[sonic311]

The card in question is actually on the bay and auction ends in 2 days. I emailed the seller requesting the COA and he is not responding. Here is his response when I asked him about background/history of the card:
"i receive this card from a inheritance dont know to much about cards just learning. i think it was pack pulled. no certification that i know of. thank 4 your time"

Sounds shady right? I was thinking about reporting this but I recall people saying that eBay won't do anything when you report these types of issues so I'd hate to waste my time. I just hate the fact that there are people out there getting scammed out of their hard-earned money and getting away with it.

[dodgytrousers]

If you really think he is being shady then you should report him.

Here is eBay's policies on autographs and COA's:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/autographs.html

The card does not come with a COA, it is not graded and there is no guarantee on the back of the card because it was not originally an auto release. Therefore eBay may pull the auction if people complain.

[djohn]

SCAM! I can be 100% certain based on the response of the seller that you just posted.
1) If he says there is no certification of any kind but the card was pack pulled then there should be a UDA sticker on the back of the card which would be part of the certification.
2) The seller says he got the card from an inheritance and doesn't know anything about cards. That alone is a HUGE red flag.
3) He mentions that he believes the card is pack pulled. However he got it from an inheritance and "doesn't know much about cards" so what makes him believe that is was pack pulled?
4) Look at his other auctions and notice there are a few other autographed basketball cards that aren't pack pulled. However more interesting is the Ray Allen Auto 1/1 similar to the Kobe.
5) The price of the auction as well as the price of his Ray Allen auction seem to be way too low and random of a starting price.
6) Check out the description in his Tim Duncan auction. If the Kobe and Ray Allen cards were legit and numbered 1/1 why wouldn't they have been ones sent to PSA/DNA?

Judging by his other auctions and completed auctions, my guess is that he is a coin collector that someone sold him a lot of basketball autographed cards. Most likely one of the cards was verified by PSA/DNA (I would guess it's the Dirk Auto that he sold back in November). The original seller might have convinced the coin collector that they were all legit and worth tons of money but he didn't have time to sell them or just really needed some money right away (or whatever other scam people try) and since the one was verified that they must all be authentic. The coin collector may have tried to sell them at a card shop and was turned away and now he figures he might get something on eBay.

All that being said, if you still aren't convinced that it's a scam then just buy it (judging by the 0 number of bids and $46 starting price you should be able to get it cheaply). You can then send it in to get it authenticated and see for yourself if you made an incredible buy or got scammed. My guess is you will be disappointed.

[got watcha want]

When they stop faking the cardboard we collect we will all be in big trouble. Because for scammers to stop faking cards means that our cards will be worth nothing, atleast not enough to fake and sell........

[sonic311]

Thanks djohn for the extensive research you did, it's much appreciated.
I too had the same concerns and saw all the Red Flags just wanted to post a thread that got people involved and talking about this issue which gives a black eye to the hobby of sports cards collecting/trading/selling.
I have reported the item and awaiting eBays response.

[kenarm79]

I asked him to show me a pic of the back of the Ray Allen auto and if he had a coa from UD for it. He told me that he added it, but he just added a pic of the Kobe to the auction, lol. Anyway, the back of the Kobe doesn't have the sticker.

[djohn]

He added pictures of the back and even put up a really cheap Buy It Now price on the Kobe. Neither the Kobe nor Ray Allen have the UDA holograms on the back. I would stay away from these.