I bought some cards off of ebay and I am wondering what is stopping the guy from weighing the packs and not giving me a good one? I start to think walmart does it, only because I can’t ever get anything from that store. I know, I know, it’s an excuse for bad luck. How do you deal with card weighing? Do you just buy them anyway?
I saw a video on it, it seems to work and it scares the hell out of me.
What’s stopping them? Nothing, except their own moral compass.
Buying from reputable online sites like CollectorsCache or TrollAndToad should protect you from weighing. Larger eBay sellers like Rusty (TheCharizardAuthority) and eBay card shops will also not weigh packs, cause it’s bad business. The only people who will weigh packs are low-to-medium volume eBay sellers, and the packs will usually be older. Walmart themselves don’t weigh packs (they have zero incentive to do so) but some customers who go there might weigh the packs out and only buy the heavy ones.
Pack weighing is an issue, but it’s fairly easy to combat. If you are buying packs from the “danger zone” of eBay sellers (which I would not recommend, but if you must) ask the seller if there is any way the packs are weighed/where they got the packs from. If they squirrel around, deny any responsibility and struggle to answer, then stay away. Most sellers will be honest though.
Remember, bad luck does not equal pack weighing. If you don’t get a holo out of 6+ packs, weighing becomes more likely. I would say that no holos out of 10 packs is definitively weighed. Anything less than 6 or so, you’re just unlucky.
There is great reason to be skeptical – Many people do not care if they ruin the hobbies for others. It is common for people to think “This pack is $4.29, I should at least get an EX card.” Whether you agree or disagree with their reasoning, their is significant risk in purchasing single packs from any vendor, even if the vendor is not aware of the weighing themselves. That said, Walmart does not weigh packs – customers weigh packs. They can weigh packs in the isle with a pocket scale or in the privacy of their home just to return the “bad packs” at another time.
Not everybody can afford booster boxes, but the blister packs (with 3-4 boosters) are equally safe. 
EDIT: Ninja’d! But I will leave the post up for reiteration.
Why would a company like walmart even bother to weigh packs? It’s not like they resell the single cards, and the profit of selling a 7USD EX from a 5USD pack is so marginal that it would never be worth their time.
On the second hand market it’s of course common though, some collectors take the time to weigh packs and open the heavy ones to get the good cards for their collection, then sell the lighter ones to unknowing people.
I know many serious collectors are very against it though, and I want to believe that the people who say that they sell unweighed packs actually mean it.
Then again, everytime you buy a booster the chance of you pulling a non-holo will always be higher then pulling an EX 
I don’t believe in luck, i believe in odds. As fourthstar mention the odds of not pulling a holo in six packs is low and gets crazy low real fast with each pack afterwards.
I believe some members here actually did the math of it happening a while ago but can’t find it atm.
The Math:
Holos (considered regular holo, EX, Full Art, etc.) are 1/3 packs for English cards. The chance of NOT pulling a holo out of x number of packs is:
1 pack: 0.666 or 67%
3 packs: 0.287 or 29%
5 packs: 0.125 or 12.5%
7 packs: 0.054 or 5%
9 packs: 0.023 or 2%
10 packs: 0.015 or 1.5%
Once you get down into the 5% range, it becomes less likely that you just have shit luck and more likely that there is tampering from the seller.
Sorry if it sounds like I don’t trust anyone. I actually do, it’s just ever since I saw that video it freaks me out. I’ve actually been getting a fair amount of holos from walmart… that was just a joke that didn’t come out right, sorry.
Save ur money up and buy a box.
The minimum wage stock guys who put the boxes out can and do weigh packs then sell the premium cards on eBay.
I met somebody on Craig’s List who had BINDERS filled with all premium cards. He knew nothing about them at all. You could tell by how he described them…like fresh from eBay searches.
No surprise is there?
Oh, btw, he worked at Walmart.
I have since stopped weighing packs at stores because it just isn’t right when you’re messing the pull ratios knowingly for everyone else. I still weigh packs from boxes and sell the lighter packs on eBay occasionally (I always point it out in my listings when the packs are weighed), but usually just open all the packs from my boxes with my brothers.
Also, the idea that 3-pack blisters and tins can’t be weighed is not entirely true. I remember when I first tried weighing, I had won 3 tins on eBay and decided to see if they could be weighed to determine which had the “best” packs. Sure enough, the heaviest tin had one FA and an EX, while the other two tins had one Holo each. I’m certain the 3-packs can be weighed as well.
My boyfriend actually tested that on a blister pack we brought - and yeah, its true. I’d be very careful buying singular packs off of E-bay.
Best way to combat it is just buy a sealed box tbh, or blister packs.
@patriotsfan117 @skinst Correlation does not necessarily reflect causation. In short, it could have been a coincidence, seeing as the difference in pack weights for single packs is tenths of a gram. Pack weighing has been tested many times, but tin/triple blister weighing would be more difficult and isn’t proven as of now.
As someone who works at walmart, i just want to clarify some points here.
The walmart workers dont put out the cards.
That one guy weighing packs doesnt mean any of the rest of them do.
Also walmarts minimum wage has been 9.00 dollars (9.50 on night shift) since around april.
I hate the corporate beast as much as anyone, more in fact, but lets not make its employees out to be bad people, like the ones that come into these stores and weigh right there without any shame.
That’s EXACTLY what a Walmart pack weighing employee would say. I’m onto you m80…
It’s a relief that the vendors put out the cards at walmart thank you for the info, it makes me feel better. If an employee weighed the cards Im sure they would get fired or suspended. I’m sure the General Manager at walmart is aware of card weighing.
You can lead a horse to water…
Shit. You’re onto me.
Just to make a point I highly doubt that Walmart managers are aware or will even particularly care about this being an issue, the 2nd hand card market is tiny compared to Walmart and I just doubt they concern themselves with matters such as this.
It’s not unbelievable to believe that if a customer can find a way to weigh packs on display that an unscrupulous employee could figure out a way too?