Posted By:
Al C.risafulliJim, I think it's totally cool that you want Kevin's eye on any card you buy. Nothing wrong with wanting someone you trust to look at something before you buy it - with certain card issues I'm unfamiliar with, I'll ask someone I think is an expert if I feel uncomfortable with a card. If you're comfortable with Kevin's eye, more power to you (Just let me know which ones you won't be bidding on; it'll be nice to know which items I don't have to bid on against you).
But there's no way on earth that any auction house should allow you to return an item that doesn't pass muster after it's been purchased. Ask any auction house to have whoever you want look at your cards before you bid - Kevin, the guy at the gas station, my Uncle Dino, whatever. But once you bought the card, you bought the card - and I think it's unrealistic to expect an auction house to recognize Kevin's "brand" after the purchase has been made. If you bought an SGC 8 at auction, and PSA wouldn't cross it to an 8, you wouldn't think for a second that the auction house should take the card back. If SGC or PSA says a card is good, and Kevin says it's altered, it would be similarly silly to expect any auction house to recognize that after the sale has been made.
Regardless of how many checks and balances you want to install inbetween an auction opening and your bid, I can't imagine you would expect an auction house to submit to the judgement of any fourth party, regardless of WHO it is, once an auction has closed.
-Al