They aren't grading the card or making judgements on sellers grading, they make sure its not counterfeit and they match it to photos in the auction to make sure its the same card.

This is not true. This is not what the raw program claimed to do - they are supposed to make sure the card matches the sellers description, including condition. Cards have been rejected for sellers over grading them, like the Bowman Spahn card.

I can see where this would get super frustrating. Agreed that buyers should have an option to opt out of the authenticity guarantee. Some of the vintage cards I have seen thus far in CSG slabs are waaaaaay overgraded. I wouldn't want them casting judgement on raw cards that I bought online.

This is not true. In fact, the only cards I've purchased that were rejected were done so because of the condition not matching the description.

I even consigned some cards with Probstein that got rejected by CSG. When I looked at the listings, it was difficult to see that there were wrinkles (they were low-grade raw cards). He sent them back to me, and I relisted them myself and put "wrinkle" in the title and showed clear pics of the wrinkles and called them out in the description (something Probstein should have done as well). They passed authentication for me.

Do you have links you can share for the overgraded CSG slabs you've found? I've come across a couple, but not a lot. They've been pretty on point from most of what I've encountered.

The authenticators aren't supposed to reject cards that are off grade from what the seller claims (VGEX instead of EX or EX instead of EXMT) They are looking for hidden undisclosed damage and flaws, wrinkles, trimming, erasures, etc. If those flaws are disclosed or clearly shown in the photos, as long as the card is authentic, its supposed to pass.

They are looking for undisclosed damage or a lying grade. I doubt they will go so literal as to reject a EX+ they think is EX, but they are absolutely rejecting cards with overstated grades. List a card as gem mint and disclose the crease, watch what happens.

So here's a good one. I recently bought a PSA graded Pedro Martinez autograph card, standard Leaf issue, was clearly fine, PSA REJECTS it and ebay refunds me. PSA tells the seller the case was cracked. He gets it back it's not cracked at all. But here is where it gets even stranger, they send him a note telling him when he RELISTS it, to use a higher resolution scan, when his scan was already outstanding. The whole thing makes no sense, and why are they telling him to relist it if they just rejected it?

If the seller is honestly relating what happened to you … uh… Wow.

I think he is. He isn't asking me to buy the card again or anything, so no reason to make anything up.

I suspect that it was an ebay rep who actually told him to use higher resolution scans next time, just hoping that it might resolve whatever issue it was that they couldn't figure out. Regardless, it's still bonkers. This whole ebay authentication thing is a clusterF.

Those aren't scans.

And the bottom edge of the slab is covered.

(Sigh) The buyer should have the option to waive this service especially if the card is graded by one of the big 3. What a freakin waste of time and shipping materials. And does anyone actually keep the card on that ridiculous cardboard monstrosity? Jeesh.

Another missing cog in the program is that complete sets appear to be ignored. So they'll be sure that your single $700 slab purchase is ok (but not the multitude of high-value cards in a $50 k set)

At least that's what I'm assuming, since there isn't the typical mention of the authentication program in the listings of such sets.

Oh sure, I would not have a problem if there was a form a buyer could sign saying something like "I believe this card is mis-represented or fake but I want to buy it anyway and waive any recourse against the seller or ebay".

I personally wouldn't sign that but if there are people who think that would be a good thing, well okay let's have ebay make it an option.

Sorry Travis, somehow missed your reply. I was talking most recently about a card I saw in person. It was a '63 Topps Ernie Banks at my LCS in a CSG 2.5. It looked pretty decent and I was actually considering buying it, when I noticed a cut and not small area of paper loss on the surface on the bottom right. It should have been pretty obvious to a grader. No way that card should have been more than a 1.

Others, like with shopping online - I seem to see some discrepancies with cards in upper midgrade that have questionable corner wear for the grade assigned.

No they are certainly not scans and the cell phone pics are not that clear but how did PSA give that card a 9? The upper right corner is a 6, at best. :confused:

Ya, paper loss on the front should probably be a bit harsher than that. Although I'm somewhat of the mind that PSA & SGC do this wrong as well sometimes, but it's the standard of the industry, so might as well uphold the it.

The corners thing is mostly where I've seen CSG overgrade cards, but I'm not sure I've seen them overgrade for that at a higher rate than what I've seen from PSA or SGC. As an example, here's a Jackie card in a 6 holder that I came across recently. Beautiful card, but if I sent that in, I'd be crossing my fingers for a 4, and PSA probably gives it a 3.5 nowadays (once upon a time, they would have given it a 5). Basically, all the TPGs are seemingly all over the place with respect to corners.

Ya, paper loss on the front should probably be a bit harsher than that. Although I'm somewhat of the mind that PSA & SGC do this wrong as well sometimes, but it's the standard of the industry, so might as well uphold the it.

The corners thing is mostly where I've seen CSG overgrade cards, but I'm not sure I've seen them overgrade for that at a higher rate than what I've seen from PSA or SGC. As an example, here's a Jackie card in a 6 holder that I came across recently. Beautiful card, but if I sent that in, I'd be crossing my fingers for a 4, and PSA probably gives it a 3.5 nowadays (once upon a time, they would have given it a 5). Basically, all the TPGs are seemingly all over the place with respect to corners.

Yeah, no way that Jackie realistically has 6 corners. So what you are saying is what has always more or less been true about professional grading: The subjective scale based on eye appeal waxes and wanes, and standards fluctuate over time. This is why all TPG's to me at the end of the day still smack of at least some type of gimmick.

I just received another graded, ebay authentication item. In the long run this has to be more than a $10 cost basis, with the great packaging, service and shipping. I am not going to like it either. I don't need anyone to tell me this is real.
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https://luckeycards.com/greiner.jpg

Super pick up, Leon - congrats! I've never had a Grieners Bread in my type collection, and if I has seen the eBay listing, it would have cost you more! :)

Well, it took a while, but I have an update. I appealed eBay's claim denial and sent in pictures of the card I received. eBay said they would get back to me within 2 days... 2 weeks later and still no update. So, I was able to contact someone in customer support and they looked into it. They had me send the card back to CSG for re-authentication. I just got word today that they have reversed their decision on my case and have accepted my appeal. They are refunding me the $500.

Interesting plot twist
 

Got an email from eBay this morning about an item I recently ordered, relating to the authenticity program, which reminded me of this thread, and the desire by some parties to opt out of the program. Not that I really wanted to opt out myself, but apparently the seller managed to make it happen.

For your reading pleasure:

Your order is on the way, but won’t come with our Authenticity Guarantee

We wanted to let you know that your order (below) is on the way, but unfortunately we can’t provide the Authenticity Guarantee you were expecting. The item was miscategorized when it was listed and isn’t eligible for this service. We know this may be disappointing and we’ve contacted the seller to let them know about the error in their listing. If you have any questions or concerns, please just get in touch. We’re here to help.

Thanks for being part of the eBay community.

I had sonething similar. It was a postcard in a PSA slab. But since it was a postcard PSA isn’t allowed to check if the slab is authentic.

apparently after speaking to a eBay seller who sold a cobb super cheap eBay AG will send it back and tell them to get it graded. So much for a binding contract lol