and blocked.
Might have been a tad too harsh but my spider sense was tingling on this one …
Man, I ask this question for just about every card I buy. 
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Well from my side there were two main points that irked me:
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It was not like it was only 1 or 2 dodgy photos on the listing, there were already 9 photos up at different angles, lighting, close-ups
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If it were a raw card say in a top loader, I would probably understand and willing to accommodate a bit more on the point re the marks
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You’re 100% spot on, red flags galore in that message
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I feel like there’s a strong chance his next message would have been “any movement on price fella?”
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Every time I buy a slab I take their pictures and put boxes around every speck and spot I need identified and send them the request to confirm if they’re on the card, on the case, or removable debris.
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Nothing against you, but if you messaged me with that, you’d be ignored at best and blocked at worst lol!
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No offense taken, it’s just funny to read this thread and think “damn they’re talking about me”.
Obviously it’s inconsequential as I’ve never had any trouble buying cards.
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Would you request this regardless of grade or at specific grades and above etc?
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I’m buying the card, not the grade. 
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Good to know as it help me to understand this other side of viewpoints!
For me if I put on my seller hat, it will come down to a) the cost-benefit trade off of taking additional time for your request vs whether doing that will translate to an actual fair sale and also b) the manner/way you’ve requested for it
Then why not just buy a raw example?
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I wish people would outline defects in their photos more, but some people just take pictures of the front and don’t have the time to send extra photos.
I feel like when I purchase something in person like a suit or car, the salesman shows me the ends and outs-let’s me try on or test drive, but with Pokémon cards it’s “trust the third party grader my dude”
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I do buy raw when they are available. They often are not. In the last 10 years the inventory of vintage raw has really diminished and often your best bet for a suitable near mint binder copy is cracking an 8.
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I’ll throw down a generalized explanation of my thought process and why I do this seemingly very annoying thing.
I am a binder collector who builds binders of near mint cards. The threshold of what I consider collectable is around what PSA would call an 8. While I prefer to buy raw cards, this condition threshold is heavily allocated into slabs and often it is much easier, and sometimes even cheaper, to buy a slab and crack it. Searching for a PSA 8 doesn’t guarantee a certain condition, but it definitely guarantees a certain condition range.
Every grade has a range. There are weak and strong 8s. There are weak and strong 9s. There are weak and strong 10s. So when I buy these cards I am really discerning about the condition of the card itself and where its specific defects are. To ensure I am happy with my purchase, I scrutinize the card photos and clarify anything I am uncertain about.
If I just buy the card no questions asked, there’s a probability I will unhappy with my purchase. But there would be no grounds for a return, or any justification for customer service, because a PSA 8 is a PSA 8. So I have to do all my diligence beforehand and make sure this is actually the card I want to buy before I make that commitment. I have to make sure the card in that slab meets my expectations, which are totally independent from the grade it has received. The grades just give me a better selection to choose from.
Sometimes this means I do not buy the card because it’s confirmed to have a conspicuous flaw I do not want, in which case I do not make the purchase. I understand that to a seller this may feel like a waste of time, but as cautious buyer this is the system working. I don’t want to buy a card I will not be happy with.
My eBay account is modest, but I have 100% positive feedback over 1,100 transactions which are about an even split between purchases and sales. I’m sure I bring some credibility to the question when I do reach out to sellers. But if I have any doubt about the card I’m buying, I ask questions before I buy it. I’m not trying to be annoying, I was just born this way.
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Yes because those are different. A car is a utility that you buy a few times in your entire life.
Graded Trading cards have no real purpose outside of emotional value. And you buy them much more frequently than a suit or car.
Most importantly, graded trading cards are limited supply. Suits and cars will always be produced to demand. Keep in mind I’m saying all of this as a buyer who has spent millions in this hobby; the product is more limited than the customer. Catering to messages like the one above is statistically a crapshoot. Especially when there are easier customers who will just buy the item without any hassle.
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I’m interested to know after doing all this do you return much or anything?
There is a difference between shotgun blasting a series of photo requests/information and what you do. If a potential buyer messages me with specific parts of the card blocked out/circled already that they want clarification on, I’ll accommodate. Thats a quick like 2 mins for me to do, as opposed to having to spend like 15 to 20 mins taking pictures.
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I was 2 words in and ready to block
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You technically are buying the grade then because you know that a PSA 8 typically falls into a certain range of parameters. Are there strong 8s and weak 8s? Of course, but more often than not, you can expect most PSA 8s to have the same range of defects (whitening, light scratching, off-center, etc.).
Every single person who buys a graded card is buying the grade whether they want to admit it or not (the exception being incredibly rare cards like the Illustrator, Trophies, etc.). In doing so, you are putting trust in the third-party grading company and operating under the assumption that they assigned the card that specific grade due to certain parameters.
Keep in mind that you can’t leave negative feedback for buyers, so 100 percent feedback means absolutely nothing on the purchasing end. Some of my most annoying encounters have been with customers who had 100 percent feedback with thousands of feedbacks left. When it comes to dealing with potential buyers, I actually look more closely at the feedback they have left for others rather than the feedback they have received.
Come on dude, this is a piss poor excuse lol. I know you’re saying it tongue in cheek, but a whole lot of people who have miserable qualities will use the “this is just how I am” thing as an excuse to justify their behavior. I am NOT saying you have miserable qualities of course; just pointing out the fact that that is never a valid excuse.
I say all of this knowing that you mean absolutely no harm. I’m just speaking in generalities. If I received an eBay message from you and you were asking questions about a specific card, I would think, “Oh this is stagecoach from E4. I would be happy to accommodate them.” But you have to understand that the vast majority of the customers on eBay who ask these types of questions are not asking them in the same type of good faith that you are and are absolutely more likely to open a return case or cause more problems than the sale is worth.
The whole “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch” ideology is very fitting here. It’s unfortunate, but I can guarantee you that most people on E4 would lump all of those types of questions into the same category and automatically assume that the person asking the questions has a much higher potential of being a problem buyer than someone who just purchases the card with no questions asked.
To conclude, I know you are a non-issue. Everyone here knows you are a non-issue. Again, if you messaged me on eBay, I would be more than happy to sell to you because I know you. But as I’m sure you can understand, most people would consider those types of inquiries to be a red flag when they come from someone they’ve never dealt with before.
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