More on the subject of seller/auction house scans

[Exhibitman]

A few random points:

Those Baker cards are beautiful for the grades.

Don't forget monitor differences. The settings a seller uses on his monitor can affect how the image looks to him and he might correct a color or contrast level as a result not to cheat but to make the item look more true to life as his monitor shows it.

When a card is scanned in a slab there is going to be some distortion. A CIS scanner [which most all-in-one machines have] doesn't have the depth perception that a CCD scanner does and it won't even scan a slabbed card accurately. I had to keep the old HP scanner I had even though my new Canon printer has a scanner because it cannot scan a slabbed card in focus. Even with a CCD scanner, you are still shooting through a layer of plastic that may or may not be crystal clear.

I find the best test of image accuracy on an auction listing is the color on the flip. We all know what a PSA or SGC flip should look like; if that is too bright, the wrong color, or otherwise distorted, I assume the rest of the image is distorted too.

I don't think an auctioneer who offers a series of large scans, front and back, must offer a description of every card flaw as well, especially if I am buying a midgrade or lower cards. I appreciate it when the AH does so.