Thanks, all, for the responses so far! Good points made all the way around! One thing I'd add to the discussion at this point is that I definitely lean toward sellers with a liberal return policy, ESPECIALLY if they're selling some really nice raw cards that I want. I think I'm pretty good at inspecting cards for trimming (nothing like a good loupe to check for the original Topps edge-cut patterns), wrinkles, etc., so if I have the option of returning a card if it fails inspection, I'll often take the chance. I just finished my 1971 NM Topps set (all raw) in January after 28 years, and I got VERY good at checking the cards for touched-up corners and edges. (And it's amazing how many times I had to return -- repeatedly -- the cards that would've finished my set because the edges had been doctored.) Unscrupulous people have gotten REALLY good at touching up the '71s, by the way. I saw some alterations that, perhaps, many others would've missed. One eBay seller even doubted my determination that one of his cards was altered. Oh, he gave me a full refund as promised, but he made his doubts known about my findings IN MY FEEDBACK! That really bothered me at first, but I'm over it. Anyway, thanks again to all of you for your thoughful responses!
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