Buyer beware: vintage wax pack scam
dude
Posts: 1,454 ✭✭
I heard an interesting story at the Houston Tri-Star show this past weekend. Last January a seller come into the Houston Tri-Star show with three ungraded 1950’s vintage packs and as best as he recalls they were ‘52 Topps, ‘54 Topps and ‘57 Topps. The amazing was that if you looked closely through the back of each pack, you could see that each had a star card and the person telling the story said one was a Banks, another a Mantle and he forgot who was the third star. The seller wanted $1500 for the three and naturally a dealer jumped all over the offer and bought them instantly with cash. Very shortly after the show the dealer decided to open them and found that the semi-visible star card was nothing more than a color, full-scale scan or photocopy on thin paper and the rest of the pack contained worthless cardboard cut to the right size with a fresh piece of gum.
The dealer contacted the police and found out that this person most likely pulled the same scam with some local card shops. The good news was that they eventually tracked down the seller, apparently because he left his phone number with another dealer at the same show regarding a sale of some autograph items. The dealer did get his money back and still has the wrappers, but apparently no charges were filed since the seller claimed he bought them from someone else and the police felt it would be difficult to discredit that story in a criminal case.
Caveat emptor!
The dealer contacted the police and found out that this person most likely pulled the same scam with some local card shops. The good news was that they eventually tracked down the seller, apparently because he left his phone number with another dealer at the same show regarding a sale of some autograph items. The dealer did get his money back and still has the wrappers, but apparently no charges were filed since the seller claimed he bought them from someone else and the police felt it would be difficult to discredit that story in a criminal case.
Caveat emptor!
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Steve
D's: 50P,49S,45D+S,43D,41S,40D,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 241,435,610,654 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
if the seller was asking $1500 the buyer lived up to his half of the deal.
of course if you think it is too good to be true.....
<< <i>I'm sorry but I refuse to feel sorry for dealers since that's all they do is rip people off. If it was a collector like us, yes I'd be pissed. >>
Most dealers started out as collectors , and I really miss my black & white TV and what is this new radio band they are calling FM and where can I buy an 8 track tape player for my car.