Share or add your "searched, rewrapped" experiences... Post your data..

Steelernation

Vintagefuns thread got me thinking plus my own recent experience. And didn't want to hijack his thread.

With the skyrocketing prices, more people are sending their unopened for authentication and also more people looking to buy or find bargains in the wild west. Finding popped open packs, written on abused cards, or even the wrong year cards inside.So should be some stories out there.

I'll start.

Sent steve 10 topps baseball wax boxes..
1-1977
2-1978
3-1979 and
4- 1980 boxes.

Results... The 1977 "100% resealed", one 79 and one 1980 "many resealed". Oh well. It will be interesting to rip them to see how blatant.

Also, the 1977 from a sort of reputable eBay dealer..will wait to see how he handles it. And the 1979 from a well known auction house. Not blaming them specifically. Will see what they say.
I'm hearing more and more of these experiences. Do u have any to enter/share? Maybe we can get a handle of what percentage of resealed etc are out there.

gemint

I had a 1965 wax pack that was resealed. I bought it off eBay about 12-13 years ago. It was the only pack I submitted that was resealed. I busted it on youtube after it was rejected. Actually got a PSA 8 common out of the pack. It was worth far less than the pack but at least the scum that resealed it threw me a bone. Plus I got a mint wrapper out of it for my collection.

esquiresports

Decent luck so far. Purchased a 1977 wax box from a reputable auction house. One row (nine packs) were resealed but it was noted quickly. AH made good on this. If I had waited on this one, I don't know if I would have gotten the same result. One 1975 Topps wax box from a reputable eBay seller. Complete reseal. Sent to Steve just to confirm. He called the work "criminal." Got refunded without issue and the box has not been relisted. I have a few 1970s boxes I need to send in but I enjoy looking at the packs. Never had an issue with a purchase off members of this forum.

fiveniner

purchases 2 89 upper deck sets.Seller claims factory unopened.Not really into modern cards but very intrigued with Griffey Jr.Both Griffeys were
worse cards in the sets.Hmmmmm!

BaltimoreYankee

I once bought a 1972 Topps high number pack and was really peeved when I recevied it only to discover the whole back flap was open. I softened up a bit when I flipped through the cards and eventually saw Mr Rodney Cline Carew peeking at me

RoseInTheHall

Bought many unopened boxes off ebay maybe 5-6 years ago because I thought it'd be a good investment (obviously it was).

Loaded up ....

Recently these boxes were sent to Steve and ....

1977 baseball completely resealed (the comment was that this box came off a resealers assembly line and many more were out there)
1978 football mostly resealed
1980 hockey mostly resealed
1981 donruss golf completely resealed

Came out great on

1979 baseball
1977 hockey
1984 donruss baseball
and several others

Unfortunately, the better boxes were no good.

Here is a quick story ... during this time I also purchased an 'unopened 1971 baseball and 1968 baseball wax pack. Submitted them several years back the GAI for grading and came back 'resealed'. (I still think the guy running GAI then, Ryan something? was the one who scammed me, but ......)

Anyway I ripped both packs and got a 1971 Ryan and a 1968 Carew. HUH?? I still have them sitting in top loaders wondering if they are legit or trimmed. I never submit to PSA (mostly because I am intimidated by the process) but someday will find out why a 'resealed' pack shows up with 2 superstar HOFers inside.

Hoosierguy

I have several early 80's baseball wax I need to send to Steve.What does he charge?

custom352

What's the process to send boxes to Steve?
I've got a handful of boxes I'd like to have checked out. Anyone had the old style of BBCE boxes with the sealed business card rewrapped with the new style wrapping?

Steelernation

At the time a 1980 box cost $40 to verify. Also, 1979 was $40 I think. Later 80's may be cheaper by a few bucks. I don't know. But very reasonable prices.

Just call bbce and let them know what you have, they'll give you the current price and send...insured. Very easy process. Just annoying taking the heavy box to ups. Pack well. And send billing instructions or update ur bbce acct to help the process.
But I'd def call first.

Oh, they are not currently doing vending boxes.

Disclaimer..And I have no vested interest nor own shares in bbce. Ha.

54topps

Just emailed Steve about this a few days ago. He said he charges 5% of the current market value of the box to get verified. Seems fair to me.

Dodgerfanjohn

Why are you guys buying vintage raw wax on eBay or AH(short of reputable knowledgeable dealers)?

Btw, anyone willing to name sellers names on the bad boxes? I think it would be a great help to other collectors.

I'm assuming that other than BBCE, Dugout wax is also ok and maybe Kruk(aside of the possibly poor storage method issues)?

Also anyone else have feedback on eBay seller Kazoo? I can't remember the whole eBay name...but I bought a very legit 1980 Vending box about a year and a half ago. Every listing they claim the stuff is from their personal stash. The vending had a really nice Henderson as well as Ryan, Rose, 2nd year Ozzie, and was cheap($125). I've since bought a 1981 pack with Fernando rookie on top that appears legit.

There's one other seller that was auctioning 1977-1980 vending boxes that looked legit in pictures and had perfect feedback. I forgot his name and not sure if his supply dried up.

Steelernation

Ok, here's a positive story...

I've written this before...on eBay one guy with good feedback, not selling wrappers and some other things to look for seemed legit after some back and forth. Short story...initially bought two 75 mini wax to test the waters. Results...One had a Ryan PSA 8 in it. So bought his rest. Think I got about 18 packs for $37 each. Got a rice and Flynn rookie, Stargell and some other stars. All great condition. Centering a bit off.

So to answer ur question, there are some legitimate good people out there. He had some beautiful 70s sets he boxed right after opening and collating. And u can get some great deals for good to great cards. If you do ur homework. I don't make it a habit. ESP at current prices!!

I believe my earlier box submission were all Internet or auction buys. So 7 out of ten legitimate. And I know the prices were significantly less than what the market is now. And those 18 mini packs all legit. These purchases were when I was very naive or trusting in others at minimum.

And u say use AH with great reps and knowledgable. Well, the one bad box is from a very very reputable baseball card AH that I bet 80-90% of u guys have bought from. Will see what they have to say. As far as naming the seller, I prob will if he doesnt do the right thing.

ndleo

Is it worth it to have mid-1980's baseball/football rack and cello boxes sealed by BBCE? As far as I know there hasn't been a resealing problem with these products. The cello pack seals are pretty tight and I don't see how anyone could reseal it without damaging the plastic.

RoseInTheHall

YES !!!!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY YES.

If Steve only charges 5% of the value of the box and the value of the boxes are low (in comparison) then why not?

Just my 2 cents

Mapleleaf

I'm about 50/50 on ebay for resealed boxes. The worse (most obvious) case was a 1980 Topps Hockey box. First pack had a gum card 3 cards from the top. Second pack (don't know why I had to open two) had two cards of the same player. Of course they were all commons in horrible condition. It came from a reputable seller who refunded my money.

ldferg

purchased an 81 rack box several years ago. each pack had a players name written on the header card. that player was the 'star' in the rack.

the good: I had a rack box full of stars

the bad: I knew what I was getting when I opened each rack....haha

slum22

<< <i>Is it worth it to have mid-1980's baseball/football rack and cello boxes sealed by BBCE? As far as I know there hasn't been a resealing problem with these products. The cello pack seals are pretty tight and I don't see how anyone could reseal it without damaging the plastic. >>



The 5% Steve charges is well worth the increase in value that his seal adds to the product should you choose to sell it later. Since it is right at 5%, the value of the box doesn't matter so much when considering the cost/value of having the service done. The only watch out for whether it is "worth" doing or not is the cost of shipping the boxes to and getting them back from Steve. For instance if you have a 1985 Topps baseball box, Steve may charge you only $5-7 for the authentication, but it may cost you $10 to get it there and another $10 to get it back. The shipping cost is what breaks the value proposition on lower value boxes. No matter what I am getting authenticated, I generally try to batch a number of them to create better value in the shipping cost. This is especially true for lower value boxes.

slum22

To the OP's original request:

I have had pretty good luck buying off of the boards and on eBay. When possible, I buy already BBCE wrapped material. That said, it is certainly more economical if you can buy a non-BBCE box at a discount and (provided it's legit) get it wrapped after the purchase. The hard part is getting legit material.

Over the last year I have bought the following boxes off of eBay:

Baseball:

1979 Topps Wax--I made an offline deal with an eBay seller who was listing a 79 wax box. The box was given a thumbs up by Steve and I just got it back last week (plan on posting some pics of an update on my unopened collection soon).
1980 Topps Wax--2 boxes from the same seller. One came back clean One was resealed
1984 Fleer Wax--I resold the box on eBay because I was able to buy a BBCE box on the BST. I am not the expert, but the packs and the box were immaculate. I would wager a lot that it was clean. I also bought another box from the same seller that I did get authenticated by Steve and was clean. Incidentally, I would have sent this box to Steve for authentication, but it wasn't worth it value wise due to the relatively low value of the box (see my above post about shipping costs and its effect on the value of authentication).

Football:

1983 Topps Wax--Bought from the same seller as the 84 Fleer BB box above and this box was wrapped by Steve.
1984 Topps Wax--I bought a box from a seller in CA. This is one of the first two boxes I sent to Steve for authentication. It came back legit.
1986 Topps Wax--I bought this box from Probstein. This is the other box I sent to Steve for my first foray into authentication. It also came back legit.
1987 Topps Wax--I bought two boxes from the same seller. Haven't sent them to Steve (again not worth it at the moment until I can get enough boxes to send in). I am pretty sure they are good though.

I have also had really good luck on BST. Thanks to CPAMike, Esquiresports and ClockworkAngel for a few more boxes.

1979 Topps Cello Baseball--two clean boxes sent to Steve and wrapped.
1985 Topps Football Wax--Also clean.
1977 Topps Cloth Stickers and 1980 Topps BB Cello box from Esquiresports both authenticated and wrapped by Steve. They are not in hand yet but are being shipped as we speak. Can't wait to see them. Thanks Scott!

So all in all, I think I have had really good luck. Even though it is a high dollar box only one swing and miss. I have been very picky in what I will buy off eBay. I will generally only buy from sellers who post clear pictures of the boxes and the packs (front and back) and who also have a good return policy. Now, I will also send sellers a message indicating that I plan on having the box authenticated by Steve and ask if they can provide some sort of history on ownership of the box they are selling. I had purchased one 70's box with BIN and told the seller to ship the box to Steve. The seller then cancelled the transaction and said the box was damaged and no longer for sale. I have not seen the seller relist the item so it may very well have been true, but who knows. Perhaps the knowledge that the box was going to have to be authentic or be returned was enough to scare the seller from going through with the sale. I have Steve's address at BBCE as a verified shipping address on PayPal so I can have all my higher dollar boxes sent straight to him. This not only offers protection with PayPal (for buyer and seller) but also saves on the back and forth shipping cost. Instead of having to pay the seller to ship to me and then for me to then pay to ship to Steve, I can simply pay once for the seller to ship directly to Steve.

esquiresports

Steve - no love for my boxes? Hah. Just kidding. Glad they worked out. Clockwork and I are friends, by the way. Small world!

slum22

Scott--my apologies. I was trying to do my post off the top of my head. I am sure I forgot some others too. I forgot about your boxes because I don't have them yet. Still waiting on my UPS guy to come through with them. Thanks for the deal on the boxes. I did edit the post above to give you the credit you deserve Clockwork is great. I have never met him but I have had successful purchases and sales with him. Super to deal with and he always has great stuff when he is selling.

Counting your boxes I am 10/11 in successfully turning "raw" unopened into authenticated "sealed" unopened. And 5/5 from board members. So good unopened is out there, you just have to find it and do some due diligence. I may have forgotten about other successful authentications but I definitely remember the only miss--the 1980 wax box.

Steelernation

Another positive story,

Bought a 1979 wax box from big name ebayer for 900+ 3 weeks ago. Turned out legit...going for 1750-2000 now, crazy. But looking at the packs, box and his reputation figured my odds were better than 50-50. So gambled 900 for 1800.

hammered

Back when I was opening product, I bought a 76 wax box that was the worst reseal I've seen. There were actually globs of yellowish glue on the back of each pack. I was refunded quickly and with no questions, as the seller undoubtedly knew what was wrong with the box.

BobH

Went thru a phase a couple years ago where I was buying wax and cello packs on E-Bay( 65,68,69 and 70) I also had a nice collection of racks (70,75,76,77,78) with some stars showing, plus 15-20 wax packs and cellos (72-79 ) that I bought from a reputable dealer back in the 90's.Steve looked at them at the Nationals last year. 75% no good. The 70 rack was especially painful because I had it so long and the person i bought it from at the time was solid. I ripped all of it and put the commons in the common box.No gradable stars. No more packs for me

Steelernation

As a couple have mentioned, is there an interest of displaying the resealers or those won't give a refund despite evidence that the packs and boxes they are selling arennt real?

I def may display the ebayer who is not handling this in a professional manner.