I think I bought a fake...

[Luke]

So, I talked to the seller. He said he feels the card is genuine and wanted me to get an opinion of someone local who could hold the card and look at it closely. He said that after I did that I could send it back for a refund. I didn't really want to do this, as I think all of the answers I've received here make it pretty clear that the card is a fake. Anyway, I agreed to do this and took it to a local dealer. He showed me a few reasons that he knew it was fake including color and tint, which were also the first things I noticed. So, I sent the seller an ebay message saying I will send it back tomorrow. Should I also open a case with ebay buyer protection? And, the seller insisted that I should get insurance when I send it back, and told me that I don't need to get delivery confirmation. I am definitely going to get confirmation because everyone here has mentioned that I should, but the insurance thing could be weird, because they will ask how much its worth. Do I say like $1? Sorry this is so long, any help is appreciated. Just want to make sure I do this right. I don't really have any reason to think the seller is dishonest, but I was disappointed that he didn't make the return easier for me, so I want to cover myself as best as possible just in case.

Luke

[vintagetoppsguy]

If it were me, I would purchase insurance for the purchase price. It really doesn't benefit the seller and it protects you in case of loss. With postage, insurance and delivery confirmation, you should only be out of pocket about $5. A cheap lesson learned in my opinion.

[egbeachley]

I don't understand how some of you say it's a good fake. It looks like one of the worse to me. The blue and green background colors are off and blotchy, the player and team name are in black, and the player and team name are crooked.

yes, the insurance thing is ridiculous since it's not even worth $1. The seller should reimburse you for your shipping costs, imo.

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by egbeachley

I don't understand how some of you say it's a good fake. It looks like one of the worse to me. The blue and green background colors are off and blotchy, the player and team name are in black, and the player and team name are crooked.

Sometimes scans will make a genuine look like this. I got a great deal on a genuine T206 O'Hara because the scan made it look like this, but in person it was perfectly legit. Usually on the fakes the borders are bigger/snow white, the lettering isn't close (I think it is off for reasons stated, but close), the image usually doesn't have the appropriate border lines, the back looks worse.

More effort was put into this one than most.

[bcornell]

Originally Posted by LukeLyon

He said he feels the card is genuine and wanted me to get an opinion of someone local who could hold the card and look at it closely.

I'd decline to follow that suggestion. Let him go find a local expert and figure it out himself. The card is clearly bad.


Bill

[smtjoy]

I would get Insurance and DC. I had something like this happened to me and if not for the insurance I would have been out the money. USPS never showed my return package as delivered and said it was lost, I waited 90 days and they then paid my insurance claim.

[FUBAR]

you could always point him towards this thread and he can read for himself why it is bad.

[bcornell]

By the way, looking at the fuzzy colors and the weird creasing, this doesn't appear to a be a reprint; it's actually a counterfeit. Someone is using a printer to generate the card, probably with malicious intent. Maybe you should ask your seller where the card came from...


Bill

[autograf]

ALWAYS get insurance AND delivery confirmation on this. Without DC, he could claim he didn't get it. You'd likely get paid for the item if it was insured but if the carrier claimed he/she delivered it, it could get ugly. If you don't do insurance and only do DC, if it isn't delivered, you don't get paid. $5.00 should easily cover it. I'd insure for $100. Two dimensional scans can often be misleading..........

[nameless]

Have to make sure you get a refund. Also I don't collect t206's primarily but just looking at the size of the letters one can see its fake. The last name and first letter of the team will always be bigger font wise then the rest. IE:
COBB DETROIT
Good luck dude.