General Forum

I was a retail manager for many years and what happened was someone bought the box of 2017 Topps Fire, pulled what they wanted and returned the rest to Target. An employee then rewrapped the box, the burned seams are from the re-wrap machine, and put it back out on the shelf. When you return it, sadly they will put it back out on the shelf again. 

As a manger and collector I wouldn't take back blasters that had been opened no matter what but that didn't stop my customer service employees from doing it. I instructed my National Marketing reps to pull any opened and resealed boxes off of the shelf and would get credit if possible otherwise I would pilf the package (mark it as stolen in the system) and give the cards to the kids who came in the store. 

People talking about a complete set missing a card. I guess I have been lucky with this. I don't know how many times I have had it happen to me, rather it be a hand collatted set or a factory sealed set, whenever it has happened to me it has been a common card missing. The 2012 Topps set I bought was missing a common card, but had two Bryce Harper rookies in it.

I got the dark blue Topps baseball set for Christmas (2003??).  It was in a factory box but had been opened then put back in the box.  Joe Crede was missing, and all the Angels cards looked like they had been run over by a Mack truck.  This is an instance where I may become a completionist and buy that last card, since I'm so close to a large complete set.

Well Shoot!!!  I took the box back yesterday and got a full refund.  The Customer Service lady was nice and very apologetic about it and gave me my money back with no questions.  I don't know what excuse the "thief" gave when they returned the box the first time but I showed the lady how the box had been taped up and that the packs were all open so I'm hoping they don't just resell it like you said but I get the feeling they may.  I thought they'd just write it off as stolen and let whatever repack company they deal with have them, or, as the Target store I took them back to does quite a bit, donate them to a nearby Goodwill.  I wish I had seen your e-mail beforehand and I would have just kept it so no one else gets it.  Kudos to you for giving them to the kids when you were a manager.
      

I feel compelled to say at this point that I've never been ripped off, baseball card-wise. I had one eBay delivery not show up to two weeks, got a refund, then it showed up two weeks later, and I paid the guy. I had a couple of hand-collated sets be incomplete. One, the guy sent me the missing cards. The other was missing about two commons that I was able to pick up easily -- clearly just a mistake. 

No, on the whole, my experiences trading and buying have all worked out just fine. 

v3

I bought a $5 box of cards at a flea market. I was shown a few cards in good condition, so I took the offer. I returned to my table to check them out and the rest of the cards had severe water damage. Some even had mold and/or mildew on them and the whole box was worthless. I was able to return them for a refund.

I have to agree with Vvvergeer. I've never felt like I've been "ripped off" in my baseball card dealings. I've gotten home from card shows and discovered a crease in a card that I didn't notice before purchasing. I've had orders missing a card, but never felt like it was intentional. The dealers and people in the hobby that I have ran across over the 30+ years of collecting have been really great people. (Maybe it's a Midwest trait.)

I was thinking about starting a post asking for stories about special or generous card dealing people have had. I've been blessed to experience a lot of those. (I also prefer to focus on positive occurrences.)

It really is a fun hobby to have, although my wife doesn't always agree with that view.

Please start that thread. I have a ton of great experiences I could share. :)

Oh  you poor fellows,  I lost and recovered some sets of cards from the pre 1970's  and a 1975 set that were in albums. Appox lost police asked and I said about  $5,000 this was in late 1985 or 86.  Stock market went down  and card price went up.  

Now the good point is I was able to recover, guess being a voulinteer fireman in town helped.  A dealer was advertising same sets for sale in paper,  I was able to prove those sets because somewhere in the album between common cards is a business card, I store cards 2 to a pocket. 

Called my local police dept, they called dealers police dept , we met a store, explained to dealer that he might be in possion of stolen items.  I was able to prove sets were mine, I was told to go outside, and when called back in I was given the cards back  after a few weeks as police inpounded them.  

Later on I found out that my local police were going to charge him for posession of stolen merchandise, and since he paid by check  the name who he bought from and it better not be CASH.  My police explained I reported theft  about 7-10 days earlier.  How the dealer made out I don't know. But I do know same person broke into the dealer store I use to frequent and got caught coming out  as  the police saw a car in alley and thought "SJDLR" Something just does't look right"  so they waited, as car didn't belong in that area at 1 am. Car registered in different town.  Cops thought they were inside a Jewlery store next to card shop.