I just received 3 counterfeit '78 fb wax trays from ebay seller!!!

summerof68

I just received 3 bogus '78 fb wax trays from an ebay auction I won for $99 last week. The seller listed each tray in separate auctions and used the same (stock) picture in each auction. The picture showed a great looking tray. I contacted the seller and told him I almost never buy anything with a stock picture and he told me the trays were right out of a case and Mint and that I wouldn't be dissapointed. He has over 1000 ebay transactions with a 99% rating and is a power seller. I received the paks today and as soon as I opened the box I new something was terribly wrong! The cellophane had no brown oval Topps advertising logo that always says: 3 20cent paks. I then turned the tray over and lo and behold there were no seals on the reverse cellophane at all. Someone had taken an authentic cardboard tray and placed three '78 wax paks in the tray but then used a machine to simply shrinkwrap the tray. All three trays were like this. I've seen easily over a 1000 wax trays from all sports and all years on ebay and other auction houses over the last ten years and have never seen one without that distinctive Topps brown, green or red oval on the front and the unique seal pattern on the reverse. I immediately contacted the seller and he said he didn't know what I meant by the brown oval logo on the front of the tray. I replied that I was referring to that VERY SAME logo that was on the pak in HIS stock picture but was NOT on my 3 trays. He said he had some '79s at hand and he came back to the phone and said he now knew what I was referring to and couldn't believe the three he sent me didn't have this. So he offered to send me 5 '79 fb trays and to go ahead and send him back the 3 '78s. Well we will see what happens. He is either a very naive seller who doesn't pay attention to what he sells or a scam artist....I guess I will soon find out!!!!!

WinPitcher

Yikes, sounds like he tried to get over on you, but then again maybe it was just an honest mistake?

Hope it all works out for you.


Steve

CoachTom

For whatever reason, it almost never works out when we do not get a picture of the actual item. I am sure I have missed a few really nice deals, but I will not even bid .99 cents for an Aaron rookie card in 5 if they do not have a picture. Never with the phrase,"camera not available at time of auction." That one really gets me.

Coach Tom

SOM

I'd make sure you receive those '79's first before you return the '78's.

joemaggio

Don't forget that eBay requires Power Sellers to accept returns, so you should have them on your side if anything else goes wrong.

grote15

Sorry to hear that. I have heard that some 78 trays were produced without any cellophane overwrap (don't know for sure if this accurate), but have never seen one with cellophane without the Topps label. Sounds like the guy who wrapped all those bogus grocery cellos is moving on to trays. Hope you get your $$$ back or at least an acceptable trade.

estang

I would appreciate you PM or emailing me (ehstang@bellsouth.net) who this seller is. I bought a box of 1979 Fleer Football from someone on ebay and I very strongly believe the packs were opened, pillaged and re-sealed. Not one Earl Campbell card and the collation was absurd not to mention a few odd wax stains. The seller had a very strong ebay rating, and my gut tells me it's the same seller.

summerof68

Hello grote15. It is always good to hear from you. You are correct as there were some cases of '78 fb wax trays going around that contained 48 trays with no cellophane. I very honest seller in So. california with the user ID of (feed the cat) was selling these unwrapped '78 fb trays on ebay two years ago. He showed a picture of the trays as they sat in the case and made it clear that when he opened the case this was what he found. I live within sixty miles of this seller and he told me he purchased this case along with a '79 baseball tray case from none other than Mark Murphy. The '79 case was fine. He had both cases in his possession for six years until he opened them both to start parting them out on ebay and made this discovery. With respect to the three shrink wrapped trays I received it is possible that another person received a similar unwrapped case and decided to simply shrink wrap each '78 fb tray and pass them off that way to reduce his losses. Just a thought.

summerof68

Hello estang, your obtaining a possibly tampered with vintage wax box is by no means an isolated incident. This occurs all the time and buyers are frequently burned. The odds that your particular box came from the same seller that sold me the 3 shrinked wrapped trays is miniscule. Ebay is loaded with unscrupulous sellers. I also want to give this seller a chance to redeem himself. However if I experience any foul play with regards to the 5 authentic '79 fb trays he is supposed to be sending me then I will not only give you his user name and real name but I will also post this information as a thread to all.

summerof68

Thanks very much joemaggio for informing me that power sellers have to accept returns. I was not aware of this. I paid this seller using paypal. I will wait until I receive or don't receive the 5 '79 fb trays he is going to be sending in compensation.

RedHeart54

summerof68, are you a collector of wax trays?

summerof68

Hello Redheart. Yes I am a collector of wax trays but I've had two bad experiences in a row with ebay sellers of wax trays who use stock photos and quite frankly I'm about to give up on trays altogether. I love these trays because you can't search or sequence the cards so you know you will be getting packs who cards are unknown. Plus the packaging of a tray (when in MINT) condition is very pleasing to the eye. Additionally I don't have to get involved with the headaches that are associated with pak grading. I will never open these trays...I am just attracted to mint trays that look new but are of course 28 or more years old. However this morning I received a phone call from this second ebay seller with some bad news concerning the three '79 bb trays I just won from him. I'm now debating if I should post a thread with the details of this now second frustrating ebay encounter.....