I think I bought a fake...

[Luke]

I think my inexperience may have cost me in one of my recent ebay wins. It just doesn't look right. Colors seem too dark and the name and team seem to be written in black, rather than brown. What do you think, and if it is fake, how should I go about getting my money back? I don't have a scanner, so for now I'll post the ebay page. Thanks.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Luke

[barrysloate]

Yep, I think you did, although I have to say that's a better quality fake than most. I guess you need to ask the seller for a refund.

[iggyman]

Luke,

Definitely a reprint. I would open a case with eBay and email the seller. You will get your money back. Just make sure to follow all the steps in the resolution process correctly............like making sure to send the card back using delivery confirmation.

Glad to see you could identify a reprint once it's in your hands. The next step is to be able to identify a fake just from a picture. Will take a little time, but you will get it. Hang in there.

Lovely Day...

[Matthew H]

The refund will not be too hard. Ask the seller first, if "no" is the answer, then eBay buyer protection.

Either way, get return shipping tracking. VERY important. Once tracking shows delivered, eBay buyer protection will deposit money into your paypal.

Ask the seller first though if you can return it before opening a case with ebay.

Good luck. (you wont need it, it's not that hard)

[Luke]

Thanks guys. So should I contact the seller first, or contact ebay and the seller simultaneously? And if I contact seller first, how do I make sure I get my refund? Do they send to my paypal account before I send the card back? Thanks again.

Luke

[T206Collector]

...I agree, but it is a pretty good one as far as these things go.

[chaddurbin]

seller might not realize it's a fake himself.

[FUBAR]

Definite fake, it almost looks fuzzy like pin printed.

[lharri3600]

Originally Posted by LukeLyon

Thanks guys. So should I contact the seller first, or contact ebay and the seller simultaneously? And if I contact seller first, how do I make sure I get my refund? Do they send to my paypal account before I send the card back? Thanks again.

Luke

contact seller first. then open an item not as described case,make sure the seller didn't have reprint in description.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

seller might not realize it's a fake himself.

That's what I was thinking. He has decent feedback - only 1 negative in the last year and IMO he didn't deserve it.

While looking through his feedback, this seems to be the only T206 he has sold...at least as far back as I looked (June), so he probably didn't know.

As advised, you should contact him before opening a case. Also as advised, if he agrees to accept the return, make sure you send it with delivery confirmation.

[B O'Brien]

That is a pretty solid one. I might have bought that one too. I tend to kind of just blow through sometimes.
Good luck with the resolve.
Bob

[Vol]

Sorry about possibly buying a fake Mathewson. Please keep us informed on how it turns out, as it will help us newbies know how to handle this situation.
Thanks
Isaac

[Phillies*phan]

The sure sign is the size of the back. The cards not oversized on the front but on the back bottom it's got a huge border.

[Luke]

So, I talked to the seller. He said he feels the card is genuine and wanted me to get an opinion of someone local who could hold the card and look at it closely. He said that after I did that I could send it back for a refund. I didn't really want to do this, as I think all of the answers I've received here make it pretty clear that the card is a fake. Anyway, I agreed to do this and took it to a local dealer. He showed me a few reasons that he knew it was fake including color and tint, which were also the first things I noticed. So, I sent the seller an ebay message saying I will send it back tomorrow. Should I also open a case with ebay buyer protection? And, the seller insisted that I should get insurance when I send it back, and told me that I don't need to get delivery confirmation. I am definitely going to get confirmation because everyone here has mentioned that I should, but the insurance thing could be weird, because they will ask how much its worth. Do I say like $1? Sorry this is so long, any help is appreciated. Just want to make sure I do this right. I don't really have any reason to think the seller is dishonest, but I was disappointed that he didn't make the return easier for me, so I want to cover myself as best as possible just in case.

Luke

[vintagetoppsguy]

If it were me, I would purchase insurance for the purchase price. It really doesn't benefit the seller and it protects you in case of loss. With postage, insurance and delivery confirmation, you should only be out of pocket about $5. A cheap lesson learned in my opinion.

[egbeachley]

I don't understand how some of you say it's a good fake. It looks like one of the worse to me. The blue and green background colors are off and blotchy, the player and team name are in black, and the player and team name are crooked.

yes, the insurance thing is ridiculous since it's not even worth $1. The seller should reimburse you for your shipping costs, imo.

[bcornell]

Originally Posted by LukeLyon

He said he feels the card is genuine and wanted me to get an opinion of someone local who could hold the card and look at it closely.

I'd decline to follow that suggestion. Let him go find a local expert and figure it out himself. The card is clearly bad.


Bill

[smtjoy]

I would get Insurance and DC. I had something like this happened to me and if not for the insurance I would have been out the money. USPS never showed my return package as delivered and said it was lost, I waited 90 days and they then paid my insurance claim.

[FUBAR]

you could always point him towards this thread and he can read for himself why it is bad.

[bcornell]

By the way, looking at the fuzzy colors and the weird creasing, this doesn't appear to a be a reprint; it's actually a counterfeit. Someone is using a printer to generate the card, probably with malicious intent. Maybe you should ask your seller where the card came from...


Bill

[autograf]

ALWAYS get insurance AND delivery confirmation on this. Without DC, he could claim he didn't get it. You'd likely get paid for the item if it was insured but if the carrier claimed he/she delivered it, it could get ugly. If you don't do insurance and only do DC, if it isn't delivered, you don't get paid. $5.00 should easily cover it. I'd insure for $100. Two dimensional scans can often be misleading..........

[nameless]

Have to make sure you get a refund. Also I don't collect t206's primarily but just looking at the size of the letters one can see its fake. The last name and first letter of the team will always be bigger font wise then the rest. IE:
COBB DETROIT
Good luck dude.

[Luke]

Originally Posted by nameless

Have to make sure you get a refund. Also I don't collect t206's primarily but just looking at the size of the letters one can see its fake. The last name and first letter of the team will always be bigger font wise then the rest. IE:
COBB DETROIT
Good luck dude.

wow, you're right. I had never noticed that. I missed a lot of obvious signs on this one. Thanks a lot to everyone for the advice. Seller has agreed to give a refund and I opened a case with ebay buyer protection, so everything seems to be going well.

Luke

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by egbeachley

I don't understand how some of you say it's a good fake. It looks like one of the worse to me. The blue and green background colors are off and blotchy, the player and team name are in black, and the player and team name are crooked.

Sometimes scans will make a genuine look like this. I got a great deal on a genuine T206 O'Hara because the scan made it look like this, but in person it was perfectly legit. Usually on the fakes the borders are bigger/snow white, the lettering isn't close (I think it is off for reasons stated, but close), the image usually doesn't have the appropriate border lines, the back looks worse.

More effort was put into this one than most.