When I was in my collecting infancy in 1989, I had two real options to buy cards. I could go to the store or I could try to get to a card show and that was it. While I did have multiple store options back then, from Wal-Mart to grocery stores to convenience stores, the card shop was about 30 minutes away from my sleepy little town. I remember two brothers having a makeshift shop in their father’s insurance business, but that was it. Shows weren’t big in my city either, though they were booming in various parts of the state like Macon, Valdosta, and Atlanta. Those were the good ole days when there was no difference in “Hobby” and “Retail” and no one was buying all the Hoops from Wal-Mart to run back to their neighborhood and sell them for 3x the original cost.
Life was pretty simple then; you bought cards at the local retail outlet, you looked for inserts and rookies, you scanned the Beckett for the value, and you traded with your friends. The internet was nowhere near being discovered for me and the thought of buying something through the mail was a little scary. Times are completely different now. You can buy packs, boxes, singles, and supplies from a number of online retailers; you can break boxes with groups of friends through video; and you can post your hits on social media to try to find buyers. But the biggest online shop still seems to be eBay for a large group of collectors.
There are great online stops like Blowout, Beckett Marketplace, COMC, Bags Unlimited, Dave & Adam, and Steel City Collectibles, just to name a few, but so many collectors fall back on eBay for comps, pricing, listing, and even occasionally for previewing before they buy a product. If you list a card too high on Twitter, somebody will rush in with an eBay screen shot in their negotiations. I use eBay quite a bit because I have established myself there as a reputable seller and I have connected with a group of sellers that I trust and go back to when I need something. It’s also just fun to browse sometimes.
This is not an endorsement post for eBay so don’t misread my intentions here. I am about to get to the point in all of this. As I mentioned, it is fun to browse eBay sometimes and certain filters add to the enjoyment. I like to type in random years and set names, and then sort them by highest priced listings to see what is out there that I may have missed over the years that might be sitting in an old box somewhere. I read blogs, keep a close eye on Twitter, and talk to a lot of people in the industry but sometimes eBay will still turn up a gem that I didn’t realize was valuable.
Of course, this method also turns up some real head scratchers. Most of you who are reading this post are probably already aware of the 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe craze that is out there but if you don’t, you should check out this post before you list yours and expect big bucks. There have been rumors of the card being used in money laundering schemes and most of the listings all say “RARE” or “VERY SHORT PRINT”. I don’t know about the illegal rumors but I can confirm that the card is not rare and there are no credible sources claiming that anything in 1990 Fleer was a short print. But hey, I did find where one allegedly SOLD for $600 just a couple days ago. Who knows if the sale is arms-length, but there it is. Some wise-acre even listed the factory sealed set for $354,295!
The common thought on this Uribe phenomenon is that somebody has gone and created all of this fake buzz about the card and are profiting by selling their cards for $2-$3, which is still an amazing 5000% markup on the .05 it is likely worth. There are a bunch of them selling for a couple dollars and even several that have sold for $20-$50, which is just absolutely insane. So if that is the scheme, it seems to be working. Whatever the reason is, it isn’t the only wild listing you will find in your browsing. Here are some others I found in my travels.
1989 Donruss Alex Madrid
This is the closest thing to the Jose Uribe card out there right now as there are multiple listings for $15,000+. Alex Madrid was a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies who wrapped up his 3 year career in the majors with a 2-3 record, a 5.63 ERA, and 1 Complete Game over 46.1 innings pitched. But here is his 3rd year Donruss card, listed for as much as $25,000 on eBay. Some claim that it is an error because it has Leaf 1988 on the back, even though Leaf owned Donruss. Others claim to have one with a period behind Leaf. The fact of the matter is that this is not a rare or valuable card and appears to be another Jose Uribe scam. However, there was $110 sale out there, so somebody took the bait at least a little.
1992 Fleer Steve Sax
Here, someone thinks they have a rare Steve Sax card because it has a yellow circle on the card. You can have this rarity for just under $10,000 if you are a big Sax fan. If you have ever opened a pack of anything from the 80’s and 90’s, you know that printing errors are not rare. Fortunately, there is only one of these listed and there are zero sales on eBay of a 1992 Fleer Steve Sax. The fishing expedition may have just begun on this one.
1989 Topps Dave Smith “Miscut”
The only thing that may appear in packs from the Junk Wax Era more than a printing error is a cutting error. But this astute seller is making us believe that this Dave Smith that is horribly cut is somehow rare and valuable. I honestly can’t tell whether some of these are just jokes or whether these may be a seller just outright taking advantage of people who think their old cards from when they were kids are really valuable. But there are several listed for $5, which is criminally overpriced so there may be a big scheme behind it all. Fortunately, no sales on this one.
1986 Steve Young Topps Rookie
Then there are cards that are actually collectible and hold some value that are listed at astronomical prices like this Steve Young. This is a really cool card and one to have in your collection if you are an old school collector like myself. But you can find these in mint graded condition for less than $1,000 and you can certainly buy one ungraded, like the one listed, for less than $20.
1988 Donruss Tom Glavine
Who wouldn’t spend $500 on a 1988 rookie card of a Hall of Fame Pitcher? I love Tom Glavine and am a huge Braves fan but this is literally a $1.00 card every day of the week. It might be $25 if it is a Grade 10 from one of the big grading companies.
1989 Score Traded Ken Griffey Jr.
By Junk Wax standards, this might actually be considered slightly rarer than some other cards. The fact that it is from a Traded Set lends itself to possibly being in less of a print run than the base set was. But there are still millions of these out there. This is a very nice card that sells for about $35 if it is a Grade 10, which is something that can’t be said for any other card in the entire 1989 Score Catalog. But in no alternate universe would this ungraded version net more than $10.
1990 Donruss Ken Griffey Jr. Diamond King
Speaking of Ken Jr., if you had the bones to pick up his Score Traded Rookie for $970, you could save a tad more and pick up this sweet 1990 Donruss Diamond King! I wrote about this card one time because a classmate of mine was mad at me and took it from my book bag to rip it in half. I found it later in the day and was fuming. I would have been REALLY MAD if I had known it would be worth a grand one day!
VINTAGE 1988-1990’s Topps Score Baseball Cards Lot No Junk All High Value Cards
That is quite a description. And it is quite misleading when you look at the photo. I skimmed through all 10 photos and the cards you are looking at in this one photo are all of the cards in the lot. That’s right; 14 star cards for $450! There are even 4 Edgar Martinez cards thrown in here so it can’t be labeled a Hall of Fame Lot. This is the very reason people who got out of the hobby 20 years ago think their collections are so valuable today. I’ve said it before, value is relative. I love every one of these cards and love having them in my collection. But they are not worth $450 US Dollars!
1990’s Giants and A’s Complete Team Sets Donruss, Fleer, Tops
The first red flag is that the seller spelled Topps, “Tops”. But for a mere $18,000, you can have something that any fan of the Bay Area would love. In this lot, you get the A’s Team Set from 1989 Donruss, Fleer and Topps, along with the Giants Team Set from 1990 Fleer, and 1989 Donruss and Topps. This is a rather unique listing that might get some action in a reasonable price range but the seller REALLY loses me when he says, “never touched by human hands.” That’s just unnecessary and patently false.
Like I mentioned before, I don’t know if some of these are jokes or if these are some part of a more elaborate scheme to bring value back to the Junk Wax Era that is failing miserably. But in either case, these are actual, live listings on the auction site. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. Unfortunately, there appear to be occasional buyers that fall for these deals. They buy them at a much lower price than the listing but way higher than they should have ever shelled out. What are some of the weirdest eBay listings you’ve ever seen?
J-Dub