Collecting in 2012

[BumChex]

I think it is so funny when a person sells everything they have such as sketches. Look at all the new sketches CardGary received. He thinks he can sell everything he bought. He probably will but he is obviously not a collector. Anyone can buy 30 boxes from Topps and sell all the sketched. Why not buy the boxes yourself? I understand people not sure they will get nice sketches but that is the risk. This series is easier to pull nice sketches so why not give it a shot.

[RawGoo]

Do you think Gary will still be in business in a thousand years?   

[Paul_Maul]

LOL, that was definitely a 2AM post. I was expecting Brad's thoughts on what the wacky hobby would be like in 1000 years, but I guess it was just a typo.

[BumChex]

Doh! I just changed the title. I'm all thumbs on the ipad...LOL
I was getting ready for bed and took one last look on ebay and all I can see are Cardgary auctions. At least 30 of them. I wonder if he was actually done posting auctions when I went to bed

[BumChex]

Sorry to fellow forum members but I have some issue with Cardgarys. I guess anyone can sell whatever they want. It rarely ever bothers me. Maybe I have such a passion for this hobby bur Cardgarys buys boxes and sells everything. I know most collectors will sell off stuff, including myself, to help pay for their collecting habits. I don't know why this bothers me so much so please reply or chime in on PM. Why is this guy buying so much to put everything on eBay? I realize he is not a collector but this just bugs me and I don't know why? I just looked on eBay and now he has another 20 or so auctions for sketch cards. So now he must have at least 50 sketch auctions. I notices he wants $200 for certain sketches. I think what really bothers me is that we are all trying to get great sketches for our collection and this guy sells everything. People think because of the last couple series you will make a shit load of money by selling sketches, but these guys don't realize it is easier this series because of the lack of Lynch doubles in the past. Why pay outrages prices when you can buy 10 boxes now for $500 and get great sketches instead of spending $200 a sketch for something you could pull yourself. It bugs me for some reason and I don't know why. I feel it's too obvious.

[BumChex]

I just looked and he must have around 100 sketch auctions. OK, I'm going to get sketches and sell everything until their gone. Maybe this will be very good for the hobby so there are more series.
Sorry, I'm having a bad night. I hope this weekend is better!

[sco(o)t]

Doh! I just changed the title. I'm all thumbs on the ipad...LOL
I was getting ready for bed and took one last look on ebay and all I can see are Cardgary auctions. At least 30 of them. I wonder if he was actually done posting auctions when I went to bed

Looks like he has been at it again tonight. At least 15 new sketches on eBay.

[BumChex]

I'm sorry everyone for venting. This might sound strange but I will explain what put me on a bad mood. My 10 year old daughter doesn't want an iPhone but a shitty keyboard slide phone, so we got her a crappy Samsumg keyboard slide phone for X-Mas. She still doesn't have her voice mail set up so tonight my wife has a great idea to get it set up tonight. We spent 2 hours on the phone talking to AT&T with zero results. I was so pissed because I am used to how easy everything is so easy on the iPhone. I have never called tech support for my iPhone because it just WORKS! So now according to tech support we had to totally restore the phone. This is not an issue on the iPhone because you have everything backed up through iTunes. This is not the case with a piece of shit Samsung phone. She lost everything and we still don't have her voice mail set up. I found a work around, no thanks to AT&T support, but now she lost everything including pics. She is balling on the chair because everything is lost. She said she was missing the unlock feature of the phone so I said add it back. She did but she must have hit something else because now when you try to use the phone it wants s password and the some other password. We don't know the other password so all it lists is hit SOS. SOS is a direct line to 911.didnt know that and know I called 911 and she wasn't happy I called her without an emergency. Now the phone is totally locked. I have no clue what password it what's and is totally useless. This all happened because my wife said 'we need to get your voice mail set up'.
I'm so pissed I can't settle down. This kind of thing just pisses me off. I will be going to the AT&T store tomorrow but this totally sucks. I've been listening to the Steve Jobs book and this would put him over the edge. No one should have to deal with shitty hardware. I totally get it. Where we we before Jobs got back with Apple? Seriously, there is so much shit out there as far as PCs. I feel so bad for people that don't buy Macs.
Sorry to change the subject but this is still going back to how superior the iPhone is.

I went to best buy and SAMs. They have a bunch of shitty computers. Seriously, they are all crap. MS has been ripping off Apple since 1985. They are know working on Windows 8 that is taking mobile computing to the next level. REALLY? They are just trying to catch up. $MS IS SO FAR BEHIND! I have no serious thoughts on MS but they haven't ever released anything revolutionary. NEVER! Now they want to release a mobile OS, Seriously? Apple is about to release their 3rd iPad. Many are MS activists but they haven't done anything innovative ever. I can argue this point with everyone. They haven't done anything. Thy rip everyone off. FACT! Zune anyone? FAIL!
Sorry for the random rants. I'm going thru a lot of shit now so I want to vent!

[deadpresidentsvisa]

                                                                     

This is clearly about money with Cardsgary and perhaps about being the ebay wacky packages "man",if it really is not about money you would think he would just list all the auctions with a $9.97 starting price and just be content with whatever amount each auction brings.This may for future releases lead to no more highly desirable "extras" being added to the boxes,as business people like CG will just buy even more boxes.With future releases i really don't think we will see,for example, postcard size sketches or as i prefer to call the colored ones mini paintings,maybe a kool addition to OLDS would be a 6 to 9 bonus card subset.   

[RawGoo]

Looks like he has been at it again tonight. At least 15 new sketches on eBay.

I don't see anything wrong with what he does.  If I had the time and space I wouldn't mind buying a hundred or more boxes and listing on ebay.  But, it takes a LOT of time to sort all the sets, especially with this series, and he's likely going to be sitting on a tremendous stock of base sets and packs for an awful long time.  All in all, that's a heck of an investment in time, space, and money.

Thinking on the sketch aspect of it, I'd have a hell of a keeper collection!  And, I might even do what he does with pricing the really exceptional ones higher with a 'best offer,'  since those would be tough to part with even if I already had a similar keeper title, and I'd need to be persuaded.

[weirdo1]

I'm sorry everyone for venting. This might sound strange but I will explain what put me on a bad mood. My 10 year old daughter doesn't want an iPhone but a shitty keyboard slide phone, so we got her a crappy Samsumg keyboard slide phone for X-Mas. She still doesn't have her voice mail set up so tonight my wife has a great idea to get it set up tonight. We spent 2 hours on the phone talking to AT&T with zero results. I was so pissed because I am used to how easy everything is so easy on the iPhone. I have never called tech support for my iPhone because it just WORKS! So now according to tech support we had to totally restore the phone. This is not an issue on the iPhone because you have everything backed up through iTunes. This is not the case with a piece of shit Samsung phone. She lost everything and we still don't have her voice mail set up. I found a work around, no thanks to AT&T support, but now she lost everything including pics. She is balling on the chair because everything is lost. She said she was missing the unlock feature of the phone so I said add it back. She did but she must have hit something else because now when you try to use the phone it wants s password and the some other password. We don't know the other password so all it lists is hit SOS. SOS is a direct line to 911.didnt know that and know I called 911 and she wasn't happy I called her without an emergency. Now the phone is totally locked. I have no clue what password it what's and is totally useless. This all happened because my wife said 'we need to get your voice mail set up'.
I'm so pissed I can't settle down. This kind of thing just pisses me off. I will be going to the AT&T store tomorrow but this totally sucks. I've been listening to the Steve Jobs book and this would put him over the edge. No one should have to deal with shitty hardware. I totally get it. Where we we before Jobs got back with Apple? Seriously, there is so much shit out there as far as PCs. I feel so bad for people that don't buy Macs.
Sorry to change the subject but this is still going back to how superior the iPhone is.

I went to best buy and SAMs. They have a bunch of shitty computers. Seriously, they are all crap. MS has been ripping off Apple since 1985. They are know working on Windows 8 that is taking mobile computing to the next level. REALLY? They are just trying to catch up. $MS IS SO FAR BEHIND! I have no serious thoughts on MS but they haven't ever released anything revolutionary. NEVER! Now they want to release a mobile OS, Seriously? Apple is about to release their 3rd iPad. Many are MS activists but they haven't done anything innovative ever. I can argue this point with everyone. They haven't done anything. Thy rip everyone off. FACT! Zune anyone? FAIL!
Sorry for the random rants. I'm going thru a lot of shit now so I want to vent!

No problem.  Everyone has those days.  Sometimes it's good to vent--better than some alternative methods.  Now, count to 10, grab the nearest 20 wackys and thoroughly examine them 

[Dr Popper]

I don't see anything wrong with what he does.  If I had the time and space I wouldn't mind buying a hundred or more boxes and listing on ebay.  But, it takes a LOT of time to sort all the sets, especially with this series, and he's likely going to be sitting on a tremendous stock of base sets and packs for an awful long time.  All in all, that's a heck of an investment in time, space, and money.

Thinking on the sketch aspect of it, I'd have a hell of a keeper collection!  And, I might even do what he does with pricing the really exceptional ones higher with a 'best offer,'  since those would be tough to part with even if I already had a similar keeper title, and I'd need to be persuaded.

I agree, there's no limit on box buying so he's okay doing what he's doing.  He is 100% into this for the money, not for the hobby.  For him it's a business.  He make make a profit but I doubt it would be a big one, and like you said the time investment is big with a venture like that.

[Dr Popper]

Sorry for the random rants. I'm going thru a lot of shit now so I want to vent!

Think of someone like Gary and what he is going through and things take a different perspective!  I bet your daughter will buy an iPhone next time.

[Hustler08]

I'm sorry everyone for venting. This might sound strange but I will explain what put me on a bad mood. My 10 year old daughter doesn't want an iPhone but a shitty keyboard slide phone, so we got her a crappy Samsumg keyboard slide phone for X-Mas. She still doesn't have her voice mail set up so tonight my wife has a great idea to get it set up tonight. We spent 2 hours on the phone talking to AT&T with zero results. I was so pissed because I am used to how easy everything is so easy on the iPhone. I have never called tech support for my iPhone because it just WORKS! So now according to tech support we had to totally restore the phone. This is not an issue on the iPhone because you have everything backed up through iTunes. This is not the case with a piece of shit Samsung phone. She lost everything and we still don't have her voice mail set up. I found a work around, no thanks to AT&T support, but now she lost everything including pics. She is balling on the chair because everything is lost. She said she was missing the unlock feature of the phone so I said add it back. She did but she must have hit something else because now when you try to use the phone it wants s password and the some other password. We don't know the other password so all it lists is hit SOS. SOS is a direct line to 911.didnt know that and know I called 911 and she wasn't happy I called her without an emergency. Now the phone is totally locked. I have no clue what password it what's and is totally useless. This all happened because my wife said 'we need to get your voice mail set up'.
I'm so pissed I can't settle down. This kind of thing just pisses me off. I will be going to the AT&T store tomorrow but this totally sucks. I've been listening to the Steve Jobs book and this would put him over the edge. No one should have to deal with shitty hardware. I totally get it. Where we we before Jobs got back with Apple? Seriously, there is so much shit out there as far as PCs. I feel so bad for people that don't buy Macs.
Sorry to change the subject but this is still going back to how superior the iPhone is.

I went to best buy and SAMs. They have a bunch of shitty computers. Seriously, they are all crap. MS has been ripping off Apple since 1985. They are know working on Windows 8 that is taking mobile computing to the next level. REALLY? They are just trying to catch up. $MS IS SO FAR BEHIND! I have no serious thoughts on MS but they haven't ever released anything revolutionary. NEVER! Now they want to release a mobile OS, Seriously? Apple is about to release their 3rd iPad. Many are MS activists but they haven't done anything innovative ever. I can argue this point with everyone. They haven't done anything. Thy rip everyone off. FACT! Zune anyone? FAIL!
Sorry for the random rants. I'm going thru a lot of shit now so I want to vent!

I understand your frustration and I , a PC Guy of the past, bought and iphone and my 10yr old wants an iphone...i think he's too young for one...you might have waiting on that util she's older and her friends have them and she would see the benefits of an iphone...i have..they are great and run beautifully...even stuff when your watching a movie and someone calls - you can decline and go right back to your movie..great!!

SEND THE PHONE BACK AND RETURN AND TELL YOUR DAUGHTER YOU CAN GET A PHONE BUT THE ONLY ONE I WILL PAY FOR IS AN IPHONE...IT WORKS WELL...IPHONE OR NONE....YOU CAN TEXT EACH OTHER - FACETIME ETC...THIS COMING FROM A PC GUY...I STILL OWN LOTS OF PC LAPTOPS ETC..NEED FOR WORK..BUT MY 2 DAUGHTERS RECENTLY GOT MACBOOK PROS THAT WORK BEAUTIFULLY...GOOD LUCK ON YOUR VENTURE...

I HEAR YOU ON THE MS STUFF...THEY ARE TRYING TO PLAY CATCH-UP....

[BumChex]

I don't see anything wrong with what he does.  If I had the time and space I wouldn't mind buying a hundred or more boxes and listing on ebay.  But, it takes a LOT of time to sort all the sets, especially with this series, and he's likely going to be sitting on a tremendous stock of base sets and packs for an awful long time.  All in all, that's a heck of an investment in time, space, and money.

Thinking on the sketch aspect of it, I'd have a hell of a keeper collection!  And, I might even do what he does with pricing the really exceptional ones higher with a 'best offer,'  since those would be tough to part with even if I already had a similar keeper title, and I'd need to be persuaded.

I know what you mean and I sell my duplicates. For some reason he just rubs me the wrong way. Why bother to sort cards? Just sell the sketches and toss the base cards. It will help sell the series. Overall it's probably better for all of us. At least he is exposing the sketches so we can pick and choose our needs.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is when he hurt the postcards by buying most of series one. Now when I look at eBay his auctions are starting to rmind me of Probstein...LOL

[emoticon]

I know what you mean and I sell my duplicates. For some reason he just rubs me the wrong way. Why bother to sort cards? Just sell the sketches and toss the base cards. It will help sell the series. Overall it's probably better for all of us. At least he is exposing the sketches so we can pick and choose our needs.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is when he hurt the postcards by buying most of series one. Now when I look at eBay his auctions are starting to rmind me of Probstein...LOL

For what it's worth Cardgarys is selling base, white and ludlow sets so it appears he's not tossing the other cards.
I actually feel kind of bad for him if he's putting all those sets together. It's a heck of a way to try and earn a buck. After all is said and done, even with the four color sketches, I doubt he'll make enough money to justify the time and energy it took to put it all together. His regular sketches aren't going to cover more than 1/2 the cost of the box and his BIN prices are just ridiculous.

[RawGoo]

I know what you mean and I sell my duplicates. For some reason he just rubs me the wrong way. Why bother to sort cards? Just sell the sketches and toss the base cards. It will help sell the series. Overall it's probably better for all of us. At least he is exposing the sketches so we can pick and choose our needs.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is when he hurt the postcards by buying most of series one. Now when I look at eBay his auctions are starting to rmind me of Probstein...LOL

Throw out the base cards?   Blasphemy!!!  

As for the Series 1 postcard set, he took a big chance on that, I imagine BECAUSE he is a card dealer, and he thought it would be a worthwhile investment.  I remember waffling on whether to spend that kind of money on a single Wacky item, and I did because of the very limited number; now, I wish I'd ponied up for 3 sets.  Actually, at the time, I had trouble with the ordering system and thought I had ordered multiples, and I emailed Topps all concerned to make sure I was only getting 1 set.....  How ironic is that?  I certainly don't like what happened after that with the postcard sets and the ensuing crop of profiteering vultures who may have been encouraged by his success, but I have a feeling the limited edition sets would have worked their way in that direction anyway.

[Go_Bum]

Brad and cardgary do share some common ground. Neither one well sell me wackys.

[Go_Bum]

It's a conspiracy between Brad, cardgary and Topps to keep wacky packages out of Canada.

[deadpresidentsvisa]

It's a conspiracy between Brad, cardgary and Topps to keep wacky packages out of Canada.

I DIDN'T KNOW YOU ARE A HOSER

[lucidjc]

Sorry to fellow forum members but I have some issue with Cardgarys. I guess anyone can sell whatever they want. It rarely ever bothers me. Maybe I have such a passion for this hobby bur Cardgarys buys boxes and sells everything. I know most collectors will sell off stuff, including myself, to help pay for their collecting habits. I don't know why this bothers me so much so please reply or chime in on PM. Why is this guy buying so much to put everything on eBay? I realize he is not a collector but this just bugs me and I don't know why? I just looked on eBay and now he has another 20 or so auctions for sketch cards. So now he must have at least 50 sketch auctions. I notices he wants $200 for certain sketches. I think what really bothers me is that we are all trying to get great sketches for our collection and this guy sells everything. People think because of the last couple series you will make a shit load of money by selling sketches, but these guys don't realize it is easier this series because of the lack of Lynch doubles in the past. Why pay outrages prices when you can buy 10 boxes now for $500 and get great sketches instead of spending $200 a sketch for something you could pull yourself. It bugs me for some reason and I don't know why. I feel it's too obvious.

Brad I'm not going to get hot over this subject, my beef is not with you, But you sit here and defend Sportzfreak For her Overly Outrageous collecting behaviour and then pick on cardgary? At least hes not vacuuming up ALL the sketches only to sell them off later at a 50% loss cause he RAN the prices up to disgusting proportions in the first place!

[emoticon]

Throw out the base cards?   Blasphemy!!!  

As for the Series 1 postcard set, he took a big chance on that, I imagine BECAUSE he is a card dealer, and he thought it would be a worthwhile investment.  I remember waffling on whether to spend that kind of money on a single Wacky item, and I did because of the very limited number; now, I wish I'd ponied up for 3 sets.  Actually, at the time, I had trouble with the ordering system and thought I had ordered multiples, and I emailed Topps all concerned to make sure I was only getting 1 set.....  How ironic is that?  I certainly don't like what happened after that with the postcard sets and the ensuing crop of profiteering vultures who may have been encouraged by his success, but I have a feeling the limited edition sets would have worked their way in that direction anyway.

Any idea how many he bought? I bought a series one limited edition set from him several months ago from him. I think I paid about $90.

[BumChex]

Brad I'm not going to get hot over this subject, my beef is not with you, But you sit here and defend Sportzfreak For her Overly Outrageous collecting behaviour and then pick on cardgary? At least hes not vacuuming up ALL the sketches only to sell them off later at a 50% loss cause he RAN the prices up to disgusting proportions in the first place!

No worries. Some times it's fun to get in a debate. It gets everyone energized because people are passionate about the hobby. Something to talk about. We aren't going to solve the world problems.

[BumChex]

By the way Cardgarys bugs me. I'm actually banned from his auctions now....LOL
What a total prick....

[Paul_Maul]

I think the thing that bothers me the most is when he hurt the postcards by buying most of series one. Now when I look at eBay his auctions are starting to rmind me of Probstein...LOL

You wacky-centric folks need to realize Rick Probstein is just a consignment seller. His wacky stuff happens to be crap, but he is a very good guy and fantastic at what he does. If I ever wanted to sell anything via consignment on ebay he's the first one I would go to.

[emoticon]

By the way Cardgarys bugs me. I'm actually banned from his auctions now....LOL
What a total prick....

Have you ever met him? If not, why does he bug you?

[emoticon]

You wacky-centric folks need to realize Rick Probstein is just a consignment seller. His wacky stuff happens to be crap, but he is a very good guy and fantastic at what he does. If I ever wanted to sell anything via consignment on ebay he's the first one I would go to.

When you sell on consignment, who sets the price? I've been trying to grab a series 5 postcard sketch for some time but his postcard sets are priced through the stratosphere. Even if the owner sets the price, doesn't the consigner have the option of saying that the price is too high and it's not worth my effort or reputation to sell this high? After all, astronomically high prices makes the seller look out of touch with reality.

[FourRoses]

I would imagine the Ebay user ultimately can agree or disagree on the prices. The auctions from this fellow are asinine in terms of price and whomever thinks they are appealing is either highly optimistic or extremely foolish.

[Paul_Maul]

When you sell on consignment, who sets the price? I've been trying to grab a series 5 postcard sketch for some time but his postcard sets are priced through the stratosphere. Even if the owner sets the price, doesn't the consigner have the option of saying that the price is too high and it's not worth my effort or reputation to sell this high? After all, astronomically high prices makes the seller look out of touch with reality.

I can only assume it is the owner of the material calling the shots on how to price. Because, with Probstein's baseball card material, it is almost always auctioned with no minimum bid. I recently won about 15 PSA graded 1971 BB cards in a recent set break of his. His customer service is top notch, and from what I've heard, everyone who consigns sports card material through him is pleased as punch with the results.

That said, all this wacky crap he has up is probably on consignment from the same source. He doesn't tend to lower price significantly, but rather just keeps re-listing the stuff over a long period of time. I don't see any of the wacky stuff selling either, but his overall model must work well or he probably wouldn't handle it that way.

[Dr Popper]

You wacky-centric folks need to realize Rick Probstein is just a consignment seller. His wacky stuff happens to be crap, but he is a very good guy and fantastic at what he does. If I ever wanted to sell anything via consignment on ebay he's the first one I would go to.

I can't imagine anyone paying his prices though.  Does he fish for suckers and get a bite every now and then?  I just glaze over his auctions now because the prices are usually 5 times what the item is worth.  If I had a item to sell on consignment I would be afraid it would sit on his shelf for years based on the prices he asks.

[HawaiianPunks]

I notices he wants $200 for certain sketches. I think what really bothers me is that we are all trying to get great sketches for our collection and this guy sells everything. People think because of the last couple series you will make a shit load of money by selling sketches, but these guys don't realize it is easier this series because of the lack of Lynch doubles in the past. Why pay outrages prices when you can buy 10 boxes now for $500 and get great sketches instead of spending $200 a sketch for something you could pull yourself. It bugs me for some reason and I don't know why. I feel it's too obvious.

He now has B&W sketches listed for $269.  Crazy!  I say we pass along a reality check to him and make reasonable $20 - $30 offers on the auctions that have this option.

[Dr Popper]

He now has B&W sketches listed for $269.  Crazy!  I say we pass along a reality check to him and make reasonable $20 - $30 offers on the auctions that have this option.

The problem with sellers asking prices on sketches that are much higher than what they are selling for, is that by the time they decide to reduce the prices their window of opportunity has past and prices have dropped considerably.  That only takes 4-6 weeks after a release before they start to drop. 

This one is priced high but may be worth it.  What a beautiful sketch!..............

[FourRoses]

I can't imagine anyone paying his prices though.  Does he fish for suckers and get a bite every now and then?  I just glaze over his auctions now because the prices are usually 5 times what the item is worth. 

Five times? That's being polite.