What is Ebay Playing At?

[Exhibitman]

I've come around to seeing the program as useful in two ways:

1. As I reported in my blog last weekend, at the Anaheim show a friend of mine who was set up to sell bought a 1963 Topps high grade Pete Rose RC in a PSA holder from a walk-in, and showed it to me. I took a quick look, and something seemed off. On closer inspection, the card looked wrong, too fuzzy, and muddy. I busted out the 30x loupe and 100x microscope I bring with me to shows and confirmed my suspicion. It turns out we had a scumbag walking the show selling fake high value PSA graded cards. The Rose was bogus, and the PSA slab was resealed with glue. It wasn’t a great fake, but it didn’t have to be, because my friend was busy with customers and trusted the PSA slab rather than inspecting the card carefully. My friend was very lucky that day. He went off in search of the fraudster, found him, and got a refund. if you get stuck with one of these on eBay my hunch is that you won't be so lucky.

2. It is a good negative check on whether to transact with a dealer. One guy sells lots of trimmed raw cards. I saw a hacked Hubbell RC last week in his store sell for good money. Someone got ripped off. He avoids the authentication process by tossing in a junk single or two to make it a lot. I see that and I know not to bother with the dealer.

[Johnny T]

I purchased a 1969 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 5 at the National in Atlantic City last year. Beautiful card. However, when I went to put it in the registry, PSA said the card didn't exist. Bottom line is that a trimmed card was put in a PSA slab and my card is worth 1/4 of what I paid for it...if that. Had the same card been purchased on ebay and sent to the "Authenticators", I would have been saved. Now I know to check the cert before I purchase, so lesson learned.

I agree it's a bit of a pain in the arse...but worth the wait and aggravation especially since it doesn't cost anything more to have. JT

[judsonhamlin]

I’m no eBay fan but because I knew that the program was out there, I bid on and won an older card that I might not have otherwise. Raw card, experienced seller (but not necessarily in 19th Century items), not the most accurate description but a decent scan. There were other bidders/watchers and I was surprised my bid won - kind of low but not a dollar. It might be the first time I bid knowing that there was the fail safe review on a ‘no returns’ seller. The card was rejected so I feel like the system actually kind of worked.

[JCM2009]

I see very little value in the Ebay Authenticator service, but this service could be Ebay's first step into grading cards themselves. They can provide the Vault and Authenticator service and tie it to the Collection beta platform. The last step is providing grading services themselves. They certainly have the capital to build the infrastructure themselves. Ebay may already be developing some sort of AI service offering to grade and authenticate cards themselves. And with PSA dropping the ball in grading turnaround and accuracy, Ebay sees the opportunity for a major player in the grading space. Afterall, if Ebay is guaranteeing the authenticity of the cards that are sold on their platform, they might as well be the grader themselves. Why assume the risk of guaranteeing someone else's grading holders or authenticity?

I would also think Fanatics is developing the same full-service grading service. Too much $$$ to in this market and the other grading services are no match for the Ebay behemoth. Just my thoughts......

[raulus]

Originally Posted by JCM2009

I see very little value in the Ebay Authenticator service, but this service could be Ebay's first step into grading cards themselves. They can provide the Vault and Authenticator service and tie it to the Collection beta platform. The last step is providing grading services themselves. They certainly have the capital to build the infrastructure themselves. Ebay may already be developing some sort of AI service offering to grade and authenticate cards themselves. And with PSA dropping the ball in grading turnaround and accuracy, Ebay sees the opportunity for a major player in the grading space. Afterall, if Ebay is guaranteeing the authenticity of the cards that are sold on their platform, they might as well be the grader themselves. Why assume the risk of guaranteeing someone else's grading holders or authenticity?

I would also think Fanatics is developing the same full-service grading service. Too much $$$ to in this market and the other grading services are no match for the Ebay behemoth. Just my thoughts......

I don’t disagree with you, except at the moment, eBay is subcontracting for the actual authentication work. If they brought it in-house, then starting their own grading shop would be the logical next step.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by JCM2009

I see very little value in the Ebay Authenticator service, but this service could be Ebay's first step into grading cards themselves. They can provide the Vault and Authenticator service and tie it to the Collection beta platform. The last step is providing grading services themselves. They certainly have the capital to build the infrastructure themselves. Ebay may already be developing some sort of AI service offering to grade and authenticate cards themselves. And with PSA dropping the ball in grading turnaround and accuracy, Ebay sees the opportunity for a major player in the grading space. Afterall, if Ebay is guaranteeing the authenticity of the cards that are sold on their platform, they might as well be the grader themselves. Why assume the risk of guaranteeing someone else's grading holders or authenticity?

I would also think Fanatics is developing the same full-service grading service. Too much $$$ to in this market and the other grading services are no match for the Ebay behemoth. Just my thoughts......

Ah yes, eBay is going to start grading cards soon! LMAO

[Jewish-collector]

Dale - The short version is that this is an unregulated industry, so ebay is trying to help both buyers & sellers.

I'll see you at the Chantilly show in a few weeks. beer chug.gif

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by JCM2009

I would also think Fanatics is developing the same full-service grading service. .

I've already seen some slabbed Fanatics cards out there

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by JCM2009

I see very little value in the Ebay Authenticator service, but this service could be Ebay's first step into grading cards themselves...

That’s a pretty scary thought the way things are right now.

I see no actual problems with the eBay authentication service, though I would agree that for the large majority of items for us as vintage collectors, it’s probably a waste of time. The problem to me however is with the credibility of eBay themselves. This is an outfit that has never bothered in 25+ years now to gain competency at the categories they manage. You want eBay to start slabbing cards when they still think it’s ok to market ‘91 Fleer Jose Uribe cards to me for thousands of dollars in my Facebook feed? No thanks.

eBay could choose to hire more people (experts) to police this kind of thing themselves within their categories, but apparently it’s cheaper to setup programs to hire 3rd (4th?) party authenticators to re-authenticate already slabbed items - the overwhelming majority of which are legit.

Er, ok.


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[Flintboy]

That’s what we need, another grading company!!!!!!

[jh691626]

I'm less worried that eBay will grade cards, and more worried that they will start charging for this authentication service (probably sellers). I thought I saw something near the start of this whole rodeo that said that the service was "currently free." Emphasis on...currently.