Paninuss Update

Well that was fun. Wasn't the greatest box in the world, but it was free and I have no complaints. Here are the goods:

Gifford #9 / 25 (anyone know if this jersey was made in one of his wife's sweat-shops?)

Tomlinson #11 / 50

Curtis Lofton Auto #610 / 999

Mendenhall Event Worn Jersey (Possible Amos Zereoue Throwback?) #7 / 50

J.D. Booty Event Worn Jersey (possible Spergon Wynn throwback?) and ball #152 / 250

Thanks again to Paninuss and specifically Yesica at their Customer Service Department for doing a really cool thing here. They didn't have to do anything. All I asked was for them to send a SASE so I didn't have to supply shipping. Now everyone is happy, including the person who sends in that redemption for a Kevin Smith Auto Patch #/5 and actually receives their card.

Paninuss Comes Through!! Big Time!!

Some of yall might remember a post from a last month about getting sent 2 of the same cards for one redemption. You can see the posts HERE and HERE.

When I returned the card, I included a letter explaining the situation and then mentioning the fact that I like Panthers and such. I even threw in there that I love opening wax and one day hope to possibly, maybe, fortuitously, kinda want to open some National Treasures one day. I NEVER asked them for anything. I just mentioned these things cause I figured that they just might want to get to know me better as a person. Seriously, who wouldn't.

Well this morning at around 7:15am FedEx rang the doorbell and dropped off a brand new box of 08 Leaf Certified Materials. It's the collectors equivalent to a girl getting flowers for nothing. And now I am totally prepared to put-out. It's only fair.

It's no National Treasures, but seriously, it's way beyond what I thought would happen. I am really pumped to open this thing up later tonight. Keep in mind that I did NOTHING to earn this box. They sent me 2 cards by mistake and I get a box out of it.

So here's to you Yesica from Paninuss Customer Service!! I tip my hat to you and yours. Thanks for giving me a great example to talk to my kids in the future about integrity.

I'll post later with the results.

Hope and Change - Part Deux

Exactly 2 months ago today, I posted about how in this economy we can expect the instances of fakes and forgeries to exponentially increase due to the desperation that some people feel in their wallet.

As an example I used what was at the time, the worst fake Matt Ryan I had ever seen.

I now stand corrected.

What you see before you is an all-time new low in the ever-growing dungeon of douche-bags.


THIS GUY takes the cake. Not only is an obvious fake, but it's a bad one at that. My son could do better Ryan auto by smearing a booger.

To make is worse is that he slyly advertises it in the auction as "2008 SP Rookie Threads Matt Ryan Super Swatch auto /175", but then somehow forgets to mention the fact that it is autographed in the detailed description.

He does however point out that it has some minor chipping, so bid at your own risk.

What are these people smoking? Probably the same thing that the people are that actually bid on these things. No matter how obvious, someone ALWAYS buys it. Hopefully though it's just to display them in a Smithsonian type case to show kids from all over the world the effects on your brain after watching too much Yo-Gaba-Gaba.

Ebay Shame - Peterson Edition

I don't pretend to understand the inner-workings of some EBay seller's brains. At what point do you have to reach in life where you think it is okay to copy someone else's scan and try to sell it as your own? Seriously, what level of crack-whore desperation must you possess?

Notice anything similar about these 2 Petersons?

Why, they look amazingly similar! Except one of them adjusted the contrast.

How about now? I layered the one on the right above the one on the left with 50% opacity. Meaning you are literally looking through one to see the other. See any differences? Neither did I.

I emailed both of these sellers and inquired about the scan. I asked them the same question so I wouldn't skew the result, all the while knowing that the one on the left has to be the legit one based on the case in the picture.

Want to guess who responded and who didn't? The seller of the left Peterson said that it was indeed his scan and he has reported the other seller. He also thanked me for bringing it to his attention.

Seller 2 never responded. But what makes him worse is this quote from his auction, (Caps not by my hand)

"You are bidding/buying now/making offer on the card in the picture- EXACTLY:

2007 07 ADRIAN PETERSON PLAYOFF CONTENDERS AUTO RC MT! This is limited to ONLY 355 copies, and this one is perfect!!

PLEASE LOOK AT OUR OTHER ITEMS (INCLUDING STORE ITEMS) WE HAVE SOME SUPER NICE ITEMS AVAILABLE NOW!!!

THIS CARD IS AN ABSOLUTE GEM. IT WILL GRADE NRMT + OR HIGHER, SHARP CORNERS, SMOOTH SURFACE, AND SLICK EDGES!!"

What an absolute douche. So if you have a list of sellers to avoid, add him to it. If Obama hadn't just outlawed its practice, wouldn't this guy be a prime test subject for the Insect Box? I say yes.

Here is your links to Auction REAL, and Auction DOUCHE.

Donruss Called . . .

And they want their card back.

I know. Go ahead and call me naive. Call me stoooopid. Call me what you will, but make sure you include the word honorable.

I ended up contacting Donruss about the Extra Kevin Smith that they sent me for one redemption card last month . Here is their reply:

Hi Russ,
There seems to have been a shipping error and the card was shipped twice to you. We ask that you please return one of the cards along with a brief letter of explianation. We will make sure to reimburse you for the shipping and to also send you something extra for your honesty. Thank you for your support and have a great day!

I feel pretty good about it. I was thinking if I send the card back, Donruss was gonna stiff me so I say, 'Hey, Paninuss how about a little something you know for the effort?' and he goes, 'There will be no money, but on your death bed you will receive total conscienceness'. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

When Honesty Meets Absurdity

Ever run into someone in business that is so honest that you don't know whether to slap or applaud them? Kinda like the husband felt like here (possibly nsfw).

I put an offer on a card this week for 5 dollars under what the exact card went for in an auction 1 hour prior.

It got declined without comment. Yall know my thoughts on this practice.

I then put another offer for $5 more than that same auction. Meaning I was going to pay $5 more than an auction that literally ended 1 hour before. This time I left a note informing the seller of the other auction and that I would be prepared to pay immediately.

Again, I got declined. But this time he left the following note:

Thanks for your offer. I'm not really looking to get auction price on this one. Item: 220363788741 sold for $145 +S&H. Also, Ebay fees are doubled in fixed priced listings versus regular auctions. Respectfully,

I have read this message about 20 times and each time I leave more perplexed than before. Never have I ever experienced such honesty from a seller.

First of all, the auction he lists was the first time this card had ever hit Ebay. I know, cause I have watched these cards. This is $40 higher than any of its other closing prices. Which is expected as it was then a new product and usually the first card of a kind that shows up goes for a premium.

But more importantly, the seller pretty much tells me that he doesn't want 'auction price' (meaning the going rate for the card), he wants to match the initial listing. And seeing as how 'Ebay fees are double in fixed priced listings', he expects me to pay for it. That is amazing!

Again, I believe that you can ask whatever you want for your card. It's yours and nobody has to buy it if they choose. So it's not the fact he won't sell it to me at the going rate that weirds me out. It's the fact that he flat out says that auction prices don't matter, and that he expects the buyer to happily pick up the tab for his listing fees. A $40 premium to pay off listing fees seems steep though.

What was he expecting me to say exactly? 'Oh, I see your point. I will gladly offer you an additional $40. I just wanted to make sure I knew where the money was going. Consider it a tip! Heck, make it $60! Then you could pick up that DVD set Gallagher -The Sledge-O-Matic Collection you've had your eye on. I am glad that I could be of service. Is there any way you could send someone over to kick me in the groin upon its delivery? Respectfully of course.'

I guess I'll wait until the next one pops up. With my luck though it will be from Wolverine24.

Pointless Redemption

By now most of you realize that I have an intense love-hate relationship with redemptions. Here is another example of hate.

I pulled this redemption months ago from Leaf Limited. I redeemed it with the hope and prayer that they wouldn't actually fill a Chris Henry Auto Jersey from an '08 product seeing as how he saw as much playing time as Lucas.

I guess it's a redemption win as I got the card I was supposed to. But it is most assuredly a checklist fail as who in their right mind puts Chris Henry in the Material Monikers subset. It actually is a pretty rare card seeing as how it features a swatch from a game-used jersey. There are only a couple of these in existence.

Pretty sure Eric Shelton will make an appearance in the '09 set.

And yes, this was the box hit.