I recently auctioned a NM-M Vaporeon 1st edition from jungle. The seller received the item is now requesting a return because it “doesn’t match the description” saying the Holo is tOo scuffed to be that condition.
I pride myself on being very honest with my sales and I know that Holo had almost nothing on it. I even have videos I took of it to send and so I messaged the seller stating that “a NM-M card is by general pokemon grading standards at PSA an 8. Which allows for minor whitening, and light scratching. But if you want a refund I ask you cover the PayPal fees associated with this return.”
I have not received a response yet. My main question is do you feel this was the way to handle things? What do you guys do in these situations?
Im relatively new to this stuff (one year in) but have been around tcgs my whole life and I consider myself pretty knowledgeable for the most part but when it comes to eBay sales I’m a real noobie.
I sometimes find myself frustrated with these types of encounters and I try not to let that show in my messages and remain professional.
Don’t do anything until you get a response. If the buyer still presses you for a refund you should just comply. Ebay’s buyer protection allows a buyer to essentially get refund regardless of how accurate the item actually was described. You can fight it and lose and risk the negative feedback and be forced to pay the return anyway or you can comply, save yourself the time and hassle and just relist when you get it back. Unfortunately one of the drawbacks about having great buyer protection on ebay is compromised seller protection.
This topic is why third party grading exists. Selling ungraded is more risk. When I sell ungraded I am more strict on condition, in hopes to avoid these scenerios.
Ultimately this will probably just be a standard return. Take it step by step, respond when necessary.
Refund is the way. It’s always best to be very descriptive and brutally honest when listing raw cards, as opposed to simply saying NM-M. You just run into so much potential headache if a buyer disagrees with a non third party title.
If a buyer is a dick (and he is), he will leave you bad feedback anyway, you will still have to pay for shipping and fees whether you comply or fight back. If card is cheap most likely buyer wouldn’t want to go through a long opening the case and waiting a week process, so he might drop it. Don’t forget, even if he wins and returns, seller can still counter and state that card was not returned in the same condition. I won several cases like this. It is possible if you know what you are doing, but in most cases people will just drop it as it’s too much of a hassle.
“Yes, please send the card back. I think it can get a PSA 10 and I want to grade it myself. I will accept the return when I get the card back.”
I’ve had it where people responded back to this line and basically said. “Oh, never mind then. I like the card” or they simply never respond back and don’t open a item not as described return.
The people doing this are basically buying raw cards to PSA grade. That’s why they’re so picky.
Also at this point, if you have any valuable cards then don’t sell them raw unless they’re like obvious bad condition. Always send them to PSA to get graded. A “NM-M” 1st ed vaporean is definitely something you should send to PSA.
Try and take pics that capture the unique flaws or holo patterns when you list as there is nothing preventing an unethical buyer from doing a not as described return and sending you back a different card. Having listing pics that show these details is important, and it is also a good idea to do a little video clip when you are opening the return from the buyer. If something is amiss, you will have it on video if you contest the dispute. Photos at that point may not cut it. And if it’s an expensive return, you should definitely contest it if you believe an item other than the one you sold was returned to you. Ebay will side with a seller who is in the right if and only if the evidence is irrefutable.
for cheaper cards, another trick is not to use these terminologies like NM/M and just list a card with good photos. this could help you with eBay. when you add a qualifier, you have to stand by them, and that is often more trouble when you have to convince ebay what you mean by that. imagine the person on ebay’s side trying to make a determination. you will lose 99/100. only add qualifiers with cards that are more expensive, and you have to leave yourself some room for variance in opinions. pretty much do not use MINT unless you are 95% damn sure. nobody should use GEM MINT in their description ever. i’ve seen fools use PRISTINE. smh.