The scenario is you are BIN consigning a card for someone, or you are storing cards for someone you middle man for. Let’s say you dont hear from them for a long time and you reach out multiple times to send them their cards back with no response. How long would you wait until you consider contact lost and the card yours?
I am thinking 1 year minimum after reaching out.
Note: this isn’t a scenario I am in
I don’t think I would ever be able to truly feel like I own the card unless explicitly told. I would consider myself more of a vault for someone if they never got in contact.
1.5 / 2 years imho is appropriate, unless some severe circumstances.
I’m not gonna lie keeping the card for yourself or profiting doesn’t sound good (except something of extremely low value, which I would consider merely a refund for the time loss).
So a hypothetical solution would be to sell it and just donate to charity whatever you get
I hate middle manning and payment plans so much!
Honestly, I would feel terrible if the card wasn’t in my possession if the person did reach out so if keep the card in my personal collection till they reach out, if they never reach out…
Nice, new card for my collection (of course I’d keep it in the same way I got it just in case), may sound harsh but the only other alternatives I see are:
A. If it puts me in the hole at all, sell it
B. Trade it
C. Store the card in a vault
D. Give the card to authorities and let them deal with the legal obligations
It’s hard when someone puts complete trust in you to handle their cards. Things happen though, at some point it’s gotta be called. 5 years? 20 years? Idk, that is why I asked
100% agree. I wasn’t thinking along those lines, but that would have to happen if you wanted the card gone
Easily the weirdest thing you will see in collecting. You either can afford it or you can’t (or shouldn’t)
I didn’t think of this one. It’s possible I paid tariffs on the card and now I am ghosted. You would want those funds recovered
Hold onto it until they reach out (or don’t). After a couple years turn the card into a coaster.
Wouldn’t cross my mind until I was leaving the hobby or moving out or something and whatever they consigned took up enough space to bother me. And if that ever happened, I’d just donate it or if it appreciated enough by then, sell it and donate the money. Just doesn’t seem right to profit off of it.
I wonder if there is a legally correct answer to this
Depends. What kind of relationship do I have with this person? How much is the card worth? Are there other people I can contact? Do I have reason to assume I’m being ghosted? Do I have reason to assume that something big has happened like a spontaneous pilgrimage to Tibet or a quadruple bypass?
I doubt I’d wait a whole year if the thing was supposed to happen yesterday and it’s someone who has time to post sunsets and relfies on instagram but leaves me on read and can’t pick up the fucking phone.
I personally would never be able to consider these cards as my own since I did not pay for them. I will try my best to reach out and if there is no communication then I will just store them indefinitely till I hear back from the person I was middle-manning for.
I think it also depends on the person and what is my relationship to them. I will however stop worrying about it and move on. If they are unreachable then it should not be my problem.
Cheers!
My best guess is:
Unless there is some explicit wording in the agreement/contract about taking ownership after x amount of time, the card will never legally belong to you. Doesn’t matter how much time passes. If you get rid of it (sell, donate, throw away, etc) and then they suddenly reach out, you’re probably at risk of them taking legal action.
A lot of consigners don’t have a formal contract. Z&G just has ya put a piece of paper with contact into and the cards in a box and send their way. There are likely T&Cs on their website, but nothing you sign for or opt into
Five years later, ZangG: "I’m still waiting for my GradedGem customers to reply”
Sounds like you have a new binder of “Not my cards but they could be”
Personally I wouldnt think about it until it became an issue. Then i’d check what the legal allowance for abandoned property is in both local and state in my and their area (if i had an originating address). Id try getting hold of them in multiple formats with final format being an official letter requiring a signature (again if i had an address) that they have X amount of time to claim or quit. Generally that would be for high value items that Id be nervous about not being able to replace financially should they ever come back. I would expect 1yr of no instruction or contact before this happened.
Documentation and policy is your support, being understanding of situations gives you flexibility.
Ive always wondered what happens when someone dies before getting their payout, product return, etc. Technically itd go to an estate or next of kin but without any info, maybe its in limbo forever.
And he has actual cost in having those stored since he paid grading fees out of his own pocket. 5 years seems appropriate to get your funds back
Indeed! Honestly, you can’t expect a forum member to act like a vault indefinitely: I might store 1 card (I’ll put it in a toploader and throw inside a box), but for larger items? I can’t be responsible for your valuable packages forever.
At around 2 years mark imho, the possibility of an extremely unlucky event (that person passing away, coma, mental issues..) becomes relevant.
So, while I think some solutions are more ethical than others, I’m not going to blame people for giving away such stuff, depending on the value of course (auctioning an unreclaimed Illustrator would probably also get you in legal troubles).
It makes me so curious what cards are just sitting there. It’s likely some are incredibly valuable. I’m talking about cards like the Mario/Luigi/Poncho Pikachu, rare Sun & Moon alt arts, or even something from the XY . I bet a lot of those cards are worth a small fortune.
I think he mentioned years ago they were Vivid Voltage reverse holos, so they are worth less than the grading fees owed.
Such a convenient time to suddenly go missing
Depends on the terms and conditions