I've been buying on ebay for 14 years, and thankfully have had only 3 bad experiences, 2 of which involved promo cards, 1 a DVD. Unfortunately, the third experience happened a few weeks ago ! I won a promo for a mere $3. Seller has 100% positive rating, but hasn't auctioned anything in a month. A few weeks ago, I get an email from someone claiming to be the seller's wife, who says he was in a bad car accident and they can't find my promo !

In any event, this was a promo on my wantlist for awhile. Can anyone help me find a replacement ?

The promo is the old Wizard Magazine Ripclaw card, with the SILVER stripe up the left side, as opposed to the regular one which has a white stripe, or the gold variant. I'd never seen the silver up until now. If anyone wants a scan of it, LMK. Thanks !

David, while it is unfortunate about your promo, if the seller has 100% feedback and the promo was only $3 I would suspect the car accident story to be true, particularly as I think I might know who this is.

I would not normally reply to a post like this but I think some compassion for others, particularly at this time of year, would not be out of place.

I suspect the story is true and I am very sorry for this person. And no, I am not looking for my $ 3 back. Incidentally, the seller is located in the mid-West USA. I've never dealt with him before, but he seems to buy and sell old 1990s comic books and cards on ebay. So I am not sure if it's the same fellow you're thinking of

Again, I am not saying that he ripped me off nor am I going to pursue the matter. I just wondered if anyone on Card Talk has the silver striped Ripclaw that they'd want to part with...

gday david, ive had a look thru my promos and spares, no, sorry i dont have the silver strip one but will keep watch for you
hope the seller is on the road to a speedy recovery

The seller's wife emailed me a week ago and said that, tragically, her husband died. She said that she was not in a condition to look for the card which I won.

I see that two people just posted negative feedback against him, saying that they didn't receive their Star Wars comics. However, given the circumstances, I wouldn't do that to him.

So my search for the Ripclaw variant continues... I'd never seen the silver version before that ebay auction.

That's a pretty good excuse.