Dealing with Poor eBay Sellers

In my last trade post recap I posted about a Collector's Choice oddball I hadn't seen before.  I also mentioned that I found the complete 40-card set on eBay for $12 and purchased it immediately.  I received the cards a few days later. 

The cards were packed in a bubble mailer, which is always a great sign.  However, the cards were placed loose in a plastic sandwich bag that had clearly been used in shipping multiple times.  The bag was soft and wrinkled.  Nothing like a new plastic bag would look and feel. 

Due to cards being packaged loosely, over 25% were damaged in some sort of manner.  Dinged corners and bent edges.  The eBay listing did not disclose any such damage so the only possible explanation is that they were damaged in shipping. 

I sent the eBay seller a message explaining the situation and asking if he might have any replacement cards.  I didn't receive a response after several days so I then filed a refund request.  Again, I didn't hear a response for a couple days so I sent one more message.  After I didn't hear back, I escalated my claim to eBay.

Within an hour, eBay refunded my entire purchase.  Although the whole ordeal was a slight headache, the end result is that I received the complete set for free.  The cards are little dinged up but I think I can live with it.

This is the first time I've ever had to file a complaint with eBay.  Hopefully it will be my last.

Trading With a King

After showing off a very small part of the haul I won from Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown, I found a trade partner in Billy Kingsley of Cardboard History.  I happily sent him a lot of cards and I was happily surprised to see the stack of cards he sent back.

Billy has been the #1 contributor to my SuperSonics collection and this trade was no exception.  The cards span across all sort of sets and include a handful of other teams as well.  I'll highlight a few of my favorites.

1972-73 Topps

This card has the honor of becoming my oldest basketball card.  Considering that Topps did not start putting out basketball sets on a regular basis until 1969-70, this is a cool feat.

2014-15 Panini Threads / 2013-14 Hoops

Combining old school photos with new school cards.  These photos pop on new card stock as compared to how they would look on say a 90-91 card.  

2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Debut

I was first turned on to this set thanks Tony L. at Off Hiatus after he sent me a graded Andrew Bogut rookie card.  These cards still look sharp.  Radmanovic was fun to watch as he wasn't afraid to throw up a 3-point shot.  This card would mark the last time we would see Radmanovic in a Sonics uniform. He was traded the Clippers mid-season.  

1990-91 Hopps

Rookie of the Reign Man! Enough said!

2004-05 Topps Total

A mascot card of the high-flying Sasquatch.  I'm biased but I think the Squatch is one of the best mascots out there.  He plays on a local urban legend, he doesn't look overly fake, and he can DUNK!

2000-01 Topps Chrome

Finally, I get my first card of Patrick Ewing in a Sonics uniform.  The Sonics had been in decline a few years before Ewing arrived.  This move reeked of a "ehh, fuck it" type move. Ewing had no business playing for the Sonics, let alone the in the NBA.  Unsurprisingly, he only lasted one season with the Sonics.

By the way, this card is purple.  This whole set is purple.  WHY?

2007-08 Topps - Rookie Set

Durant rookie! Many basketball fans resent Durant for the way he left the Thunder and taking the "easy way" to a ring by joining the Warriors.  I say to hell with those fans. The Thunder didn't deserve Durant. I look forward to Durant returning to the Sonics when they eventually return (yeah right).

1996 Upper Deck Slam Dunk Series

SLAM DUNK SERIES?? 1996-97 COLLECTOR'S CHOICE DESIGN?? I can 100% say I have NEVER seen this card before!  WHERE? WHEN? HOW?? I am a huge fan of 1996-97 Collector's Choice so my mouth was agape when I saw in this the trade stack.  

According to Trading Card Database user Billy Kingsley, this set was issued with Nestle chocolate bars.  I haven't cross-checked every card but the photos appear to be different from the base set.

I'm looking on eBay right this instance and I see this complete set 40-card set for $12 shipped. Yup, that's an instant buy for me.

There were many, many more cards but these are a small sampling of my favorites.  Thanks Billy for all the excellent cards!

Trading with Condition Sensitive

This year I've opened only one current hobby box.  The usual suspect would be Topps but the Flagship design didn't interest me.  Other Topps boxes are overpriced thanks to the Aaron Judge gold rush.  None of the other set designs have grabbed me either.

What was the lucky box, then? It was 2016-17 Panini Presitge. I previously posted about this set, remarking how I enjoyed the cards.  Even after opening a box, I'm still a lot of cards short of the base set.

I saw Rosenort at Condition Sensitive post about opening some packs of Prestige and decided to see if I could chip away at my want list.

Is JR Smith copying Nik Satuskas or is Stauskas copying Smith? The world may never known.

I miss the old Raptors with their cartoon logo and purple uniforms.  I can understand why they would change away from it though.

The always elusive rookie cards. Diamond Stone saw a measly 7 games of playing time. Marquese Chriss saw far heavier playing time. He played in 82 games averaging 21 minutes per game. He's clearly the better rookie out of this trade.

Thanks for the trade, Rosenort!

Day 4: College Memories and College Players

30-Day Challenge: Day 4

It's time to jump back into the 30-day trading card challenge.  As always, I am simultaneously doing to the 30-day music challenge.  Here are the topics of the day!

• Music: A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about
• Stars - Ageless Beauty
• Card: A rookie card of one of your favorite players
• 2013-14 Panini #161 Kelly Olynyk

I'm at a point in my life where if there is someone I want to forget about, they have been forgotten.  I would rather forget about moments than people.  (although I don't think there is someone who I would rather forget).

This song by Stars evokes heartache from a time during college.  Without getting into the details (this is a card blog, not my Livejournal), all I can say is that the love lost cut me deep.  Even though this song reminds me of her, I harbor no ill will.  Thus, I don't care to forget the person this song reminds me of but I would like to forget the moment associated with it.

---

Attending law school was a similar experience to attending college.  Thrust into a new environment, having to form new social circles, all the while trying to conquer the challenge that is the first year of an experience like no other.  One of the ways to form a bond with new classmates was to coalesce around a common interest: Gonzaga basketball.

2013-14 Panini

One of my favorite players is Kelly Olynyk who played at Gonzaga during my time there.  He's a tall center at 7 foot even who is not afraid to shoot from behind the arc.  At the beginning of his college career he was small for his size but the way he played I knew he had something going for himself.

After his sophomore year, he took a redshirt year to develop.  It paid off as Olynyk returned a completely different player.  He hit the gym hard and filled out his frame.

Pre-revolution

Olynyk in his junior year

All grown up

Olynyk not only had a radical physical transformation before and after his redshirt season; he played remarkably better his junior year.  His stats were up all across the board.

Season	PPG	FG%	FT%	RPG
Freshman	3.8	50.0%	59.6%	2.7
Sophomore	5.8	57.4%	61.8%	3.8
REDSHIRT
Junior	17.8	62.9%	77.6%	7.3

His play propelled Gonzaga to it's first ever #1 AP & Coaches Top 25 ranking and Gonzaga's first #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

After declaring for the draft following his junior year, the Dallas Mavericks drafted Olynyk in the first round before shipping him off to the Boston Celtics.  Without the Sonics, the Celtics are my favorite NBA team so I could not have been happier that Olynyk would get to wear the Celtic green.  His rookie cards all look wonderful.

2013-14 Panini Court Kings - Art Nouveau Jerseys

With his combined his play style, skills, and teams played for, Olynyk is one of my favorite players.  

Falling for More Retail Basketball

Old habits die hard.  Basketball was my favorite sport growing up yet I have only faint interest in the sport now.  Even so, I want to follow the sport and continue my basketball collection.  Due to the dark cloud the NBA left over the city of Seattle when the Sonics left, I can't in good conscience become an NBA fan.

I try to resist the urge but sometimes I falter.  I'll allow myself the sporadic retail packs and nothing more. 

My Fred Meyer had a lone box of 2016-17 Panini Prestige so I had buy two packs to see how the design looks.

Here is a breakdown of my two packs, with six cards per pack:

Pack #1

 

Only two names I recognize here: Draymond Green and Marc Gasol.  Like I said, I don't really follow the sport.  

I like the base card design for its simplicity and full-framed photo.  The rookie card of Beasley has the design elements switched so I wonder if that's consistent between all the rookie cards.  

Rookie Class - Crystal Parallel

One insert in the first pack and it is an excellent card.  Not necessary due to the player as Ingram has failed to "wow" the league this year.  I just like the way the card is designed.  It's a tough card to scan as it's a rainbow foil with crystal pattern (similar to the cracked ice cards) embossed in the card. Furthermore, Ingram's head is in the background of the card, which does not show up at all in this scan.

Pack #2

Only four base cards in my second pack, with two rookies.  I like that kind of collation.  I was also right about the design being switched for rookies and veterans.  I recognize Jrue Holiday and Arron Afflalo from their days of playing with UCLA in the then PAC-10.  

 

Your look at the back of the base cards.  Standard Panini fare with the repeating image and single year stats.  I like how Panini at least color shaded the back image.

C'mon Panini, you couldn't feature Ewing during his time as Supersonic?  I kid, Ewing was on his last legs when he played in Seattle.  Although if I were to ever create an all-time Sonics binder, he would absolutely be in there.

I think this is the Acetate insert.  The card between the top and bottom banners is actually clear, with the exception of the Knicks logo and Porzingis.  The crowd in the background is also translucent.  It's a neat looking card and it might actually be my first acetate card.  

For retail packs, I'm impressed that there was a pack for two insert cards.  I expected only one.  The base design is okay but the inserts were the attraction for me.  I might consider buying another pack or two hoping for another interesting insert.

Winning the Retail Lottery

I recently brought home the last of my old boxes from my dad's house. One of the boxes contained my 6th grade yearbook.  Looking at my likes and dislikes section next to my name you could tell I was a basketball fan.  My likes included "Rodman, Bulls" whereas my dislikes were "LA Lakers, doing homework."

Nowadays, my interest in basketball (at least at the professional level) is all but gone.  Other than checking in on some players from my alma maters and seeing if the OKC Thunder are still title-less, I don't follow the sport.

That doesn't stop me from opening card packs, however.  My grocery store happened to have two untouched boxes of 2016-17 Panini Prizm. 

The boxes said they contained 1 autograph or memorabilia card on average so feeling the itch for some new wax, I grabbed three packs from the top box.  Amidst some base and prizm parallel cards was a gold parallel autograph of Patrick Patterson numbered out of 10! This was without a doubt my best retail pull ever.  

Patterson was the 14th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.  He's not an all-star but he appears to be a decent player.  

The next night I was at the store again.  The two Prizm boxes remained virtually untouched.  Since I pulled what was likely the only auto out of the first box, I went for the second box hoping for some more luck.  This time I only grabbed two packs.  

One of the packs contained a teal wave parallel of Ben Simmons, numbered out of 25!  I knew that Ben Simmons was a big deal, being the #1 pick in the overall draft and signing an exclusive autograph deal with Upper Deck.  I didn't realize that his cards were so highly sought after.  On top of the parallel, I pulled his base rookie in the next pack.

Word came down Friday that Simmons is officially out for the rest of the season due to his foot injury.  He never played a regular season game this year.  With all the hype it will be interesting to see how well Simmons plays next year.  

A few days go by and I'm at the store again.  I had to check my boxes of Prizm and they were still rather full.  It's not too surprising as the Seattle area is mainly a football town with a lesser interest in the Mariners.  

I grabbed four more packs, two from each box.  This time I pulled another teal wave parallel! Another SN25 parallel! Kent Bazemore is not a big name but still a big pull!

I never thought I would have gotten so excited about basketball cards.  I couldn't believe my luck with all the great cards.  For now, these are my best retail pulls and will be hard to beat!

A SuperSonic trade day

With the Sonics back in the news, it's only fitting that I finally get around to posting about a trade I made with Billy over at Cardboard History.

Due to the partial fault of my own and partial fault of sellers on Sportlots, I ended with multiples of Stickums 2 Base cards from 96-97 Collector's Choice.  I didn't due to my due diligence prior to purchase to make sure the cards were correctly sorted and neither did the sellers.  Only after I was I looking at scans on TCDB did I realize my mistake.

The cards were cheap so I didn't want to run the expense of mailing them back for refunds.  Rather, I thought I could turn them into a trade.  Fortunately, I was able to make a trade with Billy for some Supersonics.  He even sent a few more than I asked for! Thanks!

I'm not going to bury the lead.  Here is the highlight of the trade: a Kevin Durant rookie card! This is actually from the 07-08 Topps Rookie insert but a great card to have either way.

It was bad enough that the Sonics were swept out of town by the backstabbing Clay Bennett but Seattle had only a brief glimpse of a likely Hall of Famer.  I know everyone and their brother in Oklahoma were mad at Durant when he left the Thunder but I couldn't have been happier.  I can finally root for Durant again.

2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Debut

This set name is a misnomer as not all of the cards in the sets are of rookies.  None of these Sonics players were rookies at the time.  I still like the look of the cards so I'm willing to overlook the discrepancy.  Now that I have Collector's Choice under wraps, I'm considering adding this set to my active set want list.

Up above I mentioned that the Sonics were in the news again but it's not the team that is in the news, it's the proposed stadium.

Back a few years ago, an investor named Chris Hansen pledged to build a basketball arena in Seattle and bring back the Sonics. Woohoo!  Hansen, who grew up in Seattle, should know that this city does not like to make decisions quickly.  His plan was to build an arena near all the other Seattle stadiums using $200 million in bonds backed by the city.

The Seattle City Council wasn't quite sure if it liked the idea but eventually entered into a Memorandum of Understanding that basically said they would issue the bonds.  The major caveat was that Hansen had to secure a team first.  The NBA won't even talk expansion prior an arena plan is in place and Sacramento managed to hold onto their team despite a rocky future at one point.

This last week, Hansen unleashed a new plan: he would pay for the entire stadium himself.  No public money would be necessary.  All he wants is for the City to give him part of a public street is necessary for the arena and in return Hansen will pay about $20 million for a transportation project that the City needs to be funded.  This is a game changer.

The biggest opponents of the new arena are the Port of Seattle ("too much traffic interfering with our freight!") and the Mariners ("it will depress our attendance more than the on the field action!").  If this deal doesn't happen, it will ultimately be due to the Port convincing the City Council that "thousands" of jobs will be lost.  Personally, I think it's mere puffery by the Port.

There's one more wrinkle to the Hansen arena plan.  But before I mention that, I want to remark that above is a Shawn Kemp rookie card! The Reign Man! I love it.

Back to the Stadium, one would think that with the news of Hansen's new plan, the City would be ecstatic. Not quite.  A few days after the news, Seattle mayor Ed Murray announced that the City would soon be accepting Requests for Proposals to develop the Key Arena into a multipurpose facility that could handle NBA or NHL teams.

This is mind boggling for several reasons.  First, the Key Arena is owned by the City of Seattle.  To renovate the Key so that it could handle the NBA will cost somewhere between $200-$300 million. That's $200-$300 million in public money.  Hansen is building an arena at $0 cost to the public.

Second, the Key is located in a transportation abyss.  The bus service to the Key is less than adequate. Hansen's proposed arena is currently served by light rail and multiple, branching bus stops.  The Key has very limited public parking nearby.  The opposite is true of the proposed Sonics arena.  Lastly, the road service to and around the Key is tight.  Traffic leaving a new Sonics arena could take any number of roads out of there.  

Whenever and wherever we get a new Sonics arena, at least I'll have these Sonics cards.  

Finishing Up Collector's Choice

Marbury and Allen rookie cards

With the basketball season just around the corner, it's time for another basketball post.  This time, I attempt to finish my goal of completing the 1996-97 Collector's Choice set. It's a simple, colorful set.

I picked up two boxes on eBay (even though I needed only 1), as the price per box was cheaper than what else was available.  So, as a side note, if you're looking for a box of this product, I'm your man. After flipping a coin, I settled on a box to open.  I'm sure you're all tired of seeing these cards so there's a good chance you won't have to hear about this set again!

Much like the last time, I'll provide a statistical breakdown to see if I beat the odds.  There were 36 packs with 12 cards per pack, for a whopping 432 cards.

Cards Needed for Series 2	109	100%
Completed	103	94%
Outstanding	6	6%

Six cards might not seem like much but for all the base cards that are included, this is not a good collation of cards.  Fortunately, Sportlots makes it easy to pick up base cards at $0.18 a pop, which is what I did to finish off the set.

Bryant rookie card / Mutombo being Mutombo

Insert Card	Odds	Found	Beat the Odds?
Mini-Cards	1:1	36	Tie
Super Action Stick-Ums	1:3	11	No
Gold Mini-Cards	1:35	1	Tie
Silver Crash the Game	1:5	8	Yes
Gold Crash the Game	1:49	1	Yes
NBA Draft Trade Update Card	1:71	1	Yes
Super Action Stick-Ums Base	1:4	9	Tie

Other than missing one stick-ums card, this box treated me well.  Pulling the trade update card was a nice plus.  Too bad I can't redeem it as the update cards are hard to find on the secondary market.

Nash and Iverson rookie cards

Even though I didn't complete the base set for series 2, I managed to finish the base mini-cards. Going into the box I only needed 13 cards so I'm glad I didn't get burdened with too many duplicates.

Camby rookie

It's nice to finally close the book on this set.  I'll chase down the remaining insert cards I need, as well as the update cards.  So this wraps it up for Collector's Choice!

Another Day, Another Basketball Post

After I posted about basketball cards during the baseball all-star game, Tony, over at Off Hiatus Baseball, asked me if I wanted his basketball cards.  Never one to turn down cards, I happily accepted his offer.  

Tony is a Milwaukee Brewers collector and unfortunately my Brewers collection is pretty slim outside of the base cards.  Nonetheless, I managed to scrape up a couple cards that Tony didn't have and sent them on their way.  You can see Tony's write-up on his end of the trade over on his blog.

He sent over a good number of cards, thank you Tony!  Here are some of the highlights:

1996 Upper Deck USA

In the spirit of the Olympics, I'll start with the 1996 Team USA cards.  Although this wasn't the caliber of the original Dream Team, the 1996 team was still stacked with greats like Grant Hill, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Scottie Pippin.  The above cards feature Glenn Robinson and Anfernee Hardaway.  This set even included the women's team, which is nice.  

I have two complaints about this set.  First, the small bump at the bottom of the card.  The bump makes these cards harder to store and as a design element it feels unnecessary.  My other complaint is that there are not any cards for The Glove, Gary Payton.  Maybe Payton was a late addition to the team or the team wasn't set at the time the cards went to print.  Either way, it's a small disappointment.  

Even if these were the only cards in the trade, I would have been satisfied.  

Top :1991-92 Upper Deck
Bottom Middle: 1992-93 Topps Gold
Bottom Right: 1992-93 Topps

Next up, a great set of cards.  The 1991-92 Upper Deck series is tastefully done.  UD didn't overdo it with the basketball border.  Two of the three top cards were Sonics.  I always appreciate anytime I can expand my Sonics collection.  Hersey Hawkins wasn't a Sonic at the time and wouldn't be until the 95-96 season.  I love seeing old school Dennis Rodman photos, before he became "The Worm." Rodman was my favorite player as a kid.  His play backed up his attitude too as he was an excellent rebounder.

The 92-93 Topps set might be my favorite looking basketball set and is one I hope to complete someday.  Great use of team colors in the name/team boxes.  The single-lined borders are subtle touch that are not too distracting.  

Despite living in Celtics territory as a kid, I was a big Bulls fan. Michael Jordan was responsible for that.  

The gold Topps cards, while nothing spectacular, do a good job of adhering to the base set look. Sometimes parallel cards aren't as good as the base but here the gold is just fine.

Craig Ehlo probably isn't a notable name for many people, unless you're talking about the time that Jordan burried a game-winning shot over Ehlo.  However, that's not why he sticks out in my mind. 

He graduated from Washington State University, which is where I graduated from undergraduate. Not many WSU players make the NBA so any time such a player does make the NBA, I root for them no matter what.  Ehlo also played one season with the Sonics, although he was hardly effective.  Lastly, Ehlo spent some time doing broadcasts for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, another team I support.  He developed an addiction to pain medication but appears to be turning his life around now.  

1992 Front Row Holograms

A very small three card set of holograms.  The scans do not do these cards justice.  The 3D effect of the cards works well in person.  

2014-15 Panini Prizm

I have to admit I was surprised to see a few modern cards in this trade package.  Almost every other card was from the 90s or earlier so to have essentially new cards was unexpected.  I don't have much to say about these cards as I don't care much for the Prizm brand.  Some nice players though in Paul, Stoudamire and Butler.

2005-06 Upper Deck

Another surprise and in the best way possible.  I've never submitted any cards for grading and I am undecided if I would do so in the future.  However, the presentation of a slabbed card is well done. This card received a high 9.5 grade so I'm sure I will be retiring soon with this Andrew Bogut rookie as my gravy train.  Seriously though, this is a unique card to have so thanks Tony for sending it along.

1975-76 Topps

Last but not these are a trio of vintage cards.  I believe these are the first vintage cards I have in my collection.  I didn't understand the appeal of vintage cards until I had one in my hands.  The design focuses on the player, who can get lost in today's cards.  They also have a nice feel to them as the cards are indeed made out of cardboard.  

That wraps up this trade, thanks again to Tony!

The baseball All-Star Game is on; let's talk basketball

I'm sitting here watching the all-star game so you'd think I would post something about baseball right?  Well that would be the logical step but unfortunately I don't have a baseball post ready at the moment.  I don't have much interest in the ASG since only Robinson Cano is representing the Mariners.  Baseball is still baseball though and it's fun to see all the greats of the year.

Anyway, enough baseball talk.  Let's talk basketball.  Not just any basketball, 90s basketball.  And now let me take a moment to thank today's sponsor: Billy Kingsley of Cardboard History.  He didn't sponsor this post exactly but he did send along the cards featured in today's post so thank you Billy! He runs a great blog so take a look!

This is the first thing I think about when I see Mutombo.

On my post about my first card show I posted quite a few early 90s Fleer Ultra cards.  I really liked the design for the 92-93 and 93-94 sets.  Billy sent me a message saying he had some cards for me that he thought I would really like.  He was definitely right; the Fleer Ultra cards are great.  He sent over a few more cards than are in this post so now he's got me wanting to finish off this set.

Bennett won't be remembered for his playing days, as he only spent 3 seasons in the NBA.  However, he's turned out to be quite the coach.  I first became familiar with Bennett when he took over for his father, Dick Bennett as the head coach at Washington State University.  The Bennett's transformed the WSU basketball program into a winning one.  He lead WSU to the NCAA Tournament twice, going so far as the sweet 16! That's impressive for a program that's usually ignored.  Bennett even helped recruit Klay Thompson who in all likelihood would have never come to WSU without Bennett.

After a few good years at WSU, Bennett left to coach Virginia.  I'm still mad about that.  However, I completely understand.  WSU would always be a small time program, whereas Virginia has more money and notoriety to make the men's basketball team bigger.  Virginia has done well under Bennett, much to my disappointment

 He actually played on the Sonics for one year.  Cool.  Looks like he was mostly a bench/role player.

I like that these NBA Jam Session cards aren't part of some hard to get insert but are actually part of the base set.  I'm coming close to having all of the Jam Session cards.  

Sprewell is probably best known for choking his coach.  That's too bad because he was a decent player.

Sorry McCray, try as you might to imitate Jordan with your #22 jersey but you ain't him.  *does some actual research on him* Oh, looks like he wore #22 ever since he was drafted 3rd overall in the 1983 draft, my bad.  He won a championship with the Bulls last year so he retired on top.

That wraps up this sample of cards so thanks again to Billy!