[jack pfiester]

This is crazy stuff man. I agree that graded stuff is the only way to go, especially with high end rookies and vintage. It wont be long before those "honest" listings will "accidentally" leave out the reprint word...

On another note, the "digital card" listings on ebay are annoying as hell. Who collects those things anyway? Maybe I'm old school but I want to collect a card that I can actually hold and touch. Or that a player might have held at one point in time. To me digital cards are alot like capturing pokemon or whatever. Spend all this time and money on something for what? A picture of something that doesnt actually exist, idk, I need more coffee.

I really want this Beavis & Butthead card!

[Budinger]

I also believe graded cards are the only safe way to go, however, with that said, I only trust Beckett and PSA. Back in the 2000's I bought (9) Ken Griffey Jr 88 SB Spirit Best cards graded Gem Mint 10 graded by Gemgrading.net with full intention of cross grading with Beckett. Just had to know what bgs grade they'd pull. Cracked them out of their slab and finally got around to it and sent in 100 card lot. Well, 8 of the 9 come back as trimmed or shaved. The other one a bgs 5. How embarrassing it was for my first Beckett grading experience. A major stain on my rep. They probably thought the worst of me. Why I felt like I didn't get the deserved grades on some of the other cards. Did some research and rumor is it was some retired Air Force Officer, notorious for this practice. Supposedly was in prison for some kind of forgery. Don't know how much of that is true (disclaimer), but I do know not to trust any card graded by them. Buyer BEWARE!!! Just in my most humble opinion.

[DrMitchJ]

I also believe graded cards are the only safe way to go, however, with that said, I only trust Beckett and PSA. Back in the 2000's I bought (9) Ken Griffey Jr 88 SB Spirit Best cards graded Gem Mint 10 graded by Gemgrading.net with full intention of cross grading with Beckett. Just had to know what bgs grade they'd pull. Cracked them out of their slab and finally got around to it and sent in 100 card lot. Well, 8 of the 9 come back as trimmed or shaved. The other one a bgs 5. How embarrassing it was for my first Beckett grading experience. A major stain on my rep. They probably thought the worst of me. Why I felt like I didn't get the deserved grades on some of the other cards. Did some research and rumor is it was some retired Air Force Officer, notorious for this practice. Supposedly was in prison for some kind of forgery. Don't know how much of that is true (disclaimer), but I do know not to trust any card graded by them. Buyer BEWARE!!! Just in my most humble opinion.

A cautionary tale, if there ever was one. Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, I remember there were 'grading companies' popping up and certifying anything and everything a gem mint 10.

[Saintofvt]

If the smaller Grading Companies want to help themselves from this point on and reestablish our trust as hobbyists, plus create what we need so badly another good grading company to compete and help lower the prices while raising standards. When I was younger I made fake ID's and started there, Art restoration is what I called it. I later was caught and worked at a Nightclub as a doorman you! Checking ID's. The Nightclub was owned by the same detective who busted me. I later joined Marines Infantry and had a knack for catching fake Visa's and other crazy stuff (different story) but it has been a hobby along with collecting. I have see all the major Grading companies at one point get hit with a Guy who is a surgeon at taking Vintage and buying certain valuable cards remove corners and replace them with cards from same era by making a composite of the common card and putting it together like mud on drywall then send it to PSA or BGS and 9.5 or 10 Not 100% but its how I would do it. But after a while it will create a separate line on the joint not easy to spot. Black light is the best defense against surgery of that caliber. Fakes, copies of PSA or bccg are for sale everyday. Run the information PSA/DNA AUTHENTICATION has for us, sometimes it will share location and owner but check the seller out, investigate and ask questions. To good to be true!! Then it probably is. I send Ebay information on counterfeits every week, I watch and investigate all cards they have for sale, feedback ( worthless most times) but only way to stop them is to not buy from them. Take care Brother and Sister's Killian

[btrav13]

This same thing was RAMPANT in the sneaker industry for years. Especially a few years ago when Kanye West signed with adidas and made the Yeezy Boost. People would literally list them as "UA" for Unauthorized. I bought a pair and they were really, really close to being identical to a Yeezy.

But now, if you use any description for shoes that implicates it's a fake, the auction is removed (I only know this cause I tried to later sell those UA yeezy's). Then in came StockX. They are a "stock market" for handbags, watches and sneakers. When you sell through them, you don't mail to the customer. You mail to StockX. After your item is verified as legit, they mail to the customer and release the funds to you the seller and take an 8.5% cut.

The buyer pays for shipping, the seller is paying for "authentication". We need a StockX of sports cards.

[kerryandbeth]

Maybe when I retire from being a CPA that is something I could do for extra spending money! (verify cards as a 3rd party)

[btrav13]

Maybe when I retire from being a CPA that is something I could do for extra spending money! (verify cards as a 3rd party)

It wouldn't be a bad idea. The thing about eBay that kills me is how hard it is to leave negative feedback. You have to wait 7 days from the auction's end and go through hoops just to leave a negative.

I read every seller's feedback and I see so many "positive" but have horribly negative comments. The only reason I know it's a PITA to leave negative feedback is that a guy put a card up for a starting bid of 99 cents. I bid on it and won at 99 cents. After a couple days it still wasn't marked shipped so I contacted him.

He said he didn't spend the money on tracking for items that sell for 99 cents. It usually costs me right at $3 for tracking so I charge $3.49 for shipping. That's also, ironically, what I paid him. So he claimed that it went out in a plain business envelope with no tracking.

When I asked why no tracking if I paid $3.49 (and when I do that it gives my buyers tracking) he said it wasn't "worth his time for 99 cents minus an ebay fee". So I kindly pointed out that if you start an item at 99 cents you run the risk of it selling for 99 cents and he could look at my sales history to see that the same thing has happened to me a few times.

At that point he quit responding. Well to leave negative feedback I had to "contact buyer" FIRST. I'd already done that. So I did it again, and told him that I was opening a case for never receiving my item. I had to wait 7 days, ebay refunded me (not sure if that was at his expense or not) and then I could FINALLY leave negative feedback.

I had a sense from the very beginning that he just never mailed the card. So after I left the negative feedback I followed him. Sure enough about 3 or 4 days later he posted the card again at 99 cents.

I get that ebay doesn't want us being vindictive, but good grief. I can see why people just click "positive" and then blister them with a bad comment. But if you see a seller with 400 feedbacks at 100% positive then most people think "oh this person is reputable". Nope.

[kerryandbeth]

Another option is to sell on COMC. They like high-end cards and charge a fee of $1 to list an autograph. The only caveat is that you need to send at least 10 cards at a time to be processed. They take photos of front and back, list the item with a serial number, and you pick the price once they are uploaded after 2-4 weeks.

Prevents negative feedback (there is no feedback) and takes shipping out of your hands, too. I did it for over 300 cards and also had fun with it.

BUT, and a large BUT, you either have to reinvest the funds into other cards, or buy boxes from Bllowout cards, or take a discounted cash payout.

[jbissell]

It wouldn't be a bad idea. The thing about eBay that kills me is how hard it is to leave negative feedback. You have to wait 7 days from the auction's end and go through hoops just to leave a negative.

I read every seller's feedback and I see so many "positive" but have horribly negative comments. The only reason I know it's a PITA to leave negative feedback is that a guy put a card up for a starting bid of 99 cents. I bid on it and won at 99 cents. After a couple days it still wasn't marked shipped so I contacted him.

He said he didn't spend the money on tracking for items that sell for 99 cents. It usually costs me right at $3 for tracking so I charge $3.49 for shipping. That's also, ironically, what I paid him. So he claimed that it went out in a plain business envelope with no tracking.

When I asked why no tracking if I paid $3.49 (and when I do that it gives my buyers tracking) he said it wasn't "worth his time for 99 cents minus an ebay fee". So I kindly pointed out that if you start an item at 99 cents you run the risk of it selling for 99 cents and he could look at my sales history to see that the same thing has happened to me a few times.

At that point he quit responding. Well to leave negative feedback I had to "contact buyer" FIRST. I'd already done that. So I did it again, and told him that I was opening a case for never receiving my item. I had to wait 7 days, ebay refunded me (not sure if that was at his expense or not) and then I could FINALLY leave negative feedback.

I had a sense from the very beginning that he just never mailed the card. So after I left the negative feedback I followed him. Sure enough about 3 or 4 days later he posted the card again at 99 cents.

I get that ebay doesn't want us being vindictive, but good grief. I can see why people just click "positive" and then blister them with a bad comment. But if you see a seller with 400 feedbacks at 100% positive then most people think "oh this person is reputable". Nope.

Dang, your post just makes me cringe.