Posted By:
Ryan ChristoffI wanted to post that I've spoken with the seller over the phone and I've encouraged him to post here as well.
Once I contacted him regarding the authenticity of his item he cancelled the eBay auction. He did this BEFORE knowing for sure that it was fake. The fact that his item was called into question was enough for him to pull the auction and do some further research instead of letting the auction run another day until it closed.
There are a lot of posts on this board lamenting the fact that there are so few sellers on eBay that have integrity. This situation might be worthy of its own thread about ones that do.
I won't post his name here (although hopefully he will post it himself) but I will mention that his eBay ID is "piratesdad" and while I have never had any contact with him prior to today, I will be checking his auctions frequently for items to bid on from here on out.
It turns out he bought this item from what at the time seemed to be a legitimate auction house and had no reason to believe the card was not authentic. He was never told by the seller that the seller had already been informed that the cards were fakes BEFORE they were listed in the auction. In fact, they were listed in several consecutive auctions after that.
When I took these cards to Cuba, not only did the leading card expert on the island agree with me that they were fake, but he told me exactly how they were produced and that he knew the individual who made them.
From there the cards made their way to Florida and from Florida to this auction house. All examples of this "issue" came from this one consignor and were auctioned by this one auction house.
I was aware of who all the other bidders were and have helped all of them receive refunds for the fake cards they bought. There was only one I couldn't track down. I had hoped the auction house would see fit to contact this bidder and at least notify them that there was some concern about the authenticity of the cards, if not offer an immediate refund.
This eBay seller was that one bidder. He was never contacted by the auction house and therefore had no idea there had ever been any doubt about the issue.
Feel free to e-mail or call me for further details.
-Ryan Christoff