Trimmed T206 - am I wrong?

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Posted By: Al Crisafulli

Okay, I have a question about something and I'd love some opinions.

A couple of weeks ago while searching Ebay, I ran across a seller who had listed a nice run of raw T206s. I searched through them and came across a Joe Kelley that was described as being in "near mint" condition.

The scan looked very nice - not near mint, but probably ex-mint. I looked at the seller's feedback (99.8% on 500 transactions), and looked at the other T206s which he was selling. They were all very nice, and in looking at the bidders, I noticed a lot of Net54 names. The scan of the Kelley looked nice, but I did have a little concern over the top edge of the card. However, based on my assessment that it was an ex-mint card, I bid accordingly and won the auction at just over $200.

The day the card arrived, I opened the package and immediately could tell that the card had been trimmed across the top edge. It wasn't as obvious in the scan, but holding the card in my hand it was plain as day. However, just to be sure, I brought the card over to SGC that afternoon for a quick evaluation, and they verified that it had been trimmed, and rejected the card.

So I sent the seller a very polite email, explaining that the card was trimmed, and asking how he would like to arrange a refund. Unfortunately, I got no response.

The next day, I sent another polite email, and again, no response.

The third day, I sent a third email, a little more firm than the first two. In that email, I asked that he respond to me by a given date or that I would have to file a complaint with Paypal.

After the date came and went, I filed a complaint with Paypal. Of course, within hours of filing the complaint, I received an email from the seller.

In the email, the seller expressed his regret that the card had been trimmed. He then stated that the card was given to him on consignment, and that the consignor wanted nothing to do with refunds. He implied that he had already paid the consignor, and stated that he did not have any money to refund me. He then explained that the listing stated "no refunds" (which is true - not in the description, but at the bottom of the listing near the payment instructions/shipping info, which I didn't catch). Finally, he told me that I could feel free to leave him negative feedback and he would not retaliate. His email was very polite, but in no uncertain terms he told me I was SOL.

I was furious. I couldn't believe that a reputable seller would ignore my emails until I filed a complaint, and then hide behind his consignor and his fine-print "no refunds" disclaimer when he sold me an altered card that was described as "near mint". I might expect that from a bush-league, newbie seller with low feedback, but not from an established ebay seller. In my opinion, he was blatantly stealing my money and then flaunting it in my face.

But then my Paypal claim was denied.

I've never had a problem like this with an Ebay purchase before. Once or twice I had problems, and they were always rectified quickly. So I'm somewhat taken aback by this. Clearly the seller told Paypal something that caused them to deny my claim, but I would have thought this was a non-issue: the seller described a card as "near mint", but the card was most definitely altered and is ungradeable.

Am I in the wrong?

TIA for your opinions,

-Al