I've received the Ebay messages on their vault as well. Of no real interest to me from a collector standpoint.

As for the sales tax savings aspect of vault users, as others have mentioned, that only works if you have the seller send your items directly to a vault you are using that is located in a state with no sales taxes. If you live in a state with sales taxes, and have a seller send an item directly to you first, and then you turn around and forward/deliver it to your vault yourself, you are going to be liable for paying the sales tax due to your state, where the item was originally sent by the seller.

Aside from that aspect though, I can see another possible reason for Ebay getting into providing such a vault service as a way of positioning themselves for future business as they see the landscape of collectibles such as cards starting to transition from just being regarded as hobby collectibles, to truly being regarded more as investment type assets by an ever-growing portion of the population. We've had numerous threads on here where the idea of more and more new money coming into the hobby is looking at cards for primarily flipping or investment purposes, and not truly viewing them as prized collectible items. As such, these new generation collectors, as I'll call them, aren't really all that concerned about having physical ownership of these cards and items. Think of it like your 401(K) or other investment account(s). You own interests in numerous companies and funds, but don't have a single share of stock or any other physical items to prove or show your ownership or otherwise document your ownership. You leave it to the investment firms and managers handling your IRA, 401(K), or other investment accounts to watch over and guard your holdings for you. You don't have to worry about losing or misplacing your stock certificates, or having them secured in a safe or safe deposit box against theft or destruction. As part of this, can easily see Ebay starting their own vault to offset and possibly squelch attempts by competing businesses, such as PWCC and Goldin, from making inroads to starting to take away some market share and future business from them by getting sellers to buy into and use their selling platforms because of the advantages their vaults have to offer. These Ebay competitors were offering something that Ebay was not, but not anymore.

It also sets Ebay up to become a significant future player in this new type of alternative investment market as well, should the growth of investors/flippers in the card collecting hobby continue to grow and expand. It potentially adds another income source to Ebay's bottom line, while providing a service to the collecting/investing community. What with NFTs, digital assets, and fractional share investments all seeming to become more and more the norm, it kind of makes sense to have such vault services to offer people still collecting such tangible collectibles as rare cards. Take the SGC 9.5 '52 Topps Rosen/Mantle card currently up for auction. Very few people could afford to buy it in this day and age. But what if you got a group together, say all the Net54 members, to pool their money to bid on and end up winning that card currently at auction? Rather than having everyone fighting over who would be in charge to hold onto the actual card, and keep it safe and protected, it would probably make the most sense to have an independent third-party vault hold and protect the card for everyone. And knowing how much everyone on here just adores some of the other vault providers out there, I can easily see Ebay's vault getting serious consideration to be the one to hold on to such a card for the buying/investment group.

In fact, I'm kind of surprised we haven't really seen different people/entities already publicly advertising for and forming groups for the specific purpose of combining participant resources to go out and specifically start buying these big-name cards as investments. And if they are, I can see that using an independent third-party vault provider would probably make a lot of sense to the fractional investors, as opposed to the person(s) who set up the group purchase of these rare assets also acting as the custodian. Too many people still remember and know the name Bernie Madoff. LOL

And there probably are groups out there already that are formed/forming to go after and acquire these cards that the participants cannot otherwise afford to purchase themselves alone. They just don't seem to be publicly advertising it to the general hobby community, at least not yet. I can see that possibly changing in the future though as some cards look to continue setting record prices, even in the face of inflation, economic woes, and recession fears.

All the cards are exposed to light

How else are they going to be able to see out of their windows?

Went through my first round of this process for a graded card. I had high hopes, as it is a recognizable card from a major set with no fakes and so it should be pretty hard for them to find a reason to fuck up my deal for me and not deliver my card.

After a three day delay due to the middle man, I got my card. It comes in a box. I was very pleased that they included the other cheap cards I bought from the seller, and placed her kind, handwritten note to me in the box as well instead of throwing it out. I do actually appreciate that they did not mess this part up.

It's packed well, with a bubble mailer holding the other items on top, and then the item they are validating beneath it. It came with the teal insert,
"Authentic without a doubt", expressing that they are "thrilled to deliver the latest addition" to my collection. "Your card has meticulously inspected by a team of experts" is promised, which I believe is a lie. They are to validate the slab is a real slab, not re-inspecting the card within the slab is how this extremely useful program was announced and billed. I'm sure they are experts on SGC slabs. Considering how many fake T227 Johnson's are out there (0, that I have ever seen! Only the baseball's have been counterfeited thus far as far as I am aware), this felt like an incredibly valuable service.

Inside the flip envelope/stand/holder/thing with it's magnetic flap was finally my card, in a clear slab sleeve, lest the slab get damaged, and secured to the blue cardboard for display. I took it out of the display (I'm a rebel like that) and flipped it over. There is a QR code on back and a void if damaged sticker. The sticker is another valuable addition to my security of mind. I just peeled it back, taking 0 care to preserve it, and then slapped it back down closed again, as you can see. It takes literally 0 effort to put any slab or card you want in here and just seal it again, seeming to produce yet another absurdity of this entire waste of time. I mean, it gives me peace of mind! Peeling it up leaves part of the text on the sleeve, but as soon as you close it, it's covered up until someone peels off the "VOID" sticker; they will never know you swapped the item.

Jack is now sitting in my stack of recently acquired slabs for the next time I break out the pliers to crack it out, and throw the slip and shattered slab into the garbage can, so I can enjoy the card I wanted without all of these layers of holders, displays, and authentication of.... something (the slab? The card? Who knows!). If I run out of money, I'll ask whoever has been submitting marquee cards for gift grades to submit it for me for a blatantly bullshit SGC gift grade so I can triple the value.

Taking out that I could personally give a crap what SGC, PSA, CSG, or any random employee of any company in card land thinks of an item I am buying, I fail to see, more than ever, any actual value to this junk. Even if I loved slabbed cards and was buying this for the slip and not the card, this gives me absolutely nothing. The comically terrible "void if damaged" seal that you can re-use on anything is a waste. If I am an investor, this also adds nothing to my investment; the value is in the slip. If I am too dumb to tell my nose from my ass and can't tell a fake from a real, this adds nothing. SGC already did that part (if one believes they are competent), and this card does not have counterfeits anyways. If the slab is fake and they inspected the card not the slab, like the included marketing sheet claims they did, then I'd still get a fake slab. Nobody would gain anything from this service on this deal.

But I got my Johnson. 2 backs down, 1 more to go. Really should have got these back when Johnson was worth considerably less than Baker, Bender and Marquard, not more.

Just worked a deal with an eBay seller and had him put, “set break” in the title just so I wouldn’t have to wait for the cards.
I believe it should be a seller option and or buyers option to have the eBay authentication rather than the preset rules triggering the authentication. The the rules can stand but the seller gets to decide if should be authenticated to prevent returns and the buyers have the option if it is a suspect seller or card.

So they took my card out of my perfect fitting Superior Fit baggy and put it in their loose fitting bag that doesn't fit the card at all. Nice.

I just received a card I bought off the Bay that went through the authentication program and received a package/box similar to Greg (G1911). I am impressed at the packaging and display box! (Went to mail box and wondered why I had such a big box for only one card.) My confusion is that it looks like PWCC was the expert grader as it contained there A Top 30% card with my package!!! PWCC was booted by eBay a while ago so are they now using them to authenticate? Seller didn't indicated in description that it was PWCC A Top 30%
Maybe I'm missing something...

I would expect the card was probably previously sold by PWCC and they stuck the sticker on it then, in the past for that old sale. Probably just that nobody has taken it off the slab.

Ok that makes sense Greg and I see the sticker on the slab and viewed the pics from eBay that show the sticker already on as well however this came with a PWCC Marketplace card outside of the display box. Maybe the previous owner mailed it with the card similar to you receiving the note from your seller.

On the alternate side of this story I just received a Jumbo SGC card (R311 Leather Finish) from PSA/Ebay authentication of the slab and it came back in a super thin large bubble mailer only.
No cardboard or protection other than the thin bubble mailer.

No damage to the holder miraculously but still not a smart way to ship. I know PSA doesn't mail their own Jumbo holders that way from grading.

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I wonder if this is true even though it doesn't make sense. I've purchased a couple of cards that didn't have all the "buzz" words like set break that qualify for having to go through the process and they were shipped directly to me.
I just received one earlier this week that had the authenticity guarantee with a generic listing of just the card and grade that was shipped directly to me in 4 days.
I did have a choice of sending it to the ebay vault and not having to pay sales tax.

Has anyone that have their cards shipped to a PO box had cards that had to go through the process?

Actual photo of the eBay Vault.

I don't man to belabor a subject that has been examined backwards and forwards.......but. I just received a beautiful raw '65 Topps Yogi bought from Greg Morris. Rather than the usual nice, easily-opened envelopes from Greg, I received one of those flat Ebay packages that are guaranteed to produce a cut when opening with a box cutter. There was Yogi ungraded with all the usual crap, including the prized purple sticker.
I am going to send Larry to SGC for grading and in a courageous act of valor
am going to remove the prized sticker. Aren't I brave?
A couple of points I am pondering:-
1. I thought the authentication service was for graded cards to see if the case had been tampered with.
2. Where is Ebay sending cards, SCG. Ebay or Jupiter?
3. Whoever thought of this dumb idea should be ex-communicated.

Raw cards over the threshold go to CSG. Graded cards go to PSA, who look only at the holder and not the card (we all know what matters ;))

Kind of concerning that these cards appear to be getting shipped back out in sub-optimal packaging.

Who gets left holding the bag in a case of damage from the authentication facility to the end user...particularly in the case of the over-sized SGC slab, shipped from PSA to the buyer, a couple posts up?

I've bought relatively few graded cards from other sellers compared to most here, but have bought enough to know, it doesn't take a whole lot to crack a PSA or SGC slab in shipping.

Hence the word, baggy, :D:D:Dget it outta there:)

Lol love it Howard

What is the threshold? I think I am getting a raw card sent straight to me that cost almost 3k.
.

For raw cards, it's $250 or more that the seller is given CSG's address to ship to. If it's going straight to you, it probably has "set" in the title of the listing. There's a few tricks in the keywords to dodge the program (though some sellers are surely just using those words without knowing that's the result).

There is nothing in the title like that. It must be something else. It's going to be sent to CSG as soon as I get it anyway....
.

Hey Leon, as I posted above that I've purchased raw and graded cards above the threshold (nothing 3k) and I haven't had any of them go through the process, an earlier poster said that someone in customer service told them that they don't go through the process if they're sent to a PO box. That doesn't make any sense but I've had a couple of raw cards $500+ and a graded $800
card in the past two weeks that were sent directly to me.

There's also the "Available for local pickup" trick that I've seen, if you allow that then it apparently bypasses the authentication as well.

I’ve bought a few recently….the delay is not bothersome…do not like the sealed baggies though….as mentioned above, you can’t even see the entire card….I buy cards to enjoy - not to put into some vault….needless to say, the baggies are in the trash as is all of the packaging material….

I agree that these are utterly dumb.

The padfolio does seem to be a waste. Not sure what to do if those pile up over time.

I don't mind the extra wait time to receive the card. It's not really that time sensitive.

Hilarious - never seen those before...

I must be on everyone's block list but I'll try one more time has anyone whose cards are delivered to a PO box had a card go through the authenticity process?

I've had several that qualify but none of them went through the process. The most recent had nothing in the description that would eliminate it from having to be authenticated. I purchased it on Sept. 14 and received it shipped directly to me on Sept. 19. It should have went through the process it even said "Delivery: Estimated between Wed, Oct 12 and Mon, Oct. 17 includes shipping to and from authenticator".

Looking through the thread the only explanation I could find was the person that said an ebay rep. told them that it doesn't have to go through the process if it's shipped to a PO box.

I have a PO Box, but I simply don't buy $500+ cards on Ebay. I will respond if/when I do.

I believe it's $250 for ungraded and $350 for graded Bobby.

Am I being to simplistic here, but if one purchased a raw card more than the threshold, wouldn't be simpler, unless you disliked the TPG'er, to send it to SGC and avoid the 'three card monty'.

I don’t use a PO Box but when the Authenticity Guarantee program first started the UPS guy told me that eBay required that the addressee sign for the card.

I feel if someone goes through the trouble to replicate the PSA lighthouse label and slab can EASILY replicate these eBay Authenticity Guarantee cases, stickers and QR codes.

I easily peeled the authentication sticker off without leaving the VOID logo.

Also worth pointing out is that it's not just the sale price that determines whether it goes out for authentication or not, but rather the listing price. So if they list a card at $300 BIN with a Make Offer option, and you offer $150, it will still be sent out for authentication. I just had this happen to me on a card that was listed at $499. I offered $85 and it was accepted. Then, it shipped off to CSG... :rolleyes: then back to me.

This may be old news on this thread, but my first entanglement with authentication (graded) has taught me that combined shipping is not allowed. May be petty complaining about shipping of $350+ cards, but what a waste shipping multiple cards separately, instead of in one package. Good for USPS, I suppose.

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It's in their FAQ - cards sent to PO boxes are not part of FAQ authentication process:

https://pages.ebay.com/authenticity-...-tradingcards/

Mine may be the first since they sent it to the eye of the hurricane in Sarasota, and it got there yesterday.

Thanks Chris I only saw it posted here and I didn't see it in the ebay information but it makes no sense at all and it's going to be a big problem for some people eventually. All of the cards that I purchased that had the authenticity guarantee were fine but if they weren't it would have been a problem because all sales are final on them and they aren't covered by the ebay return policy except if it's damaged during shipping then you have 3 days to request a return. It won't be long before the scammers take advantage of this if they aren't already.

So why didn't this go through ebay authentication?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27546639351...p2047675.l2557

.

Listed as “Lot”…darn tricksters.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...393e262d8f.jpg


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Currently being auctioned on eBay. It probably won’t be authenticated by eBay because the title has cards ( plural)

[url]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/iocAAOSwA7hjUiHm/s-l300.jpg[/url

babe ruth baseball cards graded
Condition:
UsedUsed
Time left: Time left:6d 03h | Friday, 9:07AM
Current bid:
US $280.00 [ 5 bids ]

Bid Amount
Enter US $285.00 or more
Place bid
Watching

Would you trust it? Someone could tamper with it and put a much worse card (or even worst, a fake one) in the package, then where would we be? :p

I just bought a newly graded modern card for $190 plus tax and it has to be shipped to the authenticator. SMH.

What happened to the $250 minimum value? Does that mean that the seller purposely wants all their cards enrolled regardless of value?

What with slabs, baggies and multiple stickers (don't forget Mike Baker's gold and silver beauties ) pretty soon you won't be able even to see your precious cardboard at all. Why won't these parties just leave us alone to enjoy our cards?

Pretty soon every box you get with an authenticated slab will have 100 ads in it.

As long as none of the ads come from the person you bought the card from then eBay has done its job.

I bought a $500.+ Hank Aaron card on ebay. It arrived at some "Hub" for authentication on the 24th. Tracking shows no movement and crickets since, now the 28th. So we all wait longer, not thrilled but try be patient and deal with it.

Interesting point Chase. I have yet to purchase anything off Ebay that goes through their Authentication Guarantee process, but have often received ads, notes, business cards, and other contact info from sellers I've won things from. Does anyone know for a fact if PSA and CSG remove such things and contact info included with items sent to them by sellers as part of the AG process, and do not forward them to the buyer?

Bob, I do know of two sellers who have had their shipments go through PSA as part of the AG program and all packing slips, etc that were enclosed are removed by PSA prior to the packages being sent on to the buyer. Not sure if most sellers know this or would even know to check with their buyers.

Only had two cards fail to date. A Jackie bond bread and hank Arron 55 topps. Both deemed trimmed. I probably wouldn’t have noticed and packed them away like most raw cards purchased the last 15yr. I like the service imo

eBay could announce that they are sending every board member a $250 visa gift card for the holidays and 55% of people would complain. Just sayin.

Interesting, and not totally unexpected. Ebay doesn't want/allow direct contact between buyers and sellers pushing off Ebay sales and promotions. Getting rid of any contact/sales info or promotions being sent with items won off Ebay seems like a possible extension of that policy.