Posted By:
T206Collector"buying raw commons from reputable dealers is okay. On higher priced cards, I would always stick with graded cards even from reputable dealers. If a reputable dealer is selling an expensive card raw, there is probably a reason for that, and that reason won't be to your benefit."
Even if no cards were reprints, I would never buy a nice looking raw card for more than $100 on ebay -- there's too great a chance that a card has a hidden flaw that even the most reputable dealer missed. And this is likely the reason the card isn't slabbed. When I started out on ebay, I purchased a Chance (Yellow), Huggins Hands At Mouth, McGraw Portrait With Cap and a Hugh Duffy -- all raw. The McGraw and the Duffy looked trimmed to me when I got them home and so I returned them for a full refund. The Huggins and Chance I got graded by PSA -- the Huggins came back a 4 (as expected) and the Chance came back a 4 MK (I never saw the erased pencil until I bought a 10x loop and looked at it under magnification). But the crowning decision-maker was a Walter Johnson Portrait that I bought for $500 that the dealer said was in excellent condition and, when e-mailed, confirmed that there were no creases. When I got the card, I flipped it over, and sure enough -- a back-corner crease. Fortunately for me, he refunded me the entire purchase price. After that, I decided, I'm sticking with PSA/SGC/GAI. Of course, I got burned a couple of times by PSA's lax quality control in terms of grades, and so now I try to only buy SGC graded cards, unless I'm desperate.