What to do when an eBay "expensive" card does not pass their "review" ?
 

I doubt this has happened to many, any. A month ago I won a card on eBay.
It was a 4SC's auction that closed for about $450. One card, a 1980 Rickey RC in PSA 8.5. To my eye, it had a chance to become a 9. (perhaps another in the "process" may have seen this, too?). After almost 3 full weeks of waiting, and without receiving any notification from eBay, 4SC, PSA, or anyone.....other than an email from AMEX after 23 days since payment, did I begin to figure this all out. Initially, I had no idea what the refund was for. It took my own investigation to figure it out. When I realized it was the Rickey card, I immed contacted Nicole (mgr) at 4SC. She confirmed that eBay had informed 4SC the card DID NOT PASS. No reason why. Nicole said this was the 1st and only time a card was rejected in this asinine process.

My beefs are several:

1. How come nobody (other than AMEX) contacted me?
2. How come this received an 8.5 by PSA about 3/4 years ago (cert # was high 4's), and that could not be verified today?
3. How come NOBODY knows or DISCLOSES why this was rejected? Of course the seller and/or consignor want to, need to know WHY. Of course, me as the buyer wants to know WHY.

Zero communication whatsoever. Pathetic. Just like the thought that every PSA card over $300 - $400 on eBay needs to be reverified. If such is the case, the entire claim that PSA GRADING VERIFIES and CERTIFIES that the card is REAL and UNALTERED is down the toilet.

Anyone else seen an eBay "verification" rejected?

Just curious do you have a photo of the card front and back from the listing? If so could you post it?

"Certification number 14151601 has been temporarily DEACTIVATED as a precaution due to its use on a known counterfeit in the market. Please contact the Customer Request Center (CRC) at PSACRC@collectors.com if you own the item or call (800) 325-1121 for further information."

I don’t understand the problem. You were saved from buying a counterfeit. There were 2 cards that I bought that failed authenticity. Both times, 1) I received an email stating the card failed and 2) in the purchase history it stated a claim was opened and closed in my favor.

They look at the card as well as the holder. Its possible the slab was damaged or showed signs of tampering.

I think he posted about this a week or so ago and it was from a severely scratched up slab.

differentiate?
 

I understand your frustration with your experience of what sounds like grossly poor communication and that I agree is unacceptable.

I would be careful about throwing the baby out with the bath water. As a long time Ebay user, I support the authenticity verification process as both a seller and buyer. For the price (for now) of a little extra delivery time the program gives buyers an added level of protection. While it would be nice to know what was up with the card you bought, I encourage you to think about it as Ebay saved you from buying a card that wasn't what it was advertised as.

I'd gladly take the refund instead of being stuck with a counterfeit card. The process is good and working for the collector. I agree more communication would have been appropriate. This gives me more confidence when buying expensive cards on ebay.

Why is everyone completely ignoring the fact that NO ONE told the OP that the card was (possibly?) a counterfeit??? That is the issue here!! No communication whatsoever.

Because nobody has said that card was counterfeit. Do you know something the rest of us doesn't?

EDIT: OP says serial # started with a 4. Post 3 shows a cert # starting with a 1. So not sure they are the same card but the one in post 3 was sold by 4sharpcorners.

If the slab was the issue....
 

Wouldn't one assume PSA would just re-holder it? Or, shouldn't I as the buyer been made aware the slab was the issue? I may have opted just to pay to have it re-holdered?

Bingo.....my loudest complaint was ZERO communication. I still do not know if the card was counterfeited, altered, or ______?

As advertised, in the graded card program, PSA does not look at the card at all. They wouldn’t rule the card is a counterfeit at all. They only look at the slab (including their competitors) to rule if the slab passes the vague standards of the program. A fake slab gets rejected, there seem to be conflicting reports on what damage to a slab can pass or not.

If it is a fake slab, I totally get the rejections. But as I crack cards out anyways, the damaged slab issue is one of several reasons I more and more do deals off eBay I would have previously done through them. I don’t need an incompetent grading entity to approve whether or not I can buy a card, especially when their rulings are predicated on parts I will literally throw in the garbage.

I've noticed some of the big power sellers have left ebay after the verification process was put in place. Kinda has me wondering why some have left?

Sounds like something is wrong with your ebay emails.

You get emails when a card passes/fails authentication. You get emails when you are refunded.

Have you checked your spam folders? ALL of your mail addresses? Last time somebody was on here complaining about not getting emails related to the authentication program, they actually had and just didn't see them.

I too have not get any messages in ebay, email alerts to my junk or spam or inbox for the email registered to the account and for which all other eBay memos are sent, or app notifications that a card or slab passed or failed certification. I see it when the tracking moves on and it starts to actually go to me. I don’t have much of a problem with this, but this seems to happen to a lot of accounts.