What Do You Make of This Fake Mantle Sale???
 

Sorry if this was previously discussed. Here is a typical '52 Topps Mantle reprint card that sold in May on eBay for $3050.00 The seller is very typical, disclaiming any knowledge of authenticity, but also sprinkling just enough "provenance" in there to make you wonder if it's the real deal, like, It looks very old and my grandfather gave it to me as a kid.

Here's where it gets strange. It's an obvious reprint, and we should all conclude that this will not end well for the buyer. However, the buyer leaves positive feedback stating that this card is "excellent for a FAKE Mantle" (emphasis mine).

So he knows the card is a fake, and he's willing to be out over $3000 for it. Help me out, somebody, because I just don't know what to make of this at all!

It's deception on the sellers part with the back story. Regardless of how it's listed. My assumption is it's either a gullible/hopeful buyer or buyer wanting to flip it as original. The argument will be made that the "buyer should buy graded" which is very self serving. This card is clearly fake, the buyer has a responsibility to do some work and not rely on a piece of plastic. There are plenty of fakes in slabs too. This is really just someone willing to take a risk. Maybe it's the seller too trying to get some credibility in his stash of cards given him as a kid(yeah right). Next up Leaf Robinson or Goudey Ruth.

some people have more money than brains

I guess it's possible. Anything is possible on eBay these days. But the idea of buying this worthless card that he knows is worthless, and potentially flipping it for a profit is more like the stuff dreams are made of.

Well, cheaper than a 1990 Fleer Jose Uribe or a Topps common missing some black ink... ;-)

Possibilities:
1) Money laundering
2) Accidentally typed "fake" in feedback as some kind of Freudian slip.
3) Sent a message to seller with an offer of $10, the seller sent back a specific offer of $10, but the sale still looks like the original BIN list price of $3,050.

It IS conceivable that a man could give his grandson a '52 Mantle that he knows to be a reprint, and many years later, the kid, who grows up to be a person of less than sterling ethics, puts it up for sale and says "my grandfather gave it to me" - which, in the case of this hypothetical example, would be true.

If the seller is 11 years old, his grandfather could've given it to him last month.

What is deceptive is the part of the listing that says Manufacturer: Topps. Topps didn't make that card.

All good points here. Whether the buyer was deceived or not is immaterial to me. But what is frankly stunning to me is that the buyer has forked out $3000+ for a card that he knows is a fake! And I still don't know what to make of it. I mean, come on, man! Let's say he did buy it to flip in hopes of turning a profit, which is highly unlikely. He could have bought this card for a couple of bucks and then tea-bagged it like the original seller probably did, right? Something is just plain amiss here.

I think we can safely rule out the last theory since it wasn't a BIN, but a straight auction with 8 bids, the last one being for $3050.

No problem. I couldn't divine that from the information you listed, and couldn't look up the sale since it's over 6 months old. I took a guess.

hmmmm
 

My best guess is that the buyer got his money back and left the only kind of feedback eBay would allow.....

Very reasonable. Buyers can leave Neutrals though right?

I've got it!
 

buyer thinking - if the real one is worth 20k-30k then a fake must be worth 10-15% of that!:eek:

I find the seller's bogus language of uncertainty in the authenticity of the card to be amusing when everything else he sells are graded cards. If you were not sure on the authenticity, why not get it graded like all of your other cards that you sell? Not that this really has anything to do with the buyer forking over that much money for the card, but in my mind anyway, speaks to the kind of person the seller really is.

Or the buyer resold it for $10K, making it worthwhile to purchase a fake for $3K...