the Bortles to Topps by Priority Mail/Insured to Topps because I DO NOT TRUST TOPPS AT ALL ANYMORE! A few months pass and I called Topps and after several tries I got MINERVA. REMEMBER THAT NAME BECAUSE THIS IDIOT IS NOW IN CHARGE OF ALL TOPPS REPLACEMENTS! She was confused right off the bat. It took her 15-minutes to find that I even sent them this card for a replacement (luckily I sent it INSURED w/TRACKING) and got a call back a day later. Then she said "I'll have to send you a replacement because we don't have any Bortles autographs to send you." WHAT HAPPENED TO TOPPS HAVING REPLACEMENTS FOR ALL CURRENT YEAR PRODUCTS TO RESERIAL NUMBER WITH A NON-DAMAGED CARD??? That in itself is very scary and makes me think Topps is in far more trouble that I ever imagined!

 

THE SAME IS HAPPENING AT PANINI, THEY DON'T HAVE EXACT CARDS TO REPLACE FOR YOU FOR DAMAGED CARDS YOU PULLED FROM CURRENT YEAR PRODUCTS JUST LIKE TOPPS!!! THIS IS SCARY SINCE THIS HAS BEEN BOTH COMPANY'S POLICIES SINCE BEFORE 2000! 

 

So MINERVA asks me what I would prefer so I told her- any ON CARD AUTOGRAPH or AUTOGRAPHS of established players of retired semi-stars or better, or Hall Of Famers from products like Topps Museum, Gypsy Queen, or Topps Tier One from any year that equal the $150 value of the Bortles card.
I don't think I could have possibly made this any easier for MINERVA because every product has about 5% overage on Autograph Inserts after all boxes are finished being packaged. In short, if there are 400 autographs made of any particular player, they have at least (20) leftovers and times that by the (50) or more different players I would have liked and they have at least 1,000 ON CARD autographs laying around just from overage from each product from each year! Plus Topps has around 50% of all redemptions left-over after the expiration date has expired. So Topps has tons of Museum and Tier One autographs from 2014 on back and she could find $150 worth of cards from those products for my replacements??? OF COURSE SHE COUILD HAVE, but she knows nothing about OUR hobby and is a MORON in general, period!

 

So she tells me "I have to talk to my manager and I'll call you back." Guess when that was? NEVER! I had to call her back after waiting a month. Then she says "I have a 2013 Bowman Sterling Carlos Correa/Springer dual auto #/35 worth $150, do you want that?" I said yes considering how little I trust Topps, I'll be glad to get anything at this point, so send me that card."

 

So I waited and waited and FIVE WEEKS LATER after hearing nothing, I call MINERVA back again on 3/17/15. I was told she was not working today. So I told the CS employee that I want to speak to her boss. he said "she is the boss".

 

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS, ONE OF THE BIGGEST MORONS I'VE EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH AT TOPPS IS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE SUPERVISOR!!! 

 

So I explained all the problems I had with her spanning over 6-months and whenever she says she will do something, SHE NEVER DOES. So the guy takes my phone number (with over 2-hours left in the day at Topps) and says the Manager will call me back. UPDATE-AS OF 5/13/15 NO ONE EVER CALLED ME BACK!

 

If all of this doesn't scare you away from buying new Topps product boxes, then you deserve whatever happens to you!

 

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PRESS PASS IS GONE FOR GOOD (bankrupt) AND I GOT SCREWED OUT OF A TRE MASON GOLD RC AUTOGRAPH THAT I WAS OWED FOR 8-MONTHS! So I e-mailed the only executive left at press Pass and told him my whole story. if he had a heart he would have sent me something for the $15 I paid for that card. But he never even responded, but the e-mail did go through correctly and I e-mailed him very soon after the end of Press Pass was announced. THE BOTTOM LINE: NO ONE CARES ABOUT ANYONE ANYMORE NO MATTER HOW MUCH GOOD THEY'VE DONE FOR THIS HOBBY MAINLY TO BENEFIT HOSPITALIZED  CHILDREN. If they don't care about people who've dedicated their lives to helping others for nothing in return, then they don't care about anyone! I GUARANTEE THIS EXECUTIVE IS STILL GETTING HIS PAYCHECKS OR AUTOGRAPH INSERTS IN PLACE OF HIS PAY!   5/13/15 UPDATE- NO ONE EVER CALLED ME!

 

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Something very scary has been going on in the Certified Autograph Insert area on eBay since Feb. 2015. Cards that have been in PERMANENT COLLECTIONS for a decade or almost two are all of a sudden being put up for sale AND auction on eBay in numbers far greater than I've ever seen before (at least for the last TEN YEARS). I'm talking about especially; superstar ON CARD autograph/jersey cards from the very early 2000's that almost never found their way onto eBay in the last several years. Plus it's not just certain cards, it seems like many collectors are giving up on collecting and are getting rid of their very best/rare cards in their collections. Short term this will cause the prices of these cards to drop eventually as long as this lasts (and I think it will). So if you are a gambler, now's the time to start looking for cool Certified ON CARD Autograph inserts you couldn't find for years.

I already saw the effect of this as a friend just sold a very rare/expensive Auto RC Insert. It was a 2001 Elite Albert Pujols RC autograph #/100 which was the Holy Grail of RC Autograph Inserts for a decade. Low Beckett=$900, High Beckett= $1,200 (and those prices haven't changed in MANY, MANY years).I thought she'd get at least $800 for it. The bidding started at $599 and it only got two bids and ended at $655. The card has a very minor corner ding, but few of these cards don't have any corner damage due to the entire holo-foil front that has handled by the players.  

 

If you saw the way many players ship cards back to card companies you wouldn't believe it unless you saw it. WELL I SAW IT. I've literally seen players send (400) cards in an (800) Count box back to Playoff totally loose with absolutely nothing to keep the cards from bouncing all around the inside of the box from left to right and back again. So this literally destroyed the first 20-30 cards on each side, plus can ding corners on nearly every card in the box depending how many times a Post office employee drops the box.  When Playoff would send (400) cards to a player, they'd send them in a box that fit them as snugly as possible or they'd add black foam padding on each side to stop the movement of cards during shipping. But some players get careless, don't use the padding to ship cards back and collectors wonder why they pull autographs with dinged corners. This is also the reason that rarely some autographs had to be replaced entirely. Plus some players man-handle cards while they are signing them. ALL OF THESE FACTS WOULD BE GREAT TO PUT IN A AUTOGRAPH INSERT ONLY PRICE GUIDE, DON'T YOU THINK? If you agree, then e-mail EVERYONE at Beckett and tell them you want a Certified Autograph Insert Only Price Guide!!!

 

5/13/15 UPDATE - I bought a 2001 Fleer Legacy Albert Pujols RC Autograph in MINT Condition for $150.00 which I may get graded by BGS. This is the Pujols Autograph RC I always wanted because it's the ONLY one where he signed his last name clearly with the "o"! Plus it's a nice white background card where the autograph jumps out at you. It's just a really nice looking card. It's serial numbered higher than most of his RC Autographs, but so what??? Not many people care about the difference in serial numbers anymore as a new breed of collector has taken over the hobby:

ON CARD CERTIFIED AUTOGRAPH INSERTS ONLY COLLECTORS RULE OUR HOBBY!

I predicted this over 16-years ago and it finally has come to pass. If the people at Beckett had half a brain, they'd make an AUTOGRAPH INSERT ONLY PRICE GUIDE. But I've been telling them to do this since at least 2000 and they never did, so I don't expect them to do anything intelligent ever anymore which is why I haven't bought a Beckett Price Guide in years. 

 

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FINALLY:

 

PLEASE KEEP REPORTING SPORTS CARD SELLERS WHO ARE CHARGING .50 CENTS OR MORE FOR EACH ADDITIONAL CARD YOU WIN (whether they mention it in their listings or not)! This is totally against eBay's Reasonable Shipping Fee rules and these sellers MUST BE NOTIFIED BY EBAY THAT THEY ARE BREAKING THESE RULES. You need to tell eBay this or the seller will not stop overcharging! The only way to do that is for at least THREE different buyers to complain about the seller using those extra fee profits for paying their eBay/PayPal fees! That's the one rule that eBay NEVER let sellers get away with.

 

So this is how you need to explain it to eBay (AND YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND AS A SELLER):

 

Since it's a FACT that using eBay's PRINT SHIPPING LABEL service is by far the cheapest way to get postage ($1.93 for a 3-OZ package, and only $2.25 for a 6-OZ package), and being that quality bubble envelopes (poly or paper) are .25 cents each RIGHT ON EBAY w/FREE Shipping, plus all other expenses don't add up to more than $3.00 total ($2.25 +.25 +.30 for cases/penny sleeves +.05 for tape ) 

There's absolutely no justification to charge more than $3.00 TOTAL shipping (NO MATTER HOW MANY SINGLE CARD ITEMS ARE WON) in the Sports Card area if the package weighs less than 6-ounces (which 99.9% do). 

My friend had a seller tell him that he didn't have a printer and that's why he charges $4.00 S&H (TO START) and then charges .50 cents for EACH ADDITIONAL item the buyers win! THAT'S THE LAMEST EXCUSE I EVER HEARD! Plus you need to know that this seller actually SELLS (not lists and doesn't sell) over (100) items to DIFFERENT BUYERS a week, had a sports card store for decades. YET HE DRASTICALLY OVERCHARGES FOR SHIPPING & HANDLING ON EBAY BECAUSE HE DOESN'T HAVE A PRINTER TO PRINT HIS OWN SHIPPING LABELS AND SAVE EACH BUYER AT LEAST $1.50 IN SHIPPING FEES! Have you ever heard anything as ridiculous as this before?

Maybe you should know that an HP 1010 printer at Best Buy costs around $35 (with all taxes included), and comes with FREE ink cartridges. Then you need to set your printer print setting to DRAFT and you'll be able to print at least five times more labels. In addition, replacement ink cartridges (you only need BLACK) cost less than $10 each (with FREE SHIPPING) right on eBay!

 

Plus so many bidders stay away from sellers who charge ANYTHING for additional cards won, so calculating in just ONE lost bid and that's .25 cents you lost on ONE CARD!!! Many buyers will buy a few extra cards just to justify paying the $3.00 S&H fee, so that's THREE MORE BIDS YOU ARE GETTING WHETHER THEY WIN THE ITEM OR NOT (another free .75 cents). Are some sellers that ignorant and hard-headed that they can't see how much money they are LOSING by overcharging for S&H???

 

Even most sellers who live on BLOWOUTCARDS message boards are finally agreeing with me that charging those extra per card fees are senseless as they lose bids, get lower seller ratings, and get angry buyers so why risk any of that (and that's without ANY ONE of them mentioning that it's AGAINST EBAY'S RULES AND THEY CAN BE SUSPENDED FOR OVERCHARGING S&H!)? This was the attitude on a thread where just a few idiots out of dozens (flydisco being the main ignorant JERK instigator) thought I was currently on eBay which I haven't been for many, many months now. When I want something on eBay, I have a friend bid for me- so I don't need to be on eBay! Then there's the couple of morons who said "cardcop's been dying for 15-years now." I pity anyone who makes comments like that about a truly terminally ill person (like myself)- one day they may say something stupid to a very ill person face to face and I hope they wind up sicker for life than the person they made the stupid comment to.

 

BTW- I've been terminally ill since 2009 when I was told my illnesses (main ones are severe General Myasthenia Gravis with Hyperthymusism blocking all medications from working right if at all) will only get worse and I'll be lucky to make it past 50-years old (I'm 48 now). I've been homebound and 99% bed-ridden since 2009 as well. I'm in severe-excruciating pain with severe weakness 24/7-365 and no I have no family, and offline friends prefer "out of sight, out of mind" with someone as sick as I am. So I've been terminally ill for almost 5-years now. If any of these morons knew the first thing about any of my illnesses (or cared) they'd never post such comments. The sickest thing is that the worst of these people believe in god... what would your god do to you for making fun of a terminally ill person? INSTANT DEATH sounds about right to me...

eBay Truly Did Make S&H Improvements (11/1/15 SADLY NOT ANY MORE!) to the Sports Card Area!

11/3/15- A SAD UPDATE- eBay has reverted back to the way they were from 2011-2013: THEY COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT SELLERS BREAKING RULES AGAIN, AND THEY ARE STARTING TO PUNISH BUYERS WHO COMPLAIN ABOUT THESE BAD SELLERS WHO BLATENTLY BREAK EBAY'S LISTED RULES: THAT ARE RIGHT ON EBAY's PAGES! 


I had one of my connections deal with a SUPER HARD-HEADED sports card seller who they won two regular sized cards from for around $3.00 per card. The seller's listed S&H price was $2.99. Then they get an invoice with a $3.99 S&H fee. So I had the buyer politely explain to this seller (NEWROCKSPORTS) with a foreign name I wouldn't dare guess where they could be from- that they cannot charge this $1.00 HIDDEN EXTRA CARD FEE due to eBay's HIDDEN FEE and eBay's Reasonable Shipping fee rules.


His response: he filed two UNPAID ITEM COMPLAINTS against the buyer!!! Because it took this seller FOUR DAYS to send the buyer a combined S&H invoice to begin with. So knowing how eBay works - they had no choice but to pay and fight this after they receive the items.
This seller didn't even have the slightest bit of common-sense to make it look like he made the extra effort to protect the cards he sent!


So they get the cards shipped in a .20 cents (OR LESS) no-name bubble envelope, he printed the shipping label through eBay, and the cards were in regular USED top-loaders, both with irremovable tape on each top-loader (making them WORTHLESS). So this seller's ONLY ALLOWABLE S&H FEES are postage ($2.04), and the bubble envelope (.20 cents) for a total allowable maximum S&H fee of $2.54 (eBay's MAXIMUM allowed fee for sports cards UNLESS additional postage or supplies are necessary and used: and neither was the case.


So they e-mailed the seller back and fourth SEVENTEEN (17) times- (5) of which eBay TOLD THEM to ask the seller again to refund the $1.00 S&H HIDDEN FEE. First they spoke to Apple (like the fruit as she stated) a Buyer Complaint Specialist (which is a new eBay employee title, Trust & Safety employees used to handle all cases such as this as recently as a three weeks ago), she told them what I already knew: the seller cannot charge HIDDEN fees, plus this certainly can be considered as FEE AVOIDANCE as well (paying your eBay/PayPal fee with S&H profits).
So she said she would e-mail the seller (which SHE NEVER DID!) to tell him he was breaking eBay's S&H rules (which he refused to look up on the eBay links they sent him, or what they told him with my guidance) so I EXPRESSED STRONGLY to Apple that an eBay employee must notify this seller by e-mail of his wrong-doing OR HE'LL KEEP DOING THIS TO EVERY BUYER WHO WINS MORE THAN ONE ITEM, period!
The fact that he had no negatives or neutrals for doing this before has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the facts here which the seller kept bringing up OVER & OVER! Who knows maybe this seller just went bad starting with my friend?


Apple said if the seller doesn't refund the dollar (which was not the point at all in any of this!) in 48-hours, the seller will be suspended. Plus she added "why don't you leave NEGATIVE FEEDBACK for today to warn other buyers that this seller refuses to follow eBay's S&H rules" to my friend. So they did exactly that- within eBay's rules only stating the FACTS.


So they waited 72-hours & nothing changed, no refund, the seller was just as cocky as ever (so no e-mail from eBay to the seller), and no SELLER SUSPENSION! They wasted over an HOUR OF THEIR TIME SPEAKING TO APPLE AND ABSULTTELY NOTHING SHE SAID SHE WOULD DO WAS DONE!!!


So eBay is back to their 2011-2013 tactics: LIE TO BUYERS JUST TO GET THEM OFF THE PHONE & hope they give up!   


Next they call on 10/29 and get transferred to CLARITA in the Buyer Protection Dept. They had to explain EVERYTHING again. They told her they WANT TO SPEAK TO APPLE, then she said "we can't transfer calls to specific employees" (BULLSHIT!). She told them basically the same thing Apple told them- they were 100% in the right and the seller was 100% in the wrong. Then she read ALL the eBay e-mails between them and she said "you even sent correct links to our S&H fee rules for sellers". So they told her YES, they have these rules MEMORIZED unlike most eBay employees.  
She never did what she said she'd do either! Plus the NEGATIVE FEEDBACK I was TOLD by an eBay Buyer Protection employee to leave WAS REMOVED BY EBAY AGAINST THE SELLER!!! And the seller left a LIE Positive/NEGATIVE against the buyer which is still there!!!  Then the buyer's entire purchase price (around $10 was refunded). Yet they made it CRYSTAL CLEAR TO BOTH APPLE AND CLARITA THAT MONEY DOESN"T MATTER TO THEM, WHAT MATTERS IS ALL THE BUYERS THIS SELLERS WILL RIP-OFF IN THE FUTURE.


So they tried calling eBay today and suddenly all the CALL EBAY links in eBay HELP that were on eBay until 10/29 DISAPPEARED??? It took them over 5-minutes to find a CALL EBAY link and that link didn't work! eBay made their position clear: THEY NO LONGER CARE ABOUT BUYERS & NO LONGER CARE THAT SELLERS ARE BREAKING EBAY'S LISTED S&H FEE RULES!


The oddest thing is that when I get one of my connections to talk to a seller as a fellow seller they almost all say- "eBay ONLY PROTECT BUYERS, THEY NEVER PROTECT SELLERS AT ALL" (which is what all eBay Sports Card sellers have been especially saying since this hobby collapsed by 2010 due much to their OWN GREED)!!!  


So don't be surprised if you win (5) items from a seller who says NOTHING about extra items won fees and only AFTER the auctions end you get hit with a $5.00 S&H fee when their only listed fee is $3.00!


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With all the fighting I've done against eBay and their policy of protecting sellers at all costs (and suspending any buyers who went after their BAD sellers) since 2010-11, I honestly thought I'd never make any changes. But once again I was pleasantly surprised and all my hard work paid off. You need to understand that I spent well over 60-hours on the phone with eBay Specialists since 2011. This was hundreds of phone calls to change their thinking and their rules to benefit honest collectors of any lightweight collectibles and to STOP sellers from charging such high shipping fees for combined items (which has been AUTOMATIC on eBay in this hobby since I've been online in 1997). So don't let ignorant greedy sellers tell you "well then I could charge $3.00 PER ITEM instead of discounting my S&H fees." BECAUSE THEY CANNOT DO THAT EITHER UNDER EBAY'S REASONABLE SHPPING FEE RULES- REGARDLESS OF OUR INDIVIDUAL HOBBYWIDE RULES!!!!

A little over a year ago eBay reinserted Reasonable Shipping & Handling Fee Rules in their HELP section (which used to be HELP- then was stupidly changed to Customer Service- and now is HELP again). Then they reworked the pages these rules were on to the point they are at now which truly helps all collectors of lightweight easily packaged collectibles in bubble envelopes that weigh 6-ounces or less mainly.

Every eBay buyer & seller needs to read both these pages and follow the rules on them please:

1) http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html#postage

2) http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/reasonable-shipping.html

From 2010- late 2013 eBay allowed all eBay sellers to break any rules they had or used to have and removed. THOSE DAYS ARE OVER FOR GOOD BUT IT IS UP TO BUYERS TO ENFORCE THESE RULES OR THEY MAY EVENTUALLY TAKE THEM AWAY AGAIN! So if buyers decide to be lazy and allow sellers to overcharge them for combined shipping & handling them you have no one to blame but yourselves. Then I will never try to change eBay rules for the benefit of all collectors again because it will show that you don't really care- no how much you complain to the WRONG people.

I helped eBay understand the sports card hobby and how 99%+ of all combined shipping purchases in Sports Cards never weigh more than 3-ounces (or have 3-ounces paid postage on the envelopes), and how supplies like top-loaders MUST be brand new and free of any irremovable tape for the seller to be able to include the .05 cent cost of each loader into the price of S&H. I also got eBay to understand that QUALITY bubble envelopes of almost any size- #000, #00, and #0 can be bought RIGHT ON EBAY for .25 cents each (in lots of 25 or more) with FREE SHIPPING & HANDLING! The ignorant sellers who pay $1.79 for a padded envelope at the Post Office is beyond my understanding...
Now anyone with half a brain that had been selling on eBay for over a year knows that eBay's PRINT SHIPPING LABEL (free of fees) service that they worked out with the USPS is by far the cheapest way to get postage ANYWHERE! Anyone who is still going to the nearly bankrupt Post Office to get postage by standing on lines (with employees they DO NOT WANT TO PAY) and paying up to $3.37 postage for a 2-ounce bubble envelope are OUT OF THEIR MINDS! Why in the world would anyone do that when they can print their own labels EASILY from home on plain paper, on the cheapest printers they make ($40 or so) using black ink only (SET TO DRAFT which prints 3X-5X as many pages per cartridge) and almost NEVER paying more than $2.25 for postage & that's for a 6-OUNCE BUBBLE ENVELOPE or package (small box for instance)! A bubble envelope that weighs up to 3-ounces costs only $1.93 using eBay's Print Shipping Label service!

I had a friend contact an eBay Shipping & Handling Specialist several months ago by phone and they spent almost an hour on the phone making sure that eBay will back buyers who call complaining about sports card sellers who charge more than $3.00 total (no matter how many items are won) as long as the envelope weighs no more than 6-OUNCES. You have to explain to basic eBay employees that you know for a fact that your package will weigh 3-ounces ($1.93 postage), or up to 6-ounces ($2.25 postage), and that bubble envelopes are .25 cents right on eBay (with FREE SHIPPING) and these are basically the only allowable fees that eBay's REASONABLE SHIPPING FEE rules (listed on the links I've posted several times on this page) explain that sellers cannot charge $4.00 (or more) for the items you won.
You can do this BEFORE you pay, or you can wait until after you receive your items and then call eBay. BUT NEVER AGREE TO RETURN THE CARDS SIMPLY BECAUSE THE SELLER MAKES THAT AN OFFER (after you ask why you were overcharged for S&H- WHICH YOU NEED TO DO BEFORE CALLING EBAY) THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO ACCEPT! Some slick sellers will try to get you to agree to return the cards (especially if you won them for a good price) and then you may get stuck paying RETURN S&H FEES!!! If you do it after you receive your items, tell eBay and/or the seller that you were giving them every opportunity to show that they could justify charging the amount they did within eBay's rules like sending your package Priority Mail, or putting all your cards in brand new, free of irremovable tape Premium Top-loaders when you bought many cards- for example.

NOW KNOWING EVERYTHING THAT I JUST MAY HAVE TAUGHT YOU JUSTIFIES YOU CHARGING $2.50-$3.00 Shipping & Handling on eBay when selling sports cards and NOT EVER CHARGING AN EXTRA FEE FOR ADDITIONAL ITEMS WON! SELLERS: You got that right? If not e-mail me or read these pages!

1) http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html#postage

2) http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/reasonable-shipping.html

BTW if you charge more than $3.00 S&H for a 6-ounce envelope NO MATTER HOW MANY ITEMS THE BUYER WON, YOU ARE BREAKING EBAY's REASONASBLE SHIPPING FEE RULES!!! Just because you state in your listings that you charge this extra fee, THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE ALLLOWED TO ACCORDING TO EBAY'S FAIRLY NEW RULES- AND YOU ARE NOT! Plus not only are you breaking that rule, you are committing FEE AVOIDANCE which means you are charging that extra .25 cents - $1.00 (or even more) per extra item won solely to pay your eBay & PayPal fees which is one of the worst S&H related rules you could ever break on eBay and is a very suspendable offense. All it takes if for four different buyers to complain about a seller breaking these new rules, and they will get suspended. This is what the eBay Shipping & Handling Specialist told my friend.

THE DAYS OF SPORTS CARD SELLERS CHARGING ANY EXTRA FEES FOR ADDITIONAL ITEMS WON IS OVER, BUT BUYERS MUST REPORT SELLERS TO eBay WHO ARE DOING THIS OR IT WON'T WORK!

So now the ball is in your court buyers! I don't have an eBay account because I continued fighting for ALL OF YOU when eBay decided to stop protecting all sports card buyers from the WORST CARD SELLERS ON EBAY (like tntnorthnj) and everyone else who broke eBay's rules on a regular basis in 2010 and beyond, so I was PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED because I refused to stop reporting BAD sellers. eBay told me the reason I was suspended was- "consider this us parting ways" which is the only reason eBay ever gave for my suspension that was not a lie. As recently as three months ago eBay still couldn't tell me why cardcop05 was suspended. Plus I love how eBay allowed bad sellers to add feedback comments AFTER my account was permanently closed!
I had PERFECT FEEDBACK as a buyer and a seller and have two Awards to prove it from 2011 that I received in the mail postmarked a week AFTER I WAS SUSPENDED??? Explain that one...

I have a few friends who are using their eBay accounts to notify every sports card seller they come across that these rules now exist and that they could be suspended if they continue charging any extra fees for additional cards won. Other buyers start to do the same thing. Just politely explain that there are fairly new REASONABLE SHIPPING & HANDLING FEE RULES that sellers need to follow, or you could be suspended if you don't and your current rules are not following these rules.

Here are the links from eBay:

SCROLL DOWN & CLICK "SHIPPING & HANDLING COSTS" IN THE PAGE MIDDLE HERE:
1) http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/selling-practices.html#postage

And HERE:
2) http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/reasonable-shipping.html

Members of blowoutcards.com (that won't let me post on their site), feel free to contact me DIRECTLY by e-mail if you disagree with anything I ever say and we can discuss things like mature adults as always (BUT NO ONE EVER DOES!). Anyone can contact me anytime (I check my e-mail at least weekly even when I'm very sick):

cardcop04@gmail.com