Raz' Ravings 5: Compounding on Poor Decisions

I have been somewhat eagerly awaiting the release of 2014 Topps Archives since it was announced, because I really enjoyed the 2012 and 2013 sets, even going so far as to put together the entire Gold parallel set from 2013 together. So I spent some time browsing the various online card sites the week before it released and saw that Dave & Adam's Card World was no longer offering pre-orders, and neither was Blowout Cards.

Instead of doing the obvious thing and waiting until release day, I panicked and spent the money I would have spent on a couple boxes of 2014 Archives on a bunch of cheap boxes from the Dave & Adam's Memorial Day sale. Upon hitting the 'submit order' button I immediately felt a twinge of regret, but I hoped that I would at least pull some decent cards from my boxes. I certainly did not, and due to my financial situation I knew that I would be hard-pressed to justify an Archives purchase anytime in the near future.

I could have resolved to take it all in stride and learn from my mistake, but I did not. I descended into the pit of self-pity and mourning, and browsed eBay for something that would ease my pain. I bid on an autograph card that was quite expensive, but that I knew would not fall to me. It fell to me and I had to pay for it. I will probably highlight it on this blog after it arrives, but for now it is only important that it was expensive and I should very much not have spent the money on it.

Then my hard drive crashed. Yuck! No matter if I replaced the hard drive or the whole computer, I would have been much better off had I not just spent a few hundred dollars on those cards. And the decision I had made to forego the boxes of Archives that I had really wanted just seemed that much worse.

I was able to recover enough money to pay for the autograph from a peer-lending investment account I dabble in as a hobby, and that made me feel a little better, but I really wanted some Archives. The prices on eBay and the online card shops were steadily rising and I continued to feel bad for myself. No matter the addiction, whether it is chemical or cardboard, depression is not a good thing to mix in with it. The local card shop posted to Facebook that they had 4 boxes in stock a couple of days ago, and today when I asked them if there was any left they responded that there were 3 remaining. I determined that I would stop there after work to see what the price was. If it was below the online prices, I would pull the trigger. If not, I would grab some top loaders or something and be on my way. Generally the guy prices his wax well above market value, so I fully expected to leave disappointed.

I went in to the shop, looked around a bit, petted the shop's dog for a while (he would bark at me every time I stopped petting him, so I had to keep going), and saw that he still had the three boxes left, and they were at a lower price than the online guys. I actually looked at his little pricing sign a couple of times to make sure. I went crazy on the inside, and told him I wanted some Archives. He asked me if I wanted the front, middle, or back box. I said, "I'll take the two in the back." While he rung up my purchase he mentioned that he had watched a guy bust a box earlier today and the guy had pulled a Jose Abreu short-print. I really hoped that an Abreu short-print would not be my box break highlight.

I decided that I would just open one stack of six packs from the first box. I have to admit that the card designs from this year aren't my favorite, and I miss the short-printed cards being reprints from a large variety of sets like they were in 2012 and 2013. But as I flipped through the third pack in the stack, this card showed up:

I had to look at it really hard to make sure that I wasn't having some fever dream. Then I had to be very careful not to accidentally crush it in my hand or ding it on some part of the car as I got out to go into the shop again and show it off. I was actually visibly shaking for about ten minutes after I pulled the card. The owner likes to take scans of big pulls and post them on his Facebook page, and I thought this might qualify.

He put it in a top loader for me and I went back out to my car to drive home. I thought I was beyond crazy emotional reactions to big pulls, but I obviously am not. With the way I have been feeling about cards and life in general lately, I really needed something good to happen to me. I don't know that I believe in destiny or anything like that. I just got a lucky break at a coincidentally fortunate time, but as I sat there getting ready to leave I thanked the stars that I had decided not to buy from the online guys and followed the impulse to check out the local shop. I also used my phone to see how much these things were selling for on eBay. I should get just about enough money from it to erase my bad card decisions of the past couple of weeks and get a new start from where I was. And that is plenty good enough for me. I don't have much interest in Charlie Sheen or his autograph, but it seems there are some folks out there who do. My copy has been up on eBay for about an hour now and already has over 40 bids and a price approaching $400. We'll see where it ends up a week from now.

I started this post a couple of days ago and it carried a much darker tone than it does in current form, because I hadn't yet had today's bout of good luck. Sitting here and thinking about it all, I can only be reminded of this scene from a popular film:

Rainbow in the Dark 15: Josh Reddick Black Parallel and a Tutorial on Packing Cards for Shipping

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was having some difficulty tracking down Josh Reddick's 2013 Topps Black parallel card for my Super Rainbow. It felt like I'd seen more copies of the lower-numbered parallels than I had of this particular card, but shortly after I posted that remark one popped up on eBay and I snapped it up. It is the 22nd of 62 copies made.

My one complaint about this card is that it was shipped alone in a top loader with no penny sleeve and nothing across the top to keep it from sliding out partially. As a result it banged around inside (and outside) the top loader without any protection throughout the shipping process. There is a little bit of damage on some of the corners and edges, which is accentuated by the fact that the border of the card is black and prone to show wear more than a white-bordered card would. And since no one asked for it, here is my preferred method for shipping cards in top loaders.

First you need your card, a penny sleeve, a top loader, a strip of painter's tape with the ends folded over to make pull tabs (convenient!), a rectangle of paper that is wider than the tape, and a team bag (optional).

This part is the easy part. Put the card in the penny sleeve, then slide that assembly into the top loader. You can tap the bottom of the top loader gently on a table surface or something to get the card to settle all the way down. Don't overdo it. We're trying to prevent damage here.

There are a couple of ways to do this. You can stick the paper rectangle to the tape first and then apply the tape to the top loader, or you can hold the paper folded over the top of the top loader as shown and then apply the tape. Either method will eventually result in something that looks like the next photo.

The tape and paper are folded over the top of the card, holding it inside the top loader during shipping. Painter's tape is not extremely prone to damaging the edge of cards, but I think the paper adds a little extra security to keep the adhesive from causing chipping along the top edge of the card. Scotch (transparent) tape and packing tape are both evil and should not be used. I've seen a lot of cards damaged by transparent tape, and even more top loaders ruined by the presence of a bunch of tape residue stuck all over them. Painter's tape doesn't stay stuck all over the top loader and a roll of it can get you through quite a few shipments.

Finally, you can add a team bag to the package. I tend to use these mostly when the weather is bad or when I am shipping multiple cards in a stack. I also will use one any time I am sending an 'expensive' card that I have sold on eBay, as I think presentation counts for something when you are a seller. I put the word in quotes because that is a relative term that really depends on my mood at the time. I've got plenty of team bags, top leaders, and penny sleeves hanging around, though, so I don't usually have to outlay any additional cash to buy bunches of those for shipping cards. I just recycle the ones that come in with my card purchases.

And that's it. That is my usual method for shipping single cards in top loaders. I feel like the extra step or two is worth the decrease in potential damage when sending cards out into the world. And if it looks like you at least tried to mitigate damage, people are going to give you the benefit of the doubt when things do go wrong.

And here's another reason for me (and you) to be a fan of Josh Reddick. This was so noteworthy that it even made the local sports radio show:

Raz' Ravings 4: Press Pass Damage Replacement

One of the packs of 2012 Press Pass FanFare that I bought on eBay a couple of months ago arrived with 4/5 cards damaged. The only card that escaped unscathed was the one that was Die-Cut on the corner, as that was the corner damaged on each of the other cards. It wasn't a cheap pack, so I packed up the cards and shipped them off to Press Pass along with a note explaining that I was aware they don't officially replace cards from previous years' sets, but that a bunch of damaged cards weren't doing me any good and it couldn't hurt to try seeing what they could do for me.

 

A while later I got an envelope in the mail with four replacement cards. The autograph features the same guy I sent off, although it is hand-numbered. The other cards don't excite me too much, either, but they aren't damaged. So Press Pass did all right by me.

 

Raz' Ravings 3: Dave and Adam's Card World Customer Service

 

A few weeks ago I visited the Dave and Adam's Card World site and pre-ordered a box of Cryptozoic's DC Comics: The Women of Legend trading cards, along with a couple of other boxes I fancied. I guess I could have waited to order the DC cards when they came out, but I think boxes of Topps Baseball Series 1 and 2 and maybe some Press Pass Racing cards were all on the Daily Deals portion of the site, so I figured I'd 'save' some money by ordering them all together at once. One thing that really irks me is when we talk about saving money on something we don't actually need. No one ever saved any money by buying stuff. But back to the story. I believe the DC cards were scheduled to release on September 30th, but a few days ago Cryptozoic announced their official release and they transitioned from pre-order status to available status on the Dacardworld site. I watched my order somewhat compulsively to see when its status would update to 'shipped,' but it didn't.

 

So I sent an e-mail inquiring as to the status of the cards in question and asking if there was a projected date for my order to ship. A few hours later I got an e-mail back from their customer service apologizing for overlooking my order and promising that they would ship it out that day. They also credited my customer account so that my next order will have a discount attached to it. By the end of the day I had tracking information sent to my e-mail address.

 

I don't think I expressed any anger in my message and I didn't request any form of recompense for the delay, but Dave and Adam's went out of their way to address my concern and make sure I was happy as a customer. I was not even sure if there was a delay in shipping, or if they had received all of the product yet or were holding to the September 30th pre-order date. My cards are on their way, and I wanted to plug a company that has exhibited good customer service and a rapid turnaround in responding to my concerns.

Raz' Ravings 2: I Didn't Support My Local Shop

A little over a week ago my family and I ventured out into the local metropolis to look for the Hobby version of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Series 2 card binder. We spent much of the day driving around and checking places that might have it in stock, but to no avail. The Retail version was pretty easy to find, showing up on the shelves at Wal-Mart. After we got home I found the binder in question on eBay for less than the MSRP, so we basically spent much of the day wasting gas and time, even though it was good to spend the day with my wife and kids. Between work and school I don't get to do much of that.

 

Near the end of the excursion my wife mentioned that she wanted to go to the fabric store and asked me if I felt like going to the card shop. Of course I did! The card shop is out of the way, so I don't get there too often. I went in and had a look around, eyeballing a couple of products I've enjoyed lately, 2013 Allen & Ginter's and 2013 Press Pass FanFare Racing.

 

The price on Allen & Ginter's was $120 + tax per box and the guy wanted $150 + tax per box for FanFare. I weighed the A&G in my mind briefly, but I know I can get a box online for around $82 anytime I want, and under $80 when Dave & Adam's has it as a Daily Deal on their site. And I know I can get the FanFare box for $99.95 whenever I want, and even less than that if I am patient (I am never patient). That's a 53% markup on the A&G and 59% on the FanFare. I would love to support the little guy, but not when the difference on a box of cards will buy me another whole box of lower-end product or most of another box of mid-end product.

 

My wife suggested that I buy my cards online and purchase hobby supplies from the local shop. The last time I was in there I asked for a box of card pages and the guy was fresh out. He says he doesn't get them in very often.

 

I considered buying some packs from the shop, but there weren't really any boxes open on the shelves. I don't want to have the guy bust open a new box of cards just so I can sample a pack or two of product. I think he gets most of his business from people who come in and buy boxes of stuff, maybe people who haven't discovered or don't trust the internet?

 

Of course, I ran into the same sort of pricing at the card shop in Portland, but I was able to find some singles at a decent price, which is something the local shop is sorely lacking. I have a hard time understanding what the audience for this stuff is. It is also much harder to browse the singles in the local shop than it was in the shop in Portland. The storefront is much smaller, so many of the cards are in stacks under the glass with Post-its on top of the stack saying what kind of cards comprise the pile. In the Portland shop all of the cards were laid out next to each other or slightly overlapping, so you could browse the whole selection without asking over and over for the case to be opened.

 

Ultimately I walked out of the shop without making a purchase. I just can't justify paying 50-60% more just to pay this dude's overhead. Sure, card money is supposed to be expendable income, but I like to get the most I can for my hobby dollar, and the local shop just doesn't cut it as far as selection, price, or customer service.

Raz' Ravings 1: Topps Minis, Pack Searching, and Probably Some Other Stuff

2013 Topps Minis released a few days ago, and I've heard a little chatter about them in between all of the Allen & Ginter's excitement. I considered trying some of them out, but ultimately decided against the idea. For one thing, it's a 660-card set, which is a lot of cards. The other drawback is that it's not a new design. Between Opening Day, Opening Day Sparkly Blue Parallels, Topps Series 1, and Topps Series 2, I have already collected many of these cards in one form or another two or three times already. The main draw for the set seems to be that it is online exclusive at Topps.com and thus has a bit more scarcity than your typical base issue. There are some desirable autographs, it seems (Puig is made of gold), but at one autograph or relic per box, it seems like it would be easier to pick up the players you want on the secondary market, unless you want Puig or Trout or something. I may try to pick up an Astros team set and a Blue Jays team set, but aside from that I don't see the point in chasing this product. Mini-cards are fun, but I would rather chase cards that I haven't seen a few times already.

I don't condone pack searching, but I was reading a few blog posts and articles about it, and I did an experiment on a few packs that I bought at one of the big box stores (I don't remember if it was Wal-Mart or Target). I picked up all the packs and tried to see if any of them were thicker than the others, and those were the packs I bought. I didn't do the bending, sliding, or thumbnail-scraping methods because those all have the potential to damage cards that someone else might buy. I think it was some Gypsy Queen and maybe a couple of other baseball products that have relic cards and autographs. I went home, opened them all, and none of them had hits in them. What they all did have, though, was those little white cards with the security tags on them that make the alarm go off when you walk out of the store. Every single one. I am kind of glad that I didn't pull any hits out of those packs, because I feel that pack searching is cheating and taking away from other collectors' experiences in the hobby.

Gint-A-Cuffs V is underway now, as the rules have been posted. I will be typing up my Gint-A-Cuffs posts as I find time for it. I already scanned the cards in my box and sorted the pictures into folders. Adding up the points should be fun. I didn't pull any big hits, and I've heard rumors that at least one person may have pulled a rip card, which may mean game over for the rest of us anyway. We'll see.

I believe I received a trade package in the mail yesterday, but I will have to look at my e-mails to make sure. There is plenty of stuff left for me to scan and post about. It's a good thing I have quite a backlog of stuff to post about, as I have gone a little overboard in my zeal upon returning to the hobby and the finances are a bit strained because of it. I will probably need to focus on a couple of sets a year and try to avoid all of the other stuff that doesn't fit the theme of my collection, whatever that may mean. But don't worry, I still have at least three months of daily posts that I can do, and then after that I can dig into my childhood collection a bit more and revisit some of the things in those old boxes and binders.