ebay seller to avoid: 10cal44 (UPDATE)
NYYanksFan7
Posts: 52 ✭✭
In February of last year I purchased a PSA 8 Topps Bird/Erving/Johnson from this seller for $474.00. Upon receipt I looked the holder over and thought it was fine so put the card away in my collection, left positive feedback. A couple of weeks ago I was doing some collection re-organizing and noticed something odd about the flip, so I placed my thumbnail in the side of the holder and it suddenly separated along the upper right side and top of the flip. I immediately stopped and put some tape on it because I didn't want to damage the card inside. I sent it in for a re-holder, and received a call from PSA a few days ago indicating that the card wasn't an 8, but a 4, and it was most likely switched. Even though I paid via paypal tied to my credit card neither one can help me because of how much time has passed. PSA said they can send it back raw, with a letter detailing their findings and maybe I can ask the seller for a refund, or they can put it in a 4 holder and send it back. We agreed that I should reach out to the seller first before making a decision. Yesterday I sent the sell a message thru ebay explaining all this, no response yet, and I doubt I'll get one. I contacted ebay directly and they can't help either and recommended I file a claim with the IRC? or something like that. Anyway, I've accepted the fact I'm pretty much f'd. I will probably just take it back as a PSA 4, which would be a net loss of ~ $325 in value. The only positive is I bought it before the card price blew up around April. IMO, fraud is fraud regardless of how much time has passed before it's realized.
Comments
Did the "4" look as nice as the PSA 8? When I get a card from anyone, I look at that card to verify it is what it is based on PSA standards. Time seems to have passed so take it as an experience .
Not long after the card arrived I uploaded a video to my youtube channel. It's shown beginning at the 2:57 mark
The card separated along the right side, or bottom if being held horizontal. There didn't seem to be any excessive frosting indicative of a compromised hold so not sure how he did it, unless the slab is fake and he use the cert # that references a PSA 8.
Here is a second video I made just last month after the slab popped open. Card appears at the 2:02 mark
The card looked like an 8 to me.
All I'm getting is "Watch this video on YouTube. Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner"
it should work now? I went to my channel and changed both videos to "allow embedding"
It's hard to see from the video, but I'd imagine you should've been able to tell a 4 from an 8 when you had this card in hand. What would make it a 4?
Ironically that same seller has another PSA 8 of Magic, Erving, and Bird listed now. Slab does look kind of iffy
http://ebay.com/itm/1980-Topps-Bird-Erving-Magic-RC-PSA-8-great-centering-no-print-marks-/162360641601?hash=item25cd72c841:g:ny4AAOSwjDZYfSkS
Again, I think the issue here is how easy it is to crack open a slab. This should be one of the top priorities at PSA. I still have yet to see any BGS slab considered "tampered" with, I could of course be wrong, but it seems like every day, an issue like this comes up.
I bought a Nolan Ryan RC from him years ago that was in a tampered slab. He switches flips by cracking open the top part of the slab. Stay away is right.
This guy sells predominantly high grade iconic rookies. Most of his slabs look cloudy and suspicious.
http://stores.ebay.com/10cal44
The case does look frosted. I've sold to Craig - 10cal44, but never bought. I think it's safe to say I'll be staying away. I'm sorry that happened to you. At least it will get in a holder and will be a nicely centered 4.
Littleweed, the card in the pic you posted has the same cert # as mine...... ?
edited - he sold this card twice 1/19/16 & 2/11/16, I thought it was a different card
Has this happened with the new hologram holders?
Yes.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I would think PSAs legal department would get all over this guy like ugly on an ape.
http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/
Ralph
My interaction in the last 2 days with this very individual about a Fleer Jordan PSA 8 RC (start with my original message at the bottom and read going up):
New message from: 10cal44 Top Rated Seller(2,727Red Star)
Sorry for delayed response. Fell asleep early. I work again today. Some cards I sell are mine, some are consigned. You'll see that I use different backgrounds on my auctions to help to keep track. This one was consigned. I believe you and I have done business before and your feedback is excellent, so even though it's been two weeks since shipping, you can return the card for a refund and I'll handle this with the owner. Not sure what else I can do at this point.
Reply
Your previous message
I didn't take a very close look at it when it arrived. Just opened the package, scanned it, and put it in my "to be sent to PSA" pile because I wanted to get it into a new tamper-proof label with the updated hologram. Tonight I went to package it up with others to send to PSA and noticed everything wrong with it. Here are pictures. I can literally pull the top apart if I wanted to, but don't want to mess it up any more than it already is.
You can tell it's the same exact card as what was pictured in your auction because of the centering and the cloudy red dye spot to the left of "Michael" on the back.
10cal44:
Any chance you can send photos? Did you notice anything funny about the package when it arrived? I show that you paid 1/4 and I shipped the same day. The package was delivered on 1/7--two weeks ago.
Your previous message
Hi There,
There's a bit of a problem with the item you sent me. While it appears to be the same card pictured in the listing, it's in a different PSA holder (different cert #) and the case is completely cracked at the top, which of course is an issue. Could you explain please?
Thanks!
Boy, talk about damage control. How many times does this has to happen before it becomes a pattern of behavior?
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
The old "it's consigned" excuse. See seller: cardregistry
After contacting PayPal a second time yesterday, at the insistence of PSA, they still couldn't issue a chargeback but the paypal agent said he would reach out to the seller directly about my situation. This morning I received this message via ebay:
Hi, this is Craig getting back to you about the Bird/Magic PSA 8 problem. I am sorry that this happened. I am willing to work with you to fix this. Let me know if you want to return the card for a full refund or if you'd like to keep it and work out a partial refund. Thanks
He wasn't "sorry" after my first or second messages I sent to him, but I suspect PayPal's direct intervention and him being aware of this thread made him switch gears. Now I need to decide if I want to keep it as a nice PSA 4 or return it for a full refund and put that towards another PSA8. I am leaning towards returning the card to him but who's to say it won't show up in another 8 holder for some other unsuspecting buyer? Needless to say, a relief that I'm not left holding the bag.
I seriously doubt a nicely centered 4 is going to make the buyer happy. That card has exploded, he will now have to pay more then double to get a PSA 8 again.
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.
return the card IMO; it has bad Karma
IMF
Return 1000%
He refunded my money on the PSA 8 MJ today.
That's after sending him a few emails asking him to "fess up". I told him I'd give him one last chance to admit what he's doing and take down his auctions and stop the practice. He didn't respond to that email, but sent me a refund right after.
Oh boy. I would think the new PSA slabs are more "tamper evident" with the new holder seal.
FYI 10cal44 is also cswionte on ebay
Isn't Craig a board member?
He was some time ago.
sorry to hear you had to go through this...unreal
Received a full paypal refund today. I am sending his card back tomorrow.
I'm glad this worked out for you and you weren't left holding a card inferior to what you paid.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
Hello everyone,
Thank God I found this post. I also purchased a 1986 fleer Michael Jordan psa 8 rookie card from this seller, and I was told that it was altered/compromised. I have reached out to Craig aka 10cal44 and have asked for a full refund. Once I get the refund, I will be returning the card to him. I will keep everyone here posted.
Thanks,
Ryan
................................
This is the reason I spent the $7 and had a lot of my cards reholdered. I bought many of them during the wild west era (2000-2006) of PSA - WIWAG should ring a bell for the old timers. Thankfully they all came back OK.
Ironically I looked at some of my old dealings with Craig and they were for 1980-81 Topps BKB lots. I wonder if any of my old cards made it into the shady slab?
UPDATE
Craig is cooperating and has issued a refund. It is still pending in my paypal account, so I will let everyone know once it clears.
Thanks for keeping us aware and getting your $ back hopefully free and clear. It would seem PSA still has some security issues, if this has been happening with the latest gen slabs. Does anyone have hologram-front PSA slabs that have been/are suspected to be compromised, that they can share a pic of?