What's the deal with this A&G auction?

jamesryanbell

How does he know?

A&G Pack...guaranteed hit

sagard

He is a pack searcher. Don't let him fool you either. He knows if it is a relic or whether it is an auto.

Leiascards

I don't see how you can search the A&G packs unless he is using a scale. I seriously doubt he knows the difference due to the way those cards are made. Now things like Topps Chrome retail I can if I wanted to find the auto, but on this years sets I prefer to buy searched packs as they weed out the packs that DO NOT have the cards i am looking for.

jamesryanbell

<< <i>He is a pack searcher. Don't let him fool you either. He knows if it is a relic or whether it is an auto. >>



He just wrote me back:

"There are secrets to the business that I cannot reveal, however, just know that I guarantee all my auctions and if I am wrong you will either receive a new pack."

jamesryanbell

This evidently isn't the first one he's sold like this either...

rube26105

not too much of a secet lol-they sell em all over ebay-hot pack secrets revealed and stuff like that if you do a search for em!they are usually send email to ya the ones i ve seen
Randy

jamesryanbell

<< <i>not too much of a secet lol-they sell em all over ebay-hot pack secrets revealed and stuff like that if you do a search for em!they are usually send email to ya the ones i ve seen
Randy >>



I've never seen anything like that. I don't see how there's any way to know unless he weighed the pack, or opened and resealed it (which doesn't seem possible to me)

baseballfanatic

Heck, I'll do the pack searcher one better and tell you its a Rich Harden jersey since the searchers can also tell you if its a GU pack or an autograph.
Do a search and see what you come up with for Guaranteed auto pack, and then tell me if this pack has an auto or a GU in it....

bullrat

It has to be pack placement in the box. If you open enough unsearched boxes, patterns probably emerge. Weighing, unless you have an awfully good scale probably wouldn't work. As a test, I put together A&G 6 base cards, 1 mini and a relic card and 6 base cards, 1 mini and a Perez card. Both weighed 8/10 of an ounce and my scale go to hundreths - I'm sure you can get better scales.

BunchOBull

I refuse to buy rip cards on eBay because of something I read on an eBay guide. I don't know if the same holds true for 2007 rip cards, but just in case, I'll only buy it if I want the rip card, not what's inside. This kind of stuff makes this hobby not fun.

eBay Guide

jamesryanbell

<< <i>I refuse to buy rip cards on eBay because of something I read on an eBay guide. I don't know if the same holds true for 2007 rip cards, but just in case, I'll only buy it if I want the rip card, not what's inside. This kind of stuff makes this hobby not fun.

eBay Guide >>



Man, that's super gay.

jamesryanbell

<< <i>It has to be pack placement in the box. If you open enough unsearched boxes, patterns probably emerge. Weighing, unless you have an awfully good scale probably wouldn't work. As a test, I put together A&G 6 base cards, 1 mini and a relic card and 6 base cards, 1 mini and a Perez card. Both weighed 8/10 of an ounce and my scale go to hundreths - I'm sure you can get better scales. >>



That must not be how he's doing it...

jmbkb4

<< <i>I refuse to buy rip cards on eBay because of something I read on an eBay guide. I don't know if the same holds true for 2007 rip cards, but just in case, I'll only buy it if I want the rip card, not what's inside. This kind of stuff makes this hobby not fun.

eBay Guide >>



that was a very helpful post -- thank you!

mosaic

From what I understand, the 2007 rip cards can't be "seen through" with an intense light like the 2006's. There are WAAAAAAY fewer unripped rips on eBay for this year's set than there were around this time last year.

As for the guaranteed hot packs, I have no clue, but these same sellers were doing it with 2006 too.... and their feedbacks generally only make mention of low-end relics.

sagard

<< <i>...and their feedbacks generally only make mention of low-end relics. >>



Because if it were something high end...they would open the pack themselves.

bullrat

Do you think that there are "shady" dealers on ebay?

jamesryanbell

<< <i>

<< <i>...and their feedbacks generally only make mention of low-end relics. >>



Because if it were something high end...they would open the pack themselves. >>



How would they be able to tell?? It doesn't make any sense to me.

bullrat

Odds and elimination. If you have a box of A&G and you know where the two relics, auto, etc. are, open one and if it's a big hit odds are the other will be worth only a couple of dollars. Put it on ebay as a guaranteed hit and receive at least five times what it would bring as a Marcus Giles jersey (which I would gladly sell right now for $12.49). When working with a case, same thing just bigger scale.

rube26105

all kinds of pack sercher and fingering for card techniques out the, just depending on the co and the card, my sister sees em doing it at walmart allthe time, never buy anything thats out of the box, youll just be buying junk,somebodys been there 15 times before you,i buy unopened only,at least that way ya got a shot at something at least ,you open enuff of something and you can tell exactly where stuff is ,i opened a ton of topps chrome, know exactly where the autos are in em ,






heres one of em, there arehundreds on there if u type it in, i saw almost 3 pages of a & g hot packs, hot pack sercets revealed-toomuch time and effort to dofor me,rather have old cards,back in 80s you went by # like on cellos or something you knew if a certain payer was on top,boggs or somethg was 5 down from him

Goot

<< <i>Do you think that there are "shady" dealers on ebay? >>

sagard

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>...and their feedbacks generally only make mention of low-end relics. >>



Because if it were something high end...they would open the pack themselves. >>



How would they be able to tell?? It doesn't make any sense to me. >>




Maybe they can't and you are getting a fair shake. I don't know how they do it, but I am confident they know the value of what is in the pack.

nam812

When you open the "hot pack" and get 6 commons and a Perez card, what is your recourse with the seller? You say nothing was in there, and he says it was and calls you a liar.

wick70

Found this after a quick google search...

Text

rube26105

interesting read, id bend and twist em to death lol, they wouldnt be any good by the time i got done, i do have a postal digital scale and have tried that on boxes ive bought myself just to see if there was a difference,there is, id never be able to sell it, it would be the $2,000 card of the centry of something if i sold a hot pack lol-
randy

Leiascards

Some of the hot pack seller do have great cards pulled. You can from some of the packs tell the difference in a jersey card and an auto card, but I don't think it is possible with A&G tried with 6 cards and couldn't feel the auto sticker or any differences in the packs.

Pack sequencing works as well I used to could guarantee which packs in Stadium Club had the first day cards without even touching them. The 1989 UD griffey can be sequenced.

jamesryanbell

<< <i>Some of the hot pack seller do have great cards pulled. You can from some of the packs tell the difference in a jersey card and an auto card, but I don't think it is possible with A&G tried with 6 cards and couldn't feel the auto sticker or any differences in the packs.

Pack sequencing works as well I used to could guarantee which packs in Stadium Club had the first day cards without even touching them. The 1989 UD griffey can be sequenced. >>



I've opened TONS of boxes of '89 UD. I still have about eleven of them sitting in my house right now that I've owned since 1989. I've pulled 6 Griffeys out of one box on 3 seperate occassions (still have a few of them). I've also pulled zero Griffeys out of two boxes.

So, if you can't see through the packs, and there's THAT much variance in the boxes....how would you possibly be able to sequence them?

jamesryanbell

So evidently they can tell by twisting the packs, and what not.....

How would anyone know a pack contained a black bordered parallel??

Guaranteed Black Border Parallel Pack ??

bullrat

Got to agree with Leiascards about the sequencing on the 89 Upper Deck. You could open the top pack on either side of a box and tell if there was a Griffey in the box and where it was.

mudflap02

The packs are 100% resealed - there is no weighing or "process of elimination" done. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Post a similar qustion on the beckett boards (where the focus is more towards modern cards) and you will get an in-depth answer. You will probably also be called a pack searcher yourself - average iq isn't too high over there.

jamesryanbell

<< <i>The packs are 100% resealed - there is no weighing or "process of elimination" done. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Post a similar qustion on the beckett boards (where the focus is more towards modern cards) and you will get an in-depth answer. You will probably also be called a pack searcher yourself - average iq isn't too high over there. >>


All of these guys are saying in the auctions that they aren't.

mudflap02

Well in that case, I would be glad to sell you a t206 Wagner which I'm saying isn't a reprint.

jamesryanbell

<< <i>Well in that case, I would be glad to sell you a t206 Wagner which I'm saying isn't a reprint. >>



How can you possibly reseal and A&G pack flawlessly? Seriously.

BunchOBull

I think the overwhelming number of "hot pack" purchasers are pulling the less desirable autos and relics because the less desirable autos and relics are produced in an overwhelmingly larger number.

jamesryanbell

<< <i>I think the overwhelming number of "hot pack" purchasers are pulling the less desirable autos and relics because the less desirable autos and relics are produced in an overwhelmingly larger number. >>



That's what I was thinking. There's evidently a science to disagnosing "hot packs" though.

Blackborder

Interesting article, but that's "loss" prevention, not "lost" prevention.

BunchOBull

I knew a guy in college (later became a drop out...hmmm) who weighed packs for a living. He had it down to a fairly good science. He'd find a fresh box, and narrow the hot packs down to 3 or so. He'd purchase each of the narrowed down packs, and without fail, would get some sort of a hit. I think he'd weigh every pack, average the weight and calculate standard deviation. Whichever packs exceeded standard deviation, he'd purchase. I went to the card isle at Wal-Mart with him, this was 2001 I believe, and purchased a couple packs of Leaf Rookies and Stars. He weighed a bunch of packs, I randomly grabbed. I pulled an Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson R&S Triple Threads, triple swatch card, he pulled a Derek Jeter game used base card. I laughed at him when I came out on top.

kmnorton

There's also the brute method of fingering or fingernailing to be more specific that totally f**ks up the cards in the packs they don't purchase. Like a moron last night, I bought some loose packs and thought I had checked the tale-tell area (upper left hand corner of pack) for fingernail marks and didn't see any. As I was opening the packs, sure enough, fingernail marks on the cards. They missed the Eleanor Roosevelt No number mini, though. Never, ever, ever again buying open packs.

BunchOBull

I bought some packs at Target, they looked fresh enough, should have known that a box with 23 of 24 packs remaining probably had issues. I opened the first pack...nail marks, I took the unopened packs in and got my money back. I also had a bag lady literally throw some packs into a bag, I told her to forget it and walked away.

jamesryanbell

<< <i>I bought some packs at Target, they looked fresh enough, should have known that a box with 23 of 24 packs remaining probably had issues. I opened the first pack...nail marks, I took the unopened packs in and got my money back. I also had a bag lady literally throw some packs into a bag, I told her to forget it and walked away. >>



I would've walked out too. That's messed up. hahaha