Another glitch in the ebay authentication program
 

I sold a really strong 1952 Star Cal Decal Mays/Irvin on ebay. I ship it to the authenticator address. A couple of days later, ebay (PSA) sends a really poorly worded and confusing note claiming that since it was listed in the wrong category, it's not eligible for the authentication program. They send the item to the buyer with a disclaimer that it was not authenticated.

Hello? I listed it as ... wait for it .. a baseball card. Apparently on some oversize issues, ebay (PSA) thinks they are not baseball cards and therefore not eligible to be authenticated. This has happened to people before I have learned.

So of course, my buyer is thoroughly confused, and thinks ebay (PSA) has determined the item is not authentic. He started a return. Hopefully I was able to explain this to him and once he inspects the item he will see that it's fine, but I am still at risk of losing a sale because of this idiocy. The irony is that if I sent it directly to PSA, they would put it in an AUTH slab LOL.

I had them do that to a cabinet card/photo I sold awhile back. It was sent on however and buyer didn’t care.

Seems like they’re going back to the 1980’s to define what we think is a “card”. Stuff nowadays you would be leaving money on the table not listing it in the “Trading Card” section.

Shouldn’t take a lot of work just authenticating it and moving it on.

Stickers, postcards, photographs, or decals are things eBay considers memorabilia. So yes, I've seen things like this posted before.

Pretty much anything oversize, and sometimes hand cut or with a blank back. Basically anything that doesn’t look like a 1952 Topps is subject to getting rejected as not being a card.

Happens pretty much every time I sell an oddball piece. My buyers haven’t freaked out about it yet, but I guess that probably just means I’m due.

To save the sale, perhaps you could give him a money-back guarantee that it will get slabbed (min: AUTH) by a TPG when he sends it off, as he probably will?

(Yes, I realize it'll be a pain having that hang over you, but a nice profit is a nice profit.) :)

Yeah, I made that offer actually.

I had a different problem with them recently. I bought a $2 card that was autographed for $180 due to the autograph and because I thought the autograph would be authenticated. When it was returned it turned out that the only thing they had authenticated was the $2 card. Apparently, this type of confusion apparently occurs fairly frequently and, in fairness, eBay is trying to make it right. They gave me a credit to submit the item to psa for authentication and if it is not authentic we will have further discussion about a refund.
They also advised that they are trying to make it clearer what is actually authenticated under the guarantee.

B18 blankets and bf2 pennants aren't considered as well. If PSA doesn't grade them they are rejected. They don't grade the star decals unless they are out of envelope.


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Just use the "Set Br" workaround in the title of your listing. Problem solved (for now). No stupid, worthless "eBay Authenticity Guarantee" to be dealt with. For added customer service, you can always tell your buyer that you'll be happy to pack their item in a comedically oversized folding piece of cardboard and also delay their shipment by two weeks to give them a fully "authentic" experience.

I've found that "Set Break" no longer works much of the time.

They will AUTH them though.

I thought the minimum for authentication was $250. If you bought this for $180, why did it go through the authentication process?

It was listed as more. The buy it now was over $300 but the reserve was $180 and it went for the lower price.

Happens with postcards as well

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I had the same issue a while ago with a card I bought a card for my 1953 Topps project. The value was all in the signature; unsigned, it would have been a $2-3 card. I didn't enquire about a credit with PSA because the signature looked good to me and JSA had already branded it, but I thought it was funny that all that hassle was over authenticating a beat-up common.

Apparently, there are a number of buyers who had the same issue. I have read the description of the program several times and I still can’t find a clear statement that the guarantee does not include the signature. In any event, something like this should be clear from the description of the item.

Yes, this has been going on since they implemented this needless process. I'm not sure why they haven't corrected the issue so that all the people in your position can avoid it. Sellers of autographed cards shouldn't be forced to participate in the program, nor should they have to circumvent it by doctoring the titles of their listings.