The never ending vagueness of ebay

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Posted By: petecld 

Is it just me or does this description bother anyone else. This E90-1 Jackson card is from the last Lew Lipset auction. Lew stated quite clearly the cards offered in the lot were trimmed and sold them as such. This one does say "short top to bottom" but stops short of saying the card is trimmed. I have emailed the seller and he admits it is from Lipsets auction so he KNOWS beyond a reasonable doubt it is trimmed. KNOWING the card is trimmed is it ok to just say "short top to bottom"? I feel this is wrong and gives me a little insight into the character of the seller. Am I being too harsh?

Look at:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1032335684

What do you all think?

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Posted By: Vognar Julie

The top edge is much cleaner than the bottom edge, so it might indeed be trimmed, but unless the owner knows the card was trimmed, I think he might have his doubts. Aside from that, the surface looks like it's been rubbed with sandpaper.

I'm sure both owners (Lew and present seller)measured the card, so it must be short. But short doesn't necessarily mean trimmed.

I once bid on a T3 that had been returned to Mastronet because it was 1/16th of an inch short, and 1/16th of an inch narrow. Keeler, ex-mint. Beautiful card, and wear looks even and slight all over border. Mastronet, the second time they presented the card, admitted it had been returned, and the slightly small size; they also swore up and down that it had NOT been trimmed. Against advice, I bid on it and won it. Sure am glad I did.

Julie

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Posted By: runscott

I've bought from Jon before and always been pleased, so I just sent him an e-mail asking for an explanation. I understand Julie's response, and would agree except for the fact that if Lipset described the set as trimmed, I believe it is - it could only cost him $$ by doing that. Kudos for Lipset's integrity.

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Posted By: runscott

I just heard back from Jon and I think I jumped the gun - some of the cards were obviously trimmed (Lipset only said "most"), but he's not sure that this one is. It's gotta be a tough call for him, probably similar to what the seller of the T3 Julie mentioned went through. I suggested he leave the description as is and see how the buyer responds - if I wanted that card, I'd buy it and if I thought it was trimmed and it mattered, I'd send it back (Jon offers full money-back guarantee). Some people might appreciate the opportunity buy this card and make up their own minds. Also, he's got another collector coming in to evaluate the card and decide if the description needs to be modified.

[Archive]

Posted By: petecld

First off I have had nothing but good experiences with Jon also, that is why I was disappointed with the wording of this card.

This is the description from the Lipset auction:

*1. E90-1 American Caramel set of 120.
The most under appreciated and rarely seen set of the 20th century. Most of the cards have been very slightly trimmed at the top or bottom (about 1/16 of an inch) and the following grades do not take this into account. Baker (vg-ex, not trimmed), Bemis (vg), Bender (vg-ex), Bresnahan (ex), Brown (ex), Chance (ex), Clarke, Ph (vg-ex), Clarke, Pitt (gd-vg), Cobb (ex), Collins (ex), Crawford (ex), G.Davis (gd), Duffy (fair), Gibson, rear (vg), Graham (ex), Jackson (vg), Jennings (ex), Joss (ex), Joss-Hor. (vg-ex), Karger (ex), Keeler-Port.-Pink (ex), Keeler-Port.-Red (vg-ex, not trimmed), Keeler-Hor. (ex, o/c), Lajoie (ex), Marquard (vg-ex), Mathewson (ex), Mitchell (fr-gd), Plank (vg-ex), Stahl (gd-vg), Speaker (gd-vg, nice appearance), Sweeney (ex, o/c), Tinker (ex), Wagner-bttg (gd), Wagner-throw (fr-gd, scrape at side), Wallace (gd), Walsh (vg), Willis (ex), Young, Bos (ex), Young, Clev (gd-vg). Balance of collection: 31 excellent, 17 vg-ex, 27 very good, 4 gd-vg, 2 good, 1 poor. MB $5,000

Lew DID note on a few cards, in this lot and others, that certain cards weren't trimmed. C'mon, we are talking about a Joe Jackson card here - If you were Lew Lipset wouldn't you mention that the Joe Jackson card wasn't trimmed if it wasn't? A common I can see forgetting, but the Joe Jackson? I don't think so. That is the key card to the set.

Lew used the "most are trimmed" line in describing the E97 B/W cards. I asked him how many weren't trimmed and I was told that they were in fact ALL trimmed, granted this may or may not be true of the E90-1 set but since trimmed cards sell for such a low fraction of un-trimmed cards I would think a seller would take advantage and note as many cards as possible which ones aren't trimmed - especially the HoF players.

Also these cards were trimmed by the original owner to fit into plastic sheets, not to make them look better. If you wanted all of your cards to fit certain size sheet it would stand to reason ALL of the cards would need to be trimmed.