[Bliggity]

Well today was another kick in the pants from eBay...and good information to know if you buy/sell M101-2 or similar sets.

Last week I auctioned a M101-2 Mathewson on eBay. Before listing it I looked around at other M101-2 listings. They all seemed to be listed as "sports trading cards" and then secondarily as "trading card singles," so I listed mine the same way. It sold and I shipped it to the authenticator. The authenticator sent a message today saying that they could not authenticate the item because it was miscategorized. Rather than sending it back to me though, they went ahead and sent it to the buyer, without the authentication, so at least that's good. (I've been messaging with the buyer and he doesn't have any concerns about this.)

So even though the transaction is going through, I called eBay customer service to ask how it was miscategorized so I can avoid that in the future. The rep checked with a supervisor, and then told me that the item should have been listed as "vintage sports memorabilia," rather than a sports trading card. She then said that the authenticator will only authenticate cards and not other memorabilia, so the M101-2 Mathewson really never should have been sent to the authenticator in the first place.

"But that's not true!", I said. I explained that a few weeks ago, I had won the M101-2 Cobb discussed above in an eBay auction. It had also been categorized as a "sports trading card," and it was sent to the authenticator, AND IT WAS AUTHENTICATED rather than being rejected as miscategorized. The rep was perplexed and checked again with her supervisor. After 15 minutes on hold, they concluded that the M101-2 Cobb I won was also miscategorized, and the authenticator never should have authenticated it. In fact, it never should have been sent to the authenticator to begin with.

In which case, I would currently have it in my possession.

(Bangs head against desk)