To add to this, I saw this on eBay this morning. Not sure if It’s just off in color a bit or maybe a picture. But I get the feeling it’s fake
Another key giveaway on many of these fake cards, is how poorly the border centering and thickness is. Not just off-centered, but notice how thin the L/R border is? If it were a genuine card, one border could be thin but the opposite side would have to be significantly thicker.
1 Like
Simple: the thickness of the stamp and the font spacing. The resolution on the fake is pretty bad, but here. If you look a little closer, the letters on edition are too thin and spaced out. The 1 is also far too thick for team rocket.
3 Likes
Urgh, back to the old days of covering your cert numbers when showing off your shit
I don’t get it. Can’t the scammers just cover the numbers too?
Another one here. This seller listed this as NM/M. His response to me reaching out about the crease - “Hey man. I’m sorry. I’m new to this stuff and sorry but we don’t offer refunds.”
Ok then… return started. Good luck pal.
8 Likes
I was thinking this when you posted the old cert label replicas the other day from etsy, so far i have not seen one of these replica cases with the logo on the bottom right though, once that is there it’s gonna be pretty bad if people start slabbing genuine cards in a lower grade as 10’s.
1 Like
For a scammer to fake a psa label they would need to know the cert number, covering yours (as well as the barcode/QRcode) will stop the scammer from being able to clone yours.
Yeah, people are talking about how the fakes aren’t good enough & I agree, but honestly those things doesn’t matter when the case itself gets replicated. They used to look crazy off with punch holes and all but now it’s getting pretty close.
My first thought when I saw this is that scammers could easily throw in a real clean card, maybe with a micro-indent into the slab and pass it off as a 10.
Anyways, after another close inspection there are other differences for sure (aside from the embossed logo). I won’t mention it here though in case some fakers actually lurk here.
1 Like
This might not be ebay garbage yet. But the guy just filled a dump truck and is on the way to the landfill as we speak. He’s hype shilling his own auction on his 0 feedback account taking a poll on the value of his listing that I view as barely worth 2k with poll options at 4k 6k 8k etc. The guy even blatantly says it’s his auction in a comment Judge for yourself.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/myjfzs/wotc_pokémon_collection_on_ebay_and_this_owner/
1 Like
Whatever you guys do don’t buy off seller probstein123 on eBay!! I wish I checked their feedback. They are a huge seller or were at one point. This month alone they have a ton of negative feedback but because of their past sales they have a 95 percent plus feedback rating.
I won a PSA 9 Aquapolis Nidoking off the person two weeks ago. A week or so passes and i remind them to please ship out my card soon. They say they will but have been busy. Another week passes and now their excuse is it was double listed. So you mean to tell me you put a card up for auction but also sold it on another platform? Or also on eBay? I checked eBay and it’s a bold faced lie. I’m thinking because it didn’t sell as high as they wanted they simply rather take the negative feedback. Also you mean to tell me it took you two weeks to realise you don’t have the card? Really?
Also apparently they are known to shill bid their own auctions and do consignment deals. Avoid probstein123 like the plague! Horrible to do business with. I can only imagine if this was a consignment the actual seller obviously wasn’t paid yet because probstein123 is too busy trying to manipulate the market to get that perfect price. Sorry for the rant it’s just bullshit
4 Likes
I haven’t had any bad experiences with them over the past few years that I’ve made approximately half a dozen purchases from them. Maybe they hit the fan since I’ve done business with them last about 10 months ago. Sorry they gave you a runaround and pulled back a sale man.
2 Likes
@jaredschallenge Ya it looks like they use to do good business. But this past few months they lost their morals. It was just aggravating because it’s a card I bought for my collection. I’ll end up finding another seller but it’s bullshit my money got tied up on a card probstein123 never planned on selling in the first place. A refund wasn’t even issued. I was told to open a case which really set me off
1 Like
Probstein123 has been mega sketch for some time now. Like others have said there’s definite shilling and re-listing when his prices don’t get to where he thinks they should.
I used to order stuff from him but the vague listings and pictures turned into getting poor condition cards more often than not so I stopped buying from him. On top of that, he charges $4 shipping on singles but will send PWE and pocket the difference in shipping costs (I know that I should look at the total item cost but advertising one shipping method and using another is a deceptive business practice)
1 Like
I am experiencing a significant increase in simultaneous listings lately. Or maybe there hasn’t actually been an increase and I’m just encountering them more often. But I encounter cards listed on both eBay, Mercari, and posted for sale on Instagram. When I show interest in the card, they ask me if I’ll buy it on Instagram instead so they don’t have to pay fees. One person directed me to their Mercari listing instead, where I did end up purchasing it. It’s getting very frustrating. I’m not going to act like I haven’t done plenty of business off eBay to get a better deal over the years, but that used to be sort of an exception to make a lower offer more appealing to the seller. Now a lot more of my offers get rejected with a PM telling me to add them on Instagram. It’s driving me up the wall that there’s so many people treating their eBay listing like advertising for listings on other marketplaces.
Your person probably just lied because it sold for less than they wanted it to. But they probably think the excuse that it was double listed is compelling because lots of people are actually doing that now.
1 Like
While I’m here I’ll ask about something else on my mind.
I buy 1st Edition Neo cards at the moment to build my sets. I do a lot of negotiating and repeat business and ask for a lot of pictures and info up front, so I end up having a conversation over almost all my transactions. I am accustomed to reaching out to the seller before I put in a formal offer to discuss the card.
I only have 5 Neo cards left and they’re mostly expensive chase cards with strong individual appeal, so many are listed with really high prices from sellers wanting to profit off of their own purchase or try to inflate the perceived value of the card itself. But I’ve also been getting the excuse lately that the card it listed so high because it “brings people to their page.”
I don’t get this. I only sell cards as part of the collecting process (cards come in, cards go out, the persistent Pokémon tide) so I have never had a formal storefront or anything like that. But I straight up do not understand the concept here.
Is the assumption from the seller that someone interested in that card will look at the listing and end up looking at the seller’s other listings instead and make a different purchase? But literally who does this? If I am buying a 1st Edition Shining Mewtwo and have put all the energy in to assessing the condition and print quality of dozens of listings for this specific card, why would I buy a different card at the end? Furthermore, if someone is trying to sell this card for 75% more than its recent sold prices, why would that motivate me to look at their other listings?
The first time someone told me this I didn’t think much of it. But people keep telling me this. I know someone who bought a bunch of League ephemera and put it together in one over-priced auction for the specific intention of “bringing people to their page.” Is this an algorithm thing? Is there some other explanation for this I don’t understand?
I feel like I’m back on Neopets or something with people listing things they don’t intend to sell. If nothing else at least they’re being honest with me.
1 Like
This definitely happens. A lot of people aren’t only ever looking for one card at a time. I’m a small seller, but I still get people asking me if I have cards that I haven’t listed/“anything else interesting?”.
I personally will look at sellers’ other items, partly to see if anything randomly piques my interest, but also a few other reasons, such as seeing what their prices are like in general.
As for listing above market price: people don’t only list stuff they want to sell immediately. Now more than ever, it can be hard to replace items—particularly if they’re high-end. So people often know that, if they do sell, they may not get another copy. So either they need the money now, or the price has to be exceptional enough to tempt them. They may not really want to sell, but if they get an incredibly offer they might consider taking it.
Keep in mind that a lot of people selling bought these cards when they were not expensive, and are not wealthy enough to be able to spend however many thousands comfortably.
1 Like
Thanks for the insight. I guess with the value of the cards I buy and my budget I am pretty singularly focused on one card at a time. Even if there are multiple cards I need, I usually only pick up a different card than I intended if the price is really good. I guess I’m just really set in my habits.
As for being reluctant to sell unless the offer is excellent, I suppose that makes sense too. I’ve listed things like that. I have the tendency to assume most people selling their cards actively want to sell them or are cashing in but I suppose there’s lots of collectors who are weighing letting go of something valuable versus the money it could bring in. I guess the current card economy has made me more cynical, but lots of sellers were collectors first.
I appreciate the reply.
1 Like