On Card Auto Hot Packs...

...seem a bit suspicious. Yesterday or maybe a few days prior, I was searching to see what loose packs of Bowman and Chicle were going for on eBay. Of course, there were more hot packs listed than anything else.

I have come to two possible conclusions for "On-card auto hot pack!!!!1" listings on eBay. These packs are either:

1. Opened & Re-sealed (or)
2. Hit distribution within boxes has become more and more predicatable.

Maybe, in a long shot, the cards are printed on a thicker stock, and the jackasses with analytic scales and micrometers are searching the packs this way. However, this would be made obsolete in 2010 Bowman retail (which are not transparent) packs, as a checklist card is seeded about once every five packs or so. Without a consistent average weight from pack-to-pack, I would think that weighing would be out of the question.

I Respect That

Amidst all of the mouth-foaming for Stephen Strasburg '10 Bowmans, I came across this beauty in my daily Base Shredders/Dustin McGowan/Shaun Marcum eBay searchings. I didn't attempt to bid on this one, but I am still happy to see it get the respect it deserves. With Marcum's season so far, it's amazing how a Strasburg Purple Refractor (#/999) is selling for the same amount of this Marcum Red Refractor AUTO RC....#'ed to /25.

Bowman 2010 Strasburg Watch: May

Average Cost of Cards Sold on EBay May 11/12, 2010

Bowman Base Card: $6.05
Bowman Chrome Base Card: $22.33
Bowman Chrome Refractor: $59.99
Bowman Autograph Blue: $465.00
Bowman Chrome Refractor Auto: $No Data
Bowman Blue Parallel: $27.50

Stay Tuned for second report on or around June 10-14.
This didn't take a whole lot of effort, so I might just start going every week or every other week.
Also, I am fully expecting the amount of listings to blow within the next few weeks.

Quickly, eBay, Some Explanations

I've been quiet, lately.

Spring is usually a busy time for me, so I'm used to mailing in on my hobbies this time of year. In high school all I knew in spring time was pitching (I sure as hell couldn't hit until summer). I didn't care about my academics then, and until I got my lovely dogger, I didn't have much else to care about then.

In college, well, the first four years, anyway; I spent all of my time doing geology (as the field season kicks off, it is rather impossible to find a geologist indoors), as well as playing (both) indoor and outdoor soccer at to different schools for three different teams, along with pickup wiffle, softball and hockey games.

Now that I am out of college I thought I'd be more prone to outdoor activities such as fishing and running and rock hounding. But with fishing season not open until May, running without the fear of having to remove a four-banger Ford from my rectal cavity, and rock hounding impossible to schedule while trying to get everyone involved, I have pretty much succumbed to substitute teaching and watching Frazier on Lifetime from 10-11 every morning.

I meant for this to be a quick post, but it wasn't. Sorry. Here's what (I guess?) I was leading up to.

New Dustins!

2004 Topps Chrome Traded
Dustin McGowan X-Fractor Box Topper
SN: #16/20

This is my new lowest numbered card. That's right, I have no 1/1s, nor do I intend to chase any gimmicks such as printing plates, unless they're Dustin McGowan.

Another first as of late is this one:

2009 Topps
Silk Collection
SN: #19/50

Another first. A guy at work in AUGUST told me about pulling a silk from '09 Topps. I played along like I gave a shit/knew what they were. Now I have one, and, to an extent, appreciate them. I have no interest in them other than getting any McGowan, Marcum or Romero, really. They're a nice idea, but they should stick to The Flagship, and stay the hell out of my Ginter. By the way, 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter's and 2009-2010 UD Champs are the only sets I plan on collecting this year. And since almost everyone wants to collect A&G this year, I believe it should be easy for everyone to do so with box breaks, trades, and genuine blogger generosity.

Aaaand that's it, I guess. More McGowans later this week. I have found a great ebay seller who sent me a nice email saying he's got a bunch of him and a bunch of Jays and he'll list 'em for me if I want 'em. Refreshing to find an ebay seller who would rather have your business repeatedly than just rail you in the ass with shipping.

XFractor Question

So I've been wearing the invisibility cloak of late - have you noticed?

Been busy working with the small streams and riparian zones/wetlands that make springtime so great. Also spent some time in Baltimore drinking green beer and in Oneonta (NY) playing some vicious footy games.

Long boring stories short and concise, I haven't been around much lately. I still have to post trades from Jason and the Baseball Dad, and need to send two thank you packages out. I'm also in the middle of about 3 offline fantasy baseball drafts and multiple payoff pushes for fantasy hockerinz.

Anyways, last night I did my typical load-ebay-and-type-in-Dustin-McGowan thing, and found the mother lode. Well, not really. But I did find a seller with two much needed Dusty autos for cheap with combined shipping. Score (hopefully, I'll find out later tonight).

And then I found the card at the top of this post. I did not know this card existed. I'm not a fan of 2004 Topps. I figured they had ignored McGowan in this set, until this one popped up. There's still 5-6 days left in the auction, so I am not getting excited about winning just yet, but still have a question.

Are these really numbered to /20? I did some searching for other in the set, and apparently they are ox toppers. It just strikes me as odd, as the colorless XFractors are #ed/20 and the red XFractors are not serialed.

Has anyone else seen these?

Some (more) eBay thoughts

Recently, I placed a healthy order on eBay for 4 cards. Actually, it was just last night. I managed to score a 2009 T206 Short Print, which may very well be my new favorite card. When it arrives, I will post it, but until then, you can wait. I'll have to.

I won all four cards for $.25/card. So, the auctions ended for a total of $1.00. The shipping is listed at $3/card. Now, without a shipping discount, the order comes to $13. Keep in mind, this is a rare T206 SP, 2 Autographs and a Game-Used. So $13 really isn't dreadful for the whole group.

However, the seller lists this within each auction:

"COMBINED SHIPPING IS 3 AUCTIONS FOR 3.00 AFTER 3 AUCTIONS .50 AN AUCTION FOR SINGLE CARDS 1.00 FOR LOTS."

I went to checkout, and the total was listed at $13. So of course, I sent a "Request Total" email for combined shipping, but still haven't heard anything back. In fairness to the seller, they had a fair amount of auctions end last night, so I am not expecting a super-fast response. But the pessimist in me checked his feedback, and thought it was 100% positive or damn close, no one seems to purchase multiple auctions at once from him.

Just looking for some feedback here, really. I have the tendency to NEVER read directions and fine print correctly (student loans, Graduate Record Exam, final exams, card blog contests, letters from others) so I just wanted to see what everyone else might think of this situation. Am I right to believe I'll only owe this seller $4.50? ($1 for cards, $3 to ship cards 1-3, and $.50 for the fourth card).

Here's a hint of what I bought:
Name all three cards and win...something.

Some eBay thoughts.

So, I may have done something kind of dumb and unncecessary on eBay the past 48 hours. A certain seller starts his auctions @ $.50 + $3.00 shipping, and $1 shipping for each additional card.

There was no way I wasn't going to purchase the one card that got me to the store, as I need it for my life to ever be complete (you'll think I'm crazy when it is revealed.)

However, I ended up buying four cards. So, I paid $6 to ship these four cards...rediculous, right? I agree. However, the four cards which I purchased totaled a minuscule $3.33. In all, four cards for a total of $9.33.

After the auction I kind of regretted it, but I wasn't going to let card #1 get away.

Some more information:

Card 1 = Relic from 2000 (Career year = .284, 47HR, 102 RsBI)
Card 2 = Relic from 2001 (One of my favorite players of all time and the only one I have held a long conversation with besides Shawn Green)
Card 3 = Autograph from 2006 (player saved 30 games)
Card 4 = Autograph from 2008 (No accolades yet)

So I ask you, would you have paid $9.33 for these cards of similar players to yourself? I say "similar to yourself" because three of these guys are/were Toronto Blue Jays but one is just kind of rediuclous, you'll see why in the eBay Score posts coming up eventually.


And since I always like to post pictures, here's Jonas Hiller's player page for the Vanny Olympics. I was lucky enough to draw Switzerland, the country of my own heritage, in JD's Olympic Contest Part Deux. If you haven't submitted an entry yet, please go do so. Too bad though, because you wont get Poland or Switzerland. Please don't invade me, Germany.

2010 Collection Goals

Tired of seeing this posts yet? I don't care. These are my goals for collecting this year. Most are petty, selfish goals, but whatever. Cards make me happy, and so does accomplishment. So I intend to accomplish the following:

• $ave money on collecting (see what I did there?) Kinda sick of paying $4.50 on ebay shipping charges, so through other sources such as CheckOutMyCards, SportsLots, and hopefully a few one-on-one trades, I'll be able to do so. Also, read blaster boxes more carefully before I end up purchasing another box of 2008 UD First Edition.
• Finish the 2007 Ultra Baseball Set
• Finish 2006-2007 Ultra hockey set.
• Finish 2000 Skybox Skylines insert set (2/10 so far...not a good start)
• Accomplish trades with fellow bloggers and/or followers of A Paper Chase. I'm anxious to get a good trade under my belt sooner or later.
• Join some modestly priced box breaks throughout the "blogosphere". Someone mentioned a new phrase to replace that term, and I am for it. Also, possibly hold some box breaks or pack breaks of my own.
• Start busting boxes and packs via video blog. Hopefully I will get the nards to do this eventually, still afraid of the wrong people getting a hold of videos of myself. Of course, Oh, Snap! (my brief foray into directing...) has been out there for 3 years now. [I removed the YouTube link. Very bad video involving poorly faked drug usage, awful acting, and me falling out of a clothes dryer and one off a pool table. Fun!]
  
• 30 Followers. Whoo hoo! 10%!
• Post my rosters of fantasy teams...in baseball card form. Get used to Jayson Werth!
• Double my Ken Griffey, Jr.; Carlos Delgado, Joakim Soria and Roy Halladay collections (what, like it's hard?)
• Pull an autograph. Seriously, getting sick of lame ass John Lackey and Fred Lewis relics.
• Start legit Blue Jays and Rockies team collections.
• Attain These: