Ebay Authentication - It Gets Personal

[bk400]

Not sure if relevant, but I've had two relatively high end cards get lost or stolen at the eBay international shipping hub within the past 3 months. Situation where the cards were shown to have arrived at the shipping hub, but then there is no update on the order for something like 10 days or 2 weeks. And then eBay waits until the day of expected delivery to refund your money.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some insiders at eBay's internal waystation points stealing higher end cards.

[Steve D]

I won a 1955 Topps Willie Mays PSA 2.5 from Rick P about a week ago. It went out to California for the review, and I got it a few days ago.

A bit of background:

The exact card (same cert #) was auctioned in october by Heritage, and I was the underbidder. It then showed up on ebay via Probstein, where I won it for less than my bid in the Heritage auction.

So whoever took the loss on the card didn't create any shenanigans about it.

Steve

[Snowman]

Rick isn't canceling any sales because the seller didn't like the hammer price. So let's just kick that conspiracy theory to the curb.

The card almost certainly failed authentication for a one of a variety of reasons. Perhaps the same reason that landed it in a BVG slab and not a real TPG slab. But we can only speculate.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Rick isn't canceling any sales because the seller didn't like the hammer price. So let's just kick that conspiracy theory to the curb.

The card almost certainly failed authentication for a one of a variety of reasons. Perhaps the same reason that landed it in a BVG slab and not a real TPG slab. But we can only speculate.

I thought it would only fail authentication if there was a problem with the slab. They're just supposed to be making sure the slab is ok. They're not regrading the card in the slab.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Snowman

Rick isn't canceling any sales because the seller didn't like the hammer price. So let's just kick that conspiracy theory to the curb.

The card almost certainly failed authentication for a one of a variety of reasons. Perhaps the same reason that landed it in a BVG slab and not a real TPG slab. But we can only speculate.

I won a card from Probstein (last year, I believe) and he cancelled the sale around the delivery due date. It was an auction which ran for a week or so, so not a listing error or anything like that. He then relisted that exact card (same cert number and all) a couple weeks later.

So, there”s that.

[Directly]

Originally Posted by bk400

Not sure if relevant, but I've had two relatively high end cards get lost or stolen at the eBay international shipping hub within the past 3 months. Situation where the cards were shown to have arrived at the shipping hub, but then there is no update on the order for something like 10 days or 2 weeks. And then eBay waits until the day of expected delivery to refund your money.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some insiders at eBay's internal waystation points stealing higher end cards.

In the Registered USPS system every person that touches and handles the package has to sign off-- if this was the case there will be a paper trail. Did the cards show arriving to the authenticator, then missing after that?

[bk400]

Originally Posted by Directly

In the Registered USPS system every person that touches and handles the package has to sign off-- if this was the case there will be a paper trail. Did the cards show arriving to the authenticator, then missing after that?

To be clear, my cards went missing at the eBay international shipping hub in Illinois, not at the authenticator. But I thought the same principles might apply.

Yes, the cards were tracked to the shipping hub -- and then no more.

[x2drich2000]

Is this the card? I couldn't find a series of 80 sold by Rick. If this is the card, I can't tell if the scratch is on the case or the card. Either way though, I can understand why they would say the card doesn't match the description of a BVG 4 with both the staining and scratch. Now whether they should reject the card in this situation or not can be debated.

[ullmandds]

the plot thickens. DJ...to me the scratch is ON the card. So the card is overgraded. I thought the process was just an authenticity check...not a grade check?

here's a cobby cousin.

[ncinin]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

the plot thickens. DJ...to me the scratch is ON the card. So the card is overgraded. I thought the process was just an authenticity check...not a grade check?

here's a cobby cousin.

It is not a scratch on the card. A portion of the cards printed had some debris or something on the printing plate and leaves some areas of no print. I have atleast one if not two E121 series of 120 with the same exact appearance of a scratch.

If you would look at VCP images there some examples as well, in the exact same place. It is not a scratch on the card but can appear that way to an untrained eye.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by ncinin

It is not a scratch on the card. A portion of the cards printed had some debris or something on the printing plate and leaves some areas of no print. I have atleast one if not two E121 series of 120 with the same exact appearance of a scratch.

If you would look at VCP images there some examples as well, in the exact same place. It is not a scratch on the card but can appear that way to an untrained eye.

i stand corrected...an unsightly print defect then.