I recently purchased a product with an extremely rare deck packaging and some ex era packs, its a pokemon tcg: trainer challenge box with a ex Trainer kit 2 in cardstock packaging. These trainer kit 2 decks have been harder to find and tend to sell around $500 sealed since most of them contain an ex era pack in them (This style doesnt but it likely would sell for the same because people would confuse it with one that does). Ive been looking for this specific deck packaging for about 3 years with very little luck, this is only the 3rd time ive ever even seen it and the first time ive been able to even try buying it. The product comes with 4 ex era packs (crystal guardians, power keepers, holon phantoms, and dragon frontiers, 2 promos, and the deck. I paid $1600 for it all together since it was on ebay as sealed/new.
Heres the hiccups. I was strongly suspicious that a pack was opened inside of it due to an extra card being visible in the listing from the holon phantoms pack. After receiving it and inspecting it, it looks like the packaging has been likely opened before and it looks like at least the dragon frontier other pack has been opened, maybe the power keepers.
Given that now at least 2-3packs are seemingly open, the crystal guardians would also likely opened as well or at bare minimum weighed and the deck may be opened as well, the value is likely 1/4 or less of what i paid.
My dilemma is i can try returning it with item not as described, message the seller and see about a refund for 3/4 of it for being seemingly opened (i dont think theyll go for that), or keep it to have this difficult to find piece for my collection while knowing that i might as well consider it unsealed and know that iâll have to trade up if another ever shows up on the market.
What would you guys do? Iâll also say that i can do a lot with what i paid for it since i normally would have only paid no more than $500 for the deck sealed, $300 open. The extra made sense if packs were sealed and unweighed but is essentially lost if they are unsealed as i think.
Given what you mentioned about how rare this is, Iâm tempted to say to find a way to keep it. But, like you said, itâs not something thatâs worth $1600 opened. Especially given what $1600 can buy. That would be an insta return from me. I do doubt that the seller would do a partial refund, although I guess you could message them saying the packs were opened and see their initial reaction to see what you decide to ultimately do.
End of the day, hope it doesnât end up being something that lives rent free in your head.
I think we all have grossly overpaid for an item that we desperately needed for our collection. Years from now you wonât worry about overpaying, youâll be happy to see that exceptionally rare deck packaging in your collection.
If I knew that I could find another copy in the next 3-5 years, I would return it. But it sounds like these are incredibly rare and that opportunity is anything but certain.
So my vote is to keep it, knowing that at some point down the line you may be able to find a second, better, copy.
If this were me, I would absolutely return it. Seeing it in my collection would constantly remind me of how I was sold a sealed product that is actually opened. But my personal opinion here doesnât matter much - itâs about your collection and what this would add, sealed or not.
I think it depends on why you bought it. If you wanted it completely untouched you have to ration whether it is worth not seeing this product in your collection at all again. Or at least in this decent condition.
If that is too scary, I would keep it if you want it. I feel like short term it feels over paid but the head ache of not having to find it again is better than not having it all.
I say keep it. If you have immediate plan for the 1600 return. Hope this helps!
Please donât even consider keeping this product or asking for a partial refund. If the item was sold as unopened, factory sealed, then this is bare minimum item not as described to potentially straight up fraud if the seller knew or even did the tampering themselves.
I wouldnât deal with a seller that sold me a product like this, but in the case that there is something of value in this box that youâre looking for, after you get a full refund from the seller, you can ask that they open the box and provide detailed pictures of the deck that youâre interested in to show that itâs unopened and in original condition, and tell them that youâd be interested in purchasing that item on its own. Itâs very likely that any and all value was stripped from this box by the scammer, so I highly doubt that the thing youâre looking for is in there, but you never know.
You pretty much already got all the advice and thoughts I would give, but knowing me, it would drive me crazy if I had something that I knew was opened or potentially opened, so I would try to return it just on that basis alone. But thatâs me personally
After typing it out last night I found that I was likely going to return unless the seller was able to refund a significant amount. I messaged them directly about it today and predictably they said they wouldnt return or refund, never remember opening it, and that theyve owned it for over a decade. After I started a return they offered a $200 partial refund which I declined so I will proceed with the return as soon as ebay allows it.
@ragingkraken Thanks. It for sure will live in my head as a slightly bitter âI almost had itâ kind of way until I find another. @Dyl If it was close to the value of the deck, Id keep it no question because of how difficult its been to get hold of. But losing out on so much just for an open deck that Iâll always want to trade up I cant do currently. @nikhil I appreciate the logic. Sadly I could use the money elsewhere on my collection if the right decks come around. @smokemon I gambled on ebays return policy, hopefully I dont lose because of it. @haggiscollects@xara I would keep it for display but the seller wasnt willing to provide a healthy discount @hypernova Thanks for the push to contact them after shipping it back with a refund. I doubt theyâll want to deal with me but its not my fault that it was already open and listed as sealed. @camrok37 Thanks, Im ok with unsealed items depending on rarity but the cost vs value is too high for me currently to pay that much and get this in return. @casual Oh it absolutely doesnt surprise me that its described that way. The packs wouldnt have been helpful competitively since they came from 4 older sets and there are hardly any deck collectors out there, so if I didnt collect decks based on packaging I wouldnt even care about this specific version. But since I do, this has been one of the most difficult versions of trainer kits to track down, pretty much on par or harder to find than the wigglytuff bisharp trainer kit. Actual value of the deck itself with what is included is probably less than $100 but Im willing to overpay due to rarity just to get it in my collection. Also thanks for the photo, the deck is confirmed open now since the coin is missing from the front and thats the most important part of it for me.
Crossing my fingers ebayâs policy is enough for me to get it returned without issue from the seller.
I would absolutely return this. (assuming the packs are opened)
If the packs inside are opened, and the box has been tampered with, it is essentially worthless to me as a sealed collectible. I donât see a difference between a proxy and an opened product.
But despite the harsh things I just said you can do whatever you like. Wtih $1600 I bet you could recreate this same âsealedâ packaging for less.
I dont so much care about the seal on it, although that definitely hurts the value. The deck style is what i was after and the price only makes sense with at least 3 of the packs sealed and untampered. The moment it became evident that they are likely all tampered is when i had to try deciding keeping the rare packaging for many times its worth despite no resale value ever or return it and possibly not find another for several years if at all. Hopefully it wont take me that long to come across another of this deck packaging style.
