I think the best advice is:
Find people you trust.
Whether it's on Ebay, at shows, a local card shop, here on the board, or an auction house. There are sellers on ebay who I trust COMPLETELY to describe their cards accurately, raw or graded. There are guys in all the different areas of the hobby mentioned above that I would 100% do business with probably just on a description of what I was getting, without a picture at all. There are enough good guys in the hobby that if people made a real commitment to dealing with them exclusively it might make it harder to be one of the bad guys. Of course as we've seen sometimes the good guys are only good guys until they get caught, but I think if you do you homework and talk to a lot of people (this thread is a great idea) you can find a way forward with your hobby goals while still feeling secure in your purchases.
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