Help an old noob out - "Shipping to authenticator"???
mcastaldi
Posts: 1,178 ✭✭✭
So after being away from cards for quite a while, I'm getting back in. Building nice raw sets from 74-84.
Anyway. . .I recently won a card on eBay that closed at >$250. When the seller shipped it, it looks like it's being "shipped to authenticator" who I presume will then ship to me. WTF is this? How long will the 'authenticator' need to get around to shipping this out to me?
This totally wasn't a thing back (in the old days) when I built a couple graded sets.
So full of action, my name should be a verb.
0
Comments
Authenticator had a card I just sold for 2 days. Arrived Monday, ships out to buyer today. Total time depends on the USPS mostly.
In my case, I bought a graded card. Is there really a problem with eBay sellers sending counterfeit/illegitimate graded/slabbed cards? Because it sounds like a solution without an actual problem.
As as far as raw. . .whether I'm the seller or the buyer, I'm not sure I'd want someone injecting themselves in the middle of the transaction pawing the card(s).
I was one of those complaining about this when it was first forced upon buyers.
I still think it should be optional, but it would seem I am in the minority.
It’s not a bad idea per se to protect newbies from tampered or counterfeit slabs, but it’s mostly a way for eBay to cover its own ass
I won this card $34 on 7/6 https://www.ebay.com/itm/196474001796. and it is stuck at the authenticator. Why do I need authentication on a $34 card? Ridiculous!
Or just getting an empty envelope!
I’m building nice raw sets from 74-84. And with the way prices have exploded since the pandemic, I’m not sure how many really nice raw stars/HOFers haven’t been sent for grading. So I expect I’ll have to buy a number of graded cards to finish these in the condition I’m targeting.
I’m planning to be at National tomorrow and intended on looking to find trustworthy sources for quality raw (since Columbus isn’t a hotbed for good shows). Looks like I’m doing the same for graded stuff for the years I’m doing.
What condition are you targeting for your sets and do you intend to grade them?
@bgr Once upon a time, I completed two graded sets. 72T & 75T baseball. Both in PSA8 or better. They're probably still on the registry somewhere. I sold those off many moons ago. The 72T set paid for my wedding - 19 years ago. With the current landscape (high PSA grading fees + high prices for graded commons + very high prices for unopened) I really think graded sets are more of a vanity project for the individual collector now. When I built my 72T and 75T sets, PSA8 commons could had pretty consistently in the $10-15 range. And 9s in the $15-20 range. If memory serves, grading fees were in the $8/card range. There were exceptions, obviously. But now. . .when grading is $16-$19/card it makes it really really hard to submit duplicates to pay for the stuff you want to keep. And with grading that high, it makes it really tough to justify $1k to $2k on cracking a rack box from 1980-1983. You need to have a pretty spectacular rack box - and a fair amount of money for submissions - to hope to break even, much less pay for your 'keepers'.
So these will be ungraded sets - with allowances for stars/HOFers which I'm unlikely to find in desired condition raw.
As a general rule, I'm looking to do the 74-79 sets as NM+. . .and the 80-84 sets as NM/MT+.
A couple weeks ago, I started breaking out all my raw stuff and was surprised how much nice stuff I still had. As of right now, here's my completion percentages. . .
74T - 53%
75T - 60%
76T - 25%
77T - 32%
78T - 50%
80T - 62%
84T - 62% - way back when, I opened two rack boxes of 84T. This is what I have sleeved so far. I still have about 1600 raw 84T to go through from those rack boxes.
That's what I've gone through so far. If it's not listed, it still needs to be inventoried. But I'd guess I'm under 30% on each of those - except 81D where I'm probably closer to 50% done.
Two additional things come to mind that authentication helps to prevent:
1. As Rufuss said, buyer ships an empty envelope or buyer claims he received an empty envelope
2. Buyer buys a 52 Mantle but seller ships an ultra modern common (or buyer claims to have received an ultra modern common)
Jim
Yet if you buy a card from PSA on eBay it skips Authentication. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Well there would be video of PSA employee malfeasance. PSA self authenticates! I wonder if they send it with the sticker?
I mean haven these possibilities always been around? While I don’t know how many $250+ cards I’ve bought/sold on eBay, I’ve bought or sold thousands of cards on eBay and these two possibilities have happened exactly zero times.
While there is a non-zero chance of these things happening, I’m still not convinced they happen often enough that a third party needs to be injected in the transaction.
Yep, and I think eBay was fed up with dealing with the instances where they did happen. They also send raw cards over $x to be authenticated, so they presumably had enough fraud in their eyes to take action. Apparently they’ve done it with shoes and maybe watches for a much longer period of time, so they had some real world examples showing that there’s a benefit (at least to them, arguably for buyers / sellers).
Jim
I wonder how much it has to do with eBay moving to be the payment processor. Since eBay isn’t the seller, if someone does a chargeback for a transaction gone bad, the CC company goes after eBay since they’re the ones you paid. But since they’re not the actual seller, how do they prove they fulfilled the transaction?
So it’s eBay protecting themselves against chargebacks. And I’m assuming they saw the most risk/exposure in transactions >$250.
Hey Mike!! I remember you from the board way back when.. Glad to see you here again! I can definitely help you out with 76’s.. Let me know and I will dig mine out..
John
ON ITS WAY TO NEWPORT BEACH, CA 92658
nope
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)