If you read out recent player super collecting post, I mentioned that there was another gentleman that was collecting Shaw, but stopped on it. We’ve “met” through SCF first then later Facebook and even though we’ve never met, I consider Jim a friend. We were chatting about Shaw cards one day and he mentioned a 2014-14 printing plate that he didn’t bid on, because he thought I was the high bidder. It turns out that I wasn’t. I never even saw it, as the seller had it listed on ebay.ca, but it didn’t show up on ebay.com. The auction ended at under $3 and my heart was broken when I saw that it was gone.
I’m sure that many people complain and gripe when people buy to resell. In this case, it worked to my benefit. A few weeks later, a Shaw printing plate popped up on eBay.com with a BIN/OBO of $30. I immediately submitted my offer of $10. Previously, I paid $14.99 for the magenta plate and $8.53 for the black plate. I felt that I was certainly in the range of actual “value.” I became nervous as hours, and then a day, went by without hearing back. I looked to make sure that nobody jumped in and bought it at $30 (or that he accepted another offer). They hadn’t, so I kept waiting, though I considered upping my offer just to be safe. Over the second night the seller came back with an offer of $15. I wasn’t messing around and losing it, so I accepted.
Now, he is among friends.
If I can come across the yellow plate, I will have the complete 2014-15 Upper Deck Rainbow. As proud as I am of my Shaw PC, it would be the first true rainbow I have. No matter what set/year combo it is, if there are more than a handful of variations, I am missing at least one of them to complete it. I don’t believe I’ve seen the yellow so I’m not giving up hope.
***UPDATE***
After I wrote this, but before I posted it, I left the seller his feedback and contacted him. I explained to him that I collect Shaw and that I was so appreciative that he picked it up and resold it where I could get it. An hour or so later, he replied with this:
“Hi there Kin, thanks for the message! I sincerely appreciate it, as I love being able to get cards into the right collector’s hands!
What’s funny is that I’m on SCF and I knew there was a big Shaw fan, but admittedly I didn’t look super hard for the proper username (I do my ebay listings right at the end of every month, and the printing plate arrived near the end of that particular month). Once you made the offer, I knew I recognized the name so I was glad it found the right home. I saw the thread with photos of your collection, it looks incredible!
Thanks again!”
There are times that I get burnt out on the hobby. However, it’s getting messages back from others like this one and just talking to others (like Jim and Jason) that enjoy what I (we) do that gives me that kick in the butt that I sometimes need. There are a lot of people that are in the hobby for what I feel are the wrong reasons. However, there are so many that truly are in it for the pure fun and enjoyment of it.
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