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  • #1

    The Hot Pack Mystery

    Across Ebay, there are dozens of dealers that sell unopened, "guaranteed hot packs". Each pack will have either GU, auto, parallel, or whatever is denoted in the title. Anybody know how they are able to figure this out? I've heard that people have gone to the extremes of calibrating the thickness of the pack in millimeters, the weight in grams, etc etc. But what about auto's and parallel hot packs? It's a mystery I'm stumped on, and I'd like in on it thank you very much

    Any thoughts, hints, secrets of the trade, or just general chatter on this?
    sigpic
    **********Stay True to the Blue**********
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  • #2
    "But what about auto's and parallel hot packs?"

    With parallel hotpacks, it depends on the parallel. However, with autographs, it does weigh slightly more or less and/or has a different thickness. You can measure this with extremely sensitive scales or calipers; usually the difference is incrementally tiny, but it does exist.
    "They put me in the Hall of Fame? They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel!"
    -Eppa Rixey, upon learning of his induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

    Motafy (MO-ta-fy) vt. -fied, -fying 1. For a pitcher to melt down in a big game situation; to become like Guillermo Mota. 2. The transformation of a good pitcher into one of Guillermo Mota's caliber.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Swankee21 View Post
      Across Ebay, there are dozens of dealers that sell unopened, "guaranteed hot packs". Each pack will have either GU, auto, parallel, or whatever is denoted in the title. Anybody know how they are able to figure this out? I've heard that people have gone to the extremes of calibrating the thickness of the pack in millimeters, the weight in grams, etc etc. But what about auto's and parallel hot packs? It's a mystery I'm stumped on, and I'd like in on it thank you very much

      Any thoughts, hints, secrets of the trade, or just general chatter on this?
      The packs are simply resealed. A low end game used or autographed card is put into a pack to make a profit.
      Click here to see my autographed 8x10 collection

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      • #4
        "The packs are simply resealed. A low end game used or autographed card is put into a pack to make a profit."

        Not always. You should see some of the "toys" my former boss has to measure autograph packs...which he cherrypicks out of the "filler boxes" (read: no autographs, and he's up front about it, taking a little off the price) and then sells the signed cards (not the full packs) on eBay.
        "They put me in the Hall of Fame? They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel!"
        -Eppa Rixey, upon learning of his induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

        Motafy (MO-ta-fy) vt. -fied, -fying 1. For a pitcher to melt down in a big game situation; to become like Guillermo Mota. 2. The transformation of a good pitcher into one of Guillermo Mota's caliber.

        Comment

        • #5
          They sell pack similar to that at Target. My GF found them and bought me 3 at $10 a piece. The top of the package says "contains a Game Used Card"
          Out of the 3 packs the best card was a Kerry Wood Jersey, 1 of the packs didn't even have the GU in it. In addition the pack contained I think 2 random packs of cards in it.
          sigpic
          As of 1/11/15 7369 Autographs and Growing!! 6472 of which are Baseball!
          164 Pieces of Sports Memorabilia

          Check out my Ebay listings!! Seller ID Howiek1227

          Some of my Memorabilia Collection
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          • #6
            Originally posted by AutographCollector View Post
            The packs are simply resealed. A low end game used or autographed card is put into a pack to make a profit.
            As Dalkowski110 said, and I second, not everyone reseals packs. It's just too difficult to perfectly open a pack, look through the cards without smudging them, and then perfectly reseal them so there is no distinguishable signs of tampering.

            I've gotten a few of these hot packs on Ebay, and one 2008 Upper Deck pack had a Chipper Jones GU jersey, but also a Starquest Super Rare card. It definitely looked unspoiled, but besides that if it had been tampered with they would have exchanged the Starquest card for a common for sure.


            ..Which gets to my second point...most auto cards are the same thickness and material as the base cards (look at Heritage). Calipers and weighing would show no outstanding difference in packs. At this point I'm stumped as to how they figure out auto packs if they presumably don't open and reseal the packs. I feel they don't, since it would take dozens of packs and many suspicious re-sealings and returns to stores to find a single auto. My only other guess would be special lighting, but about every insert is in the middle of the pack...
            sigpic
            **********Stay True to the Blue**********

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Swankee21 View Post
              Across Ebay, there are dozens of dealers that sell unopened, "guaranteed hot packs". Each pack will have either GU, auto, parallel, or whatever is denoted in the title. Anybody know how they are able to figure this out? I've heard that people have gone to the extremes of calibrating the thickness of the pack in millimeters, the weight in grams, etc etc. But what about auto's and parallel hot packs? It's a mystery I'm stumped on, and I'd like in on it thank you very much

              Any thoughts, hints, secrets of the trade, or just general chatter on this?
              I can only tell it on a very limited number of sets
              Mythical SF Chronicle scouting report: "That Jeff runs like a deer. Unfortunately, he also hits AND throws like one." I am Venus DeMilo - NO ARM! I can play like a big leaguer, I can field like Luzinski, run like Lombardi. The secret to managing is keeping the ones who hate you away from the undecided ones. I am a triumph of quantity over quality. I'm almost useful, every village needs an idiot.
              Good traders: MadHatter(2), BoofBonser26, StormSurge

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              • #8
                "most auto cards are the same thickness and material as the base cards (look at Heritage)."

                Nope. The difference is incremental IN THE EXTREME, but it is there. One of the things I advised my former boss about so he could "cheat" was a smokeless powder measure. You use that in handloading rifle, pistol, and shotgun cartridges where measuring the amount of powder is so vital that it could literally mean the difference between life and death in the case of some pistol calibers (pistol powder burns FAR hotter than rifle or shotgun powder). The measure literally needs to be accurate to the nearest grain. And by using a powder measure, believe me, you can tell weight differences.
                "They put me in the Hall of Fame? They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel!"
                -Eppa Rixey, upon learning of his induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

                Motafy (MO-ta-fy) vt. -fied, -fying 1. For a pitcher to melt down in a big game situation; to become like Guillermo Mota. 2. The transformation of a good pitcher into one of Guillermo Mota's caliber.

                Comment

                • #9
                  This does a really good job of explaining the whole process (please note that I did not write it and do not know the author)...

                  http://reviews.ebay.ca/Pack-Searching-How-do-they-do-it_W0QQugidZ10000000001398346
                  "They put me in the Hall of Fame? They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel!"
                  -Eppa Rixey, upon learning of his induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

                  Motafy (MO-ta-fy) vt. -fied, -fying 1. For a pitcher to melt down in a big game situation; to become like Guillermo Mota. 2. The transformation of a good pitcher into one of Guillermo Mota's caliber.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Man I hate those guys. I went the other day to Target and there was this guy just standing there feeling up the packs. I picked up a blaster and a kid came over to pick up a pack (kid as in 20's) I told him not to bother if he was hoping to hit a GU or auto. I then motioned with my head and said This jerk is feeling them all up. He gave me a look but nothing kept on doing it. The kid put down the pack and grabbed a blaster as well and said thanks to me and then THANKS to the guy.......
                    Always collecting Yankees...
                    Especially: Jeter, Posada, Munson, Melky Cabrera, Mattingly

                    Check out:
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                    Good Traders : Dalkowski110, dmbfan, Freakazoid1014, actually I have had too many good trades to list everyone...

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by bryanspellman View Post
                      Man I hate those guys. I went the other day to Target and there was this guy just standing there feeling up the packs. I picked up a blaster and a kid came over to pick up a pack (kid as in 20's) I told him not to bother if he was hoping to hit a GU or auto. I then motioned with my head and said This jerk is feeling them all up. He gave me a look but nothing kept on doing it. The kid put down the pack and grabbed a blaster as well and said thanks to me and then THANKS to the guy.......
                      What do you care if you're getting a blaster anyway?
                      Mythical SF Chronicle scouting report: "That Jeff runs like a deer. Unfortunately, he also hits AND throws like one." I am Venus DeMilo - NO ARM! I can play like a big leaguer, I can field like Luzinski, run like Lombardi. The secret to managing is keeping the ones who hate you away from the undecided ones. I am a triumph of quantity over quality. I'm almost useful, every village needs an idiot.
                      Good traders: MadHatter(2), BoofBonser26, StormSurge

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Originally posted by RuthMayBond View Post
                        What do you care if you're getting a blaster anyway?
                        Can you really not understand why other collectors don't like this practice?
                        Visit my card site at Mike D's Baseball Card Page.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Mike D. View Post
                          Can you really not understand why other collectors don't like this practice?
                          Can you really not understand why collectors don't like paying four bucks a pack and getting crap in 80% of packs?
                          Mythical SF Chronicle scouting report: "That Jeff runs like a deer. Unfortunately, he also hits AND throws like one." I am Venus DeMilo - NO ARM! I can play like a big leaguer, I can field like Luzinski, run like Lombardi. The secret to managing is keeping the ones who hate you away from the undecided ones. I am a triumph of quantity over quality. I'm almost useful, every village needs an idiot.
                          Good traders: MadHatter(2), BoofBonser26, StormSurge

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Originally posted by RuthMayBond View Post
                            Can you really not understand why collectors don't like paying four bucks a pack and getting crap in 80% of packs?
                            I sure can. That's why I don't like some jerk who feels he has MORE right to the randomly inserted cards than I do gaming the system. I pay $4 for the pack just like him, and now I have a 0% chance of pulling an insert, even though I'm paying a premium because the inserts were there?
                            Visit my card site at Mike D's Baseball Card Page.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Mike D. View Post
                              I sure can. That's why I don't like some jerk who feels he has MORE right to the randomly inserted cards than I do gaming the system.
                              He doesn't have any "more" rights, you have the right to feel packs too. You also have the right to not buy packs
                              Mythical SF Chronicle scouting report: "That Jeff runs like a deer. Unfortunately, he also hits AND throws like one." I am Venus DeMilo - NO ARM! I can play like a big leaguer, I can field like Luzinski, run like Lombardi. The secret to managing is keeping the ones who hate you away from the undecided ones. I am a triumph of quantity over quality. I'm almost useful, every village needs an idiot.
                              Good traders: MadHatter(2), BoofBonser26, StormSurge

                              Comment

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