Date: October 14, 2022
Time of Bid: 7:52:09 PM
Card: 2013 Bowman #40 Aaron Rodgers
Price: $0.30 (+Free Shipping)
What Was I Thinking?:
Let's face it, Aaron Rodgers has SUCKED this year. Not being much of a football card collector, I have only a few of his cards. Just about any Rodgers card is a novel one to me, and this one shows him during his more mobile days. The back of this card talks more about Roger Staubach than Aaron, which is something absolutely no one wants. The real reason I bought this card, the auction for which ended much earlier than most of my BUIs, was the interesting price structure offered by the seller. This card was originally a one cent auction on eBay, meaning that you could potentially win the card for a penny. While I wasn't able to do that, I did manage to submit a bid second before the close. With a 30-cent sale price combined with free shipping, I managed to cause the seller to pay for the privilege of sending the card to me. Since first class US postage is $0.60, the guy took a 30-cent loss on the card. (And that's before any eBay fees.) He actually would have been better off just throwing it in the garbage, and since he is located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, I could imagine that this would have been an act of catharsis.
I've one a few like that. About half the time the bid gets cancelled because the item is "lost or damaged". I imagine most sellers feel the publicity of a penny auction balances out the occasional losses on shipping.
ReplyDeleteStill don't understand why eBay sellers do this... but Bo's guess makes sense. Cheap and quick way to boost feedback rating.
ReplyDelete