Quote:
Originally Posted by edhans
Strongly disagree, Tony. We sell cards, not some third party's opinion of them. The product is the card inside, not the plastic slab with a little slip of paper inside it. Anyone selling cards (dealer or auction house) should have sufficient knowledge about the products that he sells and back it up with a guarantee, third party opinion notwithstanding. TPGs make mistakes regularly. In an extreme case, if a dealer sells a graded card that proves to be counterfeit, I believe the courts would hold the seller, not the grader, responsible for damages.
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You've been around the hobby for some Ed, like myself and plenty of others here. We started by holding, feeling and even smelling cards and learning how to detect alterations and fakes as a right of passage into the hobby. But Ill will disagree that the product isn't the flip now, I love raw cards, but the reality is TPGs lowered that barrier of entry significantly. That flip is the commodity, people pay huge premiums for higher graded cards even if the grade isn't warranted...some people just don't care what the card looks like, its all about that flip. It allowed for people who have NEVER held a raw card in hand to spend 10s of thousands on a collection or "investment" as they are called more often now. This has not only brought more people into the hobby but lots more money as well. How much is the "hobby" valued at? Billions? What percentage of the value is in a TPG?
I also disagree that the courts would hold the seller accountable unless it was proved beyond a doubt that they purposely misrepresented an item they sold. PSA is considered the expert, not Probstein. And why would a 100 hobby guys hold weight over PSA? If one engineer says a bridge isn't safe but 100 towns folk say "its fine" who will the courts listen to?
Probstein has a responsibility to his consignor and buyer and really no one else. No one hear is accusing him of altering cards to my knowledge...he is peddling his wares like he always has. Has PSA been notified? How about PSA step in and try to correct the problem? Like someone else said, the auction will run its course and then the buyer and PSA will work it out. It would be nice to see Probstein do something, I just do not think its his responsibility at this point and I think the courts would agree.