Current Events > ugh, i'm gutted. my white whale card finally showed up on ebay after three years

(+) Yeah! (+)

literally one of a kind. last one to finish a 28 card set. he wants too much for it, because of course he does.

so i send him my max as a best offer. he accepts within 10 minutes. I'm elated. i go to bed actually happy for the first time in as long as i can remember.

the next morning, i wake up to a cancelled order, and a claim that he already sold it as part of a lot, forgot, and listed it by mistake.

oof. I check his sold items, no lots, so it must have been local, on another site, or sellers remorse. I ask him if he'd be willing to put the buyer in touch with me. but more than another day later he's not gotten back to me.

supersadface.

Sounds like hes a shit head who didnt have the decency to tell you hes changed his mind on your offer.

spikethedevil posted...

Sounds like hes a shit head who didnt have the decency to tell you hes changed his mind on your offer.

I'd report his account to ebay if possible, btw.

What kinda card? Curious myself. Kinda want to help you finish the set!

gunplagirl posted...

I'd report his account to ebay if possible

this. though i had something similar but a game. they offered me 5$ amazon credit and an apology. wasn't too bothered by it just had to try again with another seller in stock.

spikethedevil posted...

Sounds like hes a shit head who didnt have the decency to tell you hes changed his mind on your offer.

that's definitely occurred to me. i like to give people the benefit of the doubt, though. at least until they prove they don't deserve it. my offer was more than half of his list price, so it's not even a crazy lowball. we're talking dozens of dollars.

gunplagirl posted...

I'd report his account to ebay if possible, btw.

wouldn't help. missing stock is a valid reason to cancel an order. without being able to leave feedback on a cancelled order, it might be worth it to see if he has a pattern, but if he does, then escalating would only all but guarantee i never get another chance at the card.

ToadallyAwesome posted...

What kinda card? Curious myself. Kinda want to help you finish the set!

baseball. but this is literally the only copy of this card ever printed.

how most modern sets work, is they make cards for a couple hundred players, and then iterate those same cards on different colors and patterns with varying numbers of copies (referred to as "parallels"), many of which get a serial number stamped on to guarantee its rarity. nearly every set these days includes one parallel that's literally one of a kind, stamped with a 1/1 serial number. that's the one i'm missing.

Medussa posted...

baseball. but this is literally the only copy of this card ever printed.

how most modern sets work, is they make cards for a couple hundred players, and then iterate those same cards on different colors and patterns with varying numbers of copies (referred to as "parallels"), many of which get a serial number stamped on to guarantee its rarity. nearly every set these days includes one parallel that's literally one of a kind, stamped with a 1/1 serial number. that's the one i'm missing.

Awww man! I went down a YouTube hole about that stuff about a year ago. Was really cool but the parallels thing blew my mind (I come from the CCG/TCG world. So 1/1s are wild to me).

Now I really want to see you get it. I know the full sets not only look stunning but its worth a lot more too when its complete. I wont ask the player cause I know you dont want people trying to mess with you though.

I hope you get a response soon. If you dont mind me asking how outrageous was he trying to go for it? Sucks you cant maybe try to do a cash plus trade situation. Honor amongst the hobby atleast of getting something maybe they want too.

ToadallyAwesome posted...

Awww man! I went down a YouTube hole about that stuff about a year ago. Was really cool but the parallels thing blew my mind (I come from the CCG/TCG world. So 1/1s are wild to me).

Now I really want to see you get it. I know the full sets not only look stunning but its worth a lot more too when its complete. I wont ask the player cause I know you dont want people trying to mess with you though.

I hope you get a response soon. If you dont mind me asking how outrageous was he trying to go for it? Sucks you cant maybe try to do a cash plus trade situation. Honor amongst the hobby atleast of getting something maybe they want too.

i started in sports cards as a kid in the 80s, but i switched completely to tcgs too by 95. got back into the sports side about 15 years ago (bought some hockey boxes to get me through the first lockout), and it was quite a shock to see how much it had changed, and even those days are unrecognizable compared to today's sets.

he was asking ~125. there were three other, arguably better, 1/1s of the same player in the recently solds. one a little under 100, the other two under 50. i offered him 75 and he snap took it (like he absolutely should have. he's not going to get a better offer)

and yeah, i hate that it's wrong to show off partial rainbows because people with more money than heart can just up and ruin it for you. there's a notorious ebayer that just buys up every single 1/1 that catches his attention and jacks up the price. thankfully, he seems to have run out of money/willpower in the last few years.

one bump.

still no reply. i might have to find some locals to ask around for me.

Imagine using feeBay in 2022 lol

When you're in the market to buy rare collectibles, you kinda have to deal with whatever platforms they pop up on.

why are you paying exorbitant amounts of money for pieces of paper?

why does anyone buy anything beyond basic necessities?

i'm a pack rat by nature, and collecting makes me happy.

Medussa posted...

he wants too much for it, because of course he does.

if it's literally the only copy ever printed, how can he be asking too much for it. you can't compare its sales to any other copies of it since there aren't any

kirbymuncher posted...

if it's literally the only copy ever printed, how can he be asking too much for it. you can't compare its sales to any other copies of it since there aren't any

you can compare it to other 1/1 cards from similar products or similar players. you can also extrapolate from the prices the /10 or /5 versions sell for. but you're right, ultimately, each 1/1 can be held hostage by its owner if they want to.

Is there only one card ever or did you mean there was only run of that card. As in they printed thousands but only on <date> and they've never done a re-print.

RlP posted...

Is there only one card ever or did you mean there was only run of that card. As in they printed thousands but only on <date> and they've never done a re-print.

there is literally only one copy of this exact card. it has a 1/1 serial number stamped on it. there are similar cards with print runs or 5, 7, 10, 199, and several more serial numbered print runs. and several more without serial numbering with varying rarities. the basic version probably has tens to hundreds of thousands of copies.

a "rainbow" is a collection of all the different variations. most sets these days, that's 5-10 different cards. some sets, like this one, can have dozens. i currently have 27 of the 28. it's generally a bad idea to attempt such a thing without starting with the 1/1 version, but i was a big fan of this player while he was a local, so i was trying to collect all of his cards, anyway.