I thought it was a little strange why the Seller was offering USD40 BIN for a Burning Shadows Rainbow Rare Charizard. From the photos on listing, the front of the card appeared to be well centered & minty, and with the normal patterned texture that is characteristic of such card. From the back of the photo, it could be seen that the card was quite off centered – therefore although the price seemed too good, I thought it was still believable and decided to purchase.
I recently finally got possession of the package. Upon opening it, I found that the Seller had basically pulled a “switcheroo” – the card I received is definitely a proxy. The front of the card had no texture and was shinier and glossier than a real Burning Shadows RR Charizard card (I have a real one which I sent to PSA to grade so am familiar with the details of the card).
I have a feeling that the Seller uploaded a photo of the front of a real RR Charizard and uploaded a photo of the back of the proxy card that he sent me.
I have now asked Seller for refund via the ordinary escalation channel. I am not sure if eBay, once looped in, will be convinced however since I do not have my opening of the Seller’s package on video (Seller can argue vice versa and it could become a “He Said vs She Said” sort of thing without video). Is there anything else I can do apart from providing photos?
As the old adage says: “If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.”
eBay should and most likely will give you a refund, based on the premise that the item is spurious. You can simply return it - not sure they you’d have to have a video of the opening of the package (especially for an item of that cost).
The buyer rules Ebay. Do not fret. You will win and rightfully so.
I would also try and get this seller on the blacklist.
This same thing happened to me on mercari and thankfully mercari is similar to ebay in these regards.
People like this are the reason ebay and other online sellers have to be so buyer oriented.
Don’t roll over. Return it and get your money back and REPORT @shim0da,
Exactly what he said. Also, we’ve had this argument before, the video would be null and I don’t believe that would give you anymore pull. Like what most people said, they tend to protect buyers more than sellers.
Thanks guys, I consider myself relatively new to the hobby and have never experienced such situation before nor used eBay much previously so your comments are invaluable to me.
Regarding this Seller, where can I find this blacklist? I will nominate this Seller to be included after the whole case is settled (or is it fine to do so now?). The thing that made me trust the Seller is that Seller has multiple feedback with 100% positive rating, so I think there is likelihood he or she may succeed again and should be put on watch.
As I have two boxes - which I may or may not sell in the future - but what exactly is stopping someone from pulling the ole switch-er-roo or returning a box they’ve tampered with etc? But yeah, they protect buyers more, however, there was one case when I ordered some Harry Potter TCG cards and it was lost in the mail - to which the seller refused to refund me, wherein eBay suggested I get a police-report (even the police laughed off the request); a long story short, I got a refund via Paypal.
As a seller, you should file a report with the police and the postal inspector. This increases your chances that eBay will deny the buyer’s claim or refund the buyer out of their own pocket and you won’t be out of your money. Even if you don’t win the claim, it will help protect other sellers in the future by having filed those because this will create a record against said buyer and if the they already have a history of it you might get the the old, “oh, I actually just found your cards. I must have mixed them up with another package” when you mention the police and postal inspector reports. The key is to not come off like you’re accusing them. Simply say you’re sorry that happened with the package and mention you’re going to file the reports and you can potentially throw in the fact that mail fraud is a felony and then give them one more out by asking them are you sure you don’t have me mixed up with another seller or something because they might “find” the package now that they know you’re serious. Those scammers just count on people writing it off as a “cost of doing business online” and not filing anything against them which is often times the case.
Only 2 of that feedback is as a seller, though. And one of them has a very… colorful description. I wouldn’t really put any stock into buyer feedback for a seller.