Board Members--Please read

[Jantz]

Hello All,

I will do my best to explain this situation. I'm bringing this to everyone's attention because the Ebay seller in question is also a Net54 member. As most of you know, I am building a T206 set. So I spend a good amount of time looking for T206s to complete my set. I have found some interesting transactions occurring on Ebay. It appears to me that the Ebay seller is buying raw T206s along with bat, jersey and autograph cards from the 2002 Topps T206 set and combining the two. Why would a seller do this? Because Topps Buybacks sell for alot more than just a raw T206 does. Nowhere in the seller's auction does he list them as Topps Buybacks, but he uses the border card to increase his final sale price. So why do I care? Because I have purchased a few of these Topps Buybacks for my set and so have quite a few other collectors. Does the buyer/collector get a authentic T206? Yes, but if they wanted an authentic T206 they could have just bought one raw instead of paying double for a Topps Buyback. Some collectors just collect the Buybacks. To me it seems alittle on the unethical side what this seller is doing, but thats my opinion. Although the Ebay seller also sells on our BST. I will present some scans for proof. Honestly I hope that I am wrong and will apologize to all if I am, but I have seen to much proof to let this go unnoticed. Please keep in mind that I am bringing this all to light because I want to help all the members on this board.

Scans - Raw card....Topps card....Combination for resale

Thanks,
Jantz

[Jantz]

One more example

[V117collector]

Now that's funny, what people will do for an extra buck! Who's the sellers...

[FrankWakefield]

Links showing where someone bought those 2 white border tobacco cards; and links showing where the same someone was selling the cards in Topps 206 holders would be compelling...

[mdschulze]

I've never held a Buyback card so I don't understand how a person could remove one card and replace it with another without tearing up the holder. Obviously it can be done! I can imagine that collectors would be pissed to find that cards in their collections aren't truly Buybacks, especially after paying the additional expense for the card.

Additionally, I'm no attorney, but this seems to me like an implied infringement of some sort. It doesn't matter that the seller is not labeling the card as a Buyback, but displaying the photo or scan with the Buyback frame obviously implies that it is one. I wonder if Topps would have a legal issue with this as well? Thanks for the post and the fine examples.

[egbeachley]

Buy the holder, not the card

[asoriano]

Just from doing a quick eBay search, it clearly shows that the seller is buying the T206's raw and inserting them into the "Topps 206" holders.

Nice work, Jantz.

[Jantz]

Here you go Frank. Sorry I don't know how to linky.

Raw Burch Auction - 150380289975

Topps Auto Auction - 230388469910

Current Combination Auction - 110449713462

All you have to do next is look at the seller's feedback under the "Feedback as a Buyer" tab and you will see all the transactions.

Jantz

[FrankWakefield]

Birch card won... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...fvi%3D1&_rdc=1


The winning of the Topps holder... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

The same Birch card, now in a Topps 206 holder, and I have a bid in on it... http://cgi.ebay.com/1909-T206-TOPPS-...3D10%26ps%3D63

And it looks like the winner of the Birch card and the seller of the Birch in Topps card have the same feedback. Jantz has sussed something out, guys!!! Impressive. And I hope I win that "reloaded" Birch card.

[Matt]

Jantz - great catch and thanks for posting it. My concern whenever I see this kind of thing is that even though this is somewhat benign, if he's doing this, who knows what else he's doing...