| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? 11:49 - Jul 20 with 8105 views | Illinoisblue |
I can hardly believe this but my sister-in-law may just have lost tens of thousands of dollars. Quite likely more. Allow me to explain….
Her son, my nephew (age 10) has a ton of baseball and basketball trading cards. Most of them he’s bought or received as birthday presents. No real value. However he has a couple binders full of cards from the early to mid 80s that were passed down to him from an uncle (not me). So he’s recently been sorting through those binders and came across a 1986 Michael Jordan rookie card. Produced by a company called Fleer.
Nephew twigged this might have some value, told my sister-in-law he wanted to sell it. He claimed to have seen it online for $1000. He’s all excited. My sister-in-law does not do any research of her own, takes nephew and card to a collectibles store where the owner quizzes her on where the card is from, how long she’s had it etc. And then (Red flag warning) says the words “this could be worth a lot of money”. Yes, a man who’s job it is to deal and trade such collectibles is telling you your card is very valuable. The next words out of his mouth were “I’ll give you $400 for it” which my nephew hears and is all excited about. They sell a Michael Jordan 1986 card in excellent condition for $400.
At this point, if this post was a Tik Tok this is when that voiceover would be playing “it was at this moment they knew they had fked up”.
A very quick search would reveal the same card selling for $96,000
https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/michael-jordans-1986-87-fleer-rookie-car
And one that sold at auction for over $1milion
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10038698-michael-jordans-fleer-bulls-rookie-
Best case scenario they’ve lost thousands. Worst case, hundreds of thousands. My sister in law has left the family group chat although my wife did speak to her briefly last night and she is distraught and in no mood to talk about it. The crazy thing is, another family member had last week told her about the process of grading trading cards and how you can pay $50 to get cards assessed to get an idea of value. This Jordan card even in bad condition is a $5k card.
Lesson of the story: do your damn research!
|  |
| |  |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 09:59 - Jul 21 with 1719 views | suffolkpoker |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 09:37 - Jul 21 by Churchman |
I did a similar thing with the Dotcom boom in around 1999/2000. I’d got a really good redundancy payout from my previous employers and was working for an IT company so had, for the time, good internet access.
Right thought I, I’ll take 10% of my redundancy money and take advantage of the tech boom. I did my research (the hell I did) and bought stocks in various likely companies. All was well. The values went up like an Otis lift. Marvellous thought I. I could make a career doing this! No I couldn’t.
The dotcom bubble burst and my paper profits went down the pan in the blink of an eye. I did sell out in time to get most of my stake money back, but what a waste of time.
For sheer loss of money, I’ve made a few mistakes with car buying over the years. The maddest was buying a Rover 214. A pitiable car that was so badly made it beggared belief. Add in a not very good (K series) engine and useless Rover car mechanics and 6 months after buying it, they damaged the camshaft and ruined the engine. After a fight, I managed to get Rover to pay for it, but the car was so bad I sold it 9 months after buying it for a rather tasty loss. Sh** happens [Post edited 21 Jul 2022 9:39]
|
in the early 2000's i built an affiliate website and built it up clearing £15k a month profit. I turned down £350k for in 2006, which would of paid off all my personal mortgages at 25 years old.
Google done a few updates (penguin and panda), which all but killed my earnings. I still have the website and it just pays for my mortgage monthly payments instead.
Oh well it was a fun ride :) |  |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 10:06 - Jul 21 with 1687 views | chicoazul |
That’s not a mistake that’s a robbery. I hope somehow it gets made right. |  |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 10:09 - Jul 21 with 1679 views | DanTheMan |
Not quite as bad as this, given the time they sold the card it was worth a lot, but I had some near perfect condition original Pokemon cards that would be worth thousands today.
I also could have bought quite a few bitcoins when they were dead cheap and would have probably been a millionaire if I hadn't of sold them. I was aware of the whole thing very early but didn't think much of it (and still don't!). |  |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 11:39 - Jul 21 with 1632 views | Zapers |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 10:06 - Jul 21 by chicoazul |
That’s not a mistake that’s a robbery. I hope somehow it gets made right. |
My lawyer friend says that it's of course dependent on where the family lives and what the laws are in that particular country. I'm guessing America in which case I urge her to get legal advice. Lawyer is saying that when she met with the buyer, depending on the conversation, he could well have misrepresented the position and consequently cheated her.
The seller has been possibly cheated out of a huge amount of money, this needs to be challenged.
I would personally suggest the family, if they are sure of the values etc, go to a reputable law firm and see if they have a case, and if so, would they be prepared to do it Pro Bono.
I lived in California for several years, it's very litigious. |  | | |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 13:16 - Jul 21 with 1571 views | PrideOfTheEast |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 11:39 - Jul 21 by Zapers |
My lawyer friend says that it's of course dependent on where the family lives and what the laws are in that particular country. I'm guessing America in which case I urge her to get legal advice. Lawyer is saying that when she met with the buyer, depending on the conversation, he could well have misrepresented the position and consequently cheated her.
The seller has been possibly cheated out of a huge amount of money, this needs to be challenged.
I would personally suggest the family, if they are sure of the values etc, go to a reputable law firm and see if they have a case, and if so, would they be prepared to do it Pro Bono.
I lived in California for several years, it's very litigious. |
Yep. No brainer | | | |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 13:48 - Jul 21 with 1536 views | gordon |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 08:46 - Jul 21 by Lord_Lucan |
It's unfortunate to say the very least but I cannot understand why the family didn't do some research.
Now I'm not saying the dealer has covered himself in glory here but if you were a collector and you saw that card at a car boot sale for £400, would you advise the seller that it's worth $96,00 and offer a more fitting sum?
Or would you buy it?
Edit - having given this more thought I think the dealer should have given maybe $10k [Post edited 21 Jul 2022 9:26]
|
Think $400 was the perfect amount to offer (from the dealer's perspective) - an offer of eg $10,000, would be more likely to make the punter think b***dy hell, we'd better stop and think about this, this is a big deal - whereas with $400, you'd be more inclined to think oh great, we'll have a couple of nice meals out with that, brilliant.
Also he will have wanted agreement on the spot, so would've been limited to cash at the premises.
Think almost all people, if they saw something for sale at a car boot sale that they knew was valuable, would just pay whatever the seller was asking to be honest. |  | | |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 13:51 - Jul 21 with 1534 views | Bugs |
I used to run a second hand shop. I bought a job lot of 5 or 6 various paintings from Campsea Ashe auction for £10 plus fees. One of them was an oil on board of a ship. (it was awful IMO) A regular customer, who lived in the same area as me, bought it from me for £25.
About a year later he moved house to Cornwall. Somehow he got into a conversation with the buyers of his house about the painting. He told them how he sold said painting for £25k. |  | | |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 13:55 - Jul 21 with 1526 views | the_toff |
My ex wife | | | |
Login to get fewer ads
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 14:03 - Jul 21 with 1513 views | jeera |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 13:51 - Jul 21 by Bugs |
I used to run a second hand shop. I bought a job lot of 5 or 6 various paintings from Campsea Ashe auction for £10 plus fees. One of them was an oil on board of a ship. (it was awful IMO) A regular customer, who lived in the same area as me, bought it from me for £25.
About a year later he moved house to Cornwall. Somehow he got into a conversation with the buyers of his house about the painting. He told them how he sold said painting for £25k. |
And yet that still would probably have won you an episode of Bargain Hunt. |  |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 14:04 - Jul 21 with 1511 views | the_toff |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 13:51 - Jul 21 by Bugs |
I used to run a second hand shop. I bought a job lot of 5 or 6 various paintings from Campsea Ashe auction for £10 plus fees. One of them was an oil on board of a ship. (it was awful IMO) A regular customer, who lived in the same area as me, bought it from me for £25.
About a year later he moved house to Cornwall. Somehow he got into a conversation with the buyers of his house about the painting. He told them how he sold said painting for £25k. |
That's a niche shop. Most people already have 2 hands.
I went to a farm shop once, came out the proud owner of 4 farms and 900 acres of arable land in Devon. | | | |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 20:12 - Aug 19 with 1193 views | SE1blue |
Is there an update on this Illinoisblue?
Did they manage to get anything? |  |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 21:02 - Aug 19 with 1154 views | ronnyd |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 12:49 - Jul 20 by hoppy |
So really, they've not 'lost' it, just not gained it. There's a difference.
Not to take away from the fact it was a quite major mistake, especially not to have done the research before taking it in, so they gained rather less than they would have gained, but not lost it. |
Agree, i was thinking the same. Nothing has been 'lost', but they have been conned out of a fantastic windfall on something they never realised that they had. Can understand that they are upset about it but taking a first offer and not doing further investigation is rather lax to be fair. Is there anyway they can sue the conning shyster? | | | |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 21:04 - Aug 19 with 1157 views | Lord_Lucan |
I failed to research the latest REACH regulations and our main product had a couple of banned chemicals in it which led to a product recall costing me £140k
Two years later our appointed distributor went bust owing me £136k - and as they were the sole distributor I not only lost the money but I had no customers.
Another £15k and I would have been finished!
It’s taken 10 years to get over it - but Lucan is back baby! |  |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 21:29 - Aug 19 with 1116 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 21:04 - Aug 19 by Lord_Lucan |
I failed to research the latest REACH regulations and our main product had a couple of banned chemicals in it which led to a product recall costing me £140k
Two years later our appointed distributor went bust owing me £136k - and as they were the sole distributor I not only lost the money but I had no customers.
Another £15k and I would have been finished!
It’s taken 10 years to get over it - but Lucan is back baby! |
The cost of doing business eh. That’s why I admire small business owners really, all the risk is more personal. I lost a lot of income during Covid (now also back baby) but it wasn’t going to wipe out a company I owned. My old man constantly has issues on the same front. |  | | |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 21:35 - Aug 19 with 1105 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
A horrible event but it is money they never had. I thought you were going to say she threw it away!
I thought the answer might be following Town! Of course, that really isn't a mistake, though, is it?
When dealing with my Mum's estate we discovered a vintage bottle of wine that was worth quite a lot of money. However, on further investigation, there is a period over which it is worth a lot before it then goes off and becomes of no value. This bottle had reached that stage unfortunately. |  |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 22:22 - Aug 19 with 1034 views | Warkystache |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 13:55 - Jul 21 by the_toff |
My ex wife |
Seconded - I had nearly £40k in savings and inheritance before I met her. After a wedding where the guest list grew to her second cousins and her dad's Irish relations who all had to be flown to Stansted from Dublin and all couldn't afford an hotel room, plus she tried to limit mine to just parents and my sole living grandparent and two best friends, and the noticeable reluctance from any of her family to contribute towards costs, my savings dwindled to a few hundred. Mind, I was stupid and in love and naive.
The best/worst bit was when her mum wanted three distant relatives who lived in Australia to be invited, and had even told them they were coming, only to then expect me to pay for their flights and accommodation. Fortunately by then I was savvy and gave her a flat negative. And that was the beginning of the end. She barely spoke to me again.
They had money as well. They were well-off. Still, that was them all over. Their daughter is just like it too. |  |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 06:58 - Aug 20 with 882 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 22:22 - Aug 19 by Warkystache |
Seconded - I had nearly £40k in savings and inheritance before I met her. After a wedding where the guest list grew to her second cousins and her dad's Irish relations who all had to be flown to Stansted from Dublin and all couldn't afford an hotel room, plus she tried to limit mine to just parents and my sole living grandparent and two best friends, and the noticeable reluctance from any of her family to contribute towards costs, my savings dwindled to a few hundred. Mind, I was stupid and in love and naive.
The best/worst bit was when her mum wanted three distant relatives who lived in Australia to be invited, and had even told them they were coming, only to then expect me to pay for their flights and accommodation. Fortunately by then I was savvy and gave her a flat negative. And that was the beginning of the end. She barely spoke to me again.
They had money as well. They were well-off. Still, that was them all over. Their daughter is just like it too. |
I can only assume she must have been a stunner. Need as much info as possible for when Tel starts asking questions! Especially as in all liklihood she would have wanted me at the wedding. |  |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 07:45 - Aug 20 with 840 views | ElephantintheRoom |
Getting $400 for something that cost nothing is not exactly an expensive mistake is it? More a missed opportunity
Paying for it then have the dog chew it up would be an expensive mistake | |
| |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 09:35 - Aug 20 with 780 views | gtsb1966 |
Getting married..................3 times. A fool and his money and all that. |  | | |
| What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? on 09:43 - Aug 20 with 769 views | ITFCson |
Hard to have any sympathy here. Why if you’ve seen it for 1000 online would you sell for 400. Also should never sell at the first offer.
Sadly the greed of having 400 dollars here over rided the desire to maybe do 30 mins more research.
I had safemoon worth 81k about 18 months ago. Today it may just about by me a Mars bar, and not even a king size one. | | | |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
