Ok. So, again. Getting back into this after taking years off. I’m not a newb, and have owned some very high end cards over the years. But maybe I’m behind the times a bit. Been bidding/buying and had the first shipment come in. Cards look well, rougher than I thought, were advertised as near mint from the seller. It’s pretty clear that pictures were taken in a way that would conceal flaws
The heartbreaker was the First one I bought, advertised near mint with not much white in the back. Comes with a small crease in the top portion of the card in the yellow. And a few light scratches, and the back isn’t as perfect as I thought. Second card looks like someone was rolling this biatch around on a cooler at the beach. But I didn’t pay as much, and the guy was combining the shipping, from Japan. 250ish shipped for both cards.
Crease should have been disclosed right?
Both cards are no rarity nidokings.
What’s the best play here? I don’t really want to screw the guy, and the shipping back to Japan is probably 60$
Should have just waited on a better ad with better pics. I got fomo.
Open INAD case, seller pays return shipping. Yeah, ‘near mint/mint’ means ‘totally f**king f**ked’ in eBay speak nowadays. Unless I’m absolutely sure about the condition of a raw card on eBay, I only buy graded 'cos I don’t trust other people’s judgement (or to be totally honest about what they’re selling, for that matter) unless they’re pretty reputable.
Buying something off eBay should not leave you feeling like you were taken advantage of. If the listing was indeed deceptive - even slightly - don’t hesitate to open a return request.
Sadly, “near mint” or “mint” ungraded is rarely what you´d expect when these terms are used, if you truly want nm/mint cards, just buy the graded versions.
Thanks guys, kinda what I figured. On one hand, I’m pissed. On the other, I realize that mint/NM is subjective to a degree. I’m kinda hoping he issues a partial refund for the one that is trashed and I’ll just chalk it up to being more careful next time. If this guy eats the shipping both ways, he’ll lose 100$ on a 250$ transaction.
I’ve actually never had to ship anything back on eBay, or even ask for a partial refund.
I’ll probably frame the bad one with the quote. “Due Diligence Dumbass”
Also. We live in 2020, why does half these ads look like people are taking pictures with a fricking disposable camera(yes I’m 32) they used to have those.
Use your 20 bajillion pixel camera on your iPhone or galaxy and take some decent pics. I sent him pics back immediately after opening as proof they weren’t to small to show up in a picture. I’ll try to post some later.
I ignore the stated condition from the seller and only go by the pics. If there aren’t enough pictures (including at least one of the back) for me to be 80-90%+ confident in the condition I pass and wait for the next one or message the seller asking for more pics, although it seems like I only get a response about 30% of the time. Almost nothing I’m buying is so rare it won’t be for sale again soon from another seller. For some cards that are really hard to assess due to colors/Holo pattern sometimes I pay the premium to buy graded.
Don’t do that. Open the return request and state your case simply - the card was described as near mint and came with the crease. If the seller accepts the return, great. If the seller starts calling names, saying ‘near mint’ is subjective and his ‘near mint’ is not your ‘near mint’, etc., just ignore his messages and wait until you are prompted to escalate the case to eBay. Once you escalate the case, eBay will decide in your favor almost instantly and you’ll eventually get a return label to send it back.
Thanks guys, I really feel bad about opening a case. Just because I haven’t ever had to do it. But the more I think about it, the more I think it really falls to him to ensure he provides enough information to prevent this. The pics mainly, when I opened it I knew right away why he took low lighting pics, and pics with the cover on, And disclosing they aren’t perfect would have been enough to make me move on.
That’s the thing, I bought these cards with the intention to get them slabbed not because I thought they would be perfect, but because I want no rarity slabs and would like psa 7 or higher if possible, I thought one would grade 7/8 and the other 6. I think both of these are below. Probably 4/5 maybe 6 if they don’t ding the small crease all that much.
So the difference in price is quite a bit. I basically paid for a psa 7/8 level ungraded card and got a 4/5. But I would have just pulled the trigger on something else if I had known these were this way.
I’ll rock a low grade card all day though, but I want to pay like 35-70$ for a low grade no rarity and not 100$ I guess.
We did a partial refund. He probably came out on top just a little. But i didn’t want to put the screws to him, or he would have essentially ate a ton of money and I didn’t feel right doing that. With covid, shipping this back to Asia was going to cost him 60-80$ fedex. And I didn’t want to risk an issue with him saying he didn’t receive it, or it was worse etc.
Lesson learned I guess. Get lots of pics, and or buy a slab. Slabs are in my future.
I’m not going to lie. I’m just as pumped up buying cards as when I was 12. Can’t wait to land the card I really want.
Hey @r2d287 , read through it and I’m glad you got a partial refund at least. Buying raw is always gonna be risky, you win some and you lose some for sure. Don’t feel bad about opening cases, that’s what the mechanism is there for and it’s to protect you from situations like these. From what you described, the seller wasn’t taking very honest photos, that’s definitely always a warning sign in my experience, deliberate or not.
Definitely a lesson learned thing. I’ve bought a fair amount of cards that weren’t as mint as I’d have liked, the easiest and most reliable way is definitely slabs. Harder on the wallet but you know what you’re getting Love that you’re going after no rarity!
That’s the risk you take with bad pictures. On the flip side, I’ve gotten lucky and purchased from a listing with really blurry pictures and received a mint card for cheaper than market.
I will generally take the risk if it’s a hard to find card and will expect poor condition most of the time. You can simply ask the seller if there’s any creases.
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$80 shipping? Goodness. Why so much?[/quote]
They Quoted me two prices, 60 to ship it out tomorrow, and 80 to ship it out beyond that due to some type of hold because of the new Covid flare ups. She actually had to check to see if I could ship it. I think he paid like 35$ to ship it to me. But this was like express shipping.
I could have went a cheaper option, with another shipping service but I don’t think him nor I wanted the long hold and risk. Apparently going other carriers can take a long time right now.
Def glad i got something back. He did get fair market value for the cards, and I did get some cool cards. Just not exactly what I wanted. It was also my first experience buying abroad. Def have to think through this differently next time.
Love that you’re going after no rarity!