If the 2015-16 hockey card year is anything like the 2014-15 year, the sets that Andrew Shaw is included in will be released before Thanksgiving, then he won’t be in anything for the rest of the season. When I saw that the 2015-16 MVP Checklist was released, I immediately checked to see that he was included. Thankfully he is, giving me nine more cards to search for.
I bought multiple boxes last year but as I’ve written, I’m changing the way that I collect so I knew I’d just pick up the singles that I needed. I live in Texas, which isn’t exactly a hotbed of hockey collectors, so my odds of finding locally aren’t good, leaving me to find them online.
Related Link: Some thoughts from a drive home from Walmart
While I do want to acquire cards as soon as they are released and get into the collection, I’m also going to be smart about it. I’m not going to pay $1 for the base card with $3 shipping. I’m not likely going to pay that for the silver script either. I didn’t find anything that made sense for a few days, but then I found the Silver Script for $1.99 with free shipping. I emailed the seller, asking if he also had the base and explaining I wanted to pick them up together. He told me that he did and he’d sell it to me for 50 cents. I agreed and bought the silver script. The eBay checkout was automatic and I couldn’t add in the money for the base. After paying, I sent the other 50 cents.
A few days later the plain white envelope arrived and inside was…the silver script…and only the silver script.
While happy to have it, I was obviously disappointed. I emailed the seller and just politely mentioned that I didn’t receive the base.
Too many in the hobby would have emailed the seller something nasty and taken to twitter bashing him saying that he “ripped me off.” He didn’t rip me off. I’m a seller as well. He does a lot more business than myself and I honestly just figured that somehow it was an oversight and slipped through the cracks. There was no need for me to be rude or nasty. Also, you’ll likely get a much better and pleasant response by not being an asshat.
He replied back with a simple apology.
“I apologize I don’t have one to you in the mail tomorrow.”
That was all I needed. A few days later, I had my base card and all was right with the world. Did he forget to ship the one? Sure. It wasn’t the end of the world, though. The end result is all the same.
Remember, sellers are humans too and things happen. Don’t start out by being an asshat, collecting isn’t all that serious. Let’s keep it fun!
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