Blurring Corners E-bay

[cprice72]

Long time lurker, short time member. Just getting interested in the hobby again because my 11yo son has become interested in football cards. So, I broke out my old PC and began buying some cards recently from Ebay.

Not had any issues with ones that I have purchased so far, but I have came across a lot of cards that looks like the seller has either a) edited the scan by saturation to make the colors look more rich or b) blurred the corners. Also, although it may just be me, but I seem to notice it more on the "top sellers". Is this just my imagination, or is this a common practice. Attached a photo of a scan from ebay for a current auction that no one could convince me that this the corners of this card has not been blurred by the seller.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Welcome to the forum...
The Mathews card appears to be a digital photo (versus a scan)....the photographer appears to have focused his camera on the center of the card from a close distance. For me, I have taken pictures(of groups of cards, not singles) from farther back and cropped them down in size to avoid the blurriness on the edges....best way to avoid this scenario altogether is to use a scanner. Hard to believe a TRS would take the added time to use a digital camera vs a scanner.

[Volod]

I dunno - it appears that only the top two corners of this particular card look blurred, not all of the edges. Maybe another digital photo versus scanner expert would care to weigh in on this subject, which, strangely, makes me yearn for the good old days of picking up a card from a dealers table at a show to examine it before plunking down big bucks for it.

[swarmee]

I kind of agree with spokes; it's possibly from a cell-phone camera and the blurriness is actually shake from a hand. That said, eBay allows you to contact sellers, so take advantage and ask for a clearer shot of the top of the cards you're interested in.

[ALR-bishop]

Is your son collecting current football cards or older ones, or both ? Sets or players ?

[cprice72]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Is your son collecting current football cards or older ones, or both ? Sets or players ?

He is collecting newer current cards. He likes opening packs. So we have been opening up retail packs and blisters. Currently working on building a set of 2014 Panini Rookies and Stars and I have started on a set of 1955 Topps All American as well as working on Milwaukee Braves 1955/1956 Topps team sets.

[GoldenAge50s]

To me, that scan/pic shows the corners quite well! Doesn't looked blurred to me.

[buymycards]

Sure looks blurred to me. I agree with the cell phone theory.

[cprice72]

Well I won the auction for the card that was posted in original post. Enough people convinced me that it could be camera shake and not intentional; pair that we the fact that someone mentioned that they didn't believe that a TRS would intentionally blur corners gave me enough confidence to bid on it. I was able to get it for what looked like the average going rate for this card in comparable condition we'll see when it gets here.

[Footballdude]

I'll be the odd man out here. it kind of looks like a scanned image to me. If the card has a natural bow to it, like most cards, and the lid of the scanner was not lowered onto the card to flatten it out, especially if the card was scanned raw, then this is exactly what would happen. The center of the card would be sharp and the top and bottom of the card, as it curves up and away from the scanner bed, might be blurry. I've scanned my share of cards in my time and trying to lower the scanner lid down on a raw, bowed card, and keeping the card straight, is not easy. Leaving the lid up you eliminate that problem. It also speeds up scanning when you are doing large quantities of cards.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by Footballdude

I'll be the odd man out here. it kind of looks like a scanned image to me. If the card has a natural bow to it, like most cards, and the lid of the scanner was not lowered onto the card to flatten it out, especially if the card was scanned raw, then this is exactly what would happen. The center of the card would be sharp and the top and bottom of the card, as it curves up and away from the scanner bed, might be blurry. I've scanned my share of cards in my time and trying to lower the scanner lid down on a raw, bowed card, and keeping the card straight, is not easy. Leaving the lid up you eliminate that problem. It also speeds up scanning when you are doing large quantities of cards.

That was actually my first thought also....but, I just could not understand why someone would not put the lid down to "flatten" out the card and avoid the lack of focus. If it was a scanner that was used, the seller still had a "colored" background behind it, whatever was used for this colored background could also cause a bowed card to slide around just as the scanner's lid could cause the card to slide around(my experience at least). That was my reasoning for ruling the use of a scanner out

[steve B]

Could be a scanner thing depending on the sensor type. My scanner will keep stuff in focus out to about a half inch from the surface, and way farther under some conditions. I could probably take a picture with it if I held it on its side.

The ones with the other sensor won't even focus well on graded cards.

The same focus stuff is found in cellphone pics, so it could be either.

Steve B

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by swarmee

That said, eBay allows you to contact sellers, so take advantage and ask for a clearer shot of the top of the cards you're interested in.

I echo this post enthusiastically. I've seen several cards where something was slightly cut from the picture, or just a little hard to see because of the perspective used. And every time I've contacted the seller, I've gotten them to post a better picture. Now, you do run a slight risk there. The possibility exits that somebody else will buy the card. So far, that's not happened, but I'm sure at one point it will. But I've found the sellers I've interacted with on eBay are very willing to help you out. It's good business, because a happy customer is a return customer.

cprice72, I'd shoot them a message for sure. And by the way, good luck with the Braves team sets, especially since I'm going to be working on the '57 set, and we won't be competing for the same cards I think it's great your son collects, too.