Two Trades Plus a Borderline eBay Negative Feedback

I'm very patient. Baseball cards are my hobby, so I understand when life gets in the way and there is a delay. In fact, today I had somebody reach out to me regarding a Twitter trade that I had forgot about. I feel horrible when this happens, and in all honesty I can be a bit slow returning trade packages. I always try to make up for it, and don't think you'll find anyone disappointed with any of my trades.

With that being said, I'm super patient when it comes to receiving packages. Patient as in it's been almost three weeks and an eBay seller marks a card shipped with no tracking. So, I think, that's odd. I better look at their feedback. A very high score (like 30,000 or something)...with 98.8% positive. Yikes! As expected, a majority of the many negative feedback was slow shipping and poor communication.

Feeling a bit nervous, I sent the seller a message asking about the delay (since there was no tracking included, and it's a $32 purchase). After 24 hours, no message was returned, but tracking was finally uploaded. The package arrived today...more than two weeks later. And never was I offered an apology or reason for the delay. I did receive the card I paid for in the condition I expected, so I will not leave negative feedback. It took more than two weeks to receive and a message was not returned. That's extremely poor communication, so a positive is definitely not going to be left. I'll be leaving a neutral feedback with slow shipping and poor communication cited. At any rate...the card in question is a 2018 Elite Extra Edition Cole Roederer autograph numbered 4/25.

It's a beauty! And now that's off my chest, it's time to talk trades. All positive now, thanks to some great packages from Dave in Philadelphia and Greg in Illinois.

Before I began this project, I hated odd-sized baseball cards. Mini's, jumbo's, 1989 Bowman, blech! Okay, I still hate '89 Bowman. But....I've come around to all of the other sizes...like the 2006 Bowman Heritage mini's celebrating 1949 Bowman. Here's Aramis Ramirez and a Sean Marshall rookie card.

Is this an Antonio Alfonseca error card? I can't see all six fingers.

This is a sweet (patriotic) Kerry Wood card. Flag in the background. Wood holding his hat over his heart.

You can't post a Wood card without following it with Mark Prior. The Donruss Throwback Threads is numbered 1,218/1,500. The 2006 Topps Heritage New Age Performers really made me scratch my head. These inserts are for the young guns. Am I that old? Finally, I've never seen this horizontal beauty: 2002 Upper Deck 40 Man "New Releases." How big were Upper Deck sets back then? Well, this Prior card is numbered 1,020. A set builder's nightmare.

Hey, it's a 1992 Bowman Carlos Zambrano....wait a second. Honestly, that's what I initally thought. Maybe it's been a long week, or the 45 minutes on the treadmill after work fried my brain. Probably the latter. You don't accumulate two million baseball cards from spending all your free time practicing for Iron Man competitions.

Topps Total. Great concept. Horrible photos. Really, Topps? It looks like Michael Barrett is posing for 5th grade picture day.

Dave in Philly sent 21 cards, and I really, really appreciate it. Why? Dave is a Cubs fan. I like to pay it forward and give to others in this hobby, but if your a Cubs fan....sorry, you're not getting my Cubs cards! Dave, you are a better man than I. About a decade ago, Topps had retail red borders. These really stuck out. I like them. Here's a Kevin Hart from 2008 Topps Opening Day.

The rest of the package was a who's who of the Cubs from the past 30 years: Andre Dawson, Shawon Dunston, Mark Grace, Greg Maddux, Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Starlin Castro.

Thanks, Dave....Go Cubs!

One Million Cubs Project Stats Friday's (1/11/2019) Cards: 533 Friday's (1/11/2019) Packages: 3 January's Cubs Count: 3,238 Total Trades: 11 Trade States of Origin: Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey (2), New York, Pennsylvania, Texas (2), Wisconsin