You Mess with the Moose, You Get the Antlers!

Despite the relative anonymity of online buying/selling/trading, I've rarely come away from a card transaction without getting what I wanted. To be precise, I've now only been ripped off once EVER, which is stunning considering how many deals I've made here, on Ebay/other card sites, and through the forums.

Lately, however, I was thinking I had been ripped off twice, as a January Blowout deal went sour very quickly. To sum it up, a guy posted 9 cards for sale as a lot on January 23rd of this year, which included a higher end Seneca Wallace auto. I told him I'd be interested in the Seneca if he broke up the lot, and a few days later he said it was mine. I paid him $6 gift Paypal (MISTAKE, but a great deal since the specific card usually sells for $20 delivered minimum), and figured I was good.

I figured wrong - very wrong. The seller was banned from Blowout a week later, which was especially bad since I couldn't message him the next week when his card wasn't showing up to ask him where it was. Turns out the guy was a repeated scammer, who had been banned in the past under different usernames due to shady dealings. I was devastated...sure it was just $6, which isn't that much cash, but the card was such a deal and I really wish I had gotten it.

But I wasn't ready to give up. As any of you who deal with me know, I am a frequent emailer and I have a lot of patience. That served me well in this case, as I found every email the guy had ever used on Blowout and sent an email to all of them (I think six different emails) asking about the card. He sent me back a stock apology email - "Sorry dude, my bad, you'll get it, the Post Office returned it to me," etc. Legit enough. A few weeks later, still no card. I emailed...same general apology. I finally decided to be persistent...I would email every two days to see if he'd change his tune. He repeated the post office story another 5 times, told me he couldn't do a refund due to Paypal issues, and offered me a Warren Moon relic before forgetting about it...all over several months. Lots of shenanigans, all met with nice email etiquette from me (Just checking in on you! How's things? Where's Seneca at, is he allergic to my mailbox? hyuk hyuk hyuk...).

And I guess it paid off, because today in my mailbox, 3 months and 17 days after the card was originally posted for sale, was Seneca Wallace's 2003 Ultimate Collection on-card autograph (serial #'d 61/250):
Ain't it gorgeous? I told the story to my girlfriend, and she was like, "Damn, I would've stopped emailing after about a week." I'm sure glad I didn't in this case!