I recently have been buying ungraded Yugioh cards on the side. I buy them in near mint for binders only and give a lot of leeway for sellers and what they consider near mint. I recently ordered a SDK Blue Eyes and purchased it from a seller who had it labelled as near mint. When it got here I tried to just let it go with how bad of condition it was in cause it is only like a $20-$25 card mint. Do you all think from the pictures it would be petty to contact the seller and complain?
If he sold it as “near mint” and didn’t have pictures showing the damages, then definitely ask for a refund. You’re well within your buyer rights to do so.
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Normally I would say if you have to ask yourself “Am I being petty?” the answer is yes but idk, that card is a little rough. Especially that upper right corner and a lot of whitening.
Perhaps a learning experience for the seller? Could be they genuinely don’t know what NM/M actually is?
Yea both corners on the front have significant bends idk if you can see it in the photos and one is peeling.
Yeah I would probably complain then if I were you. That’s pretty bad.
If you ignore it you’ll just make matters worse. The seller needs to be educated so he doesn’t keep doing the same thing.
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^
I contacted him and he said that it’s open to interpretation because he’s only a casual seller. Idek what that means. But he hid all the damage in the stock photos deliberately so I don’t think it was an honest mistake.
A crease in the corner of a card is not “open to interpretation” for it being near mint by any standards.
And if the condition was “open to interpretation” why did he use stock photos? You can not interpret anything from a stock photo.
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Or I don’t mean stock photos, idk why I said stock photos. I meant just the photos from the eBay listing. He took pictures of the actual card but in a way to where it actually looks NM. I checked his other listings of cheaper cards and he labels them damaged, moderately played, and lightly played, labels all of them properly. So I don’t think it was an honest mistake.
I agree with the seller needing to learn, but in cases like this I think to myself:
- What is my hourly rate at work?
- How many hours am I spending messing around trying to get my money back?
If the amount I would be getting back is more than these two numbers multiplied together, then I’ll invest the time. Otherwise, I let it go, never buy from the seller again, and move on.
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Hours?
Just go in eBay and file an item not as described. Then you’ll ship it back. Shouldn’t take long at all.
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ehh not even worth 20-25 for that condition… I would return it to get my money back.
Oh…if you want link him here.
It’s not petty at all. That card is beat. Any crease makes it played condition in my mind. Just file a claim for money back and take a clear picture of the damage. You’ll win hands down. The seller must learn what near mint is.
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Share this link with the seller for future help with determining the condition of cards: www.cardmarket.com/en/Help/CardCondition
Grading is open for interpretation, yes. But it should fall within certain parameters, otherwise everything would be NM according to some people. 
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I actually think it’s really important for the hobby that we help each other correct mistakes like this. My anecdotal and relatable story is that usually when I make purchases on tcgplayer, I do it in bulk orders from about 50 different sellers all at once. Of those, I’d say I end up getting 5-7 of them that require attention/ a small partial refund. I commonly get sellers messing up shadowless and unlimited base cards which value anywhere between .25 cents and $150. I also get sellers messing up Gym Challenge and Gym Heroes OR Pokemon with a different set number who appear twice in a set but with different set numbers etc. Once in a while, a seller forgets to include one or two of the cards in the order completely. Lastly, I will occasionally (and this is the one I give more leeway to) have the same issue as you where I don’t mind sellers being around a 1/2 grade or even a whole grade off (i.e. a LP card comes MP, a NM card comes LP) but once a card comes two or three whole grades off, then it might be an issue that I’ll address with the seller in hopes of getting the correct card resent or obtaining a refund for that card.
Whether it’s .25 or $150 I think it’s really important that sellers get feedback from buyers. I think that sometimes, they are new to selling and just don’t understand the general rules when it comes to grading raw cards. Sometimes I think the seller is too lenient with their grading and needs buyer feedback or they will never change the way they grade cards. Also, correcting a seller might help them change their ways which ends up helping all of us as potential and future buyers. When all is said and done, I just want an honest sale. I don’t mind getting a HP card if that is what I ordered but If I ordered a NM card and it has creases and bent corners and tons of whiting then I’m probably going to send a message to the seller even if its .20 cents. Is it worth my time? 100% Absolutely not. I’m also not trying to be any particular site’s police, I just really want to engage in an honest deal and exchange as a consumer. I think there may be some pride there? As a buyer and seller, I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and I try to believe that mistakes aren’t malicious. Approach sellers with a kind and understanding attitude and they should have no issue correcting the problem. Sites like ebay, tcgplayer, and trollandtoad are going to side with the buyer 99% of the time. And for the buyer’s sake, since their business lives and dies with their seller feedback, they should be motivated to help out. In the end if everyone is honest, everyone can win and there shouldn’t be problems. If people choose to be dishonest, the buyer is going to win out regardless.
Sites like tcgplayer have grading standards already set out so it is more of an objective grading.
help.tcgplayer.com/hc/en-us/articles/221430307-How-Can-I-Tell-What-Condition-A-Card-Is-In-ebay has this scale for sports cards that could be cited in a dispute pages.ebay.com/buy/guides/sports-cards-buying-guide/
Trollandtoad has this one for Pokemon cards www.trollandtoad.com/productConditionGuide#pokemon
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As a buyer, the only interpretation that matters is yours. If I got a NM card looking like that and a response from the seller that read like the above, it’d be a hard return from me.
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they are most probably saying open to interpretation becasue they are a “casual” seller and they think that allows them not to held negligent because they are “uneducated”
You could argue the same from your perspective but shoe on the other foot type stuff, so either way, there are numerous refereces that could be used to determine the condition of the card +/- 5% but overall if they have not disclosed the damage in pictures, misinterpreted the graded type condition, just go through the process and return it. get your money back to square one and try again.