With the arrival of the 05-06 Exquisite basketball collection comes a few problems buyers should check before, during and after opening these high end and very collectable cards! First let me start with a brief explanation of why I am writing this in the first place. When last years product hit the stores myself and many other collectors were waiting with baited breath and a large amount of money in our hands, you see we were not going to miss out this time like alot of us did the first time around 03-04. However the crooks and thieves had a plan as well, after seeing how well these cards were selling and just how valuable certain rookie cards and old heros were, they put there dishonest plans to work. You see many of  the cases and boxes that were purchased by us eager hard core collectors had been searched, the key word being "SEARCHED" , What these crooks had done was prior to selling these cases to us they would open, pull any great cards and replace them with duds or cards of  far less value. Then they would use a hot gun/needle to reseal the boxes and repackage as if  they were factory sealed! You now are asking yourself  how can this be? well its simple, Lets say you have Joe cards selling case product of this high end stuff and he is  making his average few dollars on each case and he is content, but then his partner shows him how well he can do by cheating the system a bit, have you guys seen just what individual cards are selling for, like the 1/1 Jordans or Lebrons, Wades, Kobe etc... the logo man sets! With all this said there are trust worthy and very honest dealers selling these high end cases, just make sure you check the case before opening to be sure the Upper Deck tape strip has not been cut or pulled away, if you are like me a case opener looking to pull that next great card, then check the boxes closely where the wrap has been heated together just to see if it looks factory! and last but not least look at what you pull there should be just what Upper deck says you should get per their discription. If you question anything "dont open" and demand your money back and also contact Upper Deck. Everyone please e-mail Upper Deck and let them know if something can not be done about the way they package this high end product you will not be buying it because you cant be sure that you are getting the chance to pull something that is worth the load of money you spent on the box or case!!!!! Don't be fooled this has happened to many of us and will continue until Upper Deck fixes the problem!

Just remember were there is money to be made there are many dishonest people!