Uneducated Buyers Meet Lindascards2005

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Posted By: T206Collector

What I find most frightening about reviewing Lindascards2005's feedback on eBay is the number of people that report a successful transaction and give her positive feedback after spending good money on obvious reprints, that -- in the seller's defense -- are actually being sold as reprints. Then the buyers leave positive feedback after spending $25, $50, $100+ on worthless glossy cardboard that's been soaked in tea.

$77.00 -- 19 bids -- 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth
Positive Feedback Comment: "thanks,very pleased with purchase"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=86847&item=5203148136

$45.13 -- 11 bids -- 1940 Play Ball Joe Jackson
Positive Feedback Comment: "Great card, fast shipment - Recommended to All !!!"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=86851&item=5203747227

$41.00 -- 15 bids -- 1933 Sports King Gum Ty Cobb
Positive Feedback Comment: "good seller, AA++ quality cards, smooth transaction"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=86847&item=5202553402

$42.00 -- 8 bids -- ANOTHER 1933 SPORTS KING GUM TY COBB!
Positive Feedback Comment: "Nice Card A+++++++++++++++++++"
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=86847&item=5186072059

(I could go on all night, but this makes my head hurt...)

Time and time again we've posted on this board about such sellers, but the real problem, in my opinion, is the number of uneducated buyers out there, leaving positive feedback as a trail of poison bread crumbs for other unsuspecting buyers.

One buyer that left a negative feedback stated, "not real reprint picture over cardboard buyer beware do not buy not worth it," to which Lindascards2005 stated what is the obvious answer to me: "he spend $22.00 on a 1951 Willie Mays and thought it was real ?? sold as a copy." BUT EVEN AFTER THIS FEEDBACK WAS LEFT, people are STILL shelling out money!!!!

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=lindascards2005

With all of the above, is there anything to be done about this? Ebay cannot police this, and given the true statements in the item descriptions there is nothing they really should do anyway. But it makes me sick to see Lindascards2005 just making a bank based on counterfeit cards being sold as artificially aged reprints that trick people into thinking they won the genuine article at a rock bottom price.

Here are some options:

(1) E-mail to seller. "Notwithstanding your note that your cards are being sold as reprints, buyers are obviously shelling out real cash in the hope that you are wrong in your item description. You are taking advantage of a hope that you know does not exist. That is unethical and borderline illegal. I will be reporting your business practices to eBay and the IRS."

(2) E-mail to all bidders. "This is an auction for an artificially aged reprint. This reprint card is available in mint condition through various sources on ebay for under $10. Why are you wasting your money here?"

(3) E-mail to bidders after they win the auction. "Congratulations, you just spent good cash on a complete fake."

(4) Post to the Network54 board about frustrations with sneaky sellers and uneducated buyers.

I chose option 4, as I don't really think it's my place to do 1-3. But gracious, it's frustrating. And now, I'm done venting. Thanks for indulging me in my lengthy rant.......

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Posted By: pete ullman

dude...I agree with you 100%...it's unreal...absolutely unreal that people spend substantial cash on obvious reprints. EBAY should NOT ALLOW these reprints to be grouped with authentic cards and then we'll see how well they sell. it's a poor reflection on ebay and even more so on the uneducated state or stupidity of some collectors...now i've vented.

pete in mn

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Posted By: Shane Killian

according to one of her negatives she's in ohio. Wow, is this state breeding these people. I did some reading on old subjects and read about a lot of people in Ohio who are selling these cards. Hmmm...remind me not to buy local.

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Posted By: Richard Simon

You have a semi-crooked seller operating due to the greed/stupidity of the buyers. Who is worse? Lindascards or the greedy stupid buyer who wants something for almost nothing.

I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
Unknown author
--
We made a promise. We swore we'd always remember.
No retreat baby, no surrender.
The Boss

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Posted By: Anson

It's even better when they lay on the "these have been sitting in my grandfather's attic for many years and I stumbled upon them after he passed away" garbage.

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Posted By: T206Collector

...but Lindascards2005 doesn't even attempt a fake story -- she actually says that the cards are reprints in her listing, and the dollars still fly!!

It would be one thing if buyers were falling for a story about grandma's attic, but it is an entirely different thing that buyers think that Lindascards2005 is selling the genuine article even when she says she is not!

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Posted By: Chuck R

Doesn't eBay have a policy stating that sellers can't disclaim knowledge of the card's authenticity? Seems like 6 months ago there were lots of sellers using language like "I'm not sure if it's real so I'm selling it as a reprint" until eBay did something about it. This seller's language:

"1940 PlayBall # 225 Shoeless Joe Jackson.....rounded corners...slight discoloration.....un-graded being sold as a copy/reprint/reproduction...check out the scans"

seems like a backdoor way of again leaving some doubt that the card is a reprint. Seems like eBay should require people to either stand by the card being authentic or have them state "this card IS a reprint".

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Posted By: Rob

>> Seems like 6 months ago there were lots of sellers using language like "I'm not sure if it's real so I'm selling it as a reprint" <<

Then it IS a reprint. And if they aren't sure, why don't they get it graded/authenticated?

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Posted By: Chuck R

Rob: That's my point. The language you're quoting is the type of language I thought eBay had banned as it was only used to mask the selling of reprints. The language of the seller in this thread just seems to be a slight change in semantics. "Being sold as a reprint" is a slight improvement on "I'm not sure of the authenticity so am selling as a reprint" but is still not the same in the mind of a naive (and admittedly greedy) buyer as "this card is a reprint".

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Posted By: Anson

As I had pointed out in another thread, some of these buyers are planning to resell the fakes to a third party. Maybe it's worth the $50 to go and take someone else for $1000.

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Posted By: T206Collector

Bad people selling cards to other bad people so they can make a bigger fool out of someone. It's pretty gross, if you ask me.

More of the same -- a statement that it is being sold as a reprint, but who knows? -- this time bidder's identities are kept private to keep people like me from alerting them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=86840&item=5207240583&rd=1

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I'm all for helping out newbies and preventing scams, but if someone bids $77 on a beat up baseball card clearly being sold as a reprint, that's his or her problem. The buyer doesn't need a Standard Catalog as much as he needs a nannie.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

(i.e., a seller of reprints taking the public) is a lazy crook, i.e., a buyer of reprints planning to sell them as real but too lazy to even doctor his own stuff.

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Posted By: tbob

It just proves P.T. Barnum was right, all those years ago, when he said there was a sucker born every minute.