eBay authenticity guarantee
 

Ever purchase a raw card that was probably over graded by the seller but didn’t care. Just wanted it regardless but it was returned?

I’m afraid a recent purchase I made might have that happen.

We should be able to leave a memo for the authenticity department imo

+1. I just got in a card that had the wrong name in the listing and had a nail biting couple of days that PSA was going to kill my deal and block me from buying what I wanted to buy. Thankfully they evidently did not notice the listing was wrong and let me have my card. I would love to be able to skip this or to tell them I want the card I bought even if they reject it, thank you.

At least CSG is paying attention.

Right: an example would be a yaz RC listed as mint but is probably ex although the card looks amazing and was only $100 raw, will they squash the sale? It’s ridiculous some times. I don’t care about the description in a case like that.

Just my opinion but I would be OK as a seller with buyers being able to skip the program only if there was absolutely no returns if you skip the program.

As an occasional seller I love the program and found a way to make even cards that sell for under their $250 threshold go to the authenticators. :D

I get it a bit more for Topps cards etc., but as a buyer of rare and unusual cards that the graders don't know jack about, it's a titanic pain in the rear. At least 30% of the cards I buy on eBay are described wrong because it's a rare and obscure card and the seller doesn't know what they have. I am not a fan that an incompetent grader that has no idea what they are looking at gets to decide if am allowed to actually purchase a card of my own free will.

I don't know if it would create huge logistical problems, but surely it would make sense to allow a buyer to opt out at the time he pays.

I would guess this may happen once the program is no longer free and costs either the buyer or the seller or both.

Most cards over $250 I’m arranging off eBay transactions for to doge the program when previously I would have had the seller put it on eBay at a BIN for our price for our protection. Definitely has value for uneducated buyers, but if the card is something the graders don’t know well or isn’t quite listed right, it’s to my benefit to just cut eBay out so I can actually get my card.

Great point and I totally agree with you Ben, but we both know what would end up happening if Ebay allowed that. Eventually someone would opt out of the authentication program, and then some not so ethical dealer/seller would realize they could get away with sending the buyer a similar card in lesser condition, or even a completely different card, and face no return repercussions from doing it. And if the buyer tried to leave negative feedback, I can see the unethical seller arguing with Ebay that it was the buyer's decision to opt out of the AP, not theirs, so the negative should be removed. LOL You know someone will try it if they were to get the opportunity.

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Yes. In my case it was a rare raw card and the authenticator deemed that it wasn't exactly as described and cancelled the sale. I was pretty peeved. It's like, there may only be a handful of these on the planet, so what difference does it make if it wasn't described perfectly? The pictures are right there anyway.

At some point eBay did ask for a survey response about the experience and I was pretty direct about the inherent flaws, essentially as noted in this thread.

(I got the item in the end, off eBay, so the system also cost them a perfectly good sale.)

Agree with Peter. Clearly there are issues with cards outside of the knowledge gap of many "authenticators". Having an opt out option makes sense.

Received a message that the corners were more rounded than what the Seller described in the listing.

I messaged them that it’s okay I just want the card.

I appreciate them looking out but again if we could leave a memo it would be much easier imo

When you get a rare card description does not matter / just happy they did not return it

I would imagine they will incorporate an opt-out mechanism once the service gets an official price tag.

And I would also guess it will happen eventually, but I haven't yet made a purchase through eBay which has had to go through the authentication process. I understand that the additional processing time is at least not unreasonable at this point. For over $250, most anything that I would buy is already going to be graded by PSA or SGC; I can't remember the last time I bought a raw card that expensive online. So hopefully most of those would be no-brainers in terms of going to the authenticators with a proper description.

I can't imagine there ever being an extra charge for the authentication process. I believe it is already built into their fees. They also have to be saving a ton of money with all the hassles/scammers it removes from the buying/selling process.

It has been going on it cards for 14 months and it started with sneakers 2 1/2 years ago. I think if there was going to be an extra fee it would have been added by now.

Perhaps. I've just heard a lot of folks opine that they will pass the fees along at least to the seller at some point. I would agree with you, it would be nice if their 13% fee structure would cover that.