Card of the Day - 2012 Bowman Sterling : Mike Trout Base Autograph Refractor Parallel (101/199) BGS Graded Gem Mint and eBay Bucks Quarterly Purchase

Wife's birthday.
New computer.
Unexpected car repairs.
Daily expenses.
All these things add up but I was able to get most of those items and more on eBay and after all was said and done I had my biggest quarter ever (other than the quarter with Christmas cards being included) for eBay bucks and I knew I wanted a nice piece that was going to have ZERO out of pocket costs. I knew what I was tracking and what I probably would end up at the end of March so for the earliest time ever I locked in a card for acquisition on the 7th of March. Almost a whole month prior to the bucks being available.

I had my eye on a couple of cards but my focus always came back to this particular one. A seller had this on a BIN auction with a best offer option and thankfully this was early March and not mid season as I am sure I would not have been able to score such a deal. The only kicker and what might have driven people away from this card was that the case has a chip on it. I could care less as it does not affect the integrity of the card and if and when I want to change it out I can send it back to Dallas with one of my future grading submissions.

I reached out to the seller and did my quarterly routine of asking if I could lock in the card and take it off the market if we could come to an agreement on price. He said sure and I sent him an offer which I expected him to reject which he did but thankfully his counter was right in the area of what I expected my eBay eBucks total would be by the end of March. I accepted his offer and so the wait began. As I have written before I have done this numerous times in the past but this is the 1st time I've done it weeks before the quarter was to end. Most times it was a week at most but this was a big card for me and I believe the price would and will skyrocket as time goes on. My main fear was that after a while the seller might think he could make more from another buyer and back out of our agreement and considering I was a "non-paying" buyer mid month he could have had eBay cancel the transaction. Thankfully non of that transpired and on the 2nd of April I sent him the full amount paid with eBay bucks and had this in hand 3 days later.

Unlike Kershaw I can only get my hands on so many Trout autographs as his prices are too high but ever quarter I can help subsidize a purchase with eBay bucks and with this one the whole cost was paid with said bucks. I don't foresee another big eBucks total next quarter but whatever I do earn I hope I can score another great card.

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Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin