As I’m sure is the same for many, my grail card is the 1st Edition Base Set Charizard. Obviously, a PSA 10 is the goal here, but I can’t afford that. With the price of 9’s, I can’t afford that either. However, the opportunity to buy an 8 just presented itself to me and something about it just seems too good to be true.
I came across it online. Seller has no ratings on their selling account, says they are located in Germany and that the card will be shipped from New Mexico. On top of that, the card is going for half of the normal market price. I checked the PSA number on the label and it seems like it’s an authentic card. I’ll post pics below.
For those of you who have been buying for years, what do you do in a situation like this? Do you just let it go by and assume it’s a scam? Or do you potentially strike on a really rare opportunity?
This is about as clear of a scam as you can get. Zero feedback sellers do not just pop up with multi-thousand dollar professionally graded cards and offer them to you for half price. You’ve got about every possible red flag in that description. Stay far away and buy from established sources.
Yeah, my gut was telling me the same thing - I guess I was hoping that deep down my instincts would have been wrong and people on here would have said otherwise.
Red flag city, such a bummer. Oh well, back to hunting.
This is an obvious scam, walk away - these scams are obvious in the same way that nigerian prince scams are - they are looking for people who overlook obvious red flags, because frankly, those people aren’t that smart.
Seller location in Germany and item location New Mexico: Biggest red flag ever!
Half market price: Next big red flag!
No feedback and selling a card valued many thousands of dollars: Another red flag.
Unfortunately, 1st Edition Base Charizard is probably the most notorious scam card in the hobby and it’s pretty much been like this since the beginning. Everyone wants it, and everyone tries to bait people with it. It’s part of what makes it legendary.
This has all the red flags you need to know it’s a scam.
Good on you for recognizing that it smelled fishy and holding on it til you were sure. A lot of new buyers would fomo it and then post on here after they received it asking how to fix the situation
In 2022 just assume “really rare opportunities” in the Pokemon hobby just don’t exist anymore, especially for the most well known and desired card in the hobby
I always ask, “why would someone leave so much money on the table” especially for deals that are not through friends, or provide them with something else like a reputation. Good job on asking for help and realizing things sound odd.
Oh shoot yea photos are of a real card but sounds like a big scam…
In these cases if things sound too good to be true and even if im like 99% sure they are a scam, ill troll them a little but also milk info from them that tells me this is without a doubt a scam. Act like you are a rich guy who has access to global travel and that you prefer to do in-person pickups for big purchases like this. See what he says when you want to meet in person. That should tell you everything you need to know XD
