Donruss National Treasures 1/1 redemption question

[otmack2o]

I purchased and mailed in the 2006 Donruss National Treasures Brian Calhoun Platinum Signatures 1/1 Autograph redemption.

I called Donruss today and they said that they are still waiting on the athlete to sign, but I could exchange the card for another card or cards or equal value.

My questions are:

What is everyone's experience on Donruss' ability to send "equal value" cards for redemptions?

How do they value a 1/1 card?

What would you do, wait for the signature to hopefully arrive or exchange it and hope to get something decent?

With Calhoun on the IR, I sort of want to get a replacement, but I don't want to get the shaft. I also have a fairly extensive Calhoun collection already and although this would be the best card I have of his, I would not be completely pissed if he did wind up being a solid everday player.

[BAMBAM]

Tony - did you ask them what type of value you'd get IF you decided to make a trade ? I'm not big on Calhoun (always hurt and nothing special when healthy) so I don't think I'd have any problem letting that go IF Donruss gave me a decent replacement option. I'd explain to them the fact that you have ALOT invested in the card and would like something substantial in return. How can they ask you to make a decision unless you know what your deciding on ? Be polite but firm. I'd tell them its not supposed to be like some game show where I can either keep what I have or take whats in the mystery box. The mystery box shouldn't be some clunker from them.

[rudyjustinfarrell]

When Donruss was still doing baseball, I called about a 1/1 auto/mlb logo card. The logo was so thick that the card was coming apart. The person that was handling my "complaint" waited to see what could be done about repairing the card. The company decided that it could not be repaired and gave me a valuation for trade. How they got the figure I don't know, but it was higher than what I had into the card so I wasn't complaining. They asked me who I liked and what sport I liked, then took a week or so seeing what they had on file. From the time I sent in the card, to the time I got back their offering I'm talking about a 2 1/2 month timeframe.
I haven't been following this particular product much, but do your homework and see what other 1/1s are going for from the set. Or even among any Donruss/Leaf/Playoff product, since they are all under the same banner. Yes he's on the IR but a 1/1 from a high end product is still big bucks.

Here is a current auction for an Exquisite 1/1 w/ a bunch of bells and whistles. I would think your card is easily 50% of this card, maybe 60%?
Either way, good luck and hope you get something nice.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2006-exquisite-brian-calhoun-1-1-logo-patch-auto_W0QQitemZ280160023891QQihZ018QQcategoryZ20882QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[otmack2o]

They would not give me a dollar figure or even tell me what I could possibly get in return other than that it would be equal in value, could contain multiple cards, and would more than likely not be a 1/1. I am leaning towards exchanging it out at this point, but have not completely made up my mind yet.

I did see this ended listing also:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290165104006

[rudyjustinfarrell]

Maybe I just beat the rush of complaints or found someone willing to work with me, but when I went thru this I talked w/ the rep. over the phone finding out what I liked etc.. and they shot me an e-mail of what they could find. Yes the 2 cards that I got back were not the same year, and for my 1 baseball card I received 1 baseball plaque (remember early playoff absolute?) and 1 football auto/jsy card. At a minimum I'd give them what products you like, from what year you like them, and any particular players that you happen to want/like. I don't know if you pulled this or bought this online but like I said before, being a 1/1 from a HIGH END product you would think that you could push the limits as to what you could ask for in fair return.

P.S. I happened to see the 1/1 card I returned online being sold by someone else a few months down the road. Maybe they gave it as a gift to one of their workers or worked a deal w/ a big time card dealer. Advice? Take the trade but work it like a runway model... who knows? It might get redeemed later on and you might STILL be able to pick it up.

[otmack2o]

I think I will do the exchange tomorrow. I may ask to exchange it for sealed product.

[rudyjustinfarrell]

I'd be leery of trading for unopened product. Let them make you an offer of cards. You could always send them back and renegotiate but at least you'd have X amount of RCs, autos, jersey cards or whatever. What happens if your unopened box doesn't have the box hit or stinks? Then what?

[otmack2o]

OK, I called and talked to a donruss rep again today and she said that since it is a 1/1 she cannot tell me the value of the card. The lady I talked to said that she will submit a request to Beckett for the value and that she will email that to me once it comes back. I am guessing this would be like the Beckett book value.

Any guesses as to what it will be before I find out later this week?

[otmack2o]

I got the email today. They give the card a value of $80 - $100. What a joke...

[j_b_77]

How much did you pay for the card? Just curious. I mean it's hard to put a secondary market value on a 1/1 until it's sold right? Comparable cards sold at a certain value bla bla bla but until YOUR card has either been bought or sold who's to say what the real value is?

[otmack2o]

I purchased the card for $100ish last year. The value they gave me is the "beckett value" of the card.

[j_b_77]

I purchased the card for $100ish last year. The value they gave me is the "beckett value" of the card.

I find that hard to believe that Beckett would do that. Give a value on it. They say themselves in their own blurbs that they cant gage cards under 15 because there isn't enough sales to determine. DLP lady told you Beckett told her that? I would see if I could squeeze a little more than that, telling her how much you payed, thus is what it was worth TO YOU. Worth a shot. Not your fault they can't come up with the card. Technically you're the one making the sacrifice, right?

[otmack2o]

I sent the customer service rep an email back and she said:

"How about a value range of $120?"

I asked if this was a sale value of $120 or a "beckett value" of $120. I also emailed her a link to this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290165104006

[mwheeler27]

I got the email today. They give the card a value of $80 - $100. What a joke...

I would ask them that if their 1/1 cards are valued at $80 - $100, how on earth do they justify their suggested retail price of their boxes/cases???

[otmack2o]

LMAO... latest reply (direct quote from the rep):

Here is a link to a Brain Calhoun 1/1 that is on eBay. I am aware that is not from our product lines, but it is an auto 1/1 and is going for $80 so I say that $120 is more than a fair value. Please let me know what you think. Thank you.



http://cgi.ebay.com/2007-TOPPS-68-BRIAN-CALHOUN-PLATINUM-REAL-1-1-LIONS_W0QQitemZ150171345470QQihZ005QQcategoryZ149909QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[j_b_77]

Unreal.

[wolffer12]

OMG, that card is coming from a $2 a pack product and they are trying to use that to compare to a $300-$400 a pack product. That is such a joke. If you paid 100 for that card book on it would probably be in the 200 range I would guess.

[otmack2o]

Nice "auto" huh? I am awaiting the next reply...

[otmack2o]

OMG, that card is coming from a $2 a pack product and they are trying to use that to compare to a $300-$400 a pack product. That is such a joke. If you paid 100 for that card book on it would probably be in the 200 range I would guess.

That's what I was expecting. a HBV of $200 - $250 and I would have exchanged it.

[mwheeler27]

National Treasures was an attempt to compete with Exquisite right? I would send them this link and state that it's /225 and that your card is a lot rarer, and therefore, valued higher.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brian-Calhoun-06-Exquisite-2-Color-Patch-Auto-225-Rc_W0QQitemZ150125526223QQihZ005QQcategoryZ655QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

[mwheeler27]

If they don't want to compare it to Exquisite, let them compare it to this one...

http://cgi.ebay.com/2006-06-Bowman-Chrome-Gold-Brian-Calhoun-Auto-RC-Rare_W0QQitemZ220136752863QQihZ012QQcategoryZ655QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Same argument. This card is NOT a 1/1 and therefore, your card should be worth a lot more.

[otmack2o]

Haven't heard back from customer service so I sent another email...

(sent to Cust Service previously regarding the 2007 Topps 1/1)
Although that card is a 1/1, it is not autographed and is not of his rookie year (2006). I would expect that card to sell for much less than the National Treasures platinum autograph 1/1 of him.

(followup I just sent)
Also, please note that the card you linked me to is a much, much cheaper brand than a high end product such as National Treasures or Upper Deck Exquisite. Take for example Calhoun's 2006 Exquisite autograph patch card that sold recently:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280160023891

That card ended just yesterday so I think you can see why I would be a little upset about the $80-$100 valuation on the National Treasures 1/1 autograph card. I would expect a premium brand such as National Treasures to garner a premium price just like the Exquisite card does.

I hope to hear back from you regarding this so that we can get the issue resolved.

Thank you


Hopefully something good will come of this...

[mwheeler27]

Excellent email. Let us know what they say.

[Brad]

Looks like you left off a "1" on the end of the eBay URL

Should be http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280160023891

[otmack2o]

Thank you bradolson!! Corrected email resent!

[otmack2o]

Latest reply:

"I’ll talk to my manager and see what we can do about this."


Keepign fingers crossed...

[otmack2o]

After a couple of days of not hearing back, I got this email today:

I spoke with my manager and we will go with the $250 this one time. I am not sure that we have a $250 card, but we can do a combination of a couple of cards or we could also do sealed product. Now that I think about it we might have something at that value range in the older products. Would you be willing to do something like this? Please let me know so I can get this out to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your time and have a great day!

I told them that I would accept the exchange at this price. Hopefully it's not in the form of 25 x $10 cards! lol

[mwheeler27]

Well that's a whole lot better than $120. So do you think it got to them when you pointed out why they were trying to compare their "high-end" product to low-end ones?

[otmack2o]

I got notification via email today that the replacement has shipped. Unfortunately, I will be out of town when it arrives next week.

[otmack2o]

Redemption replacement is on the vehicle for delivery. Should I have the wife open it to see what I got or wait until I get home on Friday?

[otmack2o]

OK, I just got the scan from the Wife. Let me know what you guys think...

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/153/scan3dk4.png

[rudyjustinfarrell]

I'm not a big Raiders fan, but I think that's a pretty cool card. If you look at what inserts were in 06 Leaf Limited, the Prime Pairings cards were pretty scarce. I know the Raiders are not the "cool team" right now but if you were to hold that card and wait for Jamarcus Russell to get the silver n' black nation salivating you'd probably get some decent $$$ for your card.

[BAMBAM]

With the exception of the Mad Bomber and Cliff Branch who were pretty good players in their own right, your talking about a solid auto collection of HOFers. I think thats a great piece and would gladly trade you a Calhoun auto 1/1 for it in a heartbeat. :)!

[iluvfish2]

Tony....bring that with you to Extra Innings on Tuesday...Rick's a large Raider fan and might be interested!

[mwheeler27]

That's a cool card, but man, I'm really getting tired of the sticker autos. I'm thinking about cutting out the autos I've collected over the years and attaching them to a similar sized piece of cardboard, sending it to PSA for auto authentication, hand-writing 1/1 on it, and seeing what it'd bring!

[swjedi2000]

Tony -

I pulled the Cowboys 6-auto card from Limited #/25 last year. I sold it for $400-450? I know its not the same card, but might give you an idea if you sell this one.

BB

[otmack2o]

Tony....bring that with you to Extra Innings on Tuesday...Rick's a large Raider fan and might be interested!

Uh oh! I will have to remember that!

[iluvfish2]

He doesn't buy tons for his collection, nor have I ever seen it, but I know he picks stuff up from time to time depending on weither or not he has something of that peticular person. Not sure how high end he might go.

[j_b_77]

Uh oh! I will have to remember that!

I personally would be interested in it.....LMK what you're looking for it. Trade or cash

[otmack2o]

I personally would be interested in it.....LMK what you're looking for it. Trade or cash

PM sent

[GRWLRGUZZLR]

In my experience with them they asked who my favorite players were and they sent me a couple cards that were low numbered. Or course I was given some bad players as well and that was not in exchange for a 1/1.