Ebay Seller TheCardProinVegas - definitely not a pro

BarkusD

I recently bought two 1960 topps PSA 8s from this seller on ebay. They arrived loose last night in a large padded envelope. Needless to say the holders are extremely scratched from rubbing against each other in transit. To make matters worse, one of the cards is a clear misgrade. It has a deep crease that is about 1/3 of an inch long that anyone could see, just not in the small scan provided by the seller in the auction. I emailed the seller to complain about these issues and his response:

"HELLO, A BUBBLE ENVELOPE HAS NEVER BEEN A PROBLEM FOR ME IN 4500 TRANSACTIONS. I AM SORRY IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY ABOUT THAT. AS FAR AS PSA GOES, THEY WILL REFUND YOU THE FULL PRICE YOU PAID FOR THAT CARD IF YOU SHOW THEM THE ERROR THEY MADE. THEY DON'T WANT THEIR NAME TARNISHED OVER GRADES LIKE YOU SAY YOU HAVE. I NEVER NOTICED A CREASE,BUT REALLY COUNTED ON THEM TO DO THEIR JOB ACCURATELY."

I'll post a scan of the card later today. It's definitely one and done for me with this seller who of course has not left me feedback so he can give the retaliatory negative if I give him the feedback he deserves.

NickM

Does he really deserve a negative?

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but scratched holders aren't that big a problem to me.

As far as the creased PSA 8, that is PSA's mistake, and they will refund you what you paid once they acknowledge it. I don't know how much attention the seller paid to his cards, but I certainly know some who buy the holder, not the card, to such a degree that they wouldn't notice if PSA had made a mistake.

Nick

joemaggio

I had an eerily similar experience with a different seller last year. A single card shipped loose in a bubble mailer. When it arrived, the case was literally cracked in half plus it had a couple spots on the top that looked like someone hit it with a hammer. When I questioned the seller I got the same "you're the first guy who had a problem and I ship 1000's of cards like this." Of course, he was also one of those crooked sellers that won't leave feedback so that they can retaliate if you neg them.

The guy deserved the negative for his poor customer service. All he had to do was accept some responsibility and offer a refund and he turns a bad transaction into a good one.

I agree with David on this one.

262Runner

This is one that I sit on the middle.... I agree that he should have already left feedback, I agree he should offer a refund if you are not happy with the cards you purchased.

On the other hand, I believe that in most cases a bubble mailer with the cards secured together in some way should have been fine. Scratches on holders happen, I have cards with scratches that I received directly from PSA from a submission. Unless they are major, I don't worry about that.

The error on the card with the crease is PSA's mistake, however I would have offered a refund if it was me.

I do not think this deserves a neg, I would just not leave feedback and let the seller know why. He may change his mind once he learns he has lost a good customer and his ID is all over these boards as someone not to buy from.

Just my opinion

262

BarkusD

Just to be clear, the cards were not secured together in any way, which is what caused the scratches. Is a rubberband too much to ask?

Carew29

So basicly what you are saying is that anyone who sells PSA cards and we are not happy with the grading from PSA that we put their names on the board for bashing purposes.

cardbender

Hi Barkus,
Sorry you had a problem with this seller. I hate scratched psa holders too. As a buyer and seller on ebay, proper packaging should make this a non issue. He sounds like a lazy seller.

I don't think the seller deserves a negative however.
He just doesn't deserve any future business from you.

PSA graded the cards, I don't see how it's the sellers fault they
are overgraded either. If the seller saw the crease before listing it for sale, he should've not sold it and brought it to PSA's attention himself. He said he didn't see the crease, so that's all we have to go on here.

I would just avoid this seller and move on. Thanks for bringing it to the boards attention though.

Along the same lines, I recently got a card in the mail that I won on ebay from Champs and Bums, that had two obvious surface gouges on it. It was graded a PSA 8! I didn't even bother emailing him about it. I'll just return it to psa at the next show I see them at and get a grading credit and get the card removed from the marketplace. Makes you kind of question the sellers integrity a little when they list something with an obvious flaw and don't disclose it in their listing description.

Regards,
Rich

cravetopps

sellers need to be accountable for the way they ship cards. Maybe we can give him a pass on the condition of the card since we have to take his word at face value due to the volume he does. Of course, if it was a Mantle, Aaron or Yastrzemski, one would have to question whether he knew about the crease. I received a card a few weeks ago in an envelope with no bubble warp, just two cardboard slabs around the card. the holder was broken. I contacted the seller and he told me he would refund my purchase. because of his reply, I kept the card and sent it to PSA to reholder. I ate the grading fee and the shipping to and from PSA. I didn't mind because the seller stepped up and did what he should have done. Two weeks ago, to my surprise, I received a free card from the seller which more than compensated me for the cost I incurred. Bottom line....I would gladly buy a card from this seller again.

Anyone who has dealt with BarkusD knows he is a veteran with a great track record. I have purchased several cards from him and always professionally packaged, like you would expect. If I were that seller, I would have stepped up and taken care of him. Instead, he shunted the blame to PSA and sidestepped the packaging issue. Although he does not sound like a jerk, I would consider him below the professional standards of the excellent sellers I deal with. The seller should have sent the card back to PSA, not Barkus.

Negative...no, but avoid in the future, absolutely. It's the sellers loss, long term.

djspann

I've had several experiences like this recently. Shipping loose in a large padded mailer is crazy. Scratches, etc. on the holder aside, a lot worse things can happen in this case.

I think bubble mailers are generally fine if the cards are wrapped tightly, preferably with cardboard or something around them. I also think that bubble mailers are only acceptable up to a certain value -- after that, a box and good packaging are required. I'm not sure where my threshold is for this, but somewhere around $200 seems reasonable. I am always nervous if I receive a higher value card in a bubble mailer.

I haven't left a negative for shipping like this yet, but I wouldn't disagree with you for doing so, especially since the seller thinks it is no big deal.


Doug

shouldabeena10

David,

You're right that he should have secured the two cards together better, and that his customer service skills could use sharpening .... but I have to agree with the other guys that it's not "neg worthy" and you can't really expect all ebay sellers to deal with PSA misgrades.

PSA graded the card, not him. You figure, there's a good chance that he didn't submit the card himself, or that he's never seen the crease, or maybe he doesn't even know what a crease on a card means?

What if this poor guy was really just a total newbie, and that was the nicest raw card he'd ever had in his collection? He'd been bragging to people for years about this beautiful raw card he had from his youth. One day he stumbles across a PSA card collector, and starts telling the tale of his mighty card. The PSA collector wisely suggests to the newbie that he join PSA and get all of his cards graded!

So he rushes home, logs onto the website and joins PSA. He spends all night wrapping his beautiful cards and making sure they're all in perfect order. He submits the beautiful card (along with 49 others) to get graded. He waits with great anticipation for weeks and weeks, and finally when his grades pop, he see's that his special card got awarded the almighty grade of PSA 8.

Now his other 49 cards only got PSA 6's and 7's, so he can't wait to receive the package to study and compare them all. He's very interested in learning more about this new fangled fad called grading. A few days later when the package finally arrives, the air fills with excitement as he rushes to open it. The smell of fresh bubble wrap fills the room. He spends hours and hours staring at his new pile of shiny PSA graded cards and comparing the differences between the grades. Eventually, he notices that only the single PSA 8 card has a crease in it, while all of the others are crease free. So he comes to the logical conclusion to crack out the other 49 cards, crease them all, and resubmit to try and get more 8's!

Mickey71

I had recently a great experience with a damaged holder. I bought an SGC 86 1960 Mays a few years ago and it arrived with the holder seriously broken-to the point where I thought the card could be damaged. I took the card out of the holder and kept it in a card saver for about 3 years. I recently sent it in with my CC submissions thinking it would get a 7. It was accurately graded an 86. It came back an 8 and I just smiled. I think collectors should check with their post office on something that I heard. If a card is damaged in a bubble wrap envelope you could be liable. A postal clerk told me the post office needs the item to be reasonably protected and a bubble mailer is not good enough. I generally send everything in a box with some packaging. I'd like some decent comments from things people have heard from the post office regarding bubble wrap envelopes and expensive cards. THANKS.

WinPitcher

I heard that too, I wonder why do they sell insurance then for items in bubble mailers?

Steve

markj111

I won a 59 PSA 8 Koufax a few months ago. It arrived in a (barely) padded envelope with no additional protection. I was stunned that a seller would do that, but the card was not damaged.

GOODLIEU

As far as the shipping goes common sense tells you there is no way you send any package out with too pieces of ridgid plastic in it banging against each other during transit. As one person said a rubber band would do the trick. Also the Double Bubble ship by covering the cards in a bubble wrap that goes into the mailer works exceptionally well for protection. As far as the PSA grade goes I do not think the seller should be held responsible for that. Personally I purchase quite a few graded vintage Basketball cards PSA as well as SGC and Beckett and what I do is if there is a obvious problem with the card (Blatant misgrade or mechanical error or really bad scuffed or cracked case) I bring them to the National with me and in the last 5 years or so have not once had a problem getting them squared away with any of the grading services on site.

GOODLIEU

I just wanted to add that if you cant make the National all the companies attend various card shows around the country and you could catch them there. The reason I save them for the National is they all have on site grading going and their Public Relations mode is in full swing as they are acutely aware that their top customers and critics are probably at the show and they all want to put their best foot forward. Good time to get things done

1420sports

I have received many PSA cards shipped in bubble envelopes. Never received one that was damaged. As far as scratches, some people are just ridiculous - not saying you are - but I have heard horror stories from other collectors and dealers about the collector who asks 20 questions about the holder itself. Big deal.

I just cannot see how two slabs could scratch each other enough to be concerned.

BarkusD

You have to be joking about not seeing how one slab can scratch the other. I suggest you take two freshly graded slabs from PSA, put them in a large bag and shake them up for a minute. Tell me what the slabs look like when they come out. I can tell you, they will be really scratched up and look terrible. It takes no effort or cost to rubber band the slabs together. No quality seller would ship in this manner.

pc

cmon give the seller a break. you spent practically nothing for shipping,insurance or the 2 cards.
save your negatives for real issues. that seller didnt intentionally try to mess with you.

BarkusD

I didn't give the guy a negative. Insurance wouldn't cover poor packaging. I just think most collectors would not want to buy from a guy who throws multiple cards into an envelope, seals it and drops it into the mail. As I said, a rubberband would have been nice to kep the holders from banging together.

RipublicaninMass

I had a graded card show up cracked in half. The seller wanted the card back, and then I had to file an insurance claim. I think the seller just ended up refunding the 70$