Anyone have fading problems when buying online?
Jibbers23
Posts: 3 ✭
Anybody ever have a problem with buying a graded card online that ended up being faded? There are so many ways to improve pictures that I don’t buy anything expensive online for this reason. As far as I’m aware none of the major graders have UV resistant slabs.
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IMHO you bring up valid and very serious concern. I hope it won't be causally dismissed by the seller fraternity on this forum.
"Photoshopping" is child's play and employed by at least one current large NJ seller as well as in past by a large Washington State based company. That said nearly anyone could do it...
As for my own collection I'm now using these for my PSA slabs:
https://www.cardshellz.com/pages/hero-diamond-shell
Highly recommended the seller/firm ships weekend order out first thing Monday morning and they are glad to answer questions. Pleasure to do business with true professionals!
Hoping they will one say make them SGC sized
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
I had not seen those UV slab holders before. That’s a great idea.
I would caution though that blocking UV isn’t the only thing that can cause fading of the card. It’s all light. The UV and IR just have the most energy so they do the most damage but it’s all light. Also temperature and humidity and air quality can play a role. But that said everything you do to protect the ink helps.
In a room with no natural light using LED bulbs and the UV protective cases it should be fine to display a card for 3-4 months at a time every couple of years. At least that's my current plan so I do hope it works. BTW the room is dark most days from 11pm to 6pm next day
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
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Is this a slab for a slab? :-) That is, do you encase the slab inside another container for UV protection?
Yep - funny right? But it provides protections in form of durability and 100% UV blockage that PSA slabs do not.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
A few people have done YouTube videos in which they teset the UV sensitivity of various card containers, including PSA and others' slabs. As I recall, the PSA slabs performed more poorly than other slabs.
And also, an adjacent topic to this thread is what happens if a card is graded and then displayed in a sunlit area such that it becomes faded. The card is still in its slab with the original grade, even though the now-faded card no longer represents the condition of the card when it was graded.
I thought that was the actual topic
A simple photoshopping then sell on platform of your choice.
From what I've seen on eBay's Auth program is will only very the cards is real and slab has not been tampered with, there is no indication they have a concern with fading. Once it passes the Auth program the buyer is out of luck
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not fading, but had two cards arrive recently that had surface bubbles. Graded 9, but actually 5s.
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Right, someone can easily use Photoshop to make a card appear better than it actually is by exagerating colors or removing blemishes. I was referring to a different problem in which a card has physically deteriorated since it was graded (because it was allowed to fade by being exposed to sunlight) but still has the original grade on its slab.
I suppose if you didn't want to use a slab protector which uses a plastic that has UV protection you could use an acrylic spray on transparent UV protector like a Krylon or Trinova. I'm not very familiar with the sprays but one of the main use-cases is framed pictures/art in your house that might be sun-drenched. It's an oddity that slabs don't consider this more appropriately in their design.
yep.
PSA plans on having premium UV protected slab option for Comic Books.
After sampling one I purchased a case of the cardz hero shell's so I have my own solution for cards that are fine but none of that answers the original question posed in this thread...
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Right. "Anyone ever have a problem.... ?" Yup.
I returned it. "Item not as described". Item had passed eBay authenticity guarantee. Seller used the PSA scan image only in the listing. I messaged them on the platform and asked very directly something like.... "Card is badly faded. This was not in the PSA image you had in listing. Will you allow return.". They basically said no. So I reached out to eBay via "item not as described" and sent them scans of the card. They allowed the return. That's what I would recommend when this happens with eBay, but I have no experience with other auction sites. I primarily use REA and Heritage and have not had this issue. I believe they use their own scans of the items. eBay maintains their brand as "dark web of auction houses".
We had an Arizona based member who intentionally left some cards outside to observe sun impact - I think one of the cards was Steve Vai. Pretty crazy how quickly the image started to degrade.
Jim
That’s what I was referring to (82football) also. Once a card is graded if not cared for it can fade and it’s easy to fix that for an ebay post.
I'm sure doctoring eBay images is not an exception for Collectible Sellers. BTW PSA's scans are usually way too bright and obscure detail as a result...
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
they seem nice and probably serve their purpose, but at 4.50 to 6.00 a pop, a bit expensive...I'd probably only consider them for more expensive cards or cards to be displayed regularly
Take a minute or to get the knack of removing cards from the shell but once you do it's fast and simple. When in the shell the slabs feel good - a lot like SGC slabs
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)