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...

2014 UPDATES: Topps, eBay, State Of The Hobby, etc.

Let's Start With Topps

Over a month ago (mid-June) I received seven (7) of the THIRTEEN Topps Redemptions I'm owed from OVER A YEAR AGO! But the only reason that I believe I received these when I did is due to my relentless e-mails I kept sending to Topps Customer Service. I finally got my four 2013 Bowman Inception BB Corey Seager Prospect Autographs which I really wanted and nothing else I really cared whether I got or not- so I donate those.

I'm still UNPATIENTLY waiting for the only two 2013 UFC Knockout Base Card autographs I wanted for my collection (now I really don't care anymore): Alistair Overeem and Antonio Nogueira. But since Topps sends ABSOLUTE CRAP replacements, I'll have to wait for these cards. I'll never waste my time trying to call Topps on the phone again after being put on HOLD for over 30-minutes the last several times I called and NEVER DID GET A HUMAN: I had to give up instead because I couldn't hold my phone anymore (I have MD).

Aug. 4th 2014 UPDATE- I received two more of the cheapest redemptions that I was owed from Topps for over a year. There's only two left that I care about getting (2013 UFC On Card Autos: Overeem & Nogueira) and who knows if I'll ever get them.
 

 

I have to blame Topps complete downfall of their Customer Service Department on Michael Eisner. With his 100% Corporate background, he thought he could run a sports card company with a Corporate Asshole mentality: THAT'S NOT WORKING and if he bothered to test the waters and see if it would, he would have seen that being a Corporate Asshole Company DOESN'T FIT in this or any hobby like this!!!

 

Topps has a Facebook July 21, 2014 Redemption Update here:

 

 http://toppscards.tumblr.com/post/92423494973/topps-redemption-update-july-21st-2014

 

But it's the first time I've ever seen it (as I don't live on Twitter, or Facebook, or ANY "Social Networks" because you literally have to live on those sites to keep up with everything these days- STUPID!!!), and it only shows one month's worth of updates: July 2014. NOT ONE of the redemptions I'm waiting for from Topps was on their FOUR lists, so what good did these updates do for me? NONE!

So I scrolled down Topps' Twitter page (all the way back to Jan. 2014) for the Facebook Update links and found only FOUR previous Redemption Updates covering only July 2014 so obviously this is a new Topps thing (that should have been done ALL ALONG!!!).

So why aren't all the TOPPS REDEMPTION UPDATES on the same page so we can check old updates if we missed any??? Oh why do I bother? I can teach anyone other than stupid & Topps is STUPID!

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Now On To eBay...

With all the Topps On Card Baseball Autograph releases in July (Ginter, Gypsy Queen, Tier One, Bowman Inception, plus others), I had to buy several to add to my next (and likely last) card donation in December 2014 to Beth Israel/Mount Sinai Pediatric Surgery Unit whom I've periodically been bringing smaller donations to every three months since the start of 2014.  I bought a whole bunch of Bowman Inception autographs since many Prospects this year are NY Yankees and Mets. I paid an average of $3.00 per autograph (with S&H calculated in). Those make great NY hospital donations!

 

As always, I went after sellers who drastically overcharged for shipping. eBay almost got me believing that they had finally woken up to realize that THEY HAVE RULES that THEY WROTE REGARDING OVERCHARGINBG SHIPPING & HANDLING FEES! The first two sellers I called eBay to complain about overcharged me for shipping fees both stated in their listings "WE COMBINE SHIPPING", but all it said in ANY of their listings was $3.00 Standard Shipping & Handling. There was no mention of any extra fee for additional cards won. According to eBay's rules (that stand NOW) those sellers were only allowed to charge $3.00 Shipping NO MATTER HOW MANY ITEMS I WON on the same day! One seller charged .50 cents for each additional item and the other charged $1.00 for each additional item won. Both sellers had over 2,000 PERFECT seller feedbacks!!! I first tried by being polite explaining that they cannot charge more than $3.00 shipping the way they have their listings set-up and worded. Then the sellers got nasty: BOTH OF THEM! VERY, VERY NASTY- LIKE I DID SOMETHING WRONG??? This is the attitude of most regular eBay sports card sellers. They got this way because cards are not selling for what they used to, so these morons are taking it out on their buyers. ALMOST NOTHING MAKES LESS SENSE!

 

So I called eBay expecting that I'd have to go through their Call Center IDIOT and explain everything just to be transferred to a REAL eBay Specialist and I'd have to explain everything AGAIN! Well, they shocked me! An actual eBay Specialist was the first person who answered the phone! ARE THE CALL CENTER MORONS GONE? Who knows yet, I don't??? Well I just explained the minimum and the eBay Specialist (male) started finishing my sentences saying "the seller cannot charge above the highest shipping fee listed if they say: we combine shipping". So the first eBay Specialist forcibly refunded the $3.00 overcharge I paid from the seller's account. YEAH! Justice was served!

When I called the second time THE SAME THING HAPPENED! I got an eBay Specialist from the start once again, and again he knew EXACTLY what I was talking about agreeing 100% that the seller broke a few eBay rules. I got a $4.00 forced refund on that one.
UPDATE- I should have known that wouldn't last. The third person I called (female with a very foreign accent) told me "then the seller can charge $3.00 shipping for EACH ITEM!" WHICH IS TOTALLY WRONG AND AGAINST EBAY'S WRITTEN RULES. It seems that perhaps there's a Call Center for overflow calls when eBay Customer Service gets busy!

 

Next I searched eBay's Customer Service pages to see if they added new rules for shipping for sellers AND THEY DID! You see back in 2010-11 eBay removed all of the correctly worded eBay Rules and replaced them with HARD TO FIND pages that could be interpreted five different ways by five different people. So the next few times I got any seller who broke the new rules, I sent them a link to eBay's Rules page for charging CORRECT Shipping & Handling! It's not that easy to find, so let me tell you how: the only words you can use in the CS search box that work are "UNREASONABLE SHIPPING FEES" which will take you to the SELLER OVERVIEW page. Then look for Shipping & Handling Fees and you will find the list of what sellers can charge for - and what they CANNOT charge for in shipping fees!!! THIS WILL HELP EVERY BUYER WHO IS SICK OF SELLERS MAKING NICE PROFITS FROM THEIR OVERINFLATED SHIPPING FEES! Sellers who use the excuse that they have to spend money on gas & their time to go to the Post Office- NOT ALLOWED TO BE ADDED INTO THE SHIPPING FEES! Sellers who use the excuse that they have to pay for bubble envelopes, top-loaders, penny sleeves, team bags. You tell them this: quality bubble envelopes can be bought RIGHT ON EBAY in lots of (25) or more for .25 cents each (with S&H calculated in), top-loaders are less than .10 cents each, and if you are so cheap that you have to charge me for a penny sleeve and a penny team bag then maybe you should choose another hobby! That's what I tell them & if you want eBay to ever improve THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED TO TELL THEM!

 

There are still STUPID eBay sellers that mail from the Post Office window (which happens to be TWICE as expensive as a much easier way), many of these sellers also buy the $1.29 padded envelopes that the Post Office sells! Both eBay employees that I spoke to told me that it is the seller's RESPONSIBILITY to find the cheapest way possible (as long as it is as safe as other methods) to ship your items won & then charge shipping fees accordingly. This is what I've been saying since eBay sellers shipping fees started getting out of hand by 2005-06 (ironically when the bottom fell out on MANY card prices).

eBay sellers MUST use eBay's PRINT SHIPPING LABEL service which is free and costs almost half of what they charge for postage at the Post Office window! For example a 3-ounce bubble envelope costs $1.93 postage using eBay's PRINT SHIPPING LABEL service, it's $3.37 (or so) from the Post Office. Both ways give you the Post Office's FREE tracking service! If you are too cheap to buy a $40 BRAND NEW printer then you shouldn't be selling on eBay. You set the printing quality to DRAFT and that free black ink cartridge that comes with your $40 printer will print over (500) pages!!! You print your eBay shipping label on plain paper, and then tape it to the bubble envelope.

PLUS: If you send just one item by Priority Mail, the Post Office will pick up all the packages (1st Class Mail/Parcel Post too) AT THE LOCATION OF YOUR CHOICE: home or work or wherever FOR FREE the next day!!! In other words- don't be such a cheapskate and spend an extra $2.05 to ship an expensive card you sold and then you don't even have to leave your house to mail ALL your outgoing eBay items for a few day period! Also you can order all Priority Mail: boxes, tape, bubble envelopes (which you can use as padding INSIDE boxes) to be shipped to your location FOR FREE as well.

 

Now why is it that I have to teach every eBay seller how to do these things is beyond my comprehension. THAT'S EBAY'S JOB!!! But hell, I'm in a decent mood so you got more info here to save you more money and in turn you can charge your buyers MUCH CHEAPER shipping fees. Like start with $3.00 S&H and say "NO ADDITIONAL FEES FOR COMBINED SHIPPING ON EXTRA ITEMS WON IN 24-HOURS" or 48-HOURS, or whatever you wish... As long as you sell many items each week, and sell a good selection of items (especially ON CARD CERTIFIED AUTOGRAPH INSERTS) - after a few months you'll find that you will be getting so many more repeat buyers, many more multiple bids by the same bidders, and much more money for the exact same cards that cheapskate ASSHOLE sellers are selling. After the majority of sports card sellers switch over to my method, watch and see how many more buyers return to eBay which makes EVERYONE benefit!!!

 

My method has been used by me from 1997-2011 and I NEVER CHANGED MY METHODS no matter what happened to the economy, or the Post Office fees, or eBay's fees, or PayPal's fees. PUNISHING YOUR BUYERS BECAUSE THOSE ASSHOLES DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE HAPPY WITH WHAT THEY HAVE IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!

 

One last thing. BAD SELLERS ban together on blowoutcards.com message boards (where they won't even let me post for NO REASON & I e-mailed the owner with NO REPLY: PUSSY!) to get eBay to suspend honorable eBay buyers who try to get sellers to follow eBay's rules. Well it's time for eBay BUYERS to get even and ban together against the worst eBay sports card sellers like TNTNORTHNJ who averages (40) negative/neutral feedbacks EVERY MONTH!!! I don't care how many items he sells each month, his bad feedbacks are all for the same few reasons- THEY ARE CROOKS!!!  

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KEEP BUYING THE SINGLE CARDS (or lots of cards) YOU WANT & STOP BUYING NEW BOXES OF CARDS SOON AFTER THEY ARE RELEASED! HOW MANY BOXES DO YOU OPEN WHERE YOU GET 2-3 CARDS THAT GET YOU CLOSE TO BREAKING EVEN ON THE BOX PRICE IF YOU WERE TO SELL THOSE 2-3 CARDS? MAYBE 1 or 2 in 10 BOXES??? STOP WASTING YOUR MONEY, ALL IT'S DOING IS EMPOWERING THE GREEDY CARD COMPANIES TO CONTINUE TREATING US ALL LIKE CRAP!

The corporate executives have monthly meeting where someone will bring up the issue regarding all of the complaints they are getting from collectors. Then the big shot executive asks: where are our sales figures for that period? Then someone says "about the same". And the big shot executive replies "then the hell with those complaining collectors!". DON'T THINK FOR A SECOND THAT THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN!  Don't forget that I was once a Senior Manager at a BIG Card Company in on those monthly meetings!

From 1992-2008 I was able to buy boxes and sell the best 2-3 cards per box and break even with 8 out of 10 boxes. Then there were boxes that I doubled or tripled my box price on with a great hit. That made up for the bad 2 out of 10 boxes I'd bust, but those days have been gone since 2008 for me. This is how I donated 30,000+ cards to hospitalized children every year from 1992-2008. The few years before & after those years that I donated I either took a personal loss gladly, or had help from those who couldn't care less whether they had the boxes they sent me to help or not.

 

PLEASE! DO THE RIGHT THINGS, OR GET OUT OF THIS HOBBY! Otherwise this hobby will be gone in a few years.

 

Hobby Fraud/eBay Lies/Fighting Back!: How Sports Card/Autograph Crooks Return on eBay

March 2014 UPDATE:

3/11/14



Well it's pretty much official: once again most things I predicted or knew before almost anyone else came to pass on eBay. Yes, I'm patting myself on the back- practically NO ONE else does...



eBay changed more stupid rules with more stupid/more confusing crazier rules in one shot from Feb-Mar 2014 than EVER in the history of eBay! This is because as I predicted, their lack of empathy for any of their members (mainly buyers) since 2009 caused them to bankrupted themselves! You can no longer see who bought what from any particular seller (the ID is scrambled randomly), so members can NEVER AGAIN bust a seller for shill bidding. Plus so many page formats were changed needlessly which just confuses everyone. Ever confuse a dumb person? Well, more eBay members are dumb that not = CHAOS!



I also stated in 2011 that I found out that eBay wanted to be a better Amazon. I knew that would never happen. So eBay pushed & pushed sellers to the point where 75% of all items on eBay became BUY IT NOW instead of auctions- that was 2012. Now that ratio is 90% BUY IT NOW/10% Auction and many auction prices START way above what anyone in their right mind would pay.  I only check Sports Cards & Memorabilia on eBay, but I'm pretty sure every other category had a similar change.

Sadly there are many more people NOT in their right minds than most of us care to admit or want to know. This was caused by: society in general, overpopulation, corrupt financial institutions, a corrupt government (that we lost ANY control over many decades ago) and more liars in the USA than not is what caused this mostly from the 1970's-present. 

If I can knock others, then I should turn that on myself. I'm the first to admit that I have General Anxiety Disorder & get occasional Panic Attacks, but I'm in my "right mind" ALWAYS. I think anyone with a 126 IQ who used EVERY ONE of those points to learn as much as I possibly could about anything that interested me and then shared that info to help others for free (only) would develop an anxiety disorder after dealing with knuckleheads for decades. I was the first kid in my WHOLE family (mother & father's side) to get some college education. Being stuck with a Sociopath mother as my only parent from age 2-18 (I left home literally the DAY I turned 18 on 1/7/85) made it all the more awful. I've been autodidactic my whole life (self educated), but I learn well from others as long as it's a subject I'm interested in. For instance, I passed three Regent's exams in Science in Junior High (Earth Science, Biology) and High School (Chemistry). I HATED CHEMISTRY because of a teacher who taught it HIS way! Once we got passed the Periotic Table, and basic chemistry which I loved, my NERD teacher decided to teach Chemistry with Advanced Algebra WHICH I ALSO HATED. At age 47 now, I can honestly say that I NEVER ONCE used one formula from the Advanced Algebra class (forced to take in High School as well) in my whole adult life- just as I told my teacher!
Advanced Algebra in Grade 10 caused me to start cutting classes to go to the computer lab in 1983 and teach myself how to program in basic. After a couple of months the computer teacher had me teaching his classes as a substitute when he had to take a day off. So I never got in trouble for cutting class and passed a few classes I NEVER WENT TO!!!  
By Grade 11 I wanted to kill my mother for so screwing up my head by basically using me as her slave. I cooked our dinner EVERY night and cleaned the house (I did HER chores). At age 17 I had to be home by 10PM on WEEKENDS (8PM on school days)!  Just a few years ago I asked my mother "what did you teach me to prepare me for everyday life on my own". Her answer" I taught you how to cook and clean." AND THAT'S IT! But in fact she didn't even teach me those things, I figured it out by myself. My mother wanted a daughter BADLY, so in her sick mind she raised me as much as one as she could. I blame my father for having a child with that nut-job to this day & he knows it. I never really saw him until I was 15-years old or so. He was no help at all. As a good older female friend once told me- "lucky you didn't wind up gay.". So I had to spend a good three years after leaving home teaching myself how to live in society as a man. At age 20 while living with my grandparents who I helped take care of- I was very lucky to be hired by Medtronic (a Fortune 500 company) as a Pacemaker Test Technician and Advanced EKG Interpretation/Education eventually became my 16-year career. I was the very first non-college graduate hired to be a Pacemaker Tech. by Medtronic. Ironically, the guy who took a chance of me (Bill) in 1987 became my best friend (Craig) from childhood's father-in-law as Craig married his daughter which I didn't find out until many years later.
I'm lucky I got to live the life that I did even though it was shortened by a terminal illness (severe Myasthenia Gravis).  So I have absolutely no regrets.

HOW BUY IT NOW KILLED eBay SPORTS CARD SALES!

 

Since it costs sellers nothing to just post an item, 75% of BUY IT NOW sellers put prices on their items that are so high (with no MAKE AN OFFER either???) that not even the biggest rich moron would pay those prices under most circumstances (99.99% of the time). What these Sociopathic/IGNORANT sellers never think about is the effect their actions have on the general public in our hobby: they are making novice collectors believe their cards are worth WAY MORE than they truly are. Then when they go and buy many more similar cards for say 25% less than BUY IT NOW prices elsewhere (thinking they are worth so much more than they truly are). Then they eventually learn THE TRUTH and QUIT this hobby! Do you realize this happened to many THOUSANDS of collectors in our hobby thanks to eBay sellers? UNFORTUNATELY, THE MAJORITY OF ALL COLLECTORS ARE NOVICES! Here's the PROOF:

 

Back in 1999-00 the Senior Editor of Tuff Stuff (Rocky Landsverk) who is also a collector took my advice and went on eBay to help get more accurate pricing information for his Price Guide that HE was in charge of. I explained that there are more accurate SOLD sale prices on eBay than he could ever get from just store owners who LIE to get the prices listed higher so they could make more money. At the time, there were literally hundreds of eBay ENDED AUCTION prices for nearly any popular card you could think of. Compared to today on eBay, there were well over TEN TIMES the number of sports cards selling on a daily basis & they sold for HIGH prices. I LOVED THAT EBAY! But thanks to all the BAD changes eBay made & the greed of the Hobby Elite, they are a shadow of the site they used to be & so is this hobby. And back then there was no MAKE AN OFFER OR BUY IT NOW on eBay. So these were TRUE sale prices that couldn't be fudged. So Rocky in his infinite wisdom took the STARTING BID PRICES and thought that was what cards were selling for and printed that info in Tuff Stuff for one issue??? CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW STUPID YOU'D HAVE TO BE TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT. Rocky had my help yet he NEVER mentioned anything that even hinted to me that he had NO IDEA how eBay worked! How can a Senior Editor at a Price Guide have no idea how eBay worked in eBay's PRIME in sports cards? Well that's exactly what happened and I tore Rocky a new back hole. He never spoke to me again and I'm glad. I don't talk to people that are THAT stupid and/or ignorant.

 

I don't know how eBay hung on as long as they did, but they'll be gone in a year OR they'll totally re-tool the entire site (AGAIN) and maybe it will work/maybe it won't. All in all I think all card & autograph collectors would be MUCH BETTER OFF if eBay went bye-bye FOREVER!!!  So those relying on eBay sales better start to ePray (if religious) because you'll need to find a "REAL" job soon!

 

Now eBay sellers almost never state how much they charge per extra single card won because eBay REMOVED that rule and reworded something that was supposed to replace that rule but to anyone with half a brain: the interpretation can be taken TEN different ways. Obviously lawyers wrote these new rules! It used to be a listed RULE on eBay that sellers: "MUST LIST HOW MUCH EXTRA ITEMS WON COST FOR SHIPPING & HANDLING OR IT IS CONSIDERED HIDDEN FEES WHICH IS AGAINST EBAY RULES AND CAN RESULT IN SUSPENSION.". I spoke with several actual eBay employee Specialists in 2010 when I was still cardcop05 and they ALL told me same thing once they realized the weight of a card in a top-loader: it is against our Overcharging S&H rule to charge more than .25 cents for each additional card won AND no card seller can charge more than $5.00 as a maximum fee if the entire purchase fits in a flat rate small Priority Mail box where boxes are free and so is home pick-up. Then there's all the stupid eBay sellers who still go to the Post Office to get postage put on their packages. They don't know that the PO has been charging TWICE ($3.07 for a 2-ounce package) what eBay's PRINT SHIPPING LABEL service charges ($1.69 for a 3-ounce package). eBay's Specialist told me this regarding that in 2010: "it's the seller's responsibility to find the cheapest/safe way to ship and it is an iron-clad rule that sellers can never charge for trips to the Post Office, gas, their time, or more than .25 cents for bubble envelopes because they are easily bought right on eBay for that price for almost any size with S&H calculated in". I found out that this particular Shipping & Handling Specialist worked for eBay for over TEN YEARS and was fired in 2011 because she (LIKE ME) refused to follow the new STUPID & CONFUSING RULES that never needed to be changed!!! My cardcop05 ID with a PERFECT Buyer & Seller Rating was suspended for life. Their reason "we wish to part ways with you.". Then chicken-spit sellers like tntnorthnj who I went after for severely overcharging S&H fees or had high hidden fees started leaving bad lying follow-up feedback only AFTER I was suspended so I couldn't leave responses to their feedback.

I got a free copy of the April issue of Beckett Football (because I don't pay for issues more than twice a year- if that). Seems like they changed a lot of prices WITHOUT using arrows again. So collectors have to do extensive research to see what changed which is the one of the STUPIDEST THINGS I EVER HEARD OF! How is it that 2010-2012 Absolute RPM RC ON CARD Autographs #'ed to 25 are only worth 1.5 times the version numbered to 299 or less? There are only TWO versions of these cards, so the one #'ed to 25 SHOULD BE at least 2.5 times the base card. Yet UD SP Authentic RC Patch(which aren't REAL patches)/Autographs WITH NO LICENSING FROM THOSE YEARS (IN THEIR COLLEGE UNIFORMS ONLY) are 3X (THREE TIMES) for the cards #'ed to an avg. of 25 while the base RC/Autos are #'ed from 299-699??? THAT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL BECKETT!

But then again Beckett's Senior Editor (Chris Olds) is a fat, lazy, boring, turd because no one better wanted to work for Beckett Media apparently. I tried e-mailing this lazy jerk TEN times since 2010 and he never responded. So I sent him a "LAST CHANCE" e-mail and he told me "I never received an e-mail from you" (HE'S SUCH A BAD LIAR- I keep copies of everything and he received EVERYTHING I EVER SENT HIM!) & he said I should be nicer. Of course I'd be nicer if I GOT PAID like he does yet I do much more than he's ever done FOR FREE so I'll be as angry as I feel- like I told him. He never replied again- that big fat useless chicken. And Susan L. another Beckett Editor who's stories could be seen in all sports issues of Beckett QUIT in JAN. 2014.  So their only writers are people I NEVER heard of (OR NO ONE EVER HEARD OF) so why buy Beckett EVER??? Plus they stopped printing "READER'S WRITE" which was the only Beckett section where you might actually get some real hobby truth. This was cut from Beckett months ago from what I learned. 

Remember- I told everyone who would listen since 1999 to only collect ON CARD Certified Autograph Inserts from trusted card companies (with the Authenticity printed ON THE CARD) of current established semi-star players or better, or retired semi-stars or better and collect them for the quality of the autograph, NEVER for the low serial number. I suggested always paying LESS than Beckett's low price. If you did that you now have a collection to be proud of that would cost you much more to replace now.
 

James

 

Can This Hobby Get Much Worse & What Will It Take for Card Companies to WAKE UP?

Sorry I've been unable to update for so long. My health just keeps getting worse. My healthy mind is trapped in a badly damaged body & this is beyond frustrating. You don't know how badly I wish I had the strength to do this daily and fight card companies/price guides directly. Because I know if the Executives got the TRUTH about what's truly going on in the hobby, they would make changes. They did it in the early 2000's when I caught Pacific and Playoff red-handed for committing fraud and it lasted until 2005 or so. When they all realized I was pretty much out of the picture they slowly but surely started up the FRAUD I stopped them from committing like selling left-over redemptions OUT THE BACK DOOR to their biggest direct buy dealers and withholding up to 25% of the most ex0pensive inserts from going into packs. Those are just two of dozens of terrible things that now ALL card companies have done at one time or another from 200-present INCLUDING TOPPS!

The Executives have always been shielded from the truth in this hobby. Now that many of the executives are new in this hobby, THEY HAVE NO CLUE WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON IN THEIR OWN COMPANIES & since most of their e-mails are BLOCKED from the public we can't even tell them. I am absolutely certain that I know more about what goes on behind closed doors in any card company than their CEO's/Presidents- even though I haven't worked for a card company since late 2001 because some things change, BUT MOST DO NOT in this hobby. This especially goes for Topps that is run by Corporate Assholes who NEVER knew anything much about this hobby. I just proved that several months ago fighting for redemption replacements that were up to A YEAR OLD! Out of over (31) redemption autographs I was owed- that are now ALL past their 15-week replacement time, I only received THREE of the actual cards I was owed in the last 18-months.

In the December 2013 Issue of Beckett Football the front top cover states "TOPPS TALKS REDEMPTIONS". So of course I wasted my money and bought the first Beckett issue I bought in MANY months (because Beckett is so USELESS). So what did Topps say about redemptions, or what did Beckett ASK about redemptions that had anything to do with the MAJOR PROBLEMS I mentioned above? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  Nothing was mentioned about the tens of thousands (or HUNDREDS of thousands???) of redemption autographs owed to collectors that are over a YEAR old! Nothing was mentioned about all the LIES their Customer Service employees have been telling collectors since at least January, 2013 (that I personally have documented).

Topps used to ALWAYS send collectors an e-mail when their redemption was owed for 15-weeks. It was called the "LATE NOTIFY E-MAIL". They stopped doing this in late Jan. 2013, but never said why. It turns out their was a major scandal with employees STEALING LIKE CRAZY from their Duryea, PA offices. To anyone who receives a redemption or replacement- look at the return address: it's from Old Forge, PA. Apparently Topps tried to FIX the problems in Duryea, PA which took ALMOST A YEAR. When that failed, they just fired everyone and moved their PA offices to another town!!! Meanwhile Topps told NO ONE what was going on (ESPECIALLY BECKETT, the ONLY PRICE GUIDE LEFT) and many redemption holders are still waiting for their cards to this day!

THAT IS 100% BS AND YOU ALL NEED TO FIGHT TOPPS BEFORE THEY GO BANKRUPT & YOU GET NOTHING!

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How many of you are still owed 2012 Allen & Ginter Relic Redemption cards which are well over a year OVERDUE now?

I made what I thought was going to be a MASTER SET of these for a terminally ill little girl who I've been buying more cards for than I've bought for myself in the last 5-years. I was owed ALL of the redemption relic cards I needed to complete this set. I was also owed several 2012 Ginter Autograph redemptions. One I was especially looking forward to getting was the Guy Bluford (1st African-American NASA Astronaut) Autograph. I never got that autograph, AND NEVER WILL! Then Topps started sending me ABSOLUTE JUNK replacements that I DID NOT ASK FOR! They were sending RANDOM COMMON PLAYER AUTOGRAPHS IN REFRACTOR FORM FOR $15 LISTED STARS YOU WERE OWED! In the past it used to be Topps' policy that they will not send replacements until you ask for them. I had waited over two years for redemptions from Topps before because I needed that particular ON CARD autograph for my collection. But now Topps isn't even giving collectors a choice anymore!
<<<<<I started this on another post>>>>> I even got a Topps Executive involved and his assistant Claudia. Then they sent me about HALF of what they told me they were sending on the phone and they send me sticker autographs as replacements for ON CARD redemptions I was owed even though I told them I HATE AN Y STICKER AUTOGRAPHS. It's possible that these two were so DUMB that they couldn't tell the difference between an ON CARD autograph & a sticker!!! These are CORPORATE ASSHOLES who do not know the first thing about our hobby. Boxes they sent me were missing inserts: so these were either dealer returns, or end of print run boxes that they eventually sell very cheap to BIG dealers like Dave & Adam's Card World. End of print run boxes are missing inserts because the inserts wound up on the print room floor and are given to the card companies to send as replacements. This is how card companies get some of the cards they'll send you if you say you are missing certain inserts "guaranteed" per box.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

 

I decided to give Chris Olds (Beckett's President Or Senior Editor or whatever they call their boss these days) ONE LAST TRY getting any answers from him via e-mail in Jan. 2014. He responded for the FIRST TIME out of almost a dozen tries in three years and he said "I NEVER RECEIVED ANY E-MAIL FROM YOU.". He added that I should be more polite and I might get more replies. So I told him to check his e-mails again because either he doesn't know how to work e-mail, or he IS LYING (the truth) because I never once received an e-mail returned from the "Mailer-Daemon" to him from me & I keep copies of ALL my SENT & RECEIVED MAIL. I told him he needs to MAN-UP (that fat, lazy, boring bastard!) and if he wanted politeness maybe HE SHOULD PAY ME like he's paid for doing NOTHING helpful to collectors!!! Of course he never replied again. He's just plain useless. I tried contacting his partner Susan L. as well (who is a voluntary watcher of my Twitter page) and she didn't BOTHER to respond either.  THEY ARE BOTH USELESS! 

 

I contacted the NFLPA asking for any left-over promo cards they may have from any events like the decent Panini promos I've seen over the last couple of years. I told them I'll be donating all but one of each of the cards. Since I'm homebound and mostly bed-ridden I haven't been able to go to a card shop, show or event in over 7-years. 

Even though it was the LAST thing I expected: they sent me over a dozen Panini and Topps hobby boxes from 2011-2013 which was VERY NICE of them. It seems the card companies send freebie boxes to NFLPA Executives, and some executives didn't want to open their boxes. I learn something new every year! I know for a fact that Playoff did not do this in 2001. In fact Ann Blake told me "the less the NFLPA knows about what we do- the better". That's most likely because of all the fraud I busted them for doing.

So I can review current NFL hobby boxes: THEY ALL MOSTLY SUCK (nearly every autograph is an UGLY sticker), and the boxes were nearly all not worth buying for HALF what they sold for except maybe 2011-12 Panini Absolute, 2013 Topps Chrome Football, or 2013 Panini Contenders (if you can get a hobby box for $60 or less- which you probably can't). At least SOME autographs from those are ON CARD (Absolute RPM RC Autos, Chrome RC Autos, & some Contender Autos). I got a total of five redemptions and three were EXPIRED... the unexpired redemptions were from Topps that I may never see either. I didn't get one of the Top 3 RC autographs from any year. But did get a RARE ERROR Dual Auto card from 2013 Topps Platinum. It's an Giovani Bernard/Eddie Lacy Dual PATCH/AUTO numbered to 25. The problem is that the Giovani Bernard has a JORDAN REED (Redskins TE) STICKER autograph where Bernard's sticker is supposed to be. I never pulled an error sticker with the wrong player before (because I don't buy boxes with sticker autos), but I have heard of it happening: QUITE A BIT! PLUS the Lacy autograph was signed with a dry pen. Topps "supposedly" has a company representative view "ALL SIGNINGS"- then why did this representative not hand Lacy A NEW PEN?
Actual card:

 

I contacted Mike at Topps Customer Service over a week ago (last couple of days of Jan. 2014) and he told me to send him scans of the card to confirm the ERROR. I did that, and considering the way he was speaking- I should have heard back from him already but DID NOT??? I may wind up keeping this card whether I want to or not. I'll figure a way to sell all the other sticker autographs to buy more cards to donate this year.

 

It's about time Upper Deck gets the publicity IT DESERVES FOR ALL THE PAIN IT HAS CAUSED OUR HOBBY!

The Village Voice (a famous NYC newspaper) will be doing a story about Upper Deck and the fraud they've (Richard McWilliam especially) been involved in since the start of Upper Deck in 1989. I was contacted and told them everything I know. They will be using me as a contact as they continue to investigate their story as I'm sure there are things I haven't thought about in years but will recall as soon as a topic is mentioned. I can't wait to see it published.

 

As I've stated many times before: collect ON CARD Certified Autographs of cards you like. Those will always hold their value. I was buying dozens of 1993-94 Nabisco Autographs for $2-$3 each on eBay to give as holiday gifts to my Ambullette drivers, hospital employees and doctors who were good to me. Every one of those cards now easily sell for $10+ on eBay. I have a full set from each year and am glad I bought them when I did. There are MANY players that are Hall Of Famers that can still be bought for under $10 each for nice ON CARD autographs. Beckett FINALLY stated this so I was told & I've been telling everyone this exact thing since pre-2000. If that doesn't show you how USELESS Beckett Media is now that Jim Beckett has been long gone, nothing will... 

 

Good luck my friends!

 

James

How Sports Card/Autograph Crooks Return on eBay

I was forever banned from eBay with my ID cardcop05 a few months ago for fighting fraudulent sellers in the sports card area. You see eBay doesn't want to lose any more money from suspended/banned sellers and I was causing at least one suspension a week on eBay. Look at my feedback for that ID- it's near perfect. Yet they permanently suspended me for no legitimate reason! Everytime I got a supervisor on the phone they'd hand up on me!!! But all their regular employees told me "your account is perfect & you have one of the highest buyer/seller ratings I've ever seen" & my account had about 4,000 feedbacks too.

So I get a phone call from an eBay employee who tells me to "just open another account with a different credit card & bank account". So I did just that using the same Paypal account and I've been buying/selling on eBay again for the last 2-months! Remember- I was BANNED FROM EBAY FOREVER!!!
I cannot keep my mouth shut and hold my tongue when it comes to informing a fellow honest card collectors about something I'm aware of & eBay reads every e-mail you send though their system, so this caused me to get suspended again: ID cert-auto-inserts . But if I would have kept a low profile I could have stayed on eBay indefinitely. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT CROOKS DO TOO! If you still trust eBay and feel completely safe buying/selling there- you are a fool I'm sorry to say that, but it's the truth. EBAY IS JUST AS CROOKED AS THE MOST SINISTER SELLERS THEY NOW PROTECT!

James McCay aka Cardcop