[Exhibitman]

The program is a mixed bag. I like the idea, especially with raw cards, both, as a buyer and a seller. I recently purchased a rare/expensive card from Argentina (no eBay auth. program) and believe me, i sweated whether the card would be good (it was). So the program alleviates some of that anxiety for buyers. I also (usually) like it as a seller because it chops the legs out of buyer's remorse returns and transportation mishap returns from the authenticator to the buyer. On the whole, i think it is a positive. The screw-ups are basically what Dan experienced with the holder condition or what I recently experienced, which was a 'not a card' rejection even though SGC grades the damn card.

They could fix most of the issues by simply allowing the buyer to decide if he or she wants the card despite the alleged issue before sending it back.

Or just put "set break" in the listing and bypass the program entirely. Or throw in a common and list it as two cards.

As for the bitch-slap battle over whether this is worth comment, yeah, it is. Dan wasn't selling a cranberry sparkle shiny crap card that the buyer could just buy elsewhere, it was a tough card, and the deal interference w/o buyer input is frustrating as heck.