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.
cardboardicons.com 