**Pack Buyers Alert**

summerof68

Having taken two years off from the unopened hobby I decided recently to see what ebayer elsipep was up to these days and see if I could identify any "familiar" buying/selling habits in his recent activity. He has been doing very little buying in the last six months but on July 20th he made an ebay purchase from Kruk Cards consisting of a lot of eleven high grade and very nicely centered raw 1981 Fernando Valenzuela rookie cards--ebay item: 380945530249.


When I saw this purchase I immediately felt that familiar uneasy feeling in my stomach and my instincts told me that I will probably be seeing him purchase some raw '81 Topps baseball cellos in the near future. And this was indeed the case for on August 6th elsipep (formally known as StarPaxMan) on the PSA boards, purchased a full '81 Topps baseball cello box on ebay--ebay item: 301268749277.


Having now seen the first two steps completed in a process I had witnessed countless times before I felt quite confident, though hoping I was wrong, that it was just a matter of time before elsipep would be selling raw '81 cellos on ebay with very nicely centered Fernando's on top. And true to form just four days ago elsipep listed on ebay an '81 cello with a very nicely centered Valenzuela rookie on top--ebay item: 2313201161234.



Is this cello authentic? I can't say for sure but what I can say is I am seeing a sequence of events that I personally find troubling considering what we already know regarding elsipep and I wanted to make my findings known so that my fellow pack collectors can be alerted and draw their own conclusions as to the authenticity of this pack and any other '81 Valenzuela cellos which he may list in the future.

hyperchipper09

I don't buy or sell unopened, but if I did, I would appreciate this kind of info and the work some of the board members do. It's very enlightening.

esquiresports

Thanks for posting this. Assuming he created that pack, it probably would have fooled me (I haven't taken the time to like at the amount of overlap on the seal, which me have been trimmed).

itzagoner

fish eyes are a delicacy.

TNP777

baz518

Fake as can be because it's Elsipep's. But the top flap looks suspect... those white spider lines are either suspect creases or cracks in cellophane.

Stone193

Superb investigative reporting Don.

I'm confident this is a good for the community.

Ya know? If someone wanted to report this and the pieces were put together - the seller may find a cop knocking at their door. Sure looks like fraud to me.

PMKAY

I don't see any listings by that seller

SumoMenkoMan

Thanks for the investigative work!

jmoran19

Don, thanks again for all you do for exposing fraud to us unopened collectors!

summerof68

Thanks John and I appreciate your words more than you might think!!!

LarkinCollector

<< <i>I don't see any listings by that seller >>


Try all lowercase (seller searches are case sensitive) or you can just search '1981 cello fernando'.

grote15

Nice work, Don!

The 76 cello pack doesn't look good, either.

LarkinCollector

<< <i>Nice work, Don!

The 76 cello pack doesn't look good, either. >>


+1, not sure on the two football packs he has up though.

summerof68

And here's his last ebay purchase from just last week--and yes he has recently been selling on ebay 1983 fleer cello racks with Gwynn on top--more in the works?

summerof68

Worth noting is on the same day July 20th that he purchased the eleven Fernando's he also purchased from another seller a lot of ten raw NM-Mt 1981 Henderson cards. Any coincidence that he purchased both these '81 lots and just two weeks later he purchased the '81 cello box????

Ebay item#: 251591691683

bounce

nice sleuthing - that's good stuff

sure seems like a lot of work to me to put all that together with not a ton of upside - fernando cellos look like they go for $10-20 most times

anyway, good information - thanks for sharing

Scottiec2288

Great work. Thanks for the info

rcmb3220

He has responded to this thread with additional pictures in the listing. Strange dude.

MrSnuffleupagus

<< <i>He has responded to this thread with additional pictures in the listing. Strange dude. >>



Pepi Mad!!!!!!!!!!! Lulz!!! I wonder who wrote that note for him?

galaxy27

This is completely surreal. Someone please transport me back to the late 70s when I didn't know jack sh!t about the monetary value of cards.

MrSnuffleupagus

I would bid that auction up to a million bucks with some of the "lesser minds of the CU", unfortunately, I pressed BIN on every one of his auctions a few times and I find myself BANNED from bidding on his auctions anymore.

summerof68

I'm sure that with elsipep's 40 year card inventory it must have taken all of 60 seconds to come up with that replacement Fernando rookie if necessary...

garnettstyle

Notice almost all of the cello packs he has sold in the last 3 months have star players showing. I will now stay away from his auctions.

MULLINS5

I know we've had our differences in the past, but fantastic detective work summer. You are an asset to this hobby.

Forget the packs, I now want that note he wrote!

I don't think I buy it though...if Grote is a customer of his it doesn't sound right that he'd out a customer.

TNP777

Heh. Jose's additional pictures are comedy gold.

rcmb3220

This thread is really going to hurt his ability to sell the other 10 "Fernandos on top" cellos he got out of that box he just bought.

MrSnuffleupagus

<< <i>This thread is really going to hurt his ability to sell the other 10 "Fernandos on top" cellos he got out of that box he just bought. >>



Especially when he is obviously so angry with this thread that he will sabotage his own auction and ebay account with a poorly written note calling out the 'lesser minds of the CU' while mentioning fraud and attorneys. That will really make people want to buy from him. Lulz @ the indescribably narcissistic plebeian

flatfoot816

Notice almost all of the cello packs he has sold in the last 3 months have star players showing. I will now stay away from his auctions.

NOW???

JWall037

<< <i>Heh. Jose's additional pictures are comedy gold. >>

Baez578

Thanks for info!

Dpeck100

Catching some bids.

I figured this would get bid up to like $3,000 and not paid for.

Anyone see what the original Buy It Now price was?

begsu1013

there's absolutely no way he bought a 12th Fernando rookie.