I ordered 3 EX Sandstorm packs off eBay that just arrived today. They were listed with images of the packs on gram scales and all three displayed 17.7g.
When I got them in, I weighed them myself to confirm the described weight but they all came in at 17.58g. May not sound like a huge difference but this gap is the difference between light and heavy for EX sets in my experience.
I opened one and yep, it was light.
Is the discrepancy in weight described grounds for a return? or maybe a request for partial refund? I would not have purchased packs under 17.7g let alone under 17.6g.
Obviously I wouldnāt dispute the pack I opened, Iām going to keep that one, but the other two are unopened.
My own personal take on this is that you are comparing the weight of what is likely your $8 uncalibrated pocket scale with the sellers $8 uncalibrated pocket scale. (I have this disclaimer in my own advertised as light pack listings). The sellers scale only has tenths of a grams as well so 17.58g ā 17.7g.
If the seller said guaranteed holo you have a right to return. If not then no IMO.
Not 100% sure on the science on this off the top of my head but at different elevations there can be discrepancies between weight especially on these cheap scales. My two cents is weighed packed are useless unless you know the box they came from, because a two packs at the same weight one can be heavy and one can be light simply because they are from two different boxes.
I can offer my personal experience here and say that when something very similar happened to me I opened both packs and both contained holos. I wouldnāt necessarily assume the seller messed with their scale.
This is why selling packs according to weight on eBay is hard.
Technically, yes, you have grounds for a return since your packs do not weigh the same as whatās listed in the description. That is the risk the seller takes by specifying weight - if the buyer opens an āitem not as describedā case due to the difference, they will win and be able to return the packs (and hopefully they return the same ones that were sentā¦).
However, opening one of the packs muddies the waters a bit, since you are now returning an item thatās not in the same condition as it was sent, which is required for a valid return. Hopefully, you can work something out with the seller (e.g., partial refund due to weight difference, partial refund due to returning 2 instead of 3 packs, etc.), but if theyāre unwilling to cooperate your only recourse will be to open an āitem not as described caseā and force the return.
The pictures of scale weights mean nothing. There is no way of knowing whether there is 0.2g of paper underneath the pack, whether the scale is badly calibrated, etc. Reputation of the seller is everything when it comes to buying packs.
To add some additional context: Iām not sure of the quality of the sellerās scale, but mine is pretty nice and I calibrate before each use with a 100g weight. Iām very certain about the accuracy of my measurements.
I also donāt think the seller was acting maliciously, though I guess I canāt be certain. Iām more concerned about the packs being advertised as heavier than they actually were.
It sounds like his scale reads to 1/10 gram hence all 17.7. If a light pack is 17.58 then a 17.65 pack could read on his scale as 17.7. That is a very small . 07 to hope an eBay seller recognizes and consistently does or does not guarantee a holo. Unless you run the seller has a pattern of intentionally misleading people I do not think you have grounds for return and recommend looking for guaranteed heavies from a box break or singles. Or if you are only buying 17.70 and higher then look for sellers with an additional decimal point scale.
If you are unhappy and the seller wont take a return, open up a case, add pictures of the packs weighed on your scale and send them back when ebay says too.
If the photos had shown the packs weighed 17.58g, would you have still purchased them? Because 17.58g also sounds heavy for Sandstorm (Iāve never seen a Sandstorm pack heavier than ~17.5g). So if the sellerās scale had read 17.58g instead of 17.7g, is it possible you would have still made the assumption that the pack had a holo? I wouldāve guessed it would contain a holo at either of those weights.
So I personally wouldnāt dispute it. The seller advertised a really high-weight Sandstorm pack, and you received a really high-weight Sandstorm pack ā just a slightly less high-weight one. Itās not clear that thereās a greater chance of pulling a holo out of a 17.7g pack than a 17.58g pack; both are weights that most would assume to be heavy.
3 nice non-holo 10 candidates in Eevee, Growlithe and Steelix
Average reverses but Iām especially pleased with the Onix
And 3 MC uncommons, one in each pack. Lileep and Lanetteās Net Search have a visible print dot. Really happy with the Lileep Iām a huge fan of that line.
Gonna add the data points to the packweights thread