I Waited Out the Seller and Finally Got the Program

 My Cubs program collection is nearly complete.  I need just six of the 110 different game programs the Cubs issued between 1982 and 2009 (they went to a monthly program in 2010 instead of the quarterly so I'm just getting one per year from 2010 on forward).  The six I'm missing have never been listed on Ebay since my hunt began.

A month ago a seller listed a lot of 26 different media guides, yearbooks, catalogues, and programs. One of my missing programs, 1992 #1, was included.  I messaged the seller to see if he would sell me that one separately.  He said he didn't want to because then he'd have to retake the pictures for the listing.  

Being proactive, I downloaded the pictures and blurred out 1992 #1 in any of the pictures that it was included in.  I sent the seller the pictures and asked again, politely.  He again declined.  He was more interested in making the $69.99 on the entire lot.

I knew that the lot was overpriced and sure enough, the auction ended with zero bids.  He relisted at the same price and a week later, zero bids again.  He lowered the opening bid to $49.99 on the third try, but the auction still failed to attract a single bid.  On week four the initial bid dropped to $29.99, but still nothing.  I debated putting in just the opening amount but decided that was too much for one book I needed and 25 I didn't.

As soon as the fourth auction ended, I messaged the seller again, letting him know I was still interested in the one program.  This time he was agreeable.  He realized making a little is better than making nothing at all.  We agreed to a price and the book was mine.

The cover featured the new skipper in 1991, Jim Lefebvre.  Cubs Febvre was not contagious.  The team won just 78 games, with 20 of those coming from Cy Young winner Greg Maddux.

Notice how the bottom mentioned baseball cards inside.  Those were the Ballstreet Journal cards.

This sheet has nine cards and was included in both the first and second program of the season.  A second sheet was in the third edition while the fourth edition was cardless.

With this program, I now have all of the 1992 programs.

I'm also down to needed just five more to complete my collection, 1984 #3, 1990 #1, 1995 #2, and 1996 #2&4.