If you’re not enrolled in eBay’s eBay Bucks program, and you’re a frequent user of the auction site/app, then you’re missing out.

For the uninitiated, here is the deal:  You get 1% eBay bucks on all of your purchases, which may not seem like a big deal. But several times a quarter eBay runs specials in which you can get 8%-10% eBay bucks – usually available to those using the eBay app — which some of us collectors treat like a holiday. That’s when you pull out all the tricks and hit that PC card and enjoy the reward. See a card you like for $70, buy it and get $5.60-$7 in eBay bucks later.  The eBay bucks add up for three months, and then each quarter eBay presents you with your digital eBay bucks, which are essentially used like a gift card on the site.

Obviously the more you buy, the more you accumulate.  I have gone quarters where I have tallied just a few dollars, and other times where I’ve approached $70.  This quarter, I was pretty much right in the middle at about $37.

I’m funny when it comes to free stuff, sales and gift cards, or in this case eBay Bucks, because I’m always looking for a “deal.”  I’m such a cheap-ass sometimes that I am looking to make a one-for-one transaction just so that I can say I got a particular item for free – even if it matters to no one but myself.

And so this week, after receiving my eBay Bucks, I spent four days looking for the item I wanted to obtain.  And Sunday I found it … although it was not a perfect “for free” item as I hoped.

For several weeks I’d been watching a 1998 SP Authentic Roger Clemens autograph slabbed a low grade by BGS.  The grade doesn’t matter to me, I wanted the damn signed card!

For so long Roger Clemens autographs were like unicorns to me, not like they are today where you can routinely find them in the $30-$60 range. And the 1998 SP Authentic Clemens, limited to some 400 non-serial numbered copies, is a classic as it is one of his cards signed while shown as a Blue Jays player.

The card sat for almost a month at $49.99 and then it ended early this morning with no buyers.  It was re-posted at $47.99 and I knew I had to hit it before someone else did.  The Mint graded versions are posted for the $90 range, and I have not seen any raw copies.

And so, with my eBay Bucks, I essentially got the card for about $10, plus $3 shipping of course.  Is it the most-savvy purchase ever?  No.  But it’s a big deal for me since I’d been eyeing this card for two decades, and been on the fence for about a month as to whether or not to buy this copy.

As mentioned above the grade leaves much to be desired, it’s slabbed a 7.5 — the card was nailed for “edges.”  I love BGS graded cards, but this one will be cracked and placed in some other type of holder to go along with my other Clemens autographs.

This entry was posted on January 6, 2019 at 9:38 am and is filed under Misc. with tags baseball, baseball cards, eBay, eBay Bucks, Roger Clemens, sports, Upper Deck. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.