Adventures in eBay Packaging

I had no intentions of posting tonight, but I found this so odd I thought I should share.

I actually laughed while opening this card.

It may be a little hard to see, but that is half of an Ultra Pro One Touch Magnetic case.  I only received that half of the case.  The card itself was placed in a toploader with a ton of tape wrapped around the opening.  The card was then placed in the magnetic case with a thick piece of white cardboard protecting the other side.  WTF, right?

The card arrived safe and sound so no negative feedback or anything like that.  Just when you think you've seen it all something like this pops up. If any of you have half a one touch case sitting around you now have a way of utilizing it!

Thanks for reading.

Adventures in Ebay Packaging #2 (Toploader addition)

Another classic adventure in eBay packaging. Thankfully as was the case with my last adventure the card in question arrived just fine. I was a tad bit more angry about this one....

2014 Topps Finest Charles Sims Auto/Patch

Here is the card. Pretty nice looking card that cost me $2.99 + $3.25 shipping.  With a shipping charge of $3.25 as I buyer I have certain expectations. For one the card should be sent in a bubble envelope. Second the card should be in a toploader.

Well........

The envelope itself was more along the lines of something that would be sent interoffice mail at my job. It was folded in the middle and taped.  Very odd....but not as bad as this.

This is what was used in place of a toploader.  That is a napkin and two pieces of cardboard.  The card itself had the napkin wrapped around and was placed in the middle of the two pieces of cardboard. Blue painters tape was used to keep everything together. 

The seller has only 90 feedback, but it was all positive. My guess since the Sims card was so thick he didn't have a toploader that fit. I actually laughed when I pulled the card out. My first thought was that I was going to find a toploader that was too big, but quickly discovered no toploader at all. 

All that matters is that the card arrived safely, but for $3.25 shipping I think it is reasonable to expect a bubble envelope and a toploader. I probably deserve this for stating how lucky I've been with shipping lately.  

Let's Go Mountaineers!

Adventures in ebay Packaging

Right before I left town last week I was opening some cards I had got in the mail to sort and scan. One of these cards was my newest addition to the Andrew McCutchen collection. I purposely left out discussing the packaging of this card because I thought it was good enough to warrant its own post. Check this out....

So the actual card was sandwiched between a thick piece of cardboard and an empty top loader. The card itself was also in a top loader. Oh the tape......so much freaking tape. 

 I mean seriously....I think the seller wrapped tape around about two thousand times.

 Poor Cutch is suffocating from all the tape......

This is a great case of over protection. I left the seller positive feedback because the card arrived in great shape, but his methods seem to be without much thought. For one that looked to be a rather cumbersome process to ship one card. Also, the biggest risk to the card was unpacking. That should never be the case. 

I probably should tell the guy a simple top loader and team bag would suffice. If he wants to go the extra mile some blue painters tape would be great for the extra security. This card could have probably survived a bucket of water, but it was 50/50 that the scissors or razor blade could have clipped the card. Tape residue could have been an issue as well. 

When its all said in done I would much rather have a card packed like this than some crappy scotch tape on top of the case and a top loader that is too big. It just made me laugh when I took it out of the bubble mailer. 

Thanks for reading!