eBay Authenticity Guarantee Debacle
PNWcollector
Posts: 302 ✭✭✭✭
Just wanted to share a situation I'm in with the board- a buyer purchased two graded cards, one needed to be authenticated and the other did not. I combined shipped and sent them both to the authenticator thinking the one card would be authenticated and sent on to the buyer along with the other card. That did not happen- buyer reported only receiving the authenticated card.
I opened a case with eBay, and after talking with three different people, I learned (admittedly, I should have been aware of this policy) that the card not needing authentication is considered an 'ineligible item' and can be "disposed" of by the authenticator. Furthermore, I was told I am out the card and need to refund the buyer. I told the person I do not accept this outcome, and they escalated it to leadership. Leadership spent a few minutes "reviewing the case", including apparently revieing notes from the authenticator, who did not note receiving an extra card (lol). So, I am out the card, which is who knows where (highly doubt a $200 graded card was disposed of), and the money. I think that policy needs to be modified for situations like this (what if someone sends the wrong card?) but lesson learned the hard way.
Comments
Thanks for letting the board know. That is valuable info.
Sorry for your loss. It sucks I know the feeling.
Disposed = Acquired
Sorry this happened to you but thank you for passing on this information for the rest of us.
Two things that I would do. Add the missing card to the PSA registry and file a report with the police. That way, if someone tries to add it to their registry you can reject it and contact PSA to let them know that the card was stolen. Also, if it shows up on eBay you can contact the police department where the seller is and see if they can do anything.
I'm confused, how did you "Combine" the purchases to the PSA address. The address for each purchase should have been different. The one going to PSA and the other going straight to the buyer. Did you actually combine them in your orders waiting for shipment tab/shipping tab?? There should be a highlight that the order needs to go through authentication and would think the combine button would not be lit/clickable..... Or did you just only print out a label for the PSA shipment, then throw the other order in there, then mark the second order as shipped and add the PSA tracking number?? Why would you think that eBay/PSA would want to "pay" to ship the second card to the buyer??? All Authentication orders are sent in 1 card at a time, no lots, no multiple purchases for the same buyer, so if they see two cards in the envelope, you gummed up the works. Probably got thrown at the wall! It sucks, but sounds like you got a predictable outcome. There is no policy that needs to be changed because what you did is not a thing. The authenticator did not put in the notes the second card because the authenticator never saw it... A different department opens the packages and sends them through to be authenticated, thus it got snatched way before that stage...
Once thought of using a CRC return label to send in a submission as well, but thought better of it. But probably would have been fine as the intake wouldn't have cared as they would just see it as multiple subs in a box.
I already love this thread. Amazing!
Ok. Here we go…..
This is what I did
OK. That explains how the card ended up being sent to authentication. However it doesn’t explain how the card vanished.
My last sub had a card I forgot to list on the form. I completely forgot about it. However PSA sent it back with a do not grade sleeve.
It's probably in their Lost & Found!
Sadly, if you google How to combine shipping on paid items, pretty much every video tutorial will tell you to do it the way you did. Unfortunately it's not what I would consider the proper way in the sense that you bypassed all the safeguards that eBay has that would have prevented you from doing what you did. The following is what you should have done, and then I would assume that you would have got a pop-up message or the combine button would have never been clickable.
next time this situation comes up, I will try that and see if it prevents me from combining.
For everyone, here is the Authenticity Guarantee Terms of Service: Ineligible items will not be authenticated. Furthermore, eBay may refuse to accept ineligible items (including, but not limited to, additional cards or items that are gifted to buyers as a bonus and free of charge) and is not responsible for storage, delivery, return, damage or loss of such items. eBay reserves the right to donate or otherwise dispose of such ineligible items in our sole and absolute discretion.
When this was escalated to leadership, they responded with this:
The leadership that we have here today have searched for any sign of the missing card, there is no indication of that extra card ever being received by our Authenticators, and they did confirm that our authenticators always notate when an extra card or item was found. But in this instance there are no notes that it was received. They have checked the list of all "extras" at that hub and this card was not listed among them.
In my experience, if I am the seller or the buyer, cards have disappeared between Anaheim and Santa Ana. Always ship insured.......
Oops. Misclick.
Question is it only ebay that uses authentication? If I sell a $300 on my slabs. Would I have to send it to authentication?
I collect hall of fame rookie cards, https://www.instagram.com/stwainfan/
eBay only. MySlabs does not use this process.
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
thanks.
I collect hall of fame rookie cards, https://www.instagram.com/stwainfan/