Buying a Raw 1959 Topps Mickey Mantle, SGC "NO", & Dealer Responsibility

[glchen]

I looked it up, and "NO" means Do Not Grade. Therefore, this does not mean that the card is counterfeit, but it means that the SGC does not grade this card. Of course, SGC does grade 1959 Topps cards. Therefore, what this probably means is that the card is Altered or just Authentic. When you do a submission to SGC, you can check the box to encapsulate the card even if it were Altered or even if the grade would only be returned as Authentic and not a number grade. If you did not check the boxes, the card could still be returned back to you with the "NO" reason.

Therefore, my guess is that your card is authentic but trimmed or altered in some way. (another possibility is it didn't meet minimum size requirements) Since you bought it raw from the dealer, it's unlikely he would accept any kind of return or refund since the card is authentic, and you were able to inspect the card personally yourself before you bought it. You can still give it a shot if it's a well known dealer. Sorry about your situation.

[hammertime]

Holding dealers responsible when raw cards don't grade the way you want them to is a slippery slope IMO. If you wanted an SGC 5 you should've bought an SGC 5.

[jsfriedm]

Originally Posted by hammertime

Holding dealers responsible when raw cards don't grade the way you want them to is a slippery slope IMO. If you wanted an SGC 5 you should've bought an SGC 5.

I generally agree with you in principle. However, this is precisely why raw cards should be priced at a significant discount to their graded equivalents. If you have a card that you think would grade an SGC 5, but you did not get it graded, do not price it as the equivalent of an SGC 5. I agree of course, that it is also on the buyer to do their research, and he shouldn't pay a graded price for a raw card, but I've seen many dealers play this game of pricing cards as if they're graded but then taking no responsibility if the card doesn't actually grade the way they priced it.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by jsfriedm

I generally agree with you in principle. However, this is precisely why raw cards should be priced at a significant discount to their graded equivalents. If you have a card that you think would grade an SGC 5, but you did not get it graded, do not price it as the equivalent of an SGC 5. I agree of course, that it is also on the buyer to do their research, and he shouldn't pay a graded price for a raw card, but I've seen many dealers play this game of pricing cards as if they're graded but then taking no responsibility if the card doesn't actually grade the way they priced it.

Maybe the dealer should just give the customer all his raw cards! Fun!