Should Seller Reimburse Buyer For Grading Fees?

[slantycouch]

Did the buyer see scans of the card? Especially if so, we all take risks when buying a card and the buyer should have known that risk. I think it's impressive that you refunded the original purchase after it being out of your hands for that period of time. It was the buyers choice to have it graded. I don't see why you should be responsible for that.

[Matt]

IMO it depends on the listing - if you guaranteed it would grade then I can see you needing to cover the grading costs as well.

[Leon]

If you said you guarantee it will grade, then yes. If you didn't mention grading then it was on him and he pays those fees. You didn't ask him to send it in. That being the case I might mitigate damages depending on other things in the transaction, and pay half.

This morning I am returning some cards that were grossly miss described. I am taking a hit too as I should have asked more questions. You did the right thing on this one with the caveat of the wording in the description.

Sellers not being able to leave neutral or negative feedback is a joke.

Howard you are not responsible for their grading fees. I have bought many cards from you in the past and the descriptions and every part of the auction are always on cue. I think 1 time I got an American Caramel card from you and upon recieving seen the bottom was trimmed. Never had an issue returning and ended up buying about 7-8 T206's that night from you. I would not worry about it. He could have left Negative feedback, and its our job as collectors and buyers to look at these item before sending them off. I would not send an obvious trim in to grading. It sounds like a guy who can't take blame to me.

[Jacklitsch]

I guess I will be a minority of one on this issue and say that you should reimburse for grading fees.

When you listed the card you implicity represented that it was authentic and unaltered. That was proven not to be the case. Depending on the card (and we don't know what it was) you might have had a reasonable expectation that someone buying the card was going to have it graded. With grading so prevelant these days that could be a safe assumption especially if it was a high end or valuable card.

If I were in your position I likely would reimburse for the fees. BTJM

[Ladder7]

Grading is subjective. I submitted a pack-fresh card from a sealed box and unquestionable dealer five years ago. The skittish grader returned it 'Trimmed". I later resub'd and received a 9. It's all a crap shoot.

As far as refunding., This buyer rolled the dice hoping you'd cave. If he truly felt you wronged him, you would've been Neg'd.

IMO, To best protect excellent feedback, sellers should only sell holdered cards.

[barrysloate]

Because the card came back trimmed it wouldn't be a bad idea to reimburse the buyer. Nobody likes to purchase a card and then discover later it was trimmed. Even if you are not technically obligated to pay his grading fees, I feel in this case you are buying some good will by doing so.

[JamesGallo]

I once bought a card that turned out to be trimmed and was in the same position. The seller refused to pay me back the grading fees if I returned the card. That being said I kept the card for several reasons.

Anyway to answer your question I would need more information.

If I understand this correctly, you gave him all his money back and let him keep the card? If that is the case I would assume that it was not a very expensive card. In this case I think you should not be held responsible for the grading fees as the buyer pretty much got a free card.

If the card was being returned to you and it was coming backed slabbed then I think you should have paid the grading fees. As far as shipping to the grading company as well I think that in on the buyer as it is unlikely he sent in 1 single card and therefore adding the shipping for 1 card really wouldn't matter.

I would also agree that unless you stated the card was trimmed I would assume a rare card by a known dealer would be unaltered.

Anyway just my thoughts based on the info I have now.

James G

[steve B]

Here's how the stamp auction places handle it. Expertising is a notch down from grading in most cases, but recently they have begun including grades for an extra fee. This policy is from Apfelbaum, but most of the auction places use a similar policy.

The short of it is - They refund purchase price only, and have to be informed in writing before the auction that it will be sent of for expertising.

EACH LOT IS SOLD AS GENUINE BUT WHEN IN THE OPINION OF ANY COMPETENT AUTHORITY MUTUALLY ACCEPTABLE TO US AND THE PURCHASER (A "MUTUALLY ACCEPTED AUTHORITY”) THE LOT IS DECLARED OTHERWISE, THE PURCHASE PRICE WILL BE REFUNDED IN FULL; PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT ADVANCE WRITTEN NOTICE OF INTENTION TO SEND FOR EXPERTIZATION MUST BE SUBMITTED BY BUYER BEFORE THE SALE AND EITHER (i) THE LOT IS RECEIVED BY US WITHIN A PERIOD OF FOUR WEEKS AFTER THE DATE OF THE AUCTION, OR (ii) WHERE AN OPINION IS NOT EXPECTED WITHIN FOUR WEEKS, WRITTEN NOTIFICATION THAT THE LOT HAS BEEN SUBMITTED FOR AN OPINION IS RECEIVED BY US WITHIN THIS PERIOD. ALL EXPENSES INCURRED SHALL BE BORNE BY THE PURCHASER WHETHER OR NOT THE ITEM IS DECLARED GENUINE OR NOT GENUINE OR NOT AS DESCRIBED.

Steve

[kmac32]

Depends on how you listed the card. If you guaranteed that it would get a grade other than authentic the yes on the grading fees, otherwise no.

[GoldenAge50s]

I think the Seller did all he was obligated to do. As long as nothing in the auction implied the card would Third Party grade, why should a Seller be held responsible for what a Buyer does w/ a card after the tranny is completed?

What if Buyer got a 6 & was expecting a 7?---is that grounds for wanting his fee back? How far can one expect to take a sale?

I say he did as much, or more, than required.

[sportscardtheory]

No WAY should you have to pay the grading fees. Just like anything you buy in life, you bought what you bought and that's it. He didn't buy a card with a graded guarantee, he bought a raw card. I would have eBay take down the feedback as he was trying to extort you for more money.

[jbbama]

Grading was his choice, as dissapointed as he may be, that isn't your fault. You did right by him in my book. (unless you gauranteed it to grade)