I recently sold a PSA 9 Grey Star Pikachu Corocoro promo card. The buyer has now opened a return request because “the item doesn’t seem authentic”. If you’ve ever seen one of these cards, it is an English card released in Japan and it does look a little off as there are subtle font differences compared to the black star promo ivy Pikachu released just after. I’m surprised the buyer doesn’t believe the legitimacy of a card that has been professionally graded and sealed by the biggest card authenticator out there.
I have heard of buyers rejecting a graded card because they don’t agree with the grade/condition once they’ve received it but not actually outright questioning the authenticity. Does anyone have any experience with this?
I am UK based and the buyer is in the US, so I’m also concerned about footing the return postage etc if the claim is somehow supported by eBay.
Bit weird that (s)he buys a card and doesn’t know what it’s supposed to look like… You’re indeed correct that these grey promo Ivy Pikachu cards which are released in Japan have a slightly different font, layout, colors, and copyright bar in comparison to the English copies.
Here both the grey stamp promo from my personal Pikachu collection, as well as the English one next to it (excuse my bad scanner):
And here the Japanese one again in large:
Maybe the buyer has remorse buying it, and used “not authentic” as a reason to return it. Or maybe the buyer simply didn’t know any better, and you can explain him/her it’s a legit card.
Since it’s PSA graded and definitely intended to look like the card above, I think you should be able to fight it and either not accept the return for the reason stated, or if the buyer still insist on returning it they’ll have to pay for return shipping themselves. Only disadvantage is that you’ve lost the shipping fees from you to the buyer, and have to find a new buyer for it. But that can’t be helped I guess. Not sure how eBay will side, and whether your buyer simply didn’t knew any better or simply doesn’t want it and makes up an excuse to ship it back.
Thanks @quuador for adding the extra info and pictures. It will be very useful for demonstrating the legitimacy of the card and how there might have been some confusion. I have sent a reply reassuring the buyer that it’s authentic and offered to provide more examples of the same card, so now we just have to wait and see!
It may be the buyer just wants a refund and changed his mind…just picked a random return option. Sometimes just have to bite the bullet on situations like these.
Sounds like the buyer is an idiot who does not know what the card actually is honestly. The Grey stamp coro coro pikachu is very real and VERY COOL! I love my copy and for a while it really flew under the radar. Nothing better than a vintage japanese card in english. It really ties both kinds of collectors together and it could not be a more iconic card!
Update: the buyer isn’t giving up and is now directly claiming the card “isn’t real” and that I sold him a fake card. Unfortunately this is probably going to take a fair amount of time to fix.
Do they claim that the PSA case isn’t real, or that PSA graded a fake card? I don’t think this matters tremendously, but the latter of the two might be winnable. I’m curious if PSA as a professional third party opinion could supersede a buyers opinion in a case like this.
Shitty situation that I hope you come out without having to refund someone with buyers remorse. Whats his ebay profile, I havent blocked anyone today yet!
Very frustrating to have $750 on hold for 3 weeks and plenty of time wasted. I’ve sent a huge message with as much evidence as I could (thanks @quuador, I used your cards to show the differences that seem to have them completely confused). I hope they finally realise what a great card they’ve got and feel really stupid! For those asking, the profile is micpis_7051
Wouldn’t it be easier for you to take the return? I know it sucks losing the shipping costs, but sometimes it’s less time and work for something you could easily re-sell again.
@chopstix23, @diglettscave, I agree its not worth fighting. Looks like there is only one other on Ebay right now for $999.99. Take the return and sell it for $200 more to a better educated and more appreciative buyer.
Update: I have spoken to eBay support twice. The first time (Nov 16th) they considered all the evidence and said that it would be ruled in my favour, the case closed and the funds released back to me on PayPal after 3 days. This didn’t happen so I called again on Nov 20th to ask if there was anything else I had to do. This time they told me to just let the refund request time out and that the funds would be available soon. The buyer keeps messaging me saying to accept the refund or get eBay involved, which I have done, but there has been no update on the open case by eBay.
Has anyone had this sort of experience with a return request before?
I’m usually pretty open to returns but if I accept I would have to pay around $70 for return shipping to the UK and $40 in lost PayPal fees. It’s just a bit too much for me to roll over for.
You’re indeed correct that these grey promo Ivy Pikachu cards which are released in Japan have a slightly different font, layout, colors, and copyright bar in comparison to the English copies.
