OMG PSA slabs blatantly altered Tiger Woods rookie, then it passes ebay program

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

What you get from PSA is actually quite deceptive. Reading from one that came today:

Authentic without a doubt (in bold)

Your CARD (my emphasis) has been meticulously inspected by a team of experts, so you can display it with total confidence.

My interpretation is that they covering ass by this phrasing; by certifying the slab is legit that means, of course, the card was inspected by a team (well, 1 it seems) of experts. Of course it SOUNDS like your card was inspected again. It’s not just incomplete, it’s incredibly dishonest without technically being an absolute lie.

I do not always like eBay’s choices, but by and large they have historically been honorable to buyers, with a generous refund policy and other policies designed around protecting buyers. This is absolute bullshit, how they very intentionally are misleading buyers now about what’s actually going on. Even if one likes this program that is just rubber stamping every slab again, they should be against the undeniably dishonest marketing and statements eBay makes about it.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by G1911

My interpretation is that they covering ass by this phrasing; by certifying the slab is legit that means, of course, the card was inspected by a team (well, 1 it seems) of experts. Of course it SOUNDS like your card was inspected again. It’s not just incomplete, it’s incredibly dishonest without technically being an absolute lie.

I do not always like eBay’s choices, but by and large they have historically been honorable to buyers, with a generous refund policy and other policies designed around protecting buyers. This is absolute bullshit, how they very intentionally are misleading buyers now about what’s actually going on. Even if one likes this program that is just rubber stamping every slab again, they should be against the undeniably dishonest marketing and statements eBay makes about it.

Yeah, maybe there's some Clintonesque way to make it literally true, but anyone reading it is going to assume it describes what was JUST done in the review and it is 100 percent deceptive unless you go read the fine print. Indeed, it seems tailored to the CSG review, not the PSA.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Yeah, maybe there's some Clintonesque way to make it literally true, but anyone reading it is going to assume it describes what was JUST done in the review and it is 100 percent deceptive unless you go read the fine print. Indeed, it seems tailored to the CSG review, not the PSA.

Exactly. Clintonesque honesty is little better than outright lying. It can be clever and effective, but it’s disappointing eBay is choosing this path. The PSA program is a stupid rubberstamping but they could at least describe it truthfully. That they won’t, and they have had ample time to adjust how they talk about it here, should tell folks that this is difficult to justify. Not even eBay wants to talk about what it’s actually doing; a buried sentence in an old announcement is, I believe, the only honest telling that has been given that they are just looking at the slab itself and ignoring the card.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by G1911

Exactly. Clintonesque honesty is little better than outright lying. It can be clever and effective, but it’s disappointing eBay is choosing this path. The PSA program is a stupid rubberstamping but they could at least describe it truthfully. That they won’t, and they have had ample time to adjust how they talk about it here, should tell folks that this is difficult to justify. Not even eBay wants to talk about what it’s actually doing; a buried sentence in an old announcement is, I believe, the only honest telling that has been given that they are just looking at the slab itself and ignoring the card.

One can imagine, as more and more of these things come out of the program and get put back on ebay, how many auctions are going to do what the Tiger Woods one does and overstate the effect of the "authentication." So the great anti fraud program will become a vehicle for deception.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

One can imagine, as more and more of these things come out of the program and get put back on ebay, how many auctions are going to do what the Tiger Woods one does and overstate the effect of the "authentication." So the great anti fraud program will become a vehicle for deception.

The “void” seal is so laughably bad that you can swap any card into it too. As none of the documentation comes with anything that identifies the actual card, you can just easily swap in anything and claim it was verified.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by G1911

The “void” seal is so laughably bad that you can swap any card into it too. As none of the documentation comes with anything that identifies the actual card, you can just easily swap in anything and claim it was verified.

Isn't there some scannable code that identifies the card?

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Isn't there some scannable code that identifies the card?

Yes, but you’d only get that after you receive the fraud and the seller has run off with the cash. I don’t see this as a way to scam on eBay itself, but selling on the forums and discords, it’s probably going to crop up. The presentation looks good but doesn’t identify the card beyond the code that no one will run even if they get a close up to actually scan in advance (how many buyers are running PSA cert numbers before the purchase? 1%?)