The Scam Archives - For Posterity/Reference
MattyC
Posts: 1,335 ✭✭
Seeing the recent thread regarding a fellow board member being sold a resealed wax box got me thinking: many of us have encountered scams in the past. I cannot recall a thread in which members recounted those sour, stinging firsthand experiences. This could be a valuable resource, as current and future collectors could, by reading these experiences, become immune to them down the line.
Very early on in my collecting career I was stung to the tune of $1500 on a 1994 SP A-Rod PSA 10. I had been negotiating through best offer with an ebay seller. He had legitimate feedback and had sold a couple valuable cards in the past, and was selling a few others at the time. He said he'd come down on his price considerably if I paid off-ebay through a check. I was somewhat leery, but the communication with this guy was top notch. He came across educated and articulate. I felt he understood I was a potential recurring customer, and so why beat me for one card when he can sell me many over time? He also sent scans that proved to me he possessed the card...
Boy was I wrong on this one. I gambled for what would have been a steal price and never got the card. The guy shut down his ebay account and just went MIA on me. I did get my lawyer to track the punk a55 down and furnish me with his address; my brother and I were planning a drive about two hours south to, let's just say, "set things right." When luckily my lawyer, knowing how hot I was at this and my generally unshy-about-confrontation temperament, advised me to fall back and send a legal letter. We knew that would likely be ignored, but it was deemed better than me facing an assault charge, lol.
From then on I became much, much more wary of doing any such deal without trusted references-- references became key to me. That is not to say I haven't pulled the trigger since on a few private deals where I could have still been burned, but after that instance my antennae became much more finely tuned.
Anyways, I'm glad to say that remains my one personal experience for contribution.
I do know a few collectors who were burned by resealed slabs, though. The future remedy they chose for this issue was to buy only their real high-dollar stuff from reputable sellers whose real profit comes from doing massive business-- like the high-end AHs and Probsteins and PWCCs. They felt such sellers would always make things right so as to preserve their reputations. It is important to know that PSA will not reimburse a collector for a fake or resealed slab the way they will for an altered card that made it into a legit PSA slab. While knowing what to look for in terms of flips and fonts and frosting is great, it can be a tough labyrinth to negotiate. A seller with a rock solid return policy AND who likely possesses the knowledge to spot a fake or resealed slab provides good insurance and peace of mind. You usually pay a retail price from these venues, but those trade-offs to some are worth it.
Very early on in my collecting career I was stung to the tune of $1500 on a 1994 SP A-Rod PSA 10. I had been negotiating through best offer with an ebay seller. He had legitimate feedback and had sold a couple valuable cards in the past, and was selling a few others at the time. He said he'd come down on his price considerably if I paid off-ebay through a check. I was somewhat leery, but the communication with this guy was top notch. He came across educated and articulate. I felt he understood I was a potential recurring customer, and so why beat me for one card when he can sell me many over time? He also sent scans that proved to me he possessed the card...
Boy was I wrong on this one. I gambled for what would have been a steal price and never got the card. The guy shut down his ebay account and just went MIA on me. I did get my lawyer to track the punk a55 down and furnish me with his address; my brother and I were planning a drive about two hours south to, let's just say, "set things right." When luckily my lawyer, knowing how hot I was at this and my generally unshy-about-confrontation temperament, advised me to fall back and send a legal letter. We knew that would likely be ignored, but it was deemed better than me facing an assault charge, lol.
From then on I became much, much more wary of doing any such deal without trusted references-- references became key to me. That is not to say I haven't pulled the trigger since on a few private deals where I could have still been burned, but after that instance my antennae became much more finely tuned.
Anyways, I'm glad to say that remains my one personal experience for contribution.
I do know a few collectors who were burned by resealed slabs, though. The future remedy they chose for this issue was to buy only their real high-dollar stuff from reputable sellers whose real profit comes from doing massive business-- like the high-end AHs and Probsteins and PWCCs. They felt such sellers would always make things right so as to preserve their reputations. It is important to know that PSA will not reimburse a collector for a fake or resealed slab the way they will for an altered card that made it into a legit PSA slab. While knowing what to look for in terms of flips and fonts and frosting is great, it can be a tough labyrinth to negotiate. A seller with a rock solid return policy AND who likely possesses the knowledge to spot a fake or resealed slab provides good insurance and peace of mind. You usually pay a retail price from these venues, but those trade-offs to some are worth it.
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Comments
I have a instance of being scammed but would need to name grading company and Ebay seller to ensure others are protected.
"I got ******* by ******* over on *****. On **/**/****, ******* sent me a ********. Upon further inspection, the ******** was ********. I ****** the ****** case, but wanted to warn others about *******, since ****** is obviously **********."
WTB: 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity: Ryan Jensen #/25
WTB: 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity: Ryan Jensen #/25
I like the thread ty for taking the time to write it up.
Here is a strange one that I kind of made up that I wanted to make people aware of, it's a more advanced scam, goes like this, and is more affective on raw cards. You are selling multiple cards on the BST for over 1K, another member wants to buy them but wants to send them in for grading/regrading, they ask you to please send them in directly to PCGS after the purchase. Here is the trick, they ask you to use their acct as they get dealer service levels, pricing, etc.... You then send them in and then quickly realize since you used the dealers info what proof do you have that you ever even owned them. It happened to me exactly as stated on the coin forum BST on a 4K deal but luckily the dealer(segoja) was honest and wasn't a scammer and my paranoia had just got the best of me.
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.
I have not bought a 1977 wax box (2 times) that wasn't blatantly resealed, so I have limited my purchases of old vending and wax to BBCE. Steve has my complete trust.
But here is something different. I have decided that I will NOT aid future resealers even if it costs me a few bucks. I have broken many cases and boxes from the 1970s (for example 2 full 1975 mini wax cases and several boxes). I have subsequently destroyed all the wrappers and boxes even though I know I could sell them on ebay for some cash. But then I know I would likely be aiding and abetting a "resealer." Just a personal choice.