Topps product presales on ebay, reliable?

akuracy503

I have seen quite a few different names selling presale topps products on ebay, how reliable are these guys? Is it all a pyramid scheme, how can some of them sell for %30-%50 lower than the established sellers.

Can you guys vouch for some of the other sellers not named Dacardworld or blowoutcards?

Would appreciate it!

otwcards

Don't even get me started with prebuy and presell...

I took a huge bath on SportsNet years ago with Finest Football in part to the long delay from the original ship date to the actual ship date. I bought a significant amount of preorder cases from one station and paid in full and then ended up selling them to another and their payments bounced nearly two weeks after payment (and the product had finally gone live and crashed). First station ended up not delivering the product and absconded with my cash (sadly, they were in Canada and recovery was virtually impossible). The second station, in cahoots with the first, failed to honor their purchases and failed to reimburse for bounced fees. All-in-all, it was real ugly and sucked most of my cash as I pre-bought too heavily.

I am ALWAYS leary of presales from ANYONE. In fact, I have not bought a pre-sale of ANYTHING since, including music and movie releases.

GooshA

GooshA

I just got taken on a pre-sale from a 'dreamjoey' big time ebay seller. Was not Topps stuff though. Thought the new non sport AC/DC Press Pass stuff looked quite cool. Did the pre-sale purchase for a box in Oct for a Nov release date. Press Pass delayed the release date, still not released, and the 'dreamjoey' seller refuses to refund. Have written it off as a loss. The bad thing is I am no longer able to leave a neg , or, submit a paypal or ebay dispute due to it being 60 days since purchased. The seller knew what they were doing when sending me assurances the product would be shipped a few times. Never again will do a pre-sale.. Sucks because pre-sales do at times get stuff cheaper if the product takes off later.

akuracy503

I am eyeing quite a few bargain basement deals from kozlowskicards on ebay who is doing presales on the march release of 2011 Topps heritage baseball.

I would definitely be out 60+ days for any purchase protection.

Does ebay take any exception to these presales? or allow for protection based on auction terms.

GooshA

Just read through the ebay policies related to this. Nothing out there I can find on pre-sale protection, outside of the 45 day limit for pretty much all retaliatory ability. Pre-sales past 45 days I'd say would be at a very high risk. Like giving money away. I would bet though the legit big sellers .. ie: dacardworld, blowout, bbce would of course do what they could to make things right. They don't want anyone out here complaining about fraud I'm sure. Outside of any well established big seller, I ain't going anywhere near ever again a pre-sale, most likely not even with the big dealers.

HeritageAddict

I was looking at the exact same listings, but I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger, if it were within 45 days of release I would do without hesitation.

Walt

I have seen more and more collectors here try presales with topps heritage over the year. There have been many problems. If you go with a big distributor you
should be fine, but cut rate dealers will only bring headaches. Is it worth it so save 30 bucks or so on a case? If you have time, go back and hit the past heritage
posts and you can see who people have had probs with and who comes through year after year. I can also say that in the past there have been great traders
here who have found themselves with extra product and sold for very good prices...not guarenteed, but an option. Good luck with whatever you do and hope to
trade with you this year!

Waalt

maxdome

In 2003, I won 13 boxes of 2004 sp authentic football from a power seller on Ebay with 100% positive feedback. I paid over $1,000.00 using paypal. I never received my order or an refund. Needless to say I never take part in presells on Ebay.

bhelser

There are many wholesalers who don't adhere to the B&M only for Topps products. I can get most any Topps product from my distributors, pre sale or new release.

I have done the pre-sales on Ebay a few times, but it is hard when you have no control over when the product comes out. I had a pre-sale a few years ago, where i sold 3 cases to 3 different sellers...release date came and went and no product was released, it ended up being delayed about 4 months. 1 of the purchasers stuck it out and got their product, the other 2 demanded refunds (and were given refunds) and accused me of backing out of the sale...

Like any (card) sale on Ebay it's going to be a gamble....my recommendation would be, if you find a dealer you like, and it works out.....follow him/her!

Another thing to watch is with most Topps products they are allocated, so each dealer can only get so many cases/boxes (per distributor). Look to see the volume this seller has done recently, and then see if he has 15 cases listed of a certain product...that would be a red flag. Of course there can always be a reason....but it would still raise an eyebrow for me.

To give you an idea, I have done maybe 1k this past year (haven't had the time to spend this year), and I can only get 1 sealed case and 4 boxes...and that's if I pre-order them quick enough!

GooshA

bhelsar.. At this moment you have 666 posts on this message board, along with 'hel' in your name. Please post again quickly to avoid eternal sportscard doom.
If an Iron Maiden fan, all good.

bhelser

I feel better now.....

Goosh, thanks for the heads up