Live By Free Shipping, Die By Free Shipping

"Live by free shipping, die by free shipping" is the mantra I live by when buying anything on eBay. Lord only knows how much more I have spent on an item on eBay because the auction offered free shipping. And while sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, usually free shipping when it comes to trading cards means the "plain white envelope." I've come to accept this fact and role the dice on receiving the card undamaged to save a little money on the card itself.

Although I've received damaged cards because of the P.W.E. I can't remember the last time it happened. Hat tip to the USPS. Unfortunately the P.W.E. jinx bit me this week when I received this in the mail.

The reverse side told me that oops, your letter was damaged in the USPS sorting machinery! Our bad on that one bro! After taking the envelope out it looked like something had taken a big old bite out of the corner of the envelope.

So what was inside? A 1955 Bowman Andy Pafko of course! I looks like the toploader plastic was actually melted a bit.

Here's a closer look at the melted part. This card must have really gotten stuck in the machine. I had to cut the plastic out all around the card to rescue it because the cardboard and the plastic had sort of become one entity at the damaged point.

 

You may have noticed there was another card included in that toploader. Some eBay sellers will include a bonus card along with your main purchase and usually I'm pleasantly surprised by this. And if everything had gone alright in receiving the card and I then received this nice little 1981 Topps Glenn Hubbard it would have been five stars all around! But now I wonder if the damage was caused by having the second card in there making the package just that much that little bit more thick.

With a little work I got the card out and put it between some heavy books to try to bring it back to a more normal state. In the end it doesn't look too bad but the damage is still obvious. This wasn't a card I was ever going to have graded, it was just another Pafko card for the collection that was listed at a great price plus...you guessed it...free shipping. 

1955 Bowman Andy Pafko #12

I also received another eBay auction package this week from an auction that also had free shipping and the two packages couldn't have been more different. Now this is how you should mark up a package!

The funny part is that the card inside that amazing packaging was damaged...I mean to say, I was buying a damaged card. This was a 1949 Bowman Andy Pafko with an obvious crease and a chunk taken out of the bottom right corner. If you've read this blog before than you know I'm an Andy Pafko hoarder and so I'll take any of his playing days cards no matter what the condition and sometimes the damaged ones bring me a little more joy.

1949 Bowman Andy Pafko #63

So the undamaged card came to me damaged and the damaged card came packed as if it was a gem mint 10. Go figure!

Combining A 1955 Topps Doubleheader Harmon Killebrew and Johnny Podres Card

One of the more rare Harmon Killebrew cards can be found in the 1955 Topps Doubleheaders set. As you might remember, 1955 Topps has Killebrew's key rookie card and so this set from the same year can give collectors another shot at an early card of "The Killer." Because of the set's odd/tall format it never caught on and the idea was abandoned after only one year's production.

Killebrew fans luck out because he is featured completely on the front of the card but anyone interested in Podres' card would never get the full picture unless they owned the card and folded/destroyed it. The Doubleheaders cards design allowed two cards in one by giving both players the same set of legs. Using a little photo editing here's Podres on Killebrew's legs.

It matches up pretty nicely even though the grass is a different shade of green...but maybe that's where the shadow line is...yes, I'm going to go with that. Highly-graded copies of this card can top the same grade on Killebrew's 1955 Topps rookie believe it or not and can top $1,000.

My Packer Season Ticket Update Is Here [2015 Edition]

It is hard to believe a year has gone by and that it is time to share another Packers Season Ticket waiting list postcard update. This year I've moved up to number 59,267 on the list to be able to buy Packers season tickets. I was originally a little over 70,000 on the list so I've completed about 15% of my journey up the list over 10 years...maybe it's actually time to start saving to be able to buy the actually tickets!

I tracked down all my previous postcards which is a minor miracle as I've lived in five different places [and two countries] since I initially put my name on the list back in 2006. The average of moving up more than 1,000 places is a bit off as the expansion to Lambeau Field a few years ago gave me a huge jump up the list. 

It's still going to take me more than 50 years to move up the list at the current rate although the Packers themselves frequently say it only takes about 30 years to move to the top of the list.