Hi everyone, I was looking on Ebay for a Mewtwo Gameboy Promo card (after getting inspired by some of you guys in other threads). Maybe I’ve been looking at cards to long this evening, but I would swear I’m seeing the same card offered by two different sellers. It has the exact same damages and stains (on the backside) if you ask me. Could this be some kind of scam? Or am I indeed looking wrong…? Any help would be appreciated!
These are the listings:
You’re not crazy, this is 100% a case of reused images.
I do not know the motivation or the cause of this but it’s a good indicator not to buy from either of them.
Thanks! I was already in doubt, but now I’m sure I wont buy from either of them indeed.
What does seem odd is that they both have good feedback scores though
Fairly common practice by Japanese sellers that act as “drop shippers”. Essentially, neither of them probably have the card but will purchase it once someone buys it from them.
Drop shippers are prevalent on ebay. They simply just use photos from items available for sale on sites like Mercari and bump the price up. If you buy they will then buy the card for less and forward it to you. Chances are youll find that exact card for much less there, if its even still available.
Ah that’s good to know. I already found a third seller selling the exact same card. But this explains that practice (and the price differences). I guess my search continues 
I noticed the name and have actually bought from the sora account. Received exact card in the pictures.
I guess it can work out. If the seller indeed gets his hands on the card (on Mercari or somewhere else). But maybe it wil result in trouble if he can’t… Although his feedback score implies that it works out pretty good… Now I’m back in doubt again 
Buy all 3 of them and see what happens📈
Whenever you see multiple sellers from Japan with the same images just go to buyee and buy it yourself and save yourself the dropshipper premium (unless the card is relatively cheap and the shipping costs would kill the savings)
I decided to go for the cheapest option of this card on Ebay (the sora account). Now I’ll just wait and see
interesting, how does this work? never bought through that
For example, this rayquaza goldstar is listed by 2 different japanese sellers with same pick and almost same price, Rayquaza Gold Star 1ED Holo 067/082 Pokemon Card EX Deoxys 2004 Japanese | eBay
according to you, should it be listed on buyee? I registered there but cant find it. (just trying to learn it interests me learning the process)
It’s not guaranteed, but typically the reason these dropship listings exist in the first place is because someone is selling the card on Yahoo Japan or Mercari. The people on eBay will literally just steal the same photo of the listing in Japan and put it on their listing.
Because of that, you can search for the item on Yahoo Japan or Mercari and try to find the listing with the matching photo. Typically it will be cheaper there since they’re trying to make money off of middlemanning it to you from eBay. Buyee is just the middleman you use to actually make a purchase from Yahoo Japan or Mercari.
That said, there are a few things to consider:
A lot of Japanese eBay accounts do this at such a large scale that they can’t keep up with their listings. Meaning, if someone buys the original yahoo/Mercari listing, the eBay seller isn’t aware and will keep their listing active. This means that you’d never find it by searching because it’s already been purchased despite the eBay drop shipper having it listed.
It’s not always cheap enough to make it worth it. I’ve searched for the original listings myself before and sometimes the price difference is so little between the original and the eBay seller’s markup that you’d actually spend more paying Buyee and shipping it to yourself from them.
Related to my first point, if you decide to buy the one from the eBay seller instead, a lot of the time you won’t get the pictured card. Since the sellers tend to be bad about taking down their eBay listings once the original listings have sold, they can’t buy that listing when you buy it from them. This either leads to them cancelling your order with a BS excuse, or they just send you a totally different copy of the card.
Bingo! Here it is listed on Mercari though Buyee at $706 vs $896 via the dropshipper. When you buy on Buyee they purchase it from the seller in Japan and then you pay to have it sent to you in the US or wherever.
https://buyee.jp/mercari/item/m33135920282?conversionType=service_page_search
One point to add is buying through Buyee has no/little buyer protection. Buying through eBay allows for a return if the card doesnt match the photos. So buyee price + buyee fees + shipping fees needs to be a little cheaper than the ebay dropshipper price + sales tax.
Also can factor in international transaction fees for Buyee and not getting 3% cash back like you should on online purchases like eBay (Bank of America card)
The buyer protection was indeed the reason for me to buy in Ebay instead of searching for the original seller. Also, the price seemed fair
Wow thank you very much for the in dept explanation, makes a total sense now for some listings I saw on ebay, never got to buy one of these but by the looks of it most of the times they must be an avoid, thank you very much!
@pokecollectoramy you really are a profesional of this man hahaha i couldnt find it myself thanks! So in this particular one it would be most probably more secure to get this one at ebay right? 706 + all the fees for shipping (dont know how much it would be)
Well there’s a lot to consider as well! The last time I shipped a single card it was $17. I also paid $2.50 to get pictures of the item before it shipped to make sure it was actually the right item. For this item in particular, the seller has good feedback, 94 positive 0 negative and it’s described as being full of scratches. The ones that worry me most are the “mint” “beauty” ones as there’s always a chance of a crease or dent you can’t see.
Buying from Japan direct does always have pros and cons. This one has a decent spread (22%) but you can likely make an offer to the dropshipper to lower the cost in ebay since you know the price he’s paying. You will have ebay to protect you if the card is busted through eBay vs buyee where you are on your own (as other posters above have said). I have historically been lucky on what I’ve received but I have also had some cheaper cards come in worse condition than expected. I have had my share of buyee cards come back as psa 10s too though. Tough decision but something to think about especially if you are looking for the best price.
