Taken out by a sniper.

If you use ebay, which I guess the majority of you do then you have encountered a snipe bid in the dying seconds of the item you are bidding on.

The way I see it there are two different types of snipers, primitive and advanced.

Primitive snipers are the type who see what they want, watch the item and see how it is going. Then just before it ends, enter a max bid and submit.

Advanced snipers are the type who use sniping tools. These are offered by third party websites who, for a small fee, will allow you select the item that you want and lets you make a bid. Then they will enter your bid literally the very second before the auction ends.

As you can imagine the advanced snipers have much better luck then the primitive snipers. I was taken out by an advanced sniper just a few days back, causing me to lose an auction by 25 cents. The card in question was a Adam Lind Topps Chicle umbrella back numbered out of 25. I placed my bid with 10 seconds to go and hit submit with 5 seconds to go, this is what I call primitive sniping. When I got back to the bidding screen I watched the timer hit one second to go and then zero, I was the highest bidder. When the screen refreshed It said that I was outbid! I was disappointed. I don't mind if I lose a card because I have been outbid by a lot more than I would have paid but when its just by a few pennies or even a few bucks, its maddening!

Now I have to be honest, I have sniped in the past but not with any great success. I have won a few nice cards but have lost out on a lot more. I wonder if I had bid on these cards earlier rather than wait would I have won them? Maybe. An auction that has bids on it from the get go tends to generate more bids before the end and sometimes this would scare away a sniper because they wont be getting a bargain.

Anyway after the auction had ended and I saw that I lost I thought I would cheer myself up and check out what BIN's have been listed. Whenever I do this I only look for cards that were a similar price to the card I was bidding on and I found one that I wanted that was cheap. I actually wrote about the card only a few days ago saying that I wont be getting this card for a while because there were other cards that I wanted first, but hey! I needed cheering up! So I found a Ginter Lind GU for $6, this included shipping to the UK. Also I was refunded $4 the day before so I got this card for only $2. This made me happy.

I expect this card, as well as a few others next week. I should have a very nice couple of mail days coming in. There will be some new ginter minis, some Heritage SPs, some packs and also something that I can not believe I'm being sent! I don't want to say what it is because I cant believe it myself! If I say it out loud it may not be true. Just want to say a huge thanks, in advance, to John at pursuit of 80'sness for his amazing generosity.

Ebay update plus looking for three cards...

First off for those of you who have been reading this blog you are aware of the problems I had recently with an Adam Lind ginter auto. In a nutshell it took a long time to get here which I thought was due to slow mail but it turned out the seller didnt mail until 19 days after I paid for it. I contacted the seller yesterday to explain I wasn't happy and a few hours later I had my shipping refunded. I'll take that, its only $4 but its $4 bucks that can go towards another card! I still haven't left feedback for the seller and don't know if I will.
With that said and done lets move onto the rest of this post and put the ebay problems behind us (for now!)

Here we have 3 Adam Lind 2009 Topps 206 cards. From left to right we have the regular base, the cycle mini (numbered to 99) and the regular Piedmont mini. I picked all three cards up from COMC a couple of months back and have meant to pick up the rest of the Lind's in the set so I can complete the rainbow, albeit a white bordered rainbow and not a colourful affair like finest or bowman.

Does anyone out there have the 3 cards that I'm missing? They are the bronze regular size and the polar bear backed mini and the old mill backed mini. I can get these any time on ebay but I don't want to! I would rather trade for them with a fellow blogger/reader. So if anyone of you has one of the cards that I need please get in touch with me and we can sort something out.

That's all I have for tonight, its now almost midnight and the wife wants to go shopping. Yippee.

Shout out post!

Big thanks to Kidcarcia! As you can see above this post I have a new banner and I think its great! Its better than my old one because I didnt have one before!
This is the second banner that he has made me, he made one for my sig that I use on the forums I frequent and now this one. So big thanks to you Kid!!

Ginter auto has arrived! and another dilemma

Finally my Adam Lind ginter auto arrived!

Well its here! It arrived today at 3pm, very late for the post. I remember when the post would be there before 7am! And then at around 1pm you would get a second post...those days are long gone!

Anyway the card is here and that the main thing! It looks a lot better than I thought it would. The red border is really nice and actually feels like plastic. The card its self is really nice and is only the 2nd on card auto that I have of Lind. Its not very secure though and it actually moves about inside the frame. That's not a huge problem because its not slipping out of view or anything and its not as if I'm going to be shaking it like a magic 8 ball!

I now need to pick up the Lind Ginter relic to go with it. That can wait since it looks like every single box that was opened had one in it and its getting cheaper by the day. I have other cards that I want first.

Now there was a problem attached to the Lind auto and that was the amount of time it took to reach me. I know what your all thinking 'you live in the UK so of course it will take longer to get there' and yes your right it does take longer to reach me here but not by much. Let me give you a brief recap of what has happened.

• Won and paid for auction on the 1st of July
• Item marked as shipped on the 10th July
• Contacted seller on the 22nd of July to inform them that it still had not arrived and that it had been nearly two weeks
• Seller replied on the 23rd of July to confirm card had been shipped and I should have had it by now
• Card received today on the 28th of July (insert happy dance of your choice)
• Postage said it was shipped on the 20th of July

So it was shipped TEN days after the seller had told me it was shipped and a full 19 days after I paid for it. 19 freaking days! What's that all about?! Why didnt the seller just tell me he couldn't get it out to me in a reasonable amount of time? I would have been ok with that or could have asked for refund and picked up a different one.

Now what do I do? On one hand I'm very happy it got here, I was beginning to think it would never arrive. On the other hand I'm very annoyed that the seller lied and it took him so long to ship.

I see five choices that I can make:

1. Contact the seller and confront them about what has happened, maybe even get a little bit of money back.
2. Leave negative feedback without speaking to the seller (seems a bit unfair).
3. Ignore it and leave positive.
4. Ignore and don't leave any feedback.
5. Claim the card never arrived and get a refund (I would NEVER do this but it is an option).

I'm going to give it a day or so before I take action. I would appreciate your feedback on this. What would you do? One of my five options or something completely different?

Heritage Strasburg rookie on Ebay

Heres the link. Dont think this card will ever make it into my collection.

Another one of my top cards and also some paypal woes.

Been a while since I posted a card, cant remember what number I'm up to so we'll forgo with the numbering for this post.

2010 Topps series 2 Hat logos.

When I first saw these cards on the bay they were going for more than I was willing to pay. The ones that I saw listed with reasonable shipping to the UK were all BIN's for between $12 -$20. I was tempted but knew the second I hit buy it now another one would be listed for half the price. My patience payed off and at the end of last month one came up at auction with good shipping rates to the UK. Good shipping rates for me are between $2 and $5, although I have paid more. I managed to snag the card for $7, shipping was an extra $4. So for a grand total of $11! That made it cheaper than all the BINs that I saw so I was happy with that.

The card is numbered 97/99 and as usual features Adam Lind. It is of course manufactured and not a genuine GU or player worn item. I'm ok with that because I liked the look of it, to be honest even if I didnt like the look of it I'd still want it because I needed it for the collection. The card does look much better in person, looking at the picture I have posted it does look a little bit frayed around the edges of some of the stitches but trust me its not like that at all when you take a good look at it.

I was hoping to post my Lind 2010 A&G auto by now but it still has not arrived. Its now the 18th day since it was shipped. I have contacted the seller to explain I have not received it yet and explained that it may be held up somewhere. The seller was fine with that and requested I keep him updated, which I will. Maybe it will arrive today, its now 1330 so the post should be here any minute. I feel like a kid at Christmas everyday when I know I have cards coming!

Now onto some paypal issues that I'm having. I don't do much selling on Ebay but this month I had to get rid of some Formula one tickets for silverstone. I put them up for sale 5 days before the race as a BIN and they sold within an hour of being listed, made a nice profit too. Now because I don't sell often and because the item was classed as high risk my payment was held by paypal until either I was left feedback or 21 days had passed. The person who bought them has not left me feedback, and that pissed me off because I included a few extras with the tickets. And its now been 21 days and the funds are still showing as pending! I'm not desperate for the cash its just that I've set myself new rules when it comes to buying cards. The rules are anything I make on Ebay sales I get to spend on cards or anything else I might want. This way it keeps my bank account out of the red and gives me an exact budget of what I can spend.

There are two things that I want to get and I refuse to break my new rules. So here I am waiting for paypal to say 'Here's your money! Thanks for choosing Paypal!'. I had no choice when it came to using paypal because I don't want the hassle of cashing cheques or money orders so they have me over a barrel and I just have to grin and take it. On the other hand I LOVE paypal when I'm buying because of the convenience, they should just make it more a little bit more equal for buyers and sellers.

The two things I want to buy are some Heritage packs that the Hairylemons sister was nice enough to pick up for me when she went to Florida and also an Adam Lind Finest gold refractor. I hope these funds are released by the end of the day. We shall wait and see...

Batteries not included

So its just gone 3am here and I have spent the last 5 hours or so updating my new trade page. During the 5 hours two things happened.
Number one - I left the lid off of one of my card boxes and my cat managed to fish three cards out from the middle of the box and chew the hell out of the corners. Not happy. At least the cards in question were two Topps 1987 commons and one Topps 1997 common. The cat now has all three cards to herself. Perhaps she wants to start a collection?
Number two - During the cat incident (which has happened before with a folder being mistaken for a scratching post) I must have unplugged my fully charged laptop from the battery pack. I didnt notice this until the laptop switched its self off a few hours later while I was in the middle of doing the list. I thought that it would be ok since the blog auto saves every minute or so anyway, so that would mean I'd lost two or three cards at the most. Wrong. When your editing a page it DOESNT auto save which meant I lost 5 hours...
At least I got some cards on the list, I haven't sorted them yet but at least they're on there.
Time to sleep now, lets hope the cat doesn't choke on her new cards.

How do you like your trade lists?

I'm about to update my trade lists over the next few days and I see people listing what they have for trade in different ways.
I've seen lists done by years, sets, brands, players and teams.
I think I'm going to leave my major set dupes separate to my main list. These set lists are the sets that I work on such as Heritage and A&G.
I want to do a separate list for the other cards that I have available but not sure what would be the best way. I have done trade lists in the past but get frustrated with them way to easily and end up starting over only to get frustrated again.
How do you list your cards for trade? Some lists I have seen are just a mess with different years/brands all mixed together, this make its a little hard on the eyes when your trying to scan the list quickly. Of course you can always use control and F to find what you want but that can also be inconvenient if you don't have anything in particular that your looking for.
Also what have you found to be the easiest way to start a trade list. I have a lot of cards I want to get listed but don't have a lot of time in which to do it.
Any tips on creating a good trade list is welcome.

Still trading! 2010 Ginter and Heritage.

Yesterday I posted a number of 2010 Ginters that I had for trade, notice I said 'had'. Within 30 minutes of posting I had traded the majority of them away for a number of minis. I'm going to list what Ginters I have left and also my dupes from 2009 and 2010 Heritage. Let me know if you need anything.
I'm looking for Ginter minis, 2010 Heritage (check my needs page) and Adam Lind cards that I dont have.

base - 4, 6, 11, 17x2, 20, 26, 27, 46, 48, 52, 56, 57, 61, 62, 71, 85, 86, 88, 95, 100, 103, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 123, 143, 144, 157, 167, 169, 179, 180, 181, 184, 187, 193, 196, 212, 216, 217, 218, 235, 236, 239, 244, 245, 246, 247, 253, 261, 262, 264, 266, 271, 273, 274, 275, 278, 298, 303, 305, 313, 314, 318, 321, 322, 324, 325, 329, 333, 335, 349, 351, 352, 359, 363, 366, 375, 376, 379, 387, 391, 397, 399, 401, 424.

Inserts - NF1

2009 Heritage
Base - 3, 11, 16, 21, 24, 31, 47, 58, 60, 66, 71, 72x2, 88, 91, 93, 103x2, 107, 121, 156, 158, 159, 176, 186, 187, 192, 197, 220, 222, 223, 227, 231, 240, 246, 258, 267, 351, 356, 369, 395x2, 400, 402.

Inserts - NF1

Mayo - Ryan Braun, Dustin Pedroia

Allen and Ginter 2010

Base - 29, 59, 102, 105, 125, 148, 149, 158.

SP - 340.

Baseball sketches - AGHS1 Chase Utley

This day in history - TDH66, TDH68.

There are also a few Heritage chromes and GU from 2009/2010 Heritage. Check the for trade page.

Trading 2010 Ginters

Title says it all. I have the following for trade. I'm only going after the mini set which is going really slowly! So if you have any 2010 minis for trade then let me know, I only have about 10 of them so chances are I need what ever you have.
I'll also want 2010 Heritage, my wants can be found here. Of course I will also trade for Adam Lind cards that I need, for Lind cards I WILL trade in your favor.

Base - 26, 29, 34, 45, 56, 58, 59, 72, 75, 78, 80, 95, 96, 102, 105, 111, 125, 148, 149, 158, 168, 174, 177, 187, 190, 227, 271, 286, 293.

SP - 340, 350.

Baseball sketches - AGHS1 Chase Utley

This day in history - TDH16, TDH46, TDH51, TDH66, TDH68, TDH70.

You can also find more cards for trade here. At the moment I have only listed 2009 and 2010 Heritage and the above Ginter. So if you are building any of those sets then I may be able to help you out.

If another blogger is interested in a trade then I will also include another card. I cant reveal what the card is until the trade is on its way but I will give you a few clues as to what it is.
This card is very well traveled. I believe its been in four different countries (US, Canada, England and Wales).
This card came from a 2009 product. It was a popular product.
This card has been featured on a few other blogs already but has not been seen for a number of months.
This card is mass produced but unique at the same time.
This card is NOT a 'hit'. Its not a GU or an auto (in the traditional sense).
The player on the card is now a Ranger but was an Indian when this product came out.
It will come with instructions, one of which is that you MUST write a post about it when you get it.

Any ideas?

Anyone interested in a trade then either leave a comment or email me. Oh and if your new to this blog the name, Collector from across the pond means just that. I live in the UK so this will be international trade.

Mystery solved!!

Thanks to a comment left on one of my posts I now know the origin of the Gary Sheffield mystery card!!
Fellow bloggers Swag of NYC Cards and Swag and The Chop Keeper of The Card Shop have said that it came from Score, Cherry Hill, NJ. I have done a few searches online and have found that this company was a leader of sports memorabilia and one of the players signed to them was indeed Gary Sheffield. I can not find the specific Sheffield card that I have but I'm 99.99% sure this is correct and I'm happy to close the books on this.
My apologies to the chop keeper, I obviously didn't read the full comment that he left and missed the part at the end where he said 'Cherry Hill'. Or maybe I didnt miss it and this was edited into the comment later. Anyway he was the first to name the company that it came from but Swag was the one that tied it all together. Swag may also have information on the Giants team ball which will tie up another mystery.
I mentioned that there was a prize for solving this and there is. I just need to find something for you both unless you want to share one prize and alternate it every six months!
I have two weeks off work now so this allows me the time to have a good look for something to send both these guys. So Swag and Chop Keeper expect an email from me at some point in the next week or two for your addresses and I can get something out to you. In the mean time if there any specific sets or collections that either of you are working on then please let me know.