Latest card grading scam

[RobertGT]

I just wanted to alert the group to something that just happened to me for the first time in 10 years of selling on eBay.

I sold a card, graded PSA 8.5, at a pretty reasonable price of $35 to a buyer in California. A couple of days later he e-mails me saying the card arrived with a crack in the holder. The case was perfect when it left my hands - in fact the card had only been graded a couple of weeks earlier by PSA. I sent it via USPS in a bubble mailer, with it marked "FRAGILE" in several places. But I told him to go ahead and return the card to me anyway for a refund.

So I got the card back today, and what I see is a very large diagonal crack across the front and a smaller diagonal crack in the middle of the reverse. I'm looking at these cracks, and they look like obvious pressure cracks to me -- as if someone put the card in a vise in an effort to break it out and resubmit it to PSA, perhaps hoping to get a 9. The difference between an 8.5 and 9 on this particular card is about $350.

I showed the card to a grading expert of mine, and he agrees this is how such cracks likely occurred - from torquing the vise too tightly. Also, there is no movement of the card inside the holder because the plastic is now pressed up against the card.

Sorry to go on forever, but has anyone ever heard of the USPS/UPS etc. causing cracks such as this in a PSA holder?
I don't want to identify the buyer right now as I have no proof this is what happened, but it seems very, very suspicious.

Thanks,
Rob

[CMIZ5290]

Been mailing thru those guys for years, never heard of anything like that. I think you need to get ebay involved.

[JLange]

I received this PSA 8 hockey card a few years back, shipped in a plain envelope with no protection, from Canada to my house outside Philly. Something happened in shipment, and it broke the holder in half and nearly tore the card in two! Its possible your card was damaged in shipment, too.

[hangman62]

Originally Posted by RobertGT

I just wanted to alert the group to something that just happened to me for the first time in 10 years of selling on eBay.

I sold a card, graded PSA 8.5, at a pretty reasonable price of $35 to a buyer in California. A couple of days later he e-mails me saying the card arrived with a crack in the holder. The case was perfect when it left my hands - in fact the card had only been graded a couple of weeks earlier by PSA. I sent it via USPS in a bubble mailer, with it marked "FRAGILE" in several places. But I told him to go ahead and return the card to me anyway for a refund.

So I got the card back today, and what I see is a very large diagonal crack across the front and a smaller diagonal crack in the middle of the reverse. I'm looking at these cracks, and they look like obvious pressure cracks to me -- as if someone put the card in a vise in an effort to break it out and resubmit it to PSA, perhaps hoping to get a 9. The difference between an 8.5 and 9 on this particular card is about $350.

I showed the card to a grading expert of mine, and he agrees this is how such cracks likely occurred - from torquing the vise too tightly. Also, there is no movement of the card inside the holder because the plastic is now pressed up against the card.

Sorry to go on forever, but has anyone ever heard of the USPS/UPS etc. causing cracks such as this in a PSA holder?
I don't want to identify the buyer right now as I have no proof this is what happened, but it seems very, very suspicious.

Thanks,
Rob

Rob,
That seems like quite a leap of faith..saying that because it had cracks in the middle..somone put it in a vise and wanted to resubmit it to PSA for a half a grade higher ??..how about it was accidently smashed by careless UPS handlers

[RobertGT]

It has possible that I am getting to be so cynical from reading so many negative articles that I'm starting to think everything could be a scam. I certainly hope that wasn't the case, and if others have had similar shoddy handing from the USPS, then perhaps it was simply just that.

That card from Canada is really quite horrible. Sorry that happened!

[vintagechris]

First, if he emailed you just a couple days after you sent it, he couldn't have resubmitted could he? Maybe I am just reading wrong also.

Secondly, I have received graded cards in bubble mailers with the cases cracked twice. It's best to wrap it in bubble wrap also, or I actually put the card in a small bubble mailer and then put that bubble mailer in a larger bubble mailer and I have never had one damaged.

[bbcard1]

Isn't the term card grading scam sort of redundant?

[mintacular]

You really need to sandwich graded psa/sgc cards between two heavy pieces of cardboard---putting them in a padded mailer only is not enough. Also, marking the mailer "fragile" has little to no effect how that package is handled behind closed doors in the post office.

I received a cracked SGC card that was in a padded mailer before (likely marked fragile)...

[DICKTOWLE]

I have received 2 cards from the USPO that were cracked- it can happen

[JasonL]

he simply returned a damaged card to you. If that is the case, what does he get out of it?

Is it the same card you sent him, or has it been switched, and then put into a cracked slab, seeking reimbursement?

[Exhibitman]

I sold one card several years ago that the buyer said arrived in a broken PSA holder. I had him send it back with the envelope. Son of a gun if there wasn't a diagonal break in the holder and a diagonal tire track across the envelope. The mailman must've dropped it and driven over it! Funny thing was, the card had only one hairline crease and I sold it raw for more than the lost sale.

[buymycards]

A bubble mailer just doesn't cut it for a graded card. You need to sandwich the slab between two heavy pieces of cardboard, then put the whole works in the bubble mailer. The mailer alone doesn't provide any protection for the plastic slab without additional reinforcement.

Marking the package "fragile" is fine. The acceptance clerk will handle it gently, and the delivery person will handle it gently, but the machines along the way that process thousands of parcels per hour may damage the card. Also, the way that local Post Offices receive parcels in the morning can also contribute to damage. We receive several large hampers, some of them with hundreds of the small parcels that are mixed in with larger parcels sitting on top and that small parcel on the bottom may have several hundred pounds of mail sitting on top of it.

Rick

[barrysloate]

I always use two pieces of foamcore board when I send a single graded card in an envelope. I've still had a couple of them break in transit.

[egbeachley]

Originally Posted by JasonL

he simply returned a damaged card to you. If that is the case, what does he get out of it?

Is it the same card you sent him, or has it been switched, and then put into a cracked slab, seeking reimbursement?

Not really a scam, per se. But it appears as though it was purchased to be resubmitted. But during the process of removing the card he damaged it. Instead of taking the loss he decided on a refund.

[WhenItWasAHobby]

I've received one that was cracked in half and upon closer inspection I could see where the holder was deformed as if the plastic had melted slightly. When I showed the damaged holder and the mailer to the people at the post office one guy said with quite a bit of certainty that it appeared as if someone tried to run it through a scanning machine for flat items and it got stuck among some hot machinized parts inside the scanner and that's why the plastic sagged a bit.

[SteveMitchell]

It has been mentioned that a padded envelope is insufficient protection for slabs. I agree. Boxing is the only way to reasonably assure that slabbed cards will arrive intact - and they are still subject to the usual crushing or loss.

Two years ago I received TWO PSA slabbed Hall of Fame metallic plaque-cards in a padded envelope. BOTH slabs were snapped in two and the metallic plaque-cards ruined!

Boxes are the only way to reasonably assure safe delivery, and even then nothing is guaranteed.