[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by BobC

But Pete, don't forget that you, I, and others on Net54 are usually way more savvy and experienced in regards to sports cards and what are, or are not, fakes. Ebay isn't doing this for us, they're doing it for the potential millions of new customers that don't know squat about cards, but would maybe like to get involved as they keep hearing and reading more and more about the rising interest (and value/prices) of cards.

One of the original ideas behind TPGs and slabbing cards was to protect online buyers from getting ripped off with fakes. But with the current costs and times it takes with some TPGs to currently get cards graded, it has already been discussed how when it at least comes to lower/mid-grade commons and cards in poor shape, not many people are as likely going to continue to waste the time and money to get such cards fully graded and slabbed anymore if it doesn't result in more profit for a seller. Ebay's authentication program at least gives all these potentially new and inexperienced customers a safe way to still buy ungraded, lower priced cards, and yet feel protected from getting ripped off.

And it may actually generate more revenue for Ebay and some sellers. Think about it, if you're willing to bid $450-$475 on a raw card you maybe aren't 100% certain is legit, why not bump up your bid to $500 to make sure it goes into the raw card authentication protocol. Spending an extra $25-$50 to ensure you are getting a legit card is way better to some than taking a chance they'll lose $450-$475 on what later on may turn out to be an unauthentic card.

And Ebay is not stupid, and if anything, is extremely business savvy. I'm confident they've run all kinds of projections and studies to weigh the costs and efforts of starting up this authentication process and determining that offering it for free, at least initially, will end up being more profitable for them in some manner over the long run. In fact, the awfully quick lowering of this authentication threshold from $750 down to $500 makes me even more confident that Ebay has done an extreme amount of research on this topic. Enough to monitor it very closely and make such a dramatic change to the program right after starting it and getting initial feedback to the overall program.

We'll see how good a job Ebay did in projecting the outcome from putting this in place as time goes by, and what their next move(s) is.

Great points, Bob. The more I hear people discuss this initiative, the more I start to warm up to it. I do think Eddie Plank deserves better than a card saver, though!