Ebay guarantee authenticity program

[TMKenKen]

Originally Posted by BobC

Maybe an odd question regarding this authentication process and looking at in in another perspective. We've all seen how over the years Ebay has cracked down on buyers and sellers being able to share personal contact info, as a way to possibly get around and work deals off Ebay. Of course, when a seller sends a buyer their item, some sellers include their business cards, direct contact info and such. Has anyone involved on either side of one of these Ebay sales that went through authentication received or sent any such contact info along with a card, and did the authenticators include that info when forwarding the card on to the buyer? Curious if Ebay may have instructed the authenticating company CSG or PSA to pull and discard any such contact info, kind of like how they disallow people including contact info when messaging through Ebay.

I have had 3 cards go through this process as the Buyer, other than small delays in delivery it has worked out fine. However in response to Bob's question quoted here, in 2 of the 3 instances, I received contact and other information of the Seller, one of which included the Seller's store catalog. I left feedback, with a nuanced comment that I found his "reading material informative and interesting". He responded with a blatant our prices are lower than on Ebay and oh, by the way, no sales tax unless you are from our state. So there you have it -- and I will be buying from him.

[Exhibitman]

The King:



I am just pleased as can be with this one. Uncreased and well centered for the issue (not normal for R315s). It will stay in the sealed holder only as long as it takes to get into a slab.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by TMKenKen

I have had 3 cards go through this process as the Buyer, other than small delays in delivery it has worked out fine. However in response to Bob's question quoted here, in 2 of the 3 instances, I received contact and other information of the Seller, one of which included the Seller's store catalog. I left feedback, with a nuanced comment that I found his "reading material informative and interesting". He responded with a blatant our prices are lower than on Ebay and oh, by the way, no sales tax unless you are from our state. So there you have it -- and I will be buying from him.

Thanks for the info, was curious about that issue. Figured they wouldn't really care since there are so many card sales that don't go through the authentication, but you never know with Ebay, right? Thanks.

[JimC]

I'm not up on all the rules of the new process, but I can make a couple observations about my recent transaction.

1. The communication concerning where the card is in the process was rudimentary. Very few details provided.

2. I purchased a PSA graded card on May 24 and still don't have it, though they are estimating I will have it Tuesday. Three weeks is a pretty long time to wait for a card that's already been graded.

I guess I see what eBay is trying to do here but I have little confidence this new process will add any value for graded cards, and I don't love the idea that my cards are going to be shipped and handled more than necessary. Then again, I didn't like it when the ACC basketball tournament started including Brooklyn among their host sites but they still did it.

I'm curious about what will happen if the eBay authenticator determines a card is inauthentic (or trimmed if they are looking for that) but the seller and buyer agree that the eBay determination is wrong.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

This is a terrible idea, and sellers have no choice in the matter. Oh, wait, they do: I switched all my listings over the $250 threshold to other categories. Anything under $250 will still be listed in the Trading Card Singles category, so I'm sure traffic will still be directed to the $250+ material one way or another. I'm guessing many other sellers already have or will soon follow suit. I'm not playing this game.

An earlier poster mentioned that CSG wouldn't be authenticating anything that was signed, or at least had that word in the title of the listing. All I sell are autographed items, to include cards. They are included as part of this mandatory program. I just had my first experience with it. I printed the shipping label, all set to send to CSG, and really thought long and hard before dropping it off at UPS. Thankfully, I thought better of it and contacted the buyer, who was also previously unaware of this new program. He too wanted nothing to do with it, so we agreed to cancel/refund the sales and I simply relisted in an other category. He paid, and we're back to where we should have been in the first place.

A company that has been in business for a split second gets to handle every $250-750 card, and anything slabbed/$750+ goes to PSA? Not something that sits well with me. I'd love to know how gargantuan the staff of the newer company has to be. I'm thinking not as big as is required. Every single card sold over $250 has to go through this process, and combined shipping of multi-item orders is not allowed. All have to be sent as single items even if part of the same order! Whoever came up with this hairbrained scheme needs to be canned.

How many cards meeting these parameters sell each day on eBay? Each week, month, year? This idea will obviously be put out to pasture once the powers that be realize the silliness of their thinking. Collectible sneakers, these are not.

[Flintboy]

From my understanding, all you have to do is put “set break” in the title and it will not have to go through the process.

I do know that when I talked to an eBay customer service representative, if the card is going to a PO Box, the authenticity guarantee is disregarded.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Flintboy

From my understanding, all you have to do is put “set break” in the title and it will not have to go through the process.

I do know that when I talked to an eBay customer service representative, if the card is going to a PO Box, the authenticity guarantee is disregarded.

Brian,

Yes, thank you for pointing that out. I learned that after writing my last post.

If they decide to continue with this debacle, I'm sure eBay will catch on to these types of circumventions. Let's hope that this whole thing will cease to a reasonable level and that we're given plenty of time before the censor bots start constantly breathing down our necks.

[Flintboy]

I’m not understanding the logic by eBay on the “set break”. Makes absolutely no sense to disregard their guarantee only because it’s part of a set break.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

This is a terrible idea, and sellers have no choice in the matter. Oh, wait, they do: I switched all my listings over the $250 threshold to other categories. Anything under $250 will still be listed in the Trading Card Singles category, so I'm sure traffic will still be directed to the $250+ material one way or another. I'm guessing many other sellers already have or will soon follow suit. I'm not playing this game.

An earlier poster mentioned that CSG wouldn't be authenticating anything that was signed, or at least had that word in the title of the listing. All I sell are autographed items, to include cards. They are included as part of this mandatory program. I just had my first experience with it. I printed the shipping label, all set to send to CSG, and really thought long and hard before dropping it off at UPS. Thankfully, I thought better of it and contacted the buyer, who was also previously unaware of this new program. He too wanted nothing to do with it, so we agreed to cancel/refund the sales and I simply relisted in an other category. He paid, and we're back to where we should have been in the first place.

A company that has been in business for a split second gets to handle every $250-750 card, and anything slabbed/$750+ goes to PSA? Not something that sits well with me. I'd love to know how gargantuan the staff of the newer company has to be. I'm thinking not as big as is required. Every single card sold over $250 has to go through this process, and combined shipping of multi-item orders is not allowed. All have to be sent as single items even if part of the same order! Whoever came up with this hairbrained scheme needs to be canned.

How many cards meeting these parameters sell each day on eBay? Each week, month, year? This idea will obviously be put out to pasture once the powers that be realize the silliness of their thinking. Collectible sneakers, these are not.

This program will be a money making scheme in the end.
.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Leon

This program will be a money making scheme in the end.
.

By all means, that was the reason for its construction. Why else would eBay truly care about this unless there was something in it for them?

I think the real question is in how viable/practical it will be for them to continue doing this. There's just no way there are enough people at the two authentication companies to handle this, and you can't simply hire anybody off the street to do the work. While what little these companies are doing in this process seems very basic to many of us, there is still a fair amount of knowledge required to do it. I predict they will be biting off far more than they can chew. It's going to backfire splendidly for them. They will of course ultimately keep some scaled-down version of this program, but it will be optional as opposed to mandatory.

I would love to know the inner workings of why eBay would choose a company that's so fresh to do this "authentication" work, other than they obviously have far more free time on their hands than PSA. I would have to assume that one, if not two of the other major players were approached and would be very interested to know why one of them isn't handling the $250-750 material. This would have been much more sensible to me. Maybe they saw the impracticalities of the program or wanted too much to do it. The new guys would naturally be chomping at the bit to have their brand sent out all over the country. Logic would dictate that they couldn't afford to be undersold. Additionally, there truly aren't many alternatives for eBay to choose from.

As noted earlier, I'm an autograph guy, not a card guy (at least the unsigned versions), so have not been paying much attention to this company. I do gather that they've already managed to assemble camps of devotees and detractors in their brief period of existence. It's also been extremely rare for me to spend a dime on authentication of any sort. You can still get by without it as both a collector and a dealer, regardless of what others will have you believe.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

By all means, that was the reason for its construction. Why else would eBay truly care about this unless there was something in it for them?

I think the real question is in how viable/practical it will be for them to continue doing this. There's just no way there are enough people at the two authentication companies to handle this, and you can't simply hire anybody off the street to do the work. While what little these companies are doing in this process seems very basic to many of us, there is still a fair amount of knowledge required to do it. I predict they will be biting off far more than they can chew. It's going to backfire splendidly for them. They will of course ultimately keep some scaled-down version of this program, but it will be optional as opposed to mandatory.

I would love to know the inner workings of why eBay would choose a company that's so fresh to do this "authentication" work, other than they obviously have far more free time on their hands than PSA. I would have to assume that one, if not two of the other major players were approached and would be very interested to know why one of them isn't handling the $250-750 material. This would have been much more sensible to me. Maybe they saw the impracticalities of the program or wanted too much to do it. The new guys would naturally be chomping at the bit to have their brand sent out all over the country. Logic would dictate that they couldn't afford to be undersold. Additionally, there truly aren't many alternatives for eBay to choose from.

As noted earlier, I'm an autograph guy, not a card guy (at least the unsigned versions), so have not been paying much attention to this company. I do gather that they've already managed to assemble camps of devotees and detractors in their brief period of existence. It's also been extremely rare for me to spend a dime on authentication of any sort. You can still get by without it as both a collector and a dealer, regardless of what others will have you believe.

The company is not new. They’ve been grading coins, comic books, etc. for quite a while.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

By all means, that was the reason for its construction. Why else would eBay truly care about this unless there was something in it for them?

I think the real question is in how viable/practical it will be for them to continue doing this. There's just no way there are enough people at the two authentication companies to handle this, and you can't simply hire anybody off the street to do the work. While what little these companies are doing in this process seems very basic to many of us, there is still a fair amount of knowledge required to do it. I predict they will be biting off far more than they can chew. It's going to backfire splendidly for them. They will of course ultimately keep some scaled-down version of this program, but it will be optional as opposed to mandatory.

I would love to know the inner workings of why eBay would choose a company that's so fresh to do this "authentication" work, other than they obviously have far more free time on their hands than PSA. I would have to assume that one, if not two of the other major players were approached and would be very interested to know why one of them isn't handling the $250-750 material. This would have been much more sensible to me. Maybe they saw the impracticalities of the program or wanted too much to do it. The new guys would naturally be chomping at the bit to have their brand sent out all over the country. Logic would dictate that they couldn't afford to be undersold. Additionally, there truly aren't many alternatives for eBay to choose from.

As noted earlier, I'm an autograph guy, not a card guy (at least the unsigned versions), so have not been paying much attention to this company. I do gather that they've already managed to assemble camps of devotees and detractors in their brief period of existence. It's also been extremely rare for me to spend a dime on authentication of any sort. You can still get by without it as both a collector and a dealer, regardless of what others will have you believe.

CSG may be "fresh" to card grading, but not to collectibles grading. Look up their parent company, Certified Collectibles Group (CCG). They have money, business smarts, and experience backing them. They also, if I understand correctly, currently charge a much more reasonable fee for their typical grading service than other TPGs, and their turnarounds times from what I've heard others occasionally posting about here on the forum seem to always meet (if not actually be faster than) their posted deadlines. They likely made a sweetheart deal with Ebay at some flat, fixed rate, that other TPGs either wouldn't, or couldn't.

CSG likely has their ultimate sights set on taking over as the perceived top card TPG from PSA. They have the backing, connections, and wherewithal to be in this TPG game long-term. For example, one of the big investors in the CCG parent company is Michael Zubin, founder and executive chairman of Fanatics. Fanatics ownership also includes to my knowledge the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB, as well as the player's unions/organizations for all four sports leagues as well. And if you remember, Fanatics has apparently taken over the future card licensing rights for the teams and players of these four major sports leagues as well. And this development caused Topps scheduled billion dollar IPO bid to be shot down in flames last year, and subsequently led to Fanatics then buying Topps for half of their expected IPO price. I think all of that is not a series of unrelated coincidences, and the ownership in CSG by Fanatics founder is a definite connection to eventually be further exploited by the parties involved. What they do next, and going forward, will be interesting.