I have been a lurker on the forums here for some time as I work on my Japanese collection, but I wanted to engage a bit more.
I have been more mulling over at last going back and grabbing the Munch promos, but across various auction/flea market sites, I notice a slew of listings that either far exceed going market prices or are either much to good to be true.
Example in point, I came across several lots for a complete set of all 5 ranging from $800~$1,000USD, when everything I have seen would seem to indicate that just the Mimikyu along could potentially go for that. I grabbed a screenshot of one going for about $800USD, but from a seller with perfect feedback and hundreds of recorded transactions:
The price alone seems much too low - by that alone I am inclined to judge the set as fake - but I poured over the few (and not exactly clear) photos available, comparing them with official photos on the Japanese Pokemon TCG site and searching this forum for similar enquries. In this case, I came up with relatively little; these do not appear to have the wrong finish, and there do not appear to be discrepancies with design, font, or card texture. However, the one up-close photo available would seem to show dot quality (apologies if my terminology is incorrect) that should not be visible with the naked eye:
Moreover, while I could see someone arguing the colours appear to be off, I could just as easily attribute this to the poor photo quality and/or lighting conditions. Ordering them in order to do a translucency test and printing-quality check with a jeweler’s loop also seems a bridge too far.
I am transitioning from opening Japanese products exclusively to also ordering singles, and want to level up my toolset in order to make more informed purchases. If there are additional issues with these cards that anyone notices, I would be extremely grateful to avail of advice.
I’d never buy an expensive, raw card, because it just doesn’t make sense. If someone is selling cards like these, why wouldn’t they just get them graded? It’s an easy way to increase the value and it mostly removes the question of authenticity.
I’m particularly weary of any listing that says “easy PSA 10 contender” or anything along those lines. If it’s a PSA 10 contender, why don’t they just grade it themselves?
It’s hard to give an exact outline of how to avoid these mercari scams, but the more time you spend looking for cards on the site you will become more adept at how to spot obvious bait listings.
The first sign is an obvious mismatch between market price and listing price. Obviously things can be listed under market, but the further these are apart the less likely the listing is to be real.
Next, I would look at the sellers profile to get a better idea of what kind of seller they are. In the case of the listing you are talking about, the seller has many red flags. You can see they have fake english cards, fake PSA cards, and many other high end items listed.
While their feedback seems good, it is very easy for Japanese sellers to manipulate this. Sellers can cancel sales at will and only allow proxy sites (like buyee) to purchase their scam listings. Buyee will never leave a negative feedback so even if the purchaser received obviously fake items, buyee will still give positive feedback.
Also make sure to scrutinize the item descriptions as sellers will sometimes put tricky language in order to scam foreigners.
You can probably search on the forum and find advice given in the past that will cover this + more. If you spend enough time, you will just see these scam listings being recycled daily and automatically ignore them after awhile.
I only buy cards of this calibre on usa ebay. As they have their authenticity guarantee.
I almost got scammed on a munch pika a while back so i am paranoid af about it now
To some people grading cards like the pikachu or mimikyu may be prohibitively expensive, especially if they’ve had the cards since release when they were much cheaper. Grading from overseas can also create issues that some people may not see as worth the hassle. Another thing is they may just need quick cash there and then and dont want to wait for the cards to be graded and returned.
Hello @gasenEFOUR, welcome to the forums. I don’t have ways to distinguish between real and fake Scream promos but I feel that you are already taking the first right steps in exercising caution and getting others opinion on the matter.
The bottom line as others have stated, at this point in the hobby, if the prices seem too good to be true, they most often are a scam. It sometimes feels really hard to fight FOMO and check if you get lucky this time, but it will never be the case.
I think @Pbali made some excellent points, and I echo 100% what they mentioned. I have also noticed, specially on sites like Mercari, if you really have a genuine item that is at a steal price, it will be gone by the time you have to react to those listing. But if a very tempting listing is still up with multiple comments trying to ascertain if it is genuine or not, please try and stay away.
In my opinion, at this stage in the hobby, it is almost impossible to find really cheap deals. Hope you do find what you are looking for at great prices and can grow your Japanese collection.
If you’re just adding to your personal collection, fair enough. However, if you’re looking to sell expensive cards then it makes sense to grade them as the return is generally far greater on graded cards.
An example. I’m in Canada ( Quebec ) i sent many times to BGS. Always afraid the carrier lost or even worse someone steal the package. And Bammmm one day someone lost or steal a 2018 Doncic Patch On Card Auto /25 …
Go to blowoutcards forum many threads talking about issues like that. So now i go to Toronto to grade my cards on site. Of course if i have time to make the trip.
I bought a lot raw expensive cards on Yahoo Auctions. Only one time get scammed.
Hello to everyone who took the time to respond! I appreciate the warm welcome (it means a lot).
It would seem the market’s response(s) to a listing and its pricing could be enough to make a call before even looking at the card itself (blatant forgeries aside, I still would not have enough confidence to make a call on the card alone).
I notice several people addressed different services/sites, but Mercari in particular interests me. I know there is no real recourse for people buying through a proxy such as Buyee, but I am curious about what sort of buyer protections are available on Mercari for a direct buyer who can demonstrate an item to be counterfeit. It would be hard to beat eBay, but they must have something in place…
I use proxy to buy from Mercari, so my info is from reading several blogs. Maybe someone who does have Mercari JP account can explain more in depth.
If you think the item is fradulent and not as described, you can message the seller directly and work out a deal. I think most Japanese believe in this kind of conflict resolution. Polite messages to each other and explaining your grievances. You will always or in most cases have to return the item back to the seller. The burden of postage depends on the negotiation.
If the seller does not agree then you can go to Mercari support. Essentially, this triggers your buyer protection. Once you can get in touch with Mercari support team and they will help get your refund. You have to open a case and explain to them why you think you got the wrong / not correct item. In most, if not all cases, you do have to return the item back to the seller and cover for postage costs. Based on what I have read, Mercari JP also sides with the buyer, so even the sellers have to be careful that the buyer is not trying to scam them by sending back different item.
All of the communication has to be done in native language. Also, all of these experiences can be subjective. Some people praise Mercari support, some have bad experiences. Overall, people have good trust on the platform if you are dealing with the seller yourselves to resolve your issues.
Also, this is a strgane point so maybe I did not understand it well, if you leave feedback (positive or negative) it is seen as a successful deal so you can’t apply for a refund! This is also for closing of a sale.
