Wednesday, November 30, 2011

2008 Topps Pujols/Fielder Base Card for $200 ... YOU BET!

If you know tanmanbaseballfan, you know that he LOVES craig's list.  I happily post on CL quite regularly to keep the new cardboard flowing.  While it isn't exactly a huge profit center, it allows me to not get smacked by mrs tanmanbaseballfan for loading the house up with too much cardboard.

I posted the following the other day:  http://houston.craigslist.org/clt/2726503863.html - several hundred stars, rookies, inserts, serial #ed, etc. for $125.  I've been selling boxes like this for quite some time to happy collectors. 

Yesterday, I got a call from a "private number".  I could barely hear him with all the background noise, and immediately asked "You got any Babe Ruth?"  Then he rattled a few more names.  I then told him that I'm sorry, but it is all new stuff that I have.  He then quickly asked "you got any Pujols???"  I told him in this collection, there were 7 or 8 with Prince Fielder in the card - a 2008 Topps card.  He quickly snapped in "I'll give you 200 for it." 


I said "$200?  No, I don't think we can do that!"  He fired back "Come on - you sound like a reasonable guy.  Let's do this.  Where can we meet?" 

This guy is making me feel really uncomfy right now, so I told him I was asking $125 for the entire collection and the Pujols was only a $1 card at best, to which he responded he could do easily and wanted to meet. 

Is this the CLCK?  (Craig's List Cardboard Killer).  If so, I don't want to find out!  I think I'll hold onto my $200 Pujols cards for a while, until the right (non-pyscho) buyer comes along. 

Introduction

Hi there! I am tanmanbaseballfan. Married for over 10 years, have two kids, and have a serious addiction to carboard crack!

Last year, my ears perked up when I first heard about blowout and some other places doing a black Friday sale. Instantly, I knew it would become a tradition for as long as they would do it. With breakfast at my desk, I was ready at 4:45 am to get ready and make some purchases. After a while, I just knew that I wasn't going to get anything, because the ebay buy-it-now's would stay on for *maybe* 3 seconds. Later, I eventually scored some good stuff, and went over to another site - wow, I was star struck. All kinds of cheapo blaster boxes! I got tons, and tons, and tons of stuff! Probably about too much money was spent on the stuff. I was a sucker for the cheap 09 Football Heroes blasters and 08 UD First Edition football just because of price ... surely I could flip those easily!

Welllll....it proved a little more difficult. With some luck and hard work, I ended up busting a bunch, selling a bunch, and turning a profit over the course of 6+ months.

Now, here I am again - thought I learned my lesson, but the force was too great. Listed below are my purchases and justifications for all of them ... why? Well...because it will make me feel better, that's why! let's see how we fared:

- Scored a 2008 SPA Baseball box. This was at the tail end of the day, and, would you believe it - the only real "black friday" sale purchase! I'm busting this puppy.

- Found the last cheap 24 pack retail box of 2008 Baseball Heroes for $20. It was selling on the bay for $35, so I figured what the heck - I love this set. I only wish I could have gotten more.

- 06 Future Stars Hobby Case (2 cases) - I admit, when I saw this, I did a double take. Not many have sold online, but they are always listed in the $45-$85 range, so I grabbed a few cases with the hopes of busting some and selling to others at a great price for them. With 5 autos a box, and a killer rookie lineup, this was a fairly easy buy.

- 07 Future Stars Hobby Case (3 cases) - This is much like the 06 for me - only more desirable. 5 autos a box, killer rookie lineup, has a high sales tag online and I was able to wipe out the seller of these at a price where I could open some and sell some cheap.

- 07 SP Rookie Edition Case - There are 18 boxes, and I absolutely love this set. It has a few autos each box, plus loads of rookies! I was averaging pulling 3-5 Lincy rookies a box. I'll open some and sell some here too.

- 08 Masterpieces Retail Case - This came with 20 boxes that have 24 packs a box. I was on the fence with this here, but ended up pulling the trigger and I'm glad I did.. It is such a pretty card, and I have fond memories of busting this myself.  This should not be hard at all to re-sell if needed!

- 10 Upper Deck Retail Case - At 20 boxes with 24 packs per box, this is one of those deals that you get a jersey/auto per box, plus plenty of chances to score a Posey rookie and other cool cards like the 2010 Upper Deck "Double-Takes" - their variation short prints.

- 3 boxes of 09 SPA - this was just for me. No selling unopened here.

When they start coming in, stay tuned! I will be busting some on Youtube and will post the videos in the link to the right of this post!