CNET:
The Pokemon Trading Card Game has had a devoted fanbase ever since it was introduced to the world in 1996, so it’ll come as no surprise that rare cards can sell for lots of dollars. For instance, one player in New York last year purchased a Pokemon card for $60,000. That was almost a year ago but he still hasn’t received it.
The card was lost in the mail.
“Recently one of the most valuable cards in the hobby was lost or stolen in the mail,” explains YouTuber smpratte, a trading card aficionado, in a video Tuesday. “Both buyer and seller, I know both of them very well, they did everything they could to make this as above board and legitimate as possible.”
Holy crap these two people are stupid and I have zero sympathy for them.
Yep.
Why the hate? The seller had something others (but clearly not you) value, sold it for a great price, insured the post, then it most likely got stolen.
Just because they decided that a piece of cardboard was valuable – to them, say over a bunch of aluminium and electronics.
So, if you have a post on how your $2000 phone got stolen, should I say the same thing about your choice?
I don’t see any evidence of stupidity here, unless the stupidity is applying such a high value to a printed card.
In my experience – fairly extensive – the USPS is greatly under-rated. It’s extremely rare for well-packaged, well-labeled domestic shipments to get lost, and the service is extremely efficient.
Personally, I never insure valuable shipments, for two reasons. One is that the cost is far above the actuarial probabilities of loss or damage. The other is exactly what’s noted in the article: at some point it will be handled by humans, and not every single one of them will prove perfectly ethical when the temptations run well into five figures.
However: 1) Thanks to the insurance, the parties involved should be compensated. 2) You can bet on an extremely thorough investigation, with a fairly short list of suspects, and geolocated tracking data to assist. 3) Good luck selling this card again.
I would not be surprised to see a follow-up story here once a fraud or theft is discovered.
I can just imagine my puppy chewing that to bits.
The Loop treated people who bid hundreds of thousands of dollars for an Apple 1, which is just as useful today, as not stupid. I guess using USPS may be the stupid part, but you’ve got to send it somehow.
http://www.loopinsight .com/2016/07/26/bid-now-on-the-celebration-apple-i-the-computer-that-sparked-a-revolution/