Grading hits home

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Posted By: Ben

Well normally, I choose to keep my nose out of threads having to do with grading controversies and ebay fraud, but I'm afraid that a blatant case of it hit home for me very recently. Please note that I do not intend for this post to be an attack on anyone, but it sure seems like someone has some explaining to do.

In September, I traded my '14 CJ Johnson along with several other cards to Greg Schwartz. In my description of the card to Greg, I fully disclosed that I believed that the card was short, possibly trimmed. Also, the small hole above the "HN" in "Johnson" was duly noted. Here's a scan of the card as it looked before it left my hands:



Now this was all fine and good at this point. We were both content with the trade, and I thought that would be the end of it. But, on October 17th, this card was placed on ebay by a seller using the handle "mo.productions" :




ebay link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=86837&item=5131978625&rd=1

Having owned the card for a while, it was clear as day that this GAI card was in fact the same card I traded to Greg about a month earlier. How it got into a GAI holder is beyond me. But it is obvious that the card was altered at some point between the time it left my hands and the time it was listed on ebay. It is clear that the hole had been patched up, and that the card was possibly pressed out in some way (there was a wrinkle by Johnson's raised foot that is non existant on the graded card). Again, I'm not making any accusations or pointing any fingers, but I certainly believe that something fishy is going on here and that people need to know about it. Thanks.