Hello all. First time poster and relatively new collector, so I’m looking for some advice on this situation.
I won an eBay auction a few weeks ago for 25 holos from various WOTC sets. Three of the cards were 1st edition. However, when the items arrived it was clearly obvious that two of those 1st editions (from Gym Challenge) were fake. They were noticeably smaller in size than than standard, the copyright / illustrator lines were missing, and the holo pattern was not genuine and was identical on both cards.
I initiated a return request which the seller agreed to right away. However, they pleaded their innocence and were shocked to find out that the cards were fake. They said that they pulled all of the cards within the auction straight from packs. That seemed somewhat odd to me as firstly I knew two cards were fake but secondly the cards all came from several different WOTC sets (including base set) and this was a first time seller. In any event, I explained that people can unfortunately make fake cards/packs and reseal genuine packs inserting fake cards in them.
I advised the seller that I was 100% certain and in no doubt that those two cards were definitely fake product. I supplied very good and clear photographic evidence pointing out in photoshop everywhere that indicated that they were not genuine (plus photographs of the genuine cards to compare them with).
However, I’ve just seen that the seller has simply re-listed the auction again and nowhere does it mention that two of the cards are not genuine. The seller has obviously decided to knowingly sell fake cards without describing them as so.
As a relatively new collector, I wanted to get the advice of some of you on what you think I should do? My instinct is to report the auction to eBay. I don’t want these cards going into our market and I want to protect other potential buyers, especially if they are not able to identify the cards as fake. They’re being sold as genuine when the seller knows that they aren’t and I don’t want them to profit from that either.
I’m slightly anxious to report it now though as I’m yet to receive my refund and it will be obvious that I’m the person that reported the auction. I also want to protect my 100% positive feedback on eBay and I simply don’t trust the seller to not leave negative feedback out of spite even though I’ve tried to be as helpful and trusting as possible. They’ve tried to flat out lie to me about about other aspects of this auction as well and I can see them doing that again with my feedback.
I made sure to send the cards back by tracked delivery and can see that their digital signature signed for the delivery on Saturday 1st October. By eBay return rules, they have 6 working days to action the refund. Therefore, next Monday, 10th October would be the deadline, although it could take another few working days for this to show up in my PayPal account. Unfortunately the re-listed auction already has one bid on it and is due to finish this Sunday, 9th October.
Any suggestions on the best ways forward would be greatly appreciated! Please ask if you want a link to the re-listed auction or any of the photographs I took of the items. If you think I should have done anything differently as well, please let me know. Thank you!
I’m starting out by trying to complete the early unlimited WOTC sets in mint/near mint condition. Also sending my first batch of base set holos to PSA this month. Really enjoying the hunt so far; it seems to be going well!
Perhaps eBay didn’t get to look at it in time. I hope that the new buyer can see that they’re obviously counterfeit as well.