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Posted By: Jonathan PerryThis is post is more related to the card industry in general rather than Vintage cards but I believe everyone on the board will enjoy this little story. there is a Rose rookie on E-bay right now see link and auction description below <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2715569514&category=23 836" target=_new>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2715569514&category=23 836</a> 1963 PETE ROSE TOPPS #537 GEM-10 1/1. IF YOU SEND THIS CARD IN FOR A REGRADE AND DO NOT MAKE A PROFIT WE WILL GIVE A REFUND. MAKE SURE CARD IS IN ITS ORIGINAL CASE. Payment: Money Orders Only. PAYMENT IS TO BE RECEIVED WITHIN 5 DAYS AFTER AUCTIONS CLOSE INSURANCE IS MANDATORY AS WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST OR DAMAGED PACKAGES. THIS IS A BEAUTY. MONEY ORDERS ONLY. The auction sounds very suspicious but I figured maybe this guy was a novice and didn't understand the correct way to phrase an auction so I sent him an e-mail with a few questions. Mainly is the card a PSA Gem Mint 10? His response is that the card is a Gem Sports 10. Telling me that Gem Sports is the 4th best grading company. I then asked how come he did not send the card to one of the top 3 grading companies PSA GAI SGC. He responded by saying that he does not trust them because those companies have been know to switch the cards on you. Plus he had never heard of GAI. I sent him a link to the GAI web page and below is his response directly cut and pasted from e-mail. " You are gai. Nobody would go to that length about a no name grading company. I was at the show in S>F> and there was 1 gai card and the asking price was unbelievable. People were laughing as they were told the price. I even told the guy selling the card you will have that card forever. He was asking 3,000 and the card was worth 300 what a joke. People like you guys make this market a laughing joke." Anyway I got my laugh for the day, yet at the sametime realized that there are way to many people selling cards on e-bay that are far to ignorant to be doing so enjoy Jon

Posted By: HankronWhile there's a wide and varied array of problems and general silliness with the auction, I point out the Catch-22 that the seller essentially encourages the winner to get the card regraded (for guarateed profit or you can return it for refund) but says that the card can only be returned for refund if it's in its original case. Obviously, a card can be regraded or kept in the original case, but not both.

Posted By: MWDavid, Careful with your assertions. Have you sufficiently discounted black hole phenomena, interstitial rifts and time travel?

Posted By: Hankronand beyond the grave advice from Houdini. From what I have read, a straightjacketed Houdini once escaped and reentered a PSA holder while the holder was submerged beneath the freezing waters of Lake Michigan. Alas, the 1933 Goudey Joe Kuhel Houdini held in his hand suffered a wrinkle and water damage.

Posted By: PaulObviously, the seller would like you to have When It Was a Game re-grade the card for you. If you don't get the grade you like, then WIWAG will put it back in the original holder for you.

Posted By: ElliotAnother example of a "true powerseller".

Posted By: jay behrensGotta do it. 2 negs and definately serious red flags at that. As Elliiot not, just another stellar example of what being an eBay Powerseller is all about. Jay

Posted By: B C DanielsDid you wantch a lot of "Dr. Who" when you were younger??? Ever fly through time and space in a phone booth???

Posted By: MWWhile it's true that this person's auction defies all known laws of modern physics, I have to admit that his statements about GAI DO possess some redeeming elements of truth. My understanding is that GAI is far from the "breakeven" point and has yet to make any sort of market impact. Among the most prominent vintage grading services (SGC, PSA, BVG, SCD), cards graded by GAI typically command the lowest prices with the sparsely populated eBay examples that actually meet reserve values. The only exception is a solitary T3 Cobb, but I think that card would have sold for a record price in nearly any company's holder.

Posted By: Jay MillerMichael--Does anyone use SCD? I see you included them in your big four. Over the last six months for Old Judge cards I would say, in order of the number of slabbed cards I have seen, that the services rank as follows: SGC, GAI, PSA, Beckett. I have never seen an SCD Old Judge. GAI and PSA are close and my sample may have been biased by seeing alot of Shoebox Cards cards which were GAI graded.

Posted By: JulianI don't want to spread rumors or anything, but the hottest talk of the Ft. Washington Show, a couple weeks ago, is that SGC is going to be bought out by another competitor. I certainly don't want to get in any trouble, so I won't mention the purchsing grading company, but most of you will guess who or whom it is.

Posted By: Jonathan PerryFrom my sources I have now heard, what many people were spreading as a done deal at the FT. Wash show, is no longer the case. Apparently the #s did not add up for both parties to benifit and the plan has been cancelled. IF you go to SGC's site they have even posted a statment declaring that the company is not for sale and is not going to be taken over.

Posted By: JulianThank you for clearing that up.