I was naive and had no idea it was this bad! I I didn’t sell much modern English until consigning, and was completely blindsided. Along with this guy, I had someone bid and win a flashfire and plasma boost box last month and install cancel after the auction ended.
The thing that is extremely frustrating is these people know exactly what they are doing. Even the lazy ebay reps were like, “this sounds like a nightmare” and then proceed to do nothing. Anyway it’s just a shame and hopefully they add boxes to the authenticity program or do something to balance the scales.
Many think kids today will get hit with a wave of nostalgia in 20 years like vintage collectors and the boxes and cards will moon. This could be possible, but I do not believe it will ever come close to the vintage experience. Maybe I’m an ignorant boomer or just biased, but in my view the level of attrition and sheer popularity of early Pokemon to me is unparalleled and will never be matched again. When was the last time you heard of Pokemon cards being banned at nearly every school? I haven’t heard it in 20+ years.
I agree with all your points, though to go even further: even if kids do get nostalgia for 2020-era product in 20 years, the product is not going to be nearly as sought after as WotC/EX product currently is, because:
There are tens of thousands of adults keeping modern product sealed with the explicit intention of reselling it for a profit after x number of years.
The value in WotC/EX sealed product is largely because they are the only reliable source of mint cards from those eras. This will never be a factor for SWSH-era product because an extremely high proportion of cards are already being preserved in mint condition (case in point: see the pop reports lol).
It’s so remarkably similar to the dichotomy that exists between pre-1960 sports cards and 80s/90s sports cards. Tons of iconic, popular rookie cards were released during both eras, yet pre-1960 sealed product is worth obscene amounts of money while 80s/90s sealed product is barely worth the paper it’s made of. No one cares about 80s/90s sealed product because cards from that era are already extremely abundant in mint condition – no need to open sealed product.
I’m sure I sound like a broken record, but people speculating on modern sealed product really need to look into the history of other collectibles markets and understand why and how things become valuable. Seeing people speculating on ultra-modern sealed product is like watching a slow-motion trainwreck. All of us onlookers more or less know how it’s going to turn out, but the passengers haven’t yet become acquainted with their fate.
It’s just madness that it took you so long and so many phone calls to make sure you weren’t about to be out that much money. Time is so valuable nowadays, I’d be livid. If sellers are at the mercy of scumbag buyers like that, that’s an issue.
also nooooo plasma boxes do not deserve to be cancelled
@smpratte Noted. So don’t buy English modern. Everyone has buyers remorse and a lot of resealed complaints. Good thing I never got into it.
So I’ve yet to actually make any money in pokemon. I’m a collector at heart and never buy doubles due to there being so many cards to chase. Seeing what looks like all this easy money from the buy and hold strategy of even the most dumpster fire sets I figured maybe I should get into it soon so I can actually profit something to put back into my collection. But no way am I dealing with that type of headache.
People can buy whatever they want, but I think there was a huge shift from the 2020 wotc stonks to modern english. I had an uptick in wotc buyers remorse cases in 2020, which has migrated and then some to modern english sealed. Modern english is worse because there is no barrier to entry.
Lots of good points there! What drives me the most insane about all this is just the mentality at play here and the accusations being made against smpratte. I mean, for someone to complain about getting no holos or pulls shouldn’t be all that shocked. Welcome to modern, where you get lots of shiny cards but never really the one you want until booster box #50 (exaggerating a bit here depending on the set, but you know what I mean).
And then the idea of the packs or box apparently being re-sealed? Is everyone trying to be Logan Paul now and expecting to strike gold on every purchase?
Anyway, hopefully people come to realization about all this stuff eventually. What worked in the past is not necessarily going to work in the future. What makes vintage stuff special is due to many unique factors and it was definitely not because of peoples remorse or trying to strike gold on every box or pack. No one treated things as ‘investment’ it was really all just for fun and collecting.
Somehow my original reply to this ended up in the wrong thread, oops!
Did the buyer actually open up the entire box or just open a single pack, pull nothing, and assume the rest was resealed? Just wondering if it’s possible that we see an apology if he didn’t open all the packs yet?
Also trying to imagine smpratte having the time and desire to reseal an entire Evolutions box hunting for zards or something, lol what?
Joined in 2020 sounds about right…
At this point I’m hoping they go on Reddit or smth so they can be told how silly they sound. Surely this guy has no idea who you are?? It’s frankly insulting to see this kind of attitude against someone so respected in the hobby. I’d be very tempted to pull the “do you know who I am” card
I know they opened at least one pack, but never sent photos of the actual cards, probably because it further hurt their claim. The box was also on consignment from an E4 member. Since the case was closed, I haven’t responded to any messages. That last one just came in without me saying anything.
They should create an easier way to connect with customer support or a personal supervisor for top sellers with several thousand feedbacks. So if something like this happens, it’s a chat and they shut it down. It’s weird to me you have sellers at Smprattes level that have to go through the same queue as everyone else and waste hours of time for each one of these. Especially in todays world, you can TEXT an airline for god sakes and get an instant reply now for any Joe Shmoe. Maybe I’m missing missing though. And maybe because eBay doesn’t have a lot of competition. If you don’t like it, what are you gonna do? Sell on Mercari or PWCC where the buyer pool is not the same?
After reading everything here, glad I don’t plan to sell my modern boxes for a few years yet. But DANG! SMH Complete garbage human beings. I also think it’s at least a little funny,
“I’m going to report you to the BBB.”
“Well, I’m going to report you to the e4.”
The latter is a much bigger threat for this scammer.
