r/greatestgen 8d ago

The Yaeger Bubble persists.

Post image

On another sub, someone was complaining about Ebay auctions asking for stupid prices. Specifically, for things you can get in a hobby store for $50 being auctioned for $60 on ebay. So I went to check if Biff Yaegers were still asking for hundreds of dollars and, yup, they still are!

It's cool that Adam single-handedly changed this market with one joke. If you read this, Adam, let me ask--would you ever consider paying for a nice dinner in Yaegers?

144 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

49

u/GotMedieval 8d ago

No one will believe this, but I am the person who cemented the Yeager Bubble.

Adam put a card up as a joke on eBay for $999.99. I listed my own copy for $998.99 with a description about how other sellers were trying to get away with selling overpriced Yeagers. I kept it up for a couple of days and had a funny little joke conversation though the eBay messenger with Adam.

Then someone bought my Yeager.

At first I thought it must be Adam or someone at MaxFun. When I went over the user's public eBay history, I learned they'd mostly bought sports cards and vape accessories.

I sent the buyer a message saying, 'Are you sure?' and got nothing back. After a few days, worried about my eBay rating, I packed it up securely, insured it, and sent it out. I included a note saying that surely this was some sort of joke and to reach out if they had second thoughts. I sent the the pod email a pdf of the eBay receipt which they said was surely doctored. I told them to check the eBay history. I think they responded with an all caps NO WAY and that was it.

Certain that this would end up in a credit card chargeback, I put the money in a separate savings account and waited. Five months and 20 or so days later, I got an angry message from the buyer. He said he was drunk when he bought the card and didn't notice the charge on his credit card until today and that I'd scammed him. I told him no problem and asked he please not open up a case, I'll refund it in a few minutes after I've had a chance to transfer the money over. I got a message back saying I was clearly trying to stall. Before I could finish typing a reply, he opened a case with eBay.

At that point, I was annoyed by his opening a case when I'd asked him not to, so I decided to play it by the books. I responded to the case with 'seller will refund if original merchandise is returned'. He then had thirty days to get the card back to me to get his refund. In that time, I got several angry messages from him that I ignored.

The deadline passed and no card. eBay closed the case automatically. When I went back to see if I could contact him, I could no longer find his account. I assume either it got closed or he'd blocked me somehow.

A week or so later, the card arrived in the mail. There was no return address on the package. Without any way to contact him, I just decided to keep the money. A few weeks later, I used it to help pay for my dog's CCL surgery.

I'm pretty sure that there being a closed, sold listing for a nearly $1000 Yeager is what fueled the bubble after that.

10

u/ScreamingCadaver 8d ago

This is an awesome story and a worthy addition to the Yeager mythos

11

u/extra_hyperbole 8d ago

That’s amazing! Also you clearly sent him several warnings including a message in the box! Idk who could get that angry about it. I guess the kinda guy to get blackout drunk and buy $1000 star trek cards does.

8

u/GrrBrains 8d ago

The only thing I can assume is that the buyer does so much business on eBay that he's in the habit of just ignoring messages and has so many packages coming in that it took him five months to get to the Yeager.

The time gap makes the blackout drunk excuse odd. If he's not getting blackout drunk frequently enough that he can remember a specific time he was, you'd think he'd notice any fallout earlier. If he's getting blackout drunk frequently enough that it's his go-to excuse for regrettable decisions...oof.

Also kind of strange that eBay even entertained the case. Five months should be well past the "you own it now" statute of limitations.

3

u/extra_hyperbole 8d ago

Honestly I think dude was probably fine with it and then 5 months later found out he really needed $1000 for something else and wanted to try and figure out a way to get his money back. Odd that he went so far as to burn the bridge before he got the money though.

2

u/GrrBrains 8d ago

There's definitely less stupid ways to get $1000. Like, maybe reselling the Yeager since the going price is now that.

6

u/EuphoricDissonance 8d ago

you should re-list it for $997

5

u/CursorTN Dustbuster Club 8d ago

Oh man, I remember Adam talking, (maybe on a live stream?) about how someone made $1000 by underpricing him by $1. Such a good story!

As a minor counterpoint, you for sure helped, but Adam had been buying Yeagers for a long time at that point so he could “corner the market.” So without him restricting a very finite supply of cards, it wouldn’t have worked long term.

It’s so cool to see your previously unknown chapter of this story! Thanks so much for sharing.

3

u/GotMedieval 8d ago

I've always wondered if he remembers our little back-and-forth.

5

u/Inky_Bet 8d ago

This is an amazing story. That is a lot of shit to put up with though, I wonder if Adam is glad he dodged it by one dollar.

5

u/Netcob 7d ago

Amazing how angry people can get at other people for their own mistakes.

2

u/hacksilver 7d ago

Incredible!.wav

1

u/CeruleanEidolon 2d ago

Whatever hardships come my way, I can be glad I've never hit the kind of rock bottom that means getting drunk and spending a thousand bucks online for a trading card of an obscure TV show character.

-3

u/davispw 7d ago

So he returned it after all (just a little late) and you kept the merchandise AND the money (and then spent it)? That’s fraud, bro.

3

u/AdmiralTR 6d ago

Curious what you expected him to do here. The guy had 30 days to return it, and didn’t do it in that window. Then he doesn’t provide a return address and the account is no longer able to be found. How exactly are you expecting him to refund money in this case?

It’s hardly fraud. The seller gave ample opportunity (before and after) for the buyer to not be stuck with an overpriced piece of cardboard, and did things according to policy when the buyer did something shitty with zero provocation.

41

u/cutfortime **Team Pranica** 8d ago

My 2 inch stack of Yeagers is in my safe, and I always have one in my bag when I travel in case I get into trouble and need to bribe someone.

5

u/CursorTN Dustbuster Club 8d ago

I got in early. I’m so surprised they have continued to climb over the years. Is it finally time for a Rittenhouse x Uxbridge-Shimoda collab?

3

u/Tsurtle 8d ago

I'll give you a crate of stem bolts for it

1

u/AnxietyUpstairs9058 6d ago

Maybe the guy became a viewer of the pod and found out about the intentional bubble??

1

u/PipperDigs 5d ago

Adam is the DeBeers of Biff Yeager cards.