Complete Loss of Tact and Courtesy Within Hobby

[nskrbec]

Ok fellas. Contrary to what my wife will tell you, I don't whine about a whole lot of things. I'm pretty active in the hobby and give myself a decent amount of credit as I know what things are worth, what I can get for things etc etc. I list a large majority of my cards on eBay, as of the last two years, I even list most of my personal collection stuff. Some of the PC stuff I list, I place "I don't wanna sell it" prices on them. My listings are always Buy It Now with best offer listings. I have been surprised that a lot of my PC items have been getting the "I don't wanna sell it" price in the last several months, but that is not the issues.

What I'm whining about today is the total loss of respect some people have. I don't know if it is because most of the dealings we have with people now are online, if people are just that way now or what the story is, but I have found it ever increasing.

Case in point. I purchased a 2013 Byron Buxton Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor Autograph Rc BGS 8.5/10 Auto a couple of weeks ago, I paid just over $500 for it. This is the third time i have had this card. I sold a raw version about a year ago for $1200 and a BGS 9.5/10 about two years ago for $1600. Now I know that since I have sold these two cards, Buxton has had a significant amount of ups and downs, more downs than ups frankly. So, I pick up the Buxton and he is smashing in AAA. A day or two later he gets the call bag up to the bigs, which obviously increases the price "a little". He's been hitting pretty solid latey, not smashing, but in his 7 games since returning, he has gone 10 for 27 batting over .300. So, I digress.

Another eBay member contacts me via direct message and states that he knows the exact card was just sold via auction a few weeks ago for just over $500. He reports that he is "very interested" in the card and wanted to know what it would take if he paid me pay pal direct (against ebay policy :O ). I reply and concur of the previous sale as it is obvious that it has. I thank him for the interest and advise him that I felt lucky to have purchased the card so shortly before his recent call up. I advise him I am not in a hurry to move it (ding ding ding, meaning I don't need the cash) but would listen to offers. He replies with a reasonable offer. $530 pay pal direct OR a Kris Bryant Topps Heritage on card auto #/66 that I am not interested in. I reply that I am not interested in that and believe that I can get significantly more. He in turn, replies that I can't (now it's on, I will sell it and show him that I, in fact, CAN, get more for it. ... hahaa) and states that the Bryant is 800 bills (cool, I didn't know that, and I'm not interested in the Bryant anways). I reply that it was "pleasant talking with you too" hoping to end the conversation here, agreeing to disagree. Now up to this point, everything was ok for the most part. I don't like others telling you what you can or cannot get for cards, what you should or should not do. Even if my price was way off (which I didn't give one), I can get him being frustrated as his offer was, I admit it, fair. It was just not what I would do for the card. Here is where I have an issue. His reply to my pleasant talking to you comment is: "Go ™™™™ yourself puke". NICE I reply with a fairly pathetic rant as I'm frustrated with this knucklehead however the more I sit and think, the more I know this has happened to me many of times over the last 5 years or so.

What has happened to the hobby. What has happened to tact or courtesy of others in this hobby. I get that people don't always agree. I get that some people over price their cards. I get that it is extremely frustrating that you can't always get what you what. Why be rude. This is such a small hobby, especially for higher end collecting, why would you burn a bridge. I'm feeling so petty right now that if this guys came at me and offered me $1200 (more than what I feel the card is worth), I would struggle to accept his offer.

That is all, here are the screen shots of my conversation with him for your reading pleasure. I look forward to hearing others insight to this

[70sbestcardboard]

It's not just this hobby, it's the world we live in today. There is a complete loss of decency, respect, and common sense with (some) young people today. The problem is throwing insults and degrading people behind the Internet façade. These people would NEVER say or do the things they expunge in anonymity in face to face relations. The best thing you could do is to simply ignore. The second best thing to do is to kill them with words. You did a fairly good job in your response. You could have notched it up a step or two. Tell him to go back to his Pokémon cards in his hot wheels decorated parent's basement. And when he can finally manage to take a break from still suckling on his mother tell him to leave the sports cards to adults.