Brian Cataquet (tobeeecat)

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Posted By: Tim Newcomb

This one brings up a bunch of thoughts so I'll just list them. I'm trying both to call it as I see it, and to be fair to all sides.

1. I always cringe when Tobeeecat lists something I am interested in because of the pain of reading his auction copy and emails. He is obnoxious and lacks class. His feedback is terrible for good reason. That said, I'll bid if I want the item and will often get it for a half-decent price. I've never had any issues with the shipping or the items. They are no more overgraded than most ebay items are.

2. Given tobeee's stated desire to be a "player," it makes no sense to refuse to refund the money for this card and keep a buyer happy-- especially given the danger that the disgruntled buyer will come on this board and call him a nasty name (which I DO think should have been edited from the message title) which will then bring a bunch of other people out of the woodwork and pile on by making fun of the guy's education, appearance, computer skills, and overall emulation of Mr. Mint.

3. I'm no defender of tobeeecat's actions, and I have nothing whatsoever against David V., but as a principle I have to agree with T206 that it's unreasonable to expect a refund after two months on a subtly altered card that won't grade.
--On a card that's not authentic, yes, absolutely.
--On a card that's so obviously altered that the seller could not have missed it, and should have mentioned it-- that card you send back right away for a refund and don't try to grade.

But in this day and age, I don't think you can expect to grab a rare card like that for a low ungraded price, send it in hoping to increase its value by 50-100%, discover it can't be graded, and demand your money back months later. That is putting an unreasonable burden on a seller.

To me the fact that a knowledgeable buyer himself felt it was gradeable absolves the seller from the responsibility of knowing it was altered. If a buyer is willing to commit to saying he sees an alteration himself, he deserves an immediate refund. If he has to rely on a professional third-party opinion to decide, he doesn't, because the alteration was therefore too subtle for the seller to be expected to know. Hence the logic of the typical 7-day refund limit.

The other side of this equation: if a seller tries to slab a card and it doesn't grade, this should be disclosed to prospective buyers.

But to me this is the risk you take buying ungraded cards on the net -- Not unless the seller stated specifically that the card was unaltered and would receive a numerical grade.

The card can be graded "AU" by SGC or GAI. That, to me, is all the buyer can expect in this situation.