$30K Corbin Carroll Red #5/5 Lost or Stolen?

[lisu]

I had a similar transaction a few months ago, and I sent it Fedex overnight and insured using a 3rd party. In my situation, I got $20k wired to me, and it was fine. I wouldn't trust USPS priority for that big of a card.

[caulaflour]

This doesn't need to go ANY further than 30k for that card. That doesn't make a shred of sense. The second that price is put out there for this particular card, everything about this is fishy.

The rest doesn't make much sense either.......but, honestly, given the start of the story is "This Corbin Carroll card sold for 30k," it's honestly the only appropriate ending.

[jcfill]

Originally Posted by caulaflour

This doesn't need to go ANY further than 30k for that card. That doesn't make a shred of sense. The second that price is put out there for this particular card, everything about this is fishy.

The rest doesn't make much sense either.......but, honestly, given the start of the story is "This Corbin Carroll card sold for 30k," it's honestly the only appropriate ending.

What do you think the card should go for? True Gold gems have been at 3.5k+ and were over 5k in May. I would've guessed 15-20k.

The high end bowman market is a completely different animal than anything else in the hobby in my opinion

[caulaflour]

Yes, people are crazy for Bowman. I'm in on that game, too, though, which is why it's easy to say, "nuh-uh" to what happened for this card. A superfractor? Yeah, I could probably understand that (even though that's crazy too). But a red? For Carroll? 30k? I'm sorry, but no, no, no.

15k (observing the crazy Bowman factor here) would be plausible, yes.

Originally Posted by jcfill

What do you think the card should go for? True Gold gems have been at 3.5k+ and were over 5k in May. I would've guessed 15-20k.

The high end bowman market is a completely different animal than anything else in the hobby in my opinion

[tyrith]

Originally Posted by caulaflour

Yes, people are crazy for Bowman. I'm in on that game, too, though, which is why it's easy to say, "nuh-uh" to what happened for this card. A superfractor? Yeah, I could probably understand that (even though that's crazy too). But a red? For Carroll? 30k? I'm sorry, but no, no, no.

15k (observing the crazy Bowman factor here) would be plausible, yes.

No one is disputing that the 30K actually changed hands here, so I don't see how this is really relevant to the facts of the situation? And the seller has definitely sold plenty of high end cards, including one to me about a month ago, so it's not like some fantasy transaction.

[boxbuster7]

As others have said I'm delivering a 30k card to the buyers doorstep FREE of charge. I'd probably even do that with a 10k card.

The good news is if it is stolen, that card is pretty much impossible to sell. No hobby shop is going to fork out that much to buy it.

[hotcalsun]

This is a confusing case of misfortune that also looks like a scam.

At the same time, what benefit does the seller have in keeping a card like this? Rare and highly identifiable, not like it can be sold again. And, the seller seems to have a good reputation.

It is also extremely reckless by the seller to send without insurance nor signature confirmation let alone -- it should be registered mail as others have mentioned.

I ultimately land on the side that it is the seller's responsibility to get the card to the buyer safely and that does not appear to have happened with even the USPS suggesting it was in the process of being returned.

Hoping it is lost somewhere and turns up, have had stuff go missing myself for 6 weeks with USPS.

A very messy situation.

[mnvikingstwins]

How is somebody buying a $30K card and not smart enough to have a sales tax ID?

[NYRE2PECT]

Is it me or is the E-12345us a tracking number that only is found for eBay's envelope service, ie, their lowest level of service!?

[caulaflour]

Originally Posted by tyrith

No one is disputing that the 30K actually changed hands here, so I don't see how this is really relevant to the facts of the situation? And the seller has definitely sold plenty of high end cards, including one to me about a month ago, so it's not like some fantasy transaction.

Even I am not disputing that the 30k actually was moved, because that's not my focus and it's not what's important. I am 100% disputing that this is legit because nothing about it makes sense.

If the 30k actually changed hands, it's more likely in my eyes that buyer and seller are somehow in on this together (30k can move from one party to another and back again, can be divided in half, etc). I fully admit even that sounds strange, but that sounds less strange than the narrative being pushed here from start to finish.

I'll reiterate: the end to all of this goes along seamlessly w/the beginning. Both are just "off."

[hxcmilkshake]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

Wait - no one has pointed out the most egregious part of this story.



Someone actually paid $30,000 for a Corbin Carroll card?!?!?!?

The folks on net54 are rolling in their graves

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

[no10pin]

Originally Posted by NYRE2PECT

Is it me or is the E-12345us a tracking number that only is found for eBay's envelope service, ie, their lowest level of service!?

Originally Posted by caulaflour

That's another thing that I didn't even NOTICE. This is correct: this is not even USPS tracking. That's for ebay's lowest level of tracking - the standard envelope - which is done by a third party (no bubble, etc)!! If you were to call USPS about this, they'd tell you, "that's not our tracking. we can't tell you anything about where it is." And I know, because I've done this!!

The details on the tracking show that it was sent Express with insurance. No signature confirmation and it doesn't say how much insurance.

[kaisersoze]

you can ship a 30k item usps registered fully insured for under $100.

the fact the seller didn't even pony up the $3 to get signature confirmation sounds like it was never intended to be shipped.

[boxbuster7]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

Wait - no one has pointed out the most egregious part of this story.

Someone actually paid $30,000 for a Corbin Carroll card?!?!?!?

Ha, I was thinking the same thing. Arizona Diamondbacks prospect. Lets think of all the star outfielders they've had in the last 20 years...

What could possibly go wrong?

[Archangel1775]

Buyer randomly pays $30k for a red/5 of someone?

Then the seller:
No insurance?
No sig confirmation
Didn’t prioritize giving the buyer a tracking number?
Sellers in Las Vegas?

Something doesn’t smell right with any of this.

I’m guessing this was paid with Venmo or Paypal and was a loan

[caulaflour]

Originally Posted by no10pin

The details on the tracking show that it was sent Express with insurance. No signature confirmation and it doesn't say how much insurance.

Ahh, yes. Those ebay envelopes are actually "ESUS" at the beginning of their tracking, nevermind.

[DiamondDevil]

Fishy situation all around. If the “facts” are true can’t imagine why both sides haven’t lawyered up and avoided engaging on Twitter and social media about the situation.

[oldgoldy97]

Great publicity.

[Archangel1775]

Originally Posted by oldgoldy97

Great publicity.

For Corbin Carrol?

[tier1dc]

Originally Posted by lisu

I had a similar transaction a few months ago, and I sent it Fedex overnight and insured using a 3rd party. In my situation, I got $20k wired to me, and it was fine. I wouldn't trust USPS priority for that big of a card.

USPS Priority is great. The seller never sent the card. probably scanned at a self serve kiosk and never dropped the package.

[no10pin]

Originally Posted by tier1dc

USPS Priority is great. The seller never sent the card. probably scanned at a self serve kiosk and never dropped the package.

This was the last entry, I don't think a seller can do a self-scan that shows it's in the distribution center.

May 25, 2022, 5:13 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
LAS VEGAS NV DISTRIBUTION CENTER

[tyrith]

Originally Posted by caulaflour

Even I am not disputing that the 30k actually was moved, because that's not my focus and it's not what's important. I am 100% disputing that this is legit because nothing about it makes sense.

If the 30k actually changed hands, it's more likely in my eyes that buyer and seller are somehow in on this together (30k can move from one party to another and back again, can be divided in half, etc). I fully admit even that sounds strange, but that sounds less strange than the narrative being pushed here from start to finish.

I'll reiterate: the end to all of this goes along seamlessly w/the beginning. Both are just "off."

I think you're starting from a flawed premise that the valuation is way out of line. Like was mentioned earlier, a BGS 9.5 gold went for 5.5K in early May. 30K for a red is pretty consistent with that valuation.

There are three other big factors to keep in mind -

1) No one is claiming that the shipment was insured. The primary way to profit off a fraud scheme for something like this would be to defraud the insurance carrier. If it's a scam and there's no insurance, what's the angle? Schilling the card value?

2) This isn't like stealing cash or some fungible good in an insurance fraud scheme - the card has a serial number and is worthless without it. If it ever shows up, it's going to be very obvious. The odds that there is either a legal claim or some law enforcement angle to this are very high. The play seems extremely dangerous.

3) MKG had (tense intentional) a pretty good reputation and has sold a bunch of high end cards. He still owns multiple Soto/Tatis BCA parallels he's trying to move, among other things. His reputation is now rapidly going into the crapper because of this. If it was a fraud scheme, couldn't they execute it without the public show and the accordant reputational destruction?

As usual when dealing with nonsense, the path to getting to this point is much easier going through incompetence versus malice.

[tyrith]

My personal read on the situation is that MKG sent the card and it was lost or stolen by USPS, same as many other packages. He realized he made a giant error sending it in this method. It's a huge financial hit - the card didn't just appear out of midair, he paid for it at some point. Most people who deal in stuff like this are inadequately capitalized, and he's been making other moves. There's a very good chance he doesn't have the 30K available to send back, even if he could afford to do so.

From there, the rest is just reaching for a way out, desperation, and bad attempts to cope. The accusation he leveled was extremely unwise to state directly even if he thinks it was actually true, and if that was his belief the next move should have been to contact the police. But I get coming from a pretty bad emotional place about this from his shoes. The reality is that outward contrition will ALWAYS be the best path, but it's hard to execute when things feel super crappy.

[Bosoxfan5990]

Originally Posted by tyrith

As usual when dealing with nonsense, the path to getting to this point is much easier going through incompetence versus malice.

Occam's Razor.

[zworykin]

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan5990

Occam's Razor.

Actually Hanlon's Razor