More ebay Authentic fun... scratching my head
 

I purchased a graded card on ebay that had to go to the ebay authenticators.

A voicemail was left on my phone from ebay authenticators indicating the slabbed card was received with damage to the slab. They were contacting me to let me know about the issue and indicated they would send an email with pictures showing the damage. No email. I called the number that the voice mail was sent from and reached an ebay rep. That person was a little clueless, then they figured it would be best to transfer me to the authentication department. The person there indicated they'd send the email again. I was on the phone with them for 5 minutes and the email didn't arrive. They asked for another email address and I provided it to them. No email received to either email address. They said they'd try to have the pictures embedded into an ebay message. No pictures in the message. I guess I'll call back to see what's up. Yes, I checked every possible email folder (spam, etc.) and nothing from the authenticators. The funny part is that I did get an email from ebay asking for feedback on the service provided... hahahahahaha... no, I haven't responded to that one yet.

TYPICAL Authentication Ebay IMBECILES! I HATE Ebay's Authentication! It has destroyed my business. I had about 4 returns in 20 years and they have cost me over $100K in sales since this has started, about 60 returns, and now I no longer get the 10% discount and I am paying 16% in fees!!! FU FEEBAY!

I used to advertise Ebay and my ID on a show table drop cloth I had made. That was how proud I was to be an ebay seller. I have burned that and now go out of my way to screw them out of fees anyway I can!

That authentication I am sure was meant to do good but it has done nothing but horribly bad shit to me.

The Ladies that answer the phones for the authentication issues are very nice, they try to help and I have had a few go above and beyond the call of their duty to keep me as a customer.

The Authenticating PUNKS are POS!

Ok Rant over.

Dan,

It sounds like you've had nothing but nightmares with this service. Sorry to hear about it. I've received several cards from the service with no issues, but I only purchase cards. I can imagine it is totally different from a sellers point of view.

The ebay folks called again and left another message. They emailed me again to have me check an account setting that felt may be causing the issue with them providing the pictures. The account setting they had me check was already set to what they were trying to have me change it to. Now I'm waiting on another email from them. I did receive another ebay feedback email which I didn't respond to. This is really strange. I can receive emails from them but the emails they claim they sent to me with the attachments have not arrived at either of the email addresses I provided to them. Now I gave them a third email address from a totally different provider. So much fun...

Seems they're being really picky about slab condition, which is ridiculous. I had a purchase cancelled for that issue and they didn't even give me the option to accept it. I wound up working out a deal with the seller outside of eBay. It was an old SGC slab but it was perfectly fine, maybe a little scratched up but I wasn't buying it for the slab! So dumb.

Dan,

Something you must be inputting into the system has to be causing issues if you have had that many cards kicked back. I will grant you have probably had a greater number of transactions but proportionally I would have to imagine that I would have had at least a few issues by now if they were so strict that six figures worth of material has been sent back to you.

Do you create your listings from scratch or do you use the "sell similar" option? You have to be careful both ways but especially so if using the skeleton of someone else's listing. Even something completely innocuous can cause a piece to fail review if accidentally ticked in the details section.

I actually am a huge fan of authentication review. Protects both sides of the transaction immeasurably. Can there be exceptions? Sure. But on the whole a great feature. I just dread the day, which will come, when someone has to pay for it and it is not optional.

Sounds like it may not be an email setting, but a firewall setting. Emails come through but ones with attachments aren't getting through the firewall, not even to the spam folder.

Dan:

With all due respect, there are probably things you are doing in the listings to get this many items rejected. Here is an example, which you admitted you did this yourself of how an item got flagged

And, if it is other people having this issue, I'd like them to note this as well because (and I can say this) you might have to parse every word carefully with this new system.

Most of the complaints seem to be one-offs so for you I'd like to see each case and see what occurred.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...authentication

yep.....
 

I sold a SGC Kashin Gehrig and had it returned because of factory frosting on the the side of the case, which is how i received it, no issue with the card, the case! Buyer had no issue with it, PSA did..... no sale.

I think it’s natural for every seller to become defensive and minimize any issue that goes against them. Would love to see an image of that slab. They really mentioned side frosting as the issue?

Raw Paper Sports Cards
 

Yes the condition in the listing with raw paper cards can be issues too. I posted a 2024 Topps Raw Ohtani #/10--as near mint or better and the card sold, the price being over 250.00 required the card be shipped to the authenticator. It was rejected not being in the condition I described--the card looked nice to me. *I guess should have listed as not nm/mint in the required field *
I haven't had any issues with slabbed cards yet, knock on wood!

is that what it is ? I’ve noticed a lot of these rejected slabs are SGC ,
I was wondering which professional grading outfit was doing the authentication and if it had anything to do with competition ,
Of course PSA and SGC are owned by the same company .
maybe I’m going down the wrong rabbit hole ?

I have posted about a half dozen on the board. I will post a few in this thread if you like. I do "sell similar" it saves all of my info and reuses it. The fact that I had about 4 returns in 20+ years and 60 since this authentication started, well yea I guess it is all me......

Here is a quickie, buyer took 1 look at this authenticator's photo and that was the end of this sale.... RETURN! see attached The faces are completely destroyed in the authenticator's photo and not even close in mine and I mentioned the indentations.

Here is the actual item relisted:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/127176914969

I am looking for the Ratz Crackers they kicked back for having "creases" I didn't mention yet my description clearly stated "Has Die Creases". I will try to post that as well.

I am not knocking those who like it, you may need someone to look at your cards for you, I don't, I have been collecting 55 years and do not need a grading service or someone who has been in the hobby 10 minutes telling me if my cards are real or altered.

I think "slab damaged" was their terminology...... the card was as advertised with 10+ pictures and the slab exactly as i received it from SGC. The PSA persons job is to verify the card is as advertised and matches the buyers description and photos IMO.

Last one, won't bore you guys any more:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126986770086

My apologies to Freddie for me hijacking his thread, sorry buddy!

I also must reiterate how nice and amazing the ebay ladies are that field the authentication calls. They are always understanding and try to help. Had 1 fully refund me the sale even after I had received the card back. Authenticator said I didn't mention the tape stain on back, my description clearly stated "tape stain on back". I told her she didn't need to refund me, I had my card back but she was amazing!

Take Care friends see you in Chicago and Rich Klein I am honored that you have respect for me as you are a Hobby Icon my friend! Always enjoy seeing you!. Dan Mckee

67 Wacky's are very tough. I never see them anywhere in my world (s)

I wonder from reading if they were confused by the term "die" creases. If that's the case on this item then too much information actually screwed you up.

SMH as that's pretty clear

Rich

Dan, were you really collecting cards back in the day when you were still playing in your playpen? :D

Over the last few years, I've been slowly paring down my collection due to old age and a significant health issue. I do sell cards on eBay, but I almost never sell any card worth more than $100-200. I consign cards of greater value to auction houses. Very recently, I decided to test my luck with the eBay Authentication Program by listing a 1934 R304 Al Demaree Die-Cut w/tab that I didn't want to pay $50 to get slabbed by SGC (because it's considered an "oversized" card by SGC) in order for an auction house to sell it. I sold this card on eBay for $325, and I immediately shipped it to eBay/PSA for authentication.

Yesterday, I received an enail from eBay that reads in part, "We wanted to let you know that your item is on its way to the buyer. Unfortunately, the authenticator determined that the item was miscategorized and is therefore ineligible for our Authenticity Guarantee." The good news is that my card was sent on to the buyer (I'm guessing that eBay contacted the buyer who said he still wanted the card), but eBay's claim that my card was miscategorized really bothered me. I carefully reviewed my eBay listing and could find nothing wrong with it.

So, I contacted eBay by phone and first spoke with the typical eBay rep in another country whose accent made it hard for me to understand him. To his credit, he quickly realized that he couldn't deal with my issue and transferred me to the eBay Authentication Dept. where I spoke with a wonderful lady who was both understanding and helpful. She checked the PSA raw-card authenticator's notes and told me that my card was deemed miscategorized because it was not considered to be a "single trading card." I explained to this nice lady that my card is just as much a "single trading card" as any Topps card listed on eBay, and that furthermore, PSA's pop report shows that PSA has graded 3 of this exact same card. She said she would pass my comments on to the PSA raw-card authenticators (IMO, PSA = Pretty Stupid Authenticators). I asked her if I could speak directly with a PSA raw-card authenticator, and she told me that I couldn't; in fact, she informed that she couldn't either and that she could only send PSA a message. I asked her to include in her message to PSA that I wished for a PSA rep to contact me by email or phone; she promised to do this, but she seemed doubtful that I would ever hear from PSA. In closing, I asked this most helpful eBay rep to to please send me an email comfirming what she had just told me re why my card was deemed miscategorized by PSA, and she did this almost immediately after we ended our conversation.

My take away from this experience is, I will never ever again sell a card worth more than $250 on eBay! And, I'll bet that I'm not the only eBay seller who has made this decision!

I would imagine that part of the problem in some situations where "issues" are found in authentication would lie in the fact that the eBay authenticators still aren't category experts. To give an extreme example, if something is rejected over a super picky examination / evaluation of slab condition - does the person making that judgement know they should be more concerned with the card encapsulated than the outward presentation of the slab? Maybe they do, maybe they don't - but the point is at least in the past eBay has never cared to become category experts themselves or pay any substantial number of people who actually are experts in something like vintage cards to help them out with any of this. They try to employ the cheapest resources possible. And by doing this, the instances of dumb decision making by nature goes up exponentially. Maybe I'm wrong, I know slabs already graded go to PSA, and raw cards go...somewhere else? Please correct me if necessary.

John, if you read my previous post, you will learn that, according to the eBay rep I spoke with, my raw card went to PSA for authentication. I don't know how long PSA has been authenticating raw cards for eBay, as this is my first (and never again) experience with this program.

Raw cards used to go to CGC. Regardless, eBay doesn’t have the best track record of having super professional people involved in their listing management, and perhaps by association - their authentication. I don’t know, I could be wrong - but that was my point.

The program does seem to be pretty successful for the large majority of users on the whole.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I liked it at first but now I can’t stand it and I’m getting a PO Box so anything I buy goes straight to me. I purchased an extremely rare and expensive card that the AG department miss authenticated, they then printed out a shipping label to send it to me and poof it disappeared. My only theory is that it was stolen. Never got to the post office.

If you purchased something from eBay that was never delivered - whether it was $10 or $10M - then you should be covered by their guarantee. What am I missing?

The seller had no idea what they had and listed it cheap. So I bought it, it’s probably worth 30x what I paid for it.

I’m still dealing with them about it right now. If it doesn’t pop up I’ll post pictures of the card so when it does in an auction house down the road it will be reported stolen.

So you bought it cheap, but not so cheap that it didn't have to go through authentication. You got your money back or not? I noticed you didn't answer the question.

If you're pissed you didn't make a killing on buying something cheap, that's one thing - but it would be different than eBay not making you whole if you didn't actually get what you paid for. ::confused:

It’s still “on going” but at this point it appears to have disappeared after the authentication process. USPS didn’t lose it, they never got it from the authenticators in the New Jersey office. After a week or so I’ll have to open a not received case to get a refund. I’m still hoping it pops up and maybe I’m overreacting. Will see ;/

eBay is now authenticating cards using PSA New Jersey office? Every card I’ve had authenticated regardless where sellers were located, went through the PSA Santa Ana office. Same Cali PSA office also handled the cards I’ve sold on eBay.

Sucks, but that’s all you can do. They should have no problems at least making you whole.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The ebay authentication team rejected the card because they said the case was damaged.

ebay never followed through with providing pictures of the "issues" with the slab. I guess they just gave up and it was easier for them to reject the authentication of the card than send me the pictures they said would be sent to me.

This kind of sucks because I really liked the card. I'll wait to see if it comes up for sale again and I'll wash, rinse, and repeat.

Just curious, who eats the shipping cost to the authenticator and then the return shipping cost to the seller?

frigging fleabay and their "authentication" process.
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Got the card thank goodness. Because it was mis-authenticated it took longer to get.

It was listed in the wrong category and I feared it was returned or misplaced.

I just had my first card rejected. In the notes it says The card received does not match the listing details - set. I looked and I had everything listed correctly, even in the details part you have to click on to see.:confused:

I actually hope my email gets to the buyer before he takes the option of accepting the card from eBay. I know him and it would be great if I could just sell it directly to him instead of him winning the auction on eBay. We could both save some cash.:)

I love it.

I recently sold an expensive card. Over 10K. The buyer was concerning from day 1. Too many messages. . . . too many questions . . . . "biggest purchase I have ever made" . . . . how fast can you get it to me . . . . Could get the money together. . . .then not sure. Just a lot of chatter. I actually decided not to sell it to him at one point as I suspected something was coming down the road.

I shipped it to PSA. . . .it was authenticated and shipped on to him . . . and then the fun started. I got an eBay email that it was delivered to his home and this time and day and the deal was concluded. He immediately starts firing off eBay messages to me that it was delivered to his business. . . . can't find anyone signed for it . . . and pleading with me to do everything I could in my power to find the card. Also some family related personal stuff that is neither here nor there. Fed ex shows a delivery to his house that he signed for. More messages, I ignore them. Next day I get a short email from ebay saying a lost package claim has been put in by Buyer and then since I shipped properly to the authenticator "we have it from here. Nothing you need to do. We will resolve it." I knew that was how it works, but I was relieved to get that email minutes after he put his claim in. I have enough to do without handling a situation like that.

Ebay sent me one follow up message saying the lost shipment claim was closed, as they confirmed delivery and signature at his home.

I had almost the same experience shortly after they started the Authenticity thing. For me it was a pretty big Black Hills gold ring. They only asked one question before hitting the BIN. Just asked the exact weight of the ring. Seemed normal to me. Them as soon as USPS had the box I got bombarded with questions. Within minutes of it arriving after going to the authenticator and being delivered to the buyer I had a case filed against me. Luckily eBay also messaged me and told me not to worry and they would take care of everything. I don't remember eBay ever sending me anything else about it but I kept my money and someone ended up with a ring.

I would hope that ebay would be responsible for taking care of both of your cases. Item sold - Authentication received it and authenticated it - Authentication shipped it (now completely out of the sellers hands). I hope both of you got your money for the items sold without any delay or requirements for the issue to be resolved.

I wonder how ebay will handle this. I can't imagine they'll just roll over on a $10K item and eat it. Could you imagine what would happen if word got out that they do that?

I got my money as soon as it passed the authenticator. I am a huge fan of the authentication program, most of the time. :)

I have had two eBay issues for $3K and $8K and I got my money back both times. Neither time would eBay give any details on what happened.

The moment the money cleared it was withdrawn and is sitting in my checking account. I told my wife not to spend it too fast . . . I just knew some kind of BS was forthcoming. Nice to know my instincts are good.

The amount of fraud these days is disheartening.

The amount of attempted fraud these days is staggering.

I guess these guys think it's easier for eBay and/or their insurance company to just cave on most claims and pay them rather than fight.

I just bought a low grade (loose - would be a 1, or A if I’m unlucky) card for $30. Evidently I didn’t read the auction details close enough, as now it’s being sent to Authentication. I can’t understand why anyone would want that….

Interesting. I didn't think a $30 card would qualify for eBay authentication.

That makes no sense. Was it an auction or a BIN listing?

It was an auction. I assume it must have stated somewhere that it was listed with the "Authentication Guarantee" but I didn't see it prior to bidding.

Good news! The card is authentic. Sigh.

I believe if someone starts an auction at a low price but also initially has the “or buy it now for $250 or more” then that triggers the authenticity guarantee for that card which remains even once bids are received and the buy it now option disappears…even if final price is below the threshold.

Here's another fun one. Went to authenticator, but then got a reply that "Unfortunately, the authenticator determined that the item was miscategorized and is therefore ineligible for our Authenticity Guarantee."

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/9RkAA...h/s-l1600.webp

It was listed in Sports Trading Cards -> Single Cards

Am I correct in assuming that ebay's authenticators wanted this single card listed in "Lots" since it was a 2-in-1 card ???

I don’t think so. My experience is that anything that doesn’t look like a 1990 Donruss or 1952 Topps gets bounced as not being a card. Anything oversized or with a blank back is particularly prone to being rejected for not meeting the criteria. Not sure why they do this, but the authentication program seems to pretty consistently reject stuff like this.

Off subject - What a great card!

It's about money, one way or another.
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