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JoannHahahaha. Crapweasels. hahahaha. Best one I've heard in a long time.
You are exactly right Adam. It's not the understandable and even absorbable mistake. It's the attempt to walk away from it.
I have a guy in my dept that does the same thing. He is generally good enough to afford some mistakes and has made a few very understandable mistakes recently. But for some reason he wants to spin and recharacterize his actions and misrepresent facts and all manner of things. I kind of pounded him for it Monday. And although he doesn't know it, this poor unfortunate soul will now always be 'crapweasel' to me whenever I see him. lolol
But it does leave an interesting option out there for PSA. If they do not intend to refund anything to the buyer, they should at least provide a lucid and clear and non-crapweasely explanation for why they should not have to bear the financial burden alone. There may be such reasons.
Does it make a difference if the buyer knew or should have known that it was a fake? Does the extent of reliance on the PSA flip matter? Would the same fake have sold for a similar amount raw? Did the buyer look at the PSA flip as a certification of the error, or did he just look at it as giving a condition grade? How much do these things matter?
I think PSA is at least on the hook for presenting an argument. I also think they should be on the hook for the money in general. But I can also think of several kinds of circumstances in which it might be unfair to ask them to take all responsibility. It seems like it would be in their best interests to point out those circumstances, if they exist.
Joann
ETA: And now that I think about it some more, I think that Mastro should also give some lucid and clear and non-crapweasely explanation for why it was in their auction, and even more important why it had such and odd and unnerving disclaimer.
Not that any business owes explanations - not at all. But it's hard to see how explanations wouldn't be a good idea for both PSA and Mastro from a business sense. It seems like the industry and community will decide that if no explanations are given, it is because none are available. And that can't be good for either business.