Ebay Sellers who Breakout PSA Graded Cards and Resale Raw
RTBrand
Posts: 18 ✭✭
I have not posted in quite a while but read the forum all the time. My discussion centers around the Ebay seller who breaks cards out of PSA holders and then sells the cards raw on Ebay for profit. I have seen this discussion regarding certain sellers in the past on this forum. Many years ago I went to a card show (O.K. I am going to give away the card show: Hollywood Park In L.A.) trying to sell some of my cards to dealers. They were cards that I no longer wanted in my collection and many of them were graded. I had some PSA 6s and 7s that I wanted to sell of HOF players. I took the cards to a seller I saw all the time at the show. The PSA 7s looked like PSA 7s etc. They were not especially well centered and showed some corner wear but applicable to a PSA 7. The seller told me he only bought graded cards that looked much better than the grade, i.e. a PSA 7 that looks like a well-centered 8 or 9 but has some barely noticeable print that technically lowers the grade to a 7. I noticed he was selling primarily nice looking raw cards. So It didn't ring a bell until later that he broke these high end graded cards out and sold them raw.
Much easier to do this on Ebay when you can also expertly use a photo editor to diminish print, scratches, marks, etc. You see these sellers selling raw ungraded cards on Ebay with a large inventory over extended periods of time that look very nice and wonder why don't they get them graded... they could make a lot more money if they got them graded. So obviously there are people who do this for a living on Ebay and I find it to be unethical to say the least. I think many on this forum know who they are and strive to avoid them. I do, but sometimes you get caught by one of these sellers. O.K. so here is a new wrinkle: people are on to you (the breakout seller) and your selling practices and won't buy from you after being burned, so the breakout seller ditches their old Ebay ID and start anew with a new EBay ID with no feedback. They look like a newbie seller that happens to have a personal raw collection of cards they are only now trying to sell on Ebay. This is how I got caught. Unfortunately I purchased card(s) from this seller and noticed every card looked much better in the scan than in hand. I could now look back in the scan and barely see the print or a scratch I missed in the scan (or not), but clearly could now see in hand. I hate to say that I bought more than 1 card from this seller before I caught on. I messaged him on one of the early cards I purchased expressing concern that the card might be trimmed. But he assured me it had not because "his friend" broke it out of a PSA case and was going to have it regraded but he instead bought it from "his friend" and was now selling it as is.
At first, this seller was not giving anything away that he was a previous seller with a new ID. But later on he started using the same identifying tag lines in his listing headings as he did before, and I knew who it was. Also Ebay now makes it harder for you to return cards, calling it excessive (when its not) and issuing warnings (which is another topic... Ebay would rather the buyer get burned than to fairly return cards that are not as described). So I had to eat these cards.
So you really can't call these sellers out (or can you). You have no proof they are breaking cards out of PSA holders and then selling them raw on Ebay possibly with the aid of a photo editor. So you can't really even insinuate this in feedback. Again, it is unethical to say the least.
Comments
This is the reason I don't buy raw vintage on eBay, with the exception of Greg Morris and a few sellers I know personally.
There's nothing unethical about buying a card that appears undergraded removing it from the holder and selling it.
Photoshopping the card is unethical, but as a buyer, you should be looking over your purchase as soon as it arrives VERY CAREFULLY! If the item is not as described, you can return it. I have never once had a problem returning anything. Ebay has always been more for the buyer than seller, in my experience.
I always like to play devils advocate on these type of situations. Obviously, photoshopping is not ethical at all, BUT at the same time, buying a raw card for lets say for $100 thinking you can get it graded an 8 and sell it for $300, only to find out it will grade out at a 7 and sell it for exactly what you paid for it and then thinking the seller did something wrong, is kind of unethical in that way of thinking. Its playing the grade game, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and there are sellers who KNOW you play the game and take advantage of that.
I bought a PSA 2 vintage hockey card that I'm convinced is under-graded. It has ~6 corners and some slight discoloration on the back. If I saw the raw card on eBay I'd believe I could at least get a 3 or 4 out of it. However, I'm not in this for the money so I think I'll just keep it.
Note that that is not a crease in the lower left. That's just something from the photo. The backside shows nothing there.
Hey vbacon,
Cool card...
There's nothing wrong with selling cracked out raw cards. Have a good scan and be honest with the major flaws. From a buyer's perspective, be realistic with your expectations. There are very few raw bargains now and if it is too good to be true there's a flaw in the card.
This is nothing new. If I remember correctly, two big time sellers on Ebay did this for a living. One was called "Battlefield" and the other was called "Great Lakes" or something to that affect. They made quite a good living doing exactly what you stated. I also believe both are no longer allowed to sell on Ebay. Not sure if there is a correlation or not.
If somebody is selling raw cards that used to reside in graded slabs, I don’t see the ethical issue with that. HOWEVER, there are sellers who sell raw cards pictured next to PSA labels, which of course can’t be proven to correspond to that specific card. That is pretty shady in my opinion.
Yaz Master Set
#1 Gino Cappelletti master set
#1 John Hannah master set
Also collecting Andre Tippett, Patriots Greats' RCs, 1964 Venezuelan Topps, 1974 Topps Red Sox
You forgot to add:
*Resell
I remember both of them. Their cards looked really good on eBay but then when purchasers received the cards, they were in much worse condition than they appeared from scans.
I've been buying from Greg Morris to complete sets for years. You pay more due to reputation but there are never any surprises.