Quote:
Originally Posted by PowderedH2O
I'm going to ask, because so many of you are lawyers or experts in law and I am not. Forget about ethics or morals, but what is illegal about altering cards, resubmitting them to PSA, and then selling them?
I say this because I worked in the car business for years and customers often washed, waxed, Armor-alled, and detailed their cars before trading them in. They would buff out scratches. Occasionally we found Bondo to cover a dent. Our appraiser would look over the car and make a decision. It was what it was. We couldn't go back a month later and call the person that traded in the car and claim some sort of deception. If it got past our appraiser then so be it.
If Gary gets a card and doctors it up and submits it to PSA, it is PSA's job to catch the doctoring. If he has a PSA 4 that becomes a PSA 7, it is what it is. That card is now a PSA 7, whether you like the way it got there or not. If PWCC takes this PSA 7 and sells it on ebay as a PSA 7 beautiful example of this card, are they lying? Is it not a PSA 7? It says so right on the slab.
To me, the only legal issues would be if they had an insider at PSA that was giving them some sort of an advantage, or if they intentionally undersold the first cards so that they could purchase them for resale. As far as the trimming, chemical bathing, or whatever... that seems to be a PSA issue of incompetence.
I think this practice is misleading, unethical, and deceptive. But, my question is this: Is the altering of cards, submitting them, and then selling the newly slabbed item actually illegal?
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Here's why it's illegal:
Alteration of cards is considered a material fact when it comes to the value of those cards. Trimmed, recolored, whatever cards are deemed to be far less valuable by the vast majority of collectors. If a person is performing alteration and then selling the card to someone without disclosing the alteration, they have concealed a material fact relating to the value of the item. Knowingly withholding a piece of material information in a transaction like that is fraud.
In addition to that, when you purchase a PSA membership, or submit through them, you agree that do not have knowledge that the cards are altered. By knowingly submitting cards that have been altered, you are violating that agreement, potentially committing a fraudulent act against PSA since you are exposing them financially.
The second aspect might be a civil liability only, as opposed to criminal, not sure. The first one, however, is definitely a criminal violation.
To put it in simplistic terms: Gary Moser/PWCC are representing that they have, for example, an unaltered 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle for sale. However, they know it's altered. They are saying that they are selling one thing when they are selling something else. That's Fraud 101.