My current collecting pet peeve

[CampWest]

Yeah, two of these - the moose pelt and the packing peanuts were from eBay. The Canadian Beaver wrapped bat seller was a consignment seller, he promised safely packaged. hee hee...

The packing peanuts was a bat purchased from a high volume bat dealer on ebay... I was surprised, very surprised by that one.

I'v had a couple dirty old socks stuck in the ends of bat tubes before too, kinda weird.. I'd never send somebody one of my crusty old gym socks, thats just not good customer service.

Similar to the "how to NOT sell a jersey thread" I don't want any used clothing off of ebay, especially not with my bats.

This is always a major drawback to buying most anything off ebay...

It's not always just dumb collectors though... I bought a $500 bat a little while back that arrived in a shipping tube. One end had a plastic cap taped down, the other had just tape and a white sock covering the end of the bat. It didn't look like the tube lost the cap in shipping, it looked more like this dealer couldn't find it when he packed it up and decided the sock and tape provided enough protection. Unreal.

[emann]

I'v had a couple dirty old socks stuck in the ends of bat tubes before too, kinda weird.. I'd never send somebody one of my crusty old gym socks, thats just not good customer service.

If it was on the end of a tube, it wouldn't have been a huge issue- this was the only protection on the bat (and it was signed in silver to top it off).

I've also had things come that smell like smoke. That's really annoying, especially on fabric items...

[suicide_squeeze]

I am glad this thread was created. A few weeks ago I bought a GU Gary Sheffield bat from Mead Chasky through Ebay. The bat is black with a good amount of tar on it. Whoever packed the bat decided it was neccessary to place a very long tube sock over the bat. When i took the sock off, there were little white pieces of fabric all over the bat. Common sence goes a long way. I emailed the reps at Mead Chasky and told them that probably wasnt the smartest thing to do and I gave them a very suggestions on how to pack a bat. lol

Let me guess......you received NO response whatsoever from Chad, right?

He is not the most communicative guy. I know....

He's probably busy doing something else more important...

[suicide_squeeze]

Dang typo's......."Chad"="Chas"......sorry

[platinum1]

My biggest pet peeve is getting an email from a forum member asking
for help in purchasing a game used jersey or asking how much they should pay for a jersey and then never getting a simple THANK YOU!!! or any other type of reply for helping them out.
Does this happen to any one else?

[jobathenut]

This is also my biggest pet peeve.So i am right with you on this.I hate people that can't respond to emails.

[r_phelps]

Mine is bat collectors that store their naturl colored bats close or in a bat boc with black colored bats and end up rubbing half the black paint off on the blonde bat everytime they show off their collection. lol Or maybe the ones who pull and picl at their pine tar because they don't know what they have.

[allstarsplus]

Pet Peeve? Where do I begin? This is a long story about a buyer who puts remorse in the term "buyer's remorse!"

I have a collector who contacted me as soon as a certain player was signed by the Washington Nationals. I never dealt with him before this call in January 2009. This collector had a nice wishlist and mostly it was for MLB Authenticated items of the player and in particular a full uniform and well used uncracked bats. The jersey had to be authenticated and the jersey couldn't be one with little to no use.

I got the perfect uniform towards the end of 2009 and it was a great Set 2 MLB hologram'd with matching Set 2 pants, cap, cleats, batting gloves. The jersey was unwashed too. Perfect, so I thought. Quoted the price, and the buyer didn't like the price and passed on it. A conversation about the jersey spilled over to my Facebook page and another collector saw the conversation and saw the other person said "I will pass" and he took it on the spot. Then there were hurt feelings by the original guy and it only got worse when the new buyer photomatched the jersey to 3 Home Runs and has made this the focal part of his collection.

So this season, the player is growing in popularity and I am getting lots of bats and sell one to John Taube who sells it to someone who posted on GUU that the bat was photomatched to many HRs. I get a call from the same guy who asked me why I didn't offer the bat to him. I simply said you wanted uncracked bats and this bat was cracked! He says to me, well this is a significant bat and I would have liked to have been offered the bat. I told him truth be told, I didn't even bother photomatching it or checking the MLB Hologram.

He then wants another chance at a full uniform. I reluctantly said ok, but this time I am collecting the pricetag upfront. He wants a jersey that is unwashed and MLB holo'd on the actual date the player hits a HR. That is a tall order and super tough especially to show a jersey with wear. I get a price and ask for payment in full upfront. He sends me the money.

This season is winding down and haven't fulfilled the order as nothing is lining up well. So this past weekend on Friday night, the player hits 2 HRs in one game and the jersey will be significant as the player also had RBI 100 in that game. The deal is set. As things sometimes go wrong and out of my control, the jersey mistakingly was taken from the players hangar on the front hook of his locker and washed. The next day, the player sees his jersey freshly washed and I get the message of apology. Luckily, he is going to wear the same red alternate jersey for that day's game and we start all over but he doesn't hit a HR in that game. My buyer doesn't want the jersey now. I told him it can easily be photomatched to the night before but he refuses.

At this point, I offer a refund as I am doubting I have any chance to get him the jersey he covets-----but Tuesday night the player hits a mammoth WALK OFF HR in his white Set 4 home white jersey!!!!!!!! The buyer calls me and I told him I will do all I can to get this one. This time the jersey is MLB holo'd and stuck in his golf bag to wait for me to pick it up. The jersey is soaked in sweat a day later (when I picked it up yesterday). My guess is that this is the only jersey in this players career where he hit a WALK OFF HR and got the jersey hologram'd. In fact, this is his 1st WALK OFF HR in his 2 years with the Nationals. Personally, I would love this jersey as part of my personal collection.

News traveled fast and another collector who knows the buyer heard he was getting this WALK OFF HR jersey and I guess unbeknownst to me, my buyer sent out over the weekend this nasty email to a bunch of people and thought I should have the following email:

I hope XXXX (I am x'ing out the name of the player) does not hit a homer til he goes on the road...then I'll ask for my money back from Lang. I'm done with all of it after this past weekend. F##k ( took out the actual curse word) it.

So after reading this, my feelings are hurt. I can't believe he would write something so nasty especially with how hard I have worked on his behalf. I call the buyer and confront him. I ask the buyer about this email yesteday and he said it was just out of frustration. I make sure he knows that he doesn't have to take the jersey. He said he absolutely wants it.

In my 12+ years of trying to get unique items for people, this one is personal. If I were to write more details, it would become a book. I have also learned he has done similar to others. I hope this closes a chapter where this buyer finds true happiness and maybe stops and thinks for a moment that some people go above and beyond and it isn't all about making a profit because if it was, I would have sold this jersey for $600 more to another collector who threw out a fair offer when learning that I had this jersey, and I said I couldn't and wouldn't sell it to anyone else.

Yep, this is my pet peeve. I hate to go public with this but I hope the buyer reads this because he knows who he is. Maybe he can take a long look in the mirror and change his ways. He has told me he is a deeply religious person so here is hoping, you should love your neighbor as yourself.

[jobathenut]

ALLSTAR-As i am also a fan of this player i know who you are talking about.I don't know who the buyer is though.But yeah that's terrible that he sent that email.You did all you could do.It's not like you could have been there to collect the jersey after the game like mei-gray does.I wonder how much a jersey like that would cost of his walk off.Man i wish i had the money for that.But hell i am still saving up to get those cleats from you.

[jobathenut]

ALLSTAR-I forgot to ask my question.And that was so did you end up selling him that jersey even after that email.And did you tell him that you fond out about it-thanks