They say "What goes around, comes around", and I think that saying is fitting for O.J. Simpson.
True, he was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife and her boyfriend, but anyone with any sense knows he was guilty, the cops screwed up big time. Now with his arrest and pending trial, I can't help but laugh.
One wonders what could possibly drive this former NFL great to the lows he has dropped to? It seems to me, that he just can't keep out of the spotlight, good or bad. O.J. thinks he can talk his way out of anything (after all, it worked in the murder trial) and he thought that would work again.
Now it looks as if the Browns will be getting his expensive watch and the NFL memorabilia belonging to him, to pay off some of the money he must pay them, due to the fact he was found guilty in the civil trial. I guess I didn't realize anyone would still pay money for O.J. football memorabilia, well maybe if they are a collector of criminal athletes....
Until Next Time....
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
you never know what will sell
First, I would like to extend my thoughts and prayers to the families and victims of 9-11-01. We will NEVER forget you.
Now onto the topic of this blog...
Being New York Yankees fans, when the Yankees were in our area (well, in Kansas City) we naturally went to the games in July and saw them play. One of the games, the Royals gave away George Brett Pine tar tshirts
For anyone who doesn't know, On July 24, 1983, the Royals were playing the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. In the top of the ninth inning, Brett came up to bat against Goose Gossage, his old rival. Brett hit a two-run homer to put the Royals up 5-4. After Brett rounded the bases, Yankees manager Billy Martin calmly walked out of the dugout and used home plate to measure the amount of pine tar, a legal substance used by hitters to improve their grip, on Brett's bat. Martin cited an obscure rule that stated the pine tar on a bat could extend no further than 18 inches. Brett's pine tar extended about 24 inches. Earlier in the season, the Yankees had noted Brett's habit of adding pine tar further than the allowed 18 inches, but waited until a crucial time to point it out to the umpires. (thanks to wikipedia for this info)
The game that they gave away this shirt at was the 24th anniversary of that incident. Being Yankees fans we didn't really want the shirts.. on a whim... we listed them on ebay, we figured if we could get $5 for them we would be happy. Boy were we surprised when they closed! One went for $30.25 and the other $42.55, this was a HUGE shock to us! We even said in the listings that the shirts were given away at the game and they still sold for that much.
This was a lesson for us, you NEVER know what will sell and for how much it will sell..
Until next time...
Now onto the topic of this blog...
Being New York Yankees fans, when the Yankees were in our area (well, in Kansas City) we naturally went to the games in July and saw them play. One of the games, the Royals gave away George Brett Pine tar tshirts
For anyone who doesn't know, On July 24, 1983, the Royals were playing the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. In the top of the ninth inning, Brett came up to bat against Goose Gossage, his old rival. Brett hit a two-run homer to put the Royals up 5-4. After Brett rounded the bases, Yankees manager Billy Martin calmly walked out of the dugout and used home plate to measure the amount of pine tar, a legal substance used by hitters to improve their grip, on Brett's bat. Martin cited an obscure rule that stated the pine tar on a bat could extend no further than 18 inches. Brett's pine tar extended about 24 inches. Earlier in the season, the Yankees had noted Brett's habit of adding pine tar further than the allowed 18 inches, but waited until a crucial time to point it out to the umpires. (thanks to wikipedia for this info)
The game that they gave away this shirt at was the 24th anniversary of that incident. Being Yankees fans we didn't really want the shirts.. on a whim... we listed them on ebay, we figured if we could get $5 for them we would be happy. Boy were we surprised when they closed! One went for $30.25 and the other $42.55, this was a HUGE shock to us! We even said in the listings that the shirts were given away at the game and they still sold for that much.
This was a lesson for us, you NEVER know what will sell and for how much it will sell..
Until next time...
Monday, September 3, 2007
Barry Bonds
As sports card sellers, we visit beckett.com frequently to read who is on the "hot list". The Hot list, is basically a small list of players from all sports whose cards are selling right now. One player whose name has been there for a while is Barry Bonds.
Since before Barry became the home run king, he was on the hot list, but now, since he set the new record, he has been number one. As sports card sellers, this is great, we have lots of Bonds cards that we would love to sell.
However, as fans of baseball, this news isn't good. Yes, Barry can hit the ball well, but there is no way to know for sure whether he is on steroids, I think that unless it can be proven that he hit every one of those homers clean, then there will always be a cloud over him. That cloud should be there. Barry was the beginning of this most recent scandal in the baseball world, no the idea of steroids isn't new to baseball and I know that Barry isn't the only baseball player currently playing to take steroids. Barry is, however, the only home run king who is currently in a steroid scandal and I think that the record books need to reflect that. Perhaps, in the books put an asterisk * next to his name as they did in 1961, when Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris set out to break Babe Ruth's single season home run record.
Only time will tell what baseball will do about Barry and the steroid issue in baseball. Hopefully, the game can turn around and become the pure and great game it once was.
Since before Barry became the home run king, he was on the hot list, but now, since he set the new record, he has been number one. As sports card sellers, this is great, we have lots of Bonds cards that we would love to sell.
However, as fans of baseball, this news isn't good. Yes, Barry can hit the ball well, but there is no way to know for sure whether he is on steroids, I think that unless it can be proven that he hit every one of those homers clean, then there will always be a cloud over him. That cloud should be there. Barry was the beginning of this most recent scandal in the baseball world, no the idea of steroids isn't new to baseball and I know that Barry isn't the only baseball player currently playing to take steroids. Barry is, however, the only home run king who is currently in a steroid scandal and I think that the record books need to reflect that. Perhaps, in the books put an asterisk * next to his name as they did in 1961, when Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris set out to break Babe Ruth's single season home run record.
Only time will tell what baseball will do about Barry and the steroid issue in baseball. Hopefully, the game can turn around and become the pure and great game it once was.
Friday, August 31, 2007
a great auction tool!
Now that we have been on ebay for a while now we have finally found a great auction template that we really love. Auctiva! If you aren't sure about it just go to www.auctiva.com and check it out. it's easy to use, and it can make you auctions look great! We searched for a long time for something that could give our auctions a unique look and finally we got it with auctiva. I also forgot to mention it's FREE.. that's right.. FREE ... check it out
Until Next Time...
Until Next Time...
Joba suspended two games?
New York Yankees relief pitcher Joba Chamberlain was suspended two games for throwing two balls at Red Sox First Baseman Kevin Youkilis' head. The Red Sox, naturally, feel that it was on purpose. My thoughts? Doubtful. I don't think that Joe Torre is going to send a 21 year old pitcher with little experience out there to send some kind of "message" to Boston. And if he was trying to send a "message" as the Sox feel, what message could it possibly be? "We swept you, but are still 5 games out, and probably won't win the east". That's ridiculous! The Red Sox need to man up and stop whining about every little thing. They have a great team, but if they would just stop whining, they could be a lot better of a team.
Until next time...
Until next time...
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Some housekeeping
Well, I decided I should give a little bit more background about our business and who we are (don't worry, it wont be too long).
Downs and Outs Collectibles is run by a mother-daughter team from a small eastern Iowa town. Don't let that fact fool you, not only have we been in this business for about 6 years but we are always researching to learn more. We are both huge sports fans, mostly baseball, but enjoy a lot of sports so we are always interested in the happenings there.
Now to the name, we have had several Ebay customers ask us. If you think about it, it makes sense, we deal in football and baseball cards, in football there are downs, in baseball there are outs.. they just seemed to fit together.
Now on to the next topic I want to write about...Ebay!
In some ways, Ebay is a blessing, especially in helping our sales skyrocket over the last few years, we can reach customers we never would have been able to reach otherwise. However, there are some pitfalls to ebay as well. I'm not just talking about the listing fees that continually go up, but there are other things that drive me nuts about it:
Downs and Outs Collectibles is run by a mother-daughter team from a small eastern Iowa town. Don't let that fact fool you, not only have we been in this business for about 6 years but we are always researching to learn more. We are both huge sports fans, mostly baseball, but enjoy a lot of sports so we are always interested in the happenings there.
Now to the name, we have had several Ebay customers ask us. If you think about it, it makes sense, we deal in football and baseball cards, in football there are downs, in baseball there are outs.. they just seemed to fit together.
Now on to the next topic I want to write about...Ebay!
In some ways, Ebay is a blessing, especially in helping our sales skyrocket over the last few years, we can reach customers we never would have been able to reach otherwise. However, there are some pitfalls to ebay as well. I'm not just talking about the listing fees that continually go up, but there are other things that drive me nuts about it:
- As a seller, I am not a fan of the still fairly new rating that a buyer can fill out about my shipping time, cost, communication etc. If a buyer doesn't like my shipping prices (which are very low, and are lower than almost everyone else) then why are they bidding on my auction? If they don't want to pay that, then they don't have to bid. The other nagging thing about this is I have yet to see a seller who has a complete star in any category. It's frustrating, we send out items timely, describe items completely and still have 4.8 on most of our stars. I feel that there should be a similar thing for buyers. I have had plenty of buyers who haven't paid very quickly (but they still got a positive feedback because they did pay) and i have had buyers who haven't paid at all.
- Then there's Ebay stores. We had one for awhile and it just didn't work out. We have considered opening another one, but can never decide for sure. The problem is, we have many items that we sell that are .99 and even though they do sell, its pointless to have a store for those items. The price for the store is too much for things like that. If ebay dropped their prices on the stores (permanently dropped them) it might be more profitable for not only our business but for others as well.
Monday, August 27, 2007
The First Blog....
Well, this is it, the first blog for Downs and Outs Collectibles. I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. Downs and Outs is a sports card business based out of eastern Iowa. We specialize in football and baseball cards.
To start, I will discuss the news that hit the world today, Michael Vick's plea deal. When I heard about this deal, I was appalled. A plea deal? Why? There are witnesses who have already rolled over on him and were willing to testify against him. Why a plea deal? Yes, either way his NFL career is over, but if you can do the crime you can do the time, the real time, not the plea deal that the prosecutors should never have given you.
However, I will find it very interesting to see what his cards do over the next few weeks. They have already dropped and I expect them to continue to drop, especially after sentencing (no matter what that is). The NFL's awaited decision will also help to determine the fate of Vick's cards. If they totally and completely rid themselves of him, his cards will drop right away, but after a few years they may resurface, certainly not at their current or previous values, but people will move on and some will forget what he did and they will buy his cards again.
However, I wouldn't look for many more Vick cards to be made any time soon. Upper Deck has dropped their endorsements of Vick and I would be very surprised if they made any Vick cards in the near future at all.
To start, I will discuss the news that hit the world today, Michael Vick's plea deal. When I heard about this deal, I was appalled. A plea deal? Why? There are witnesses who have already rolled over on him and were willing to testify against him. Why a plea deal? Yes, either way his NFL career is over, but if you can do the crime you can do the time, the real time, not the plea deal that the prosecutors should never have given you.
However, I will find it very interesting to see what his cards do over the next few weeks. They have already dropped and I expect them to continue to drop, especially after sentencing (no matter what that is). The NFL's awaited decision will also help to determine the fate of Vick's cards. If they totally and completely rid themselves of him, his cards will drop right away, but after a few years they may resurface, certainly not at their current or previous values, but people will move on and some will forget what he did and they will buy his cards again.
However, I wouldn't look for many more Vick cards to be made any time soon. Upper Deck has dropped their endorsements of Vick and I would be very surprised if they made any Vick cards in the near future at all.
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