It's an annoying and unethical ebay sale no doubt, but a buyer would have an impossible time winning a lawsuit considering the seller say he's selling it as a reprint, the back of the holder says it's a reproduction, the seller specifically tells bidders to read the disclaimer on the back of the holder, and nowhere does he say he's offering an original.
I have seen where sellers strongly imply a reprint is authentic or that they believe it to be a reprint, but "have to sell it as a reprint because it's not graded." You know, the old "My local card shop owner says it looks real, but according to eBay rules I must sell it as a reprint for $999." That's crossing the border into clear cut scamming land.
You can break the law without saying without saying whether or not something is original. The law says if you know it's a reprint (and especially if you made it yourself) you have to clearly say you're selling a reprint. Saying "I never said it was original. It the buyer thought that that's his fault" is not an excuse, in particularly when you in so many words implied that the item was or could be real. A big art forger went to prison after trying to use that as a defense. He never said his artificially aged to look centuries old creations were originals, but he never corrected buyers when they thought they were. There's a thing called lying by omission.
Last edited by drcy; 10-06-2015 at 09:21 PM.
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