New Ebay Authentication service

[steve B]

"In the unlikely event that your card is damaged in transit, you can still open a return request within the seller’s return window and get a refund, or within three days if the item is final sale."

So if the third party screws up the packaging or something else goes wrong....
It's on you.

No thanks!

[D. Bergin]

Damn, I can see a lot of "Card Not Received" claims coming in, the second the authenticater gets backed up in submissions.

I don't see anything good coming out of this, and likely will lead to even higher seller fees, so Ebay can recoup their share of this scheme......+ a little off the top.

[Snowman]

While I'm not excited about this for my own purchases (I don't need help with identifying fakes), I do understand the Haider market need for such a service. There are a lot of fakes out there, and it's only going to get worse. And eBay has zero ability to make fair rulings on these transactions when buyers file a complaint. They really do need an expert 3rd party to partner with. But this is going to be a big hassle for modern collectors. I buy a fair number of raw ultra modern NBA cards that are over $750. Cards that are not faked as they are new releases. That would be pretty annoying if they plan to "authenticate" new release cards.

As far as CSG goes, I think it makes sense that they partnered with them. The hobby might not like their slabs, but they're definitely capable and are well funded and backed by the same owners as Fanatics. And given all the ambitions of Fanatics, I would expect to see them integrate CSG grading services through multiple different channels.

[Flintboy]

What kind of headache does this cause the breakers like Greg Morris and the likes?

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Flintboy

What kind of headache does this cause the breakers like Greg Morris and the likes?

By "breakers", I take it you mean set breakers like Greg Morris on ebay as opposed to box and case breakers? I doubt it would have much of an effect on them. Instead of shipping to address A, they're now just shipping to address B instead.

It may have an effect on the broader market prices though in general, as this will undoubtedly turn both buyers and sellers off on eBay. People will be seeking out alternative selling platforms. There's a lot of opportunity for new players to come along in this market right now. I'm excited for what lies ahead. I'm envisioning entirely new platforms and resources for buying, selling, storing, grading, trading, organizing, tracking, etc. Will be interesting to see it all unfold. I'm also interested in how market prices will be affected as more and more transactions migrate away from eBay. Right now, eBay is pretty much THE comp tool which effectively dictates current market prices (with some exceptions for high end vintage or super low pop cards). But price suppression could result if eBay ever starts losing significant volume to other platforms. Especially if there are a plethora of other platforms to choose from, each of which has their own niche following (and therefore fewer eyes on each listing on average). Fewer eyes = lower selling prices. So even if the same number of cards are sold per year in this hobby, the average selling price will go down in proportion to the number of different selling platforms there are that gain significant traction in the market.

[Snowman]

Ultimately, this service will be paid for by the buyers and sellers. Buyers might be willing to pay more for a card that otherwise looks questionable because they won't have to risk whether it's fake or not. In those cases, the expense will ultimately be covered by the buyer being willing to pay more for the card, and thus for the service. However, for cards where it's pretty obvious that it's not a fake, and where buyers aren't really all that interested in getting it authenticated, then it'll be the sellers who end up eating the costs as the buyers won't be willing to pay more for it. And while ebay claims it is a "free service" for now, we all know that's bullshit. Someone had to pay for it, and it's not going to be ebay. Whether that comes through in the form of higher selling fees or an actual itemized separate line item fee is yet to be seen, but sellers will definitely be the ones who get stuck with the bill.

[GeoPoto]

[QUOTE=Snowman;2190534]Ultimately, this service will be paid for by the buyers and sellers.

What you say makes sense, but don't you think eBay hopes that it will be covered by reduced expenses adjudicating/policing bad actors and thereby allow higher-dollar, ungraded cards to continue being sold on eBay in a way that is profitable for eBay.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[D. Bergin]

[QUOTE=GeoPoto;2190930]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Ultimately, this service will be paid for by the buyers and sellers.

What you say makes sense, but don't you think eBay hopes that it will be covered by reduced expenses adjudicating/policing bad actors and thereby allow higher-dollar, ungraded cards to continue being sold on eBay in a way that is profitable for eBay.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

No,

Sorry, but have you paid attention to Ebay at any point in the last 20 years? They charge a final value fee on Sales Tax and VAT tax collection. Not a merchant fee for the processing of money portion of the sale.....but a full final value fee...same percentage as what you pay for the actual sold item.

If they could figure out how to kick everybody's mother down the stairs to make an extra nickel per transaction for their bottom line...they would.

[Snowman]

[QUOTE=GeoPoto;2190930]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Ultimately, this service will be paid for by the buyers and sellers.

What you say makes sense, but don't you think eBay hopes that it will be covered by reduced expenses adjudicating/policing bad actors and thereby allow higher-dollar, ungraded cards to continue being sold on eBay in a way that is profitable for eBay.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Yes, ultimately, I think this addresses at least some of what eBay hopes to accomplish through this program. I think they are hoping it helps to cut costs for adjudicating/policing bad actors. Which is probably why they're willing to eat the costs initially. But this is still ebay. They will eventually transfer the cost burden over to the sellers.

I think this is a miscalculation on their part though. I think this will ultimately end up costing them more than it will save them. People aren't going to like it.