PWCC Sells Mislabeled PSA 1960 Mantle/Boyer card worth $50 for over $1K & they know

[a761506]

Two 1960 Topps Mantle/Boyer cards were mislabeled by PSA as Venezuela Topps cards. The original submitter tried selling them on eBay for months, no buyer. I informed him they were US Topps cards in mislabeled holders (I am 100% certain of this, the Venezuela Topps version is on a completely different stock and has a distinctly different surface and registration), he gets upset with me for telling him, cops out by laying it on PSA, saying they're the experts and kept the cards listed. He couldn't sell them.

They pop up a week ago, PWCC is now his fence for them. The PSA 5 sells at auction on eBay last night for $1,069. It's a $50 card. The PSA 6 is listed as BIN at $4K. I inform PWCC on 3 separate occasions, I get one response that they would discuss it. No action was taken. In their disclaimer, they dump it on PSA as the experts.

The Venezuela Topps version is extraordinarily rare. The guy who submitted them with a bunch of other vintage US Topps cards knew they were not Venezuelan, but PSA botched the labeling and he took the opportunity to become a scammer.

Here's the backs of two Venezuela Topps specimen. Note the sandstone-like surface and significantly lighter registration.




Here's the back of the PWCC PSA 5 card, which is clearly a US Topps card. Note the smooth surface finish and sharp registration.



Here's the back of the PWCC PSA 6, same deal as above, US Topps.



Meanwhile, the Venezuela Topps is an extremely low pop card, and the mislabeled 5 and 6 completely skews the population and devalues the real Venezuela Topps specimens.

Here are the fronts:

Real Venezuela Topps:




Mislabeled:




Night and day. PSA is to blame for such a pathetic error to begin with. Pure greed followed their mistakes.

Never get cheated...

[Peter_Spaeth]

Jeez. I thought they had Mike Baker in house too now, as if you need anyone with more expertise than Brentsy on this travesty.

Josh maybe you should alert PSA about the 6 still on ebay, if Brentsy is going to hide behind PSA.

[bnorth]

Any idea who the original seller on eBay is?

[Eric72]

Semi-related:

Is it just my eyes playing tricks on me, or has the EX-MT 6 (cert # 42714634) gotten a bit of a trim? The edge above "Rival..." looks a bit crooked to me.

[a761506]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Any idea who the original seller on eBay is?

eBay ID: cg0184

Originally listed on or around 8/9/2019

[a761506]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Jeez. I thought they had Mike Baker in house too now, as if you need anyone with more expertise than Brentsy on this travesty.

Josh maybe you should alert PSA about the 6 still on ebay, if Brentsy is going to hide behind PSA.

My message to PSA directly on 8-12-2019:

These two cards are both are US Topps cards mislabeled as Venezuela Topps... the Venezuela Topps version is extremely rare, particularly in this grade, and now the population report has been massively skewed as the mislabeling of the cards is opening the door for the seller to turn a $50 card into thousands of dollars and a total fraud. Nearly $10,000 of liability to PSA.

$5900.00

RARE - MICKEY MANTLE & Boyer 1960 Venezuela Topps #160 PSA 6 EX-MT (Pop ...

Extremely Rare 1960 Topps Venezuela #160 “Rival All Stars” Mickey Mantle & Ken Boyer PSA 6 EX-MT, extremely r...


$3900.00

RARE - MICKEY MANTLE & Boyer 1960 Venezuela Topps #160 PSA 5 EX (PSA Pop...

Extremely Rare 1960 Topps Venezuela #160 “Rival All Stars” Mickey Mantle & Ken Boyer PSA 5 EX, extremely rar...


With a system which supposedly requires multiple graders checking cards for accuracy before they leave PSA, there was a major failure here. Any grader who knows this issue would be able to tell in a glance that both of these cards were US Topps cards. The 1960 Venezuela Topps cards have different coloration, print quality, muted black ink on the back, as well as an easily distinguishable "sandstone" texture on the back. I'd guess the person who submitted them even listed them US Topps cards on their submission form.

These cards are both problematic now, and the seller, who I have communicated with asking him to return them to PSA to be corrected, is intent on committing fraud and selling them as fools gold to some unsuspecting collector.

Please find a way to get those cards back, out of those mislabeled holders and out of the population report.

PSA's reply:

Destanie Powell (Collectors Universe)

Aug 21, 12:44 PDT

Hi there!

Thank you for contacting PSA Customer Service!

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we do recommend to contact the seller so they can send it back to us for correction.

If any questions remain, please do not hesitate to reach out to PSA Customer Service at (800) 325-1121. A Customer Service Representative will be available Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (PST) to answer remaining questions.

Thank you,

Destanie
PSA Customer Service

[Pjere]

I submitted about 30 cards to psa a couple of years ago with quite a variety of modern and vintage. I am pretty new to vintage so when my Johnny bench rookie came back a psa 4 and had “Venezuelan” on the label from PSA, I was curious. So I asked a buddy of mine who said that made it quite valuable so I was thrilled but cautious. I then did my own research and saw it clearly was not a Venezuelan and sent it back in for the right label. Wasted months making right what they got wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by a761506

My message to PSA directly on 8-12-2019:

These two cards are both are US Topps cards mislabeled as Venezuela Topps... the Venezuela Topps version is extremely rare, particularly in this grade, and now the population report has been massively skewed as the mislabeling of the cards is opening the door for the seller to turn a $50 card into thousands of dollars and a total fraud. Nearly $10,000 of liability to PSA.

$5900.00

RARE - MICKEY MANTLE & Boyer 1960 Venezuela Topps #160 PSA 6 EX-MT (Pop ...

Extremely Rare 1960 Topps Venezuela #160 “Rival All Stars” Mickey Mantle & Ken Boyer PSA 6 EX-MT, extremely r...


$3900.00

RARE - MICKEY MANTLE & Boyer 1960 Venezuela Topps #160 PSA 5 EX (PSA Pop...

Extremely Rare 1960 Topps Venezuela #160 “Rival All Stars” Mickey Mantle & Ken Boyer PSA 5 EX, extremely rar...


With a system which supposedly requires multiple graders checking cards for accuracy before they leave PSA, there was a major failure here. Any grader who knows this issue would be able to tell in a glance that both of these cards were US Topps cards. The 1960 Venezuela Topps cards have different coloration, print quality, muted black ink on the back, as well as an easily distinguishable "sandstone" texture on the back. I'd guess the person who submitted them even listed them US Topps cards on their submission form.

These cards are both problematic now, and the seller, who I have communicated with asking him to return them to PSA to be corrected, is intent on committing fraud and selling them as fools gold to some unsuspecting collector.

Please find a way to get those cards back, out of those mislabeled holders and out of the population report.

PSA's reply:

Destanie Powell (Collectors Universe)

Aug 21, 12:44 PDT

Hi there!

Thank you for contacting PSA Customer Service!

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we do recommend to contact the seller so they can send it back to us for correction.

If any questions remain, please do not hesitate to reach out to PSA Customer Service at (800) 325-1121. A Customer Service Representative will be available Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (PST) to answer remaining questions.

Thank you,

Destanie
PSA Customer Service

Jesus that's awful.

[tdawg]

Just checked the PSA population report on the 2 1960 Venies in question... Both have been removed...

[hcv123]

and great. I suspect (hope) that PSA is becoming much more responsive to these types of situations. Great catch Josh. Now let's see how PWCC handles it.

[a761506]

Wow… I have never seen them deactivate a cert before without the card in hand, what happens to the guy who just bought the card for $1k? I’d say it’s a entirely worthless card now (until it’s cracked). And the one on eBay being offered for $4k… that one is worthless too.

Glad to see them right that wrong.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by a761506

Wow… I have never seen them deactivate a cert before without the card in hand, what happens to the guy who just bought the card for $1k? I’d say it’s a entirely worthless card now (until it’s cracked). And the one on eBay being offered for $4k… that one is worthless too.

Glad to see them right that wrong.

Isn't it only worthless to those that look up the cert #s? I have never looked up a cert # but have only owned a couple hundred PSA slabs total. Any guess on the percentage of buyers who do?

[swarmee]

PSA has a grade guarantee, but they'd force the buyer to have PWCC refund this one. And they designate certs all the time without the cards in hand. I've probably seen hundreds removed within a day of being exposed.
Removing the cart also serves to make it impossible to add to a set registry, so many people would notice.

[Exhibitman]

PWCC are cockroaches. Maybe eBay is finally going to do some pest control (see thread on main page).

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

PWCC are cockroaches. Maybe eBay is finally going to do some pest control (see thread on main page).

Yes but they are wealthy cockroaches that many members on here use on a regular basis for their collecting needs.

[tdawg]

eBay sent out an email yesterday accusing PWCC of shill bidding and has restricted PWCC's eBay listings... whatever that means..

In return, PWCC sent out an email last night denying the shill bidding and threatening legal action against eBay...