Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Rolling the dice on a player 5-case break

A few weeks ago, while doing my normal round of eBay searches for guys I collect, I stumbled upon an interesting offer. Someone was doing a 5-case break (60 boxes total) of 2013 Bowman Draft. He was selling slots by player, not team. I had never seen this.

I found Ty Hensley, a guy I actively collect, for a fairly low price and put in a bid. If I won, I would receive all the Hensley non-base cards from the break, including Chrome, Refractors, colored parallels, Ice, Waves, printing plates, etc. Not a bad deal with over 1,400 packs being opened, right? Also, did you know people call parallels "colored paper" versions? I didn't, but that's what was listed.

I would NOT receive base cards, or other inserts/autos. Now, the guys who have autos in the sets were going for big bucks...like $50-$100 per slots...first round guys from 2013. Hensley doesn't have an auto in the set anyways, so it wasn't a very attractive slot to the major mojo-seeking guys. However, I figured out of over 1,400 packs, I would probably score a nice combo of refractors, variations, parallels, etc.

The seller offered combined shipping for just $.50 more per slot, so I nabbed Gary Sanchez too.

So how did I do? Just ok. I didn't score anything major, but did manage two blue parallels of Ty Hensley #'d to 500, plus about 12 Chrome cards. For Gary Sanchez, I scored three regular refractors, and 12 Chrome as well. A little disappointing that I didn't land something a little better, such as a colored refractor or low numbered parallel. I don't love to hoard cards of a guy. I never have been one to want a bunch of the same card, so I have to figure out how to move a few of the Chrome Hensley and Sanchez cards.
 
 
Would I do it again? Yes. In fact, I did a week later, and hit a major Ty Hensley jackpot. More to come...

2 comments:

  1. WHAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!

    Liking the Breaks, eh? Very cool! It seems like a great idea for player collectors whose players aren't the top brass. Nice!

    The suspense is killing me on the Ty. This is like the Spring Of Hensley for you!

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  2. I've gone this route as well a couple of times through different sellers.
    I made out "okay" in one and was ripped off in another.
    Here's a little more on my negative experience: I did a similar break and was expecting about 25 base cards of each player and some parallels. I ponied up for 8 different players. I was sent 7 to 10 base cards of each player and 4 parallels total. I screamed foul and the seller later sent me about 15 more base cards of each player, but I never did see any more parallels. I later found out through other buyers the guy was trying to also put sets together on the side and sell them. His feedback took a major hit from numerous buyers. I still wonder what happened to the parallels.

    I now only do breaks if it's someone from the blogosphere or the eBay seller shows video of the entire break. Buyer beware, I suppose.

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