More on ebay's mysterious authentication program
 

One week ago, I won a 5"x7" Kashin premium on ebay. It is in a PSA holder. Because it cost over $250, I knew the seller was required to send this graded card to ebay's authenticator. Silly, but fine. Well, today I received an email from ebay saying that they could not authenticate the card. According to ebay, the card was "miscategorized" by the seller. But the seller listed the card under Trading Cards / Singles, which seems like the right category to me. This got me wondering what ebay means by "miscategorized". There was no explanation in the email. Does ebay think it's not a card?

Thankfully, ebay is still sending the card to me. They actually apologized for not returning the card to the seller, explaining that the ebay guarantee does not apply to miscategorized items. While I'm glad that I'm getting the card, this also got me wondering whether sellers could bypass ebay's authentication just by listing a card in the wrong category. Any thoughts on this? Thanks.

Just illustrates the stupidity of their whole system "authentication" system, and the worthlessness of their "guarantee".

yes...it seems ludicrous to have a graded card examined again...BUT...there was WIWAG...and still is it seems. But yes I believe the process can be avoided by choosing proper category or using certain descriptors in the listing.

A friend just bought a $2000 watch on ebay last week. He was quite impressed and pleased with the authentication process!!!

I mentioned this in another thread. An EBAY rep told me over the phone if the card did not have stats on the back(I assume a Post Cereal would pass since stats are on the front) it is a box topper and is not a baseball card.

Based on a previous messy authenticator experience selling a Dixie lids premium, eBay seemed to want it listed as Vintage Sports Memorabilia.

So Old Judges and T206s are box toppers? I haven't seen stats on the back of any of those.

For whatever reason, anything that doesn’t look and feel like a standard postwar mainline card seems to give them fits. If it’s bigger or blank backed or unusual in any way, it causes problems, because they take one look and decide it’s not really a card.

And the fact that it’s in a slab that might indicate that it’s a card doesn’t seem to factor into their view on whether or not it’s really a card.

Except that they’re consistently inconsistent in how they approach these. So you never know. Next time they might treat it like a card.

What would they make of this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/14521989532...Bk9SR-jX0ZPYYw

Someone removed the die-cut flap off of a 1968 Topps Posters Box, and is now charging $9 Grand for it. I can't imagine anyone thinking it's really a "card" but I guess if someone is willing to shell out $9,000 for it (when the complete box typically goes for $300-$400) more power to them!

They should go with Burdick's own ACC nomenclature for things like the Post cards: Package Design

Sports mem-card-fan shop>trading card single
That’s what my 1916 w unc big head was under
and went thru smooth thru eBay auth
My 1st time buying from it
It is also blank backed
So maybe this helps

I got this in the mail yesterday. eBay refused to authenticate it because it was "mislabeled".
I'm just happy finally to have it.

More on ebay's mysterious authentication program
 

Ostensibly the entire purpose behind the re-authentication of already slabbed items was so that eBay (in their steadfast refusal to ever become category experts themselves) didn’t have to reinvent the wheel and 3rd party grade already 3rd party graded cards…so this makes no sense to me. They are supposed to just be taking them out of the box saying, “Yep, this is a PSA 5 Topps XXX” and putting a stamp of approval on it and re-packaging.

As long as the card is in a reputable slab (PSA, SGC, BGS, CGC…) and the title in form closely matches the title on the flip, what is the problem?

Gotta love eBay. They seem to love going out of their way to make additional headaches for themselves.


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+1
Yeah they’re getting carried away - if somethings not graded sure check it out ..
For me the one useful thing the program provides is making sure the correct item is in the package

Certainly they’re being incredibly particular about what does and doesn’t qualify, which often seems bizarre.

I think the other potential benefit of the AG program is in the case where someone does a fake slab or a reseal job after replacing the contents of the slab with an inferior specimen.

John, I personally would not sell an expensive card on ebay without the authentication process. I don't want to take the chance that a buyer will claim I sent him an empty box.

As a buyer, I like it too. I have heard enough stories about Probstein sending out empty boxes that I wouldn't want to be on that end of it either.

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Oh I get WHY they do it, I was just saying what is the point in rejecting an obviously authentic card graded correctly in a slab, just because the listing category was wrong or because of some other minor detail like that.

Yes, the whole problem of eBay getting burned too many times because dishonest sellers were either sending out empty envelopes or fakes or pulling various switcheroo chicanery - is sad. I hate the delay of it all and extra days shipping out / extra days waiting on stuff you've bought - but I do get it.

I guess Red Man tobacco cards would fail this odd test.

My son bought a $260 modern basketball card on ebay described as Gem Mint.

No flaws were seen in the photos and the seller sent a message saying that the card had no flaws.

Luckily the card was over the $250 amount because it failed authentication.

The seller didn't know why as he said it was Gem Mint. He told my son it was because he threw some other cards in the package for free that were not in the listing.

My son communicated with ebay and they told him the reason was there were massive indents on the card and it was not close to GEM MINT.

I've been very skeptical about the whole ebay authentication - but in this case it saved him $260. So he is grateful.

More of the same, I picked up a (PSA) Shonen postcard on Ebay and it was "miscategorized" as a sports trading card so they weren't able to authenticate it. The email does say they are still sending me the item.

So many issues could be solved with EBay sending a message that there is an issue, what the issue is, and whether you would like to complete the transaction given the "new" information.

The chance of any sketchy things happening with full disclosure and the authentication party completing the shipping is nearly nonexistent at this point.

Sweetness. Now they define what a card is. We should have asked them, this debate could have been solved long ago.

Just curious since I have a card currently being sent for authentication - how long does it take to get the card after it is sent? Thanks.

My experience is that the authentication process takes a few business days. So if you're looking door to door, then you're probably around 10 business days, give or take? A few days to get from the shipper to the authenticator, a few days to be authenticated, and then a few more to get from the authenticator to you.

My lone experience thus far saw my purchase arriving here just 7 days after the auction ended. I'm sure that being in California (along with the authenticators) sped the process up, because the final mailing didn't have to travel far.

Thanks for the replies. Appreciate them. Guess now just wait and see.

About a year ago, I bought a card for my signed 1953 Topps project that had to go through the authentication program. The whole value of the card was in the signature; the card itself, if it was unsigned, would be a $2-3 common. After a delay at the authenticator, it arrived, with a note that the signature was aftermarket, and the authenticator did not handle aftermarket signatures, so he was unable to render an opinion on the signature. But he confirmed the beat-up common was authentic.

I got a graded card via the process recently and one thing is for sure: they have nailed the shipping. Nicest single slab package I ever saw. I am keeping it for my sold card shipment.

A follow up to my original post - it took 18 days from the time I got the notice until the card arrived here. I echo another post in that it was the best slab package I have ever received and I appreciate that.

They put some resources into the way they ship those things. Must cost some bucks. Last time I almost didn't want to mess up the presentation it was so nice.
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