[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by auggiedoggy

eBay should have certain standards that prevent sellers from disguising damage to items by using creative angle shots such as these tilted camera shots. My eBay pics are all scans so you always get a straight-on top view of the card and on a black background to allow potential buyers to see the condition of the corners and edges. I do this for all raw cards I sell.

EDITED: It just may be that eBay does have standards but enforcing them would be a nightmare without buyers reporting the problem listings.

It's too bad that Ebay doesn't put more energy into raising their standards, and less time screwing with their website. The 'bay is like a sinking ship, and instead of plugging the holes causing the ship to take on water, they're busy painting the bow.

For what it's worth, Rob, when I am looking for a card, I almost always go with the seller that has scanned the card in the way you described (or has provided a similar photo). There are still some of us out there that appreciate the effort you make to provide accurate information, and easy to see pictures.

Here's an example of a card I was looking for about a month ago (I know it's a modern card, but please bear with me). I looked at about 20 raw examples, and some of them had fairly nice pictures. But this one wowed me, and I couldn't buy it now fast enough:



It turns out the seller is a professional photographer, but he was nice enough to tell me exactly how he took the picture (what settings on his SLR, how he staged the lighting, etc). Since this sale, I've bought a few more cards from him. These Chrome prospect cards are highly condition sensitive, and the little bit of extra effort he put in got him a sale, and gave me peace of mind. This one is going to go in to Beckett for grading, and it will get a 9.5 easily.

And you can be sure when I start looking for my vintage cards, I'll be checking your auctions, Rob, here and on Ebay. I do my best to reward the good sellers on Ebay with my repeat business.