General Forum

I'm ashamed and embarrassed to admit that I learned a $160 lesson.  I tried a case break  of 2018 Panini Immaculate on EBay, the very first one I had ever tried.  I was too naive, and should have researched them here, from you more knowledgeable collectors, before I pulled the trigger.

   The ad was kind of vague, and it was listed for a single player.  It said in effect, the winner of this auction will receive, IN ADDITION, all cards from player listed in title. I guess I thought the "in additon", meant you'd get something first.  Then I entered a bid.  I got caught up in the excitement(stupid, I know).  Later, I received an outbid notice, and increased my bid(stupider yet, I know). Later the bid was retracted, and I was left holding the bag.

   It was a live pull type of deal, and as you might guess, none of my particular players cards were pulled. I contacted the seller, just to be sure, and he verified that no cards of my player were pulled. He did say he would send me "something extra", whatever that is.

    I guess I was stuck in the past, thinking a case, was like the old "case" of Topps cards, as in thousands of cards, not 5 big, thick cards in a box.  Oh well, live and learn.  Thanks for listening.

Not that it will help, but I would file a complaint with EBAY.

Dude.. that sucks..... dont think i could take a chance on a break like that.. my luck with stuff is absolutely terrible..

That is a steep price for one player. It is a huge risk to take a team much less one player in breaks like this. I hate to say it though the seller didn't do anything wrong. Research is needed before getting into a break like these. With only a few cards in each box and maybe 4 to 6 boxes per case chances of not hitting a player are pretty high. I do wish some breakers would do a better job of listing how many cards are per box and how many boxes are per case. Some do and some don't. I would take it as a lesson to be more cautious next time. Anyone that gets into break every once in a while has some bad luck. 

For those reading this, case breaks are good and bad, its like anything else, you have to do some research........I recently completed my 1st case break of 2018 A&G. I chose Layton Sports Cards. All of their breaks are shown on youtube and Facebook. The breaks are also recorded, so if you miss it live, you can watch it later..............For $59.00 I got all of the Phillies in the case. Its a crap shoot. I got lucky and had 2 hits. Somone had no hits, but got a lot of low numbered cards and....... some busted with base and hopefully some sps.

I can say without a doubt Layton is good. I watched SEVERAL of their breaks BEFORE pulling the trigger. I am a satisfied customer. Will I do it again ? I dont know. Its something to consider going forward........Through research, I have heard MOJO breaks is good also. No experience with them, just sharing feedback.

For those who try, good luck.

I hate to hear that you had bad luck.  The high end products (Immaculate, National Treasures, Museum Collection, Flawless, etc...) usually are more of a gamble than a purchase.  A good friend of mine breaks online, and I can see who is in most of his breaks.  The majority of his buyers are compulsive gamblers as opposed to collectors. Very few people who buy into high end breaks are actually collectors from what I can tell.  Some products are not as unforgiving in breaks.  However, those high end products come with 5-10 cards per box, and the boxes sell for 200+ per box depending on the market.

There is a cool website, Breakninja, that has a total breakdown of all possible hits for each player and each team.  I would recommend that you check out breakninja and compare the number of potential hits per box versus the price of the spot in the break before you get in. 

Player breaks for products like Flawless, NT or Immaculate are very risky. I took part in few (6-7) such breaks, and thankfully till this point I always hit some nice cards.
For sure it is better and safer to participate in team breaks.