Ah, something that belongs in the "psychology of bidding " thread.
Basically, people generally are followers. If someone with an image of authority says a card is trimmed many people will see the trimming.
In a small pool of collectors - which the market for that card is- if some of them go with the flow and decide it's trimmed that reduces competition, and that sometimes reduces the price.
I'm ABSOLUTELY NOT saying anyone here is or isn't doing that.
In the small area of collecting racing bikes, one of the local collectors was doing just that, a particularly interesting bike would turn up on Ebay and he'd point out the "wrong" parts, say he felt it was repainted, pretty much anything to run it down. Then he'd often be the high bidder
. He's done pretty well selling them after a few years, because they were and are actually just fine.
The lesson, which I think many here learned a long time ago is to learn a lot and make your own decisions regardless of someone elses opinion Including TPG.
Steve B