I get an email today that a card failed authentication. It was a Neo Destiny Shining that sold for over $3k.
In the notes it said it was due to set. I look, and I listed the set as Neo Destiny properly. The buyer has already rejected the card.
I have eBay call me and I talk to a really nice person from their authentication dept who says that what’s noted is the rarity is listed as “Ultra Rare” when it should be “Secret Rare”. That’s what failed it.
I explain to this poor person what an “Ultra” versus a “Secret” rare could mean, and that there’s no difference in this set between the two at all. Even Beckett marks them as UR on their label, though I’ll concede they’re no authority.
I’m absolutely floored. It’s the exact card the customer bought, and even if an Item Specifics detail was egregiously wrong, it would still be the same card. All I’m learning here is to not use Item Specifics.
The customer service rep said her boss knew more about cards than her, and she would give me a call tomorrow. There’s nothing they can do since the buyer has already rejected, but they might be able to give me a credit for their mistake. Still sucks, but I’ll talk to eBay for as long as I have to if it could possibly lead to a memo going to their authentication.
I’ve also had two issues with them failing cards marked as “Promo” in the rarity, which are promo cards from various sets, instead of being listed as “uncommon” or whatever they are. Though the buyers have all accepted those.
I think there are a few people doing the authentication work that are asleep at the wheel, but I don’t think most of them are this strict. I’ve had a tiny minority of cards rejected for “set” related reasons, but sold other cards of the same set with copy pasted specifics that passed just fine. This makes me think there’s a level of human interpretation involved in their process. Their employees should really be following a checklist and accepting/rejecting cards based on transparent standards. I guess a level of subjectivity is necessary to this kind of work efficiently at the moment, but still feels odd.
Thats tough. I get why they have strict parameters, but the rarity terminology in pokemon is basically irrelevant, plus authenticity should just be about the physical card. I wonder if the buyer didn’t immediately deny if they could have manually approved the card. Either way thats a headache over semantics.
Agreed they should have strict parameters. I think another issue is that item specifics is almost entirely voluntary fields, is only helpful for adding keywords that you ideally capture in the title anyway, and is turning into a minefield rather than an aid in item discovery.
Unrelated side note I didn’t realize until afterwards, but if this is returned and resold later, I also miss out on the promotional fee reduction. That sucks.
And the buyer GOT what they wanted, but refused the card? Or…? I’m confused as to the order of events. I didn’t think the buyer could refuse if auth was confirmed. Or if the auth denied the card because of rarity… I get that but still.
I do generally leave rarity OUT of my listings, but IDK if this is an option for authenticity guarantee…
Authenticity was confirmed, but they said there was an issue with the listing accuracy. I had to talk to a rep to find out it wasn’t the set, but the rarity being listed as ultra rare instead of secret rare.
TY for responding. That is very interesting. So in theory, a buyer could outmaneuver the auth g. by simply saying there was a description parameter error - holo, rarity, set, etc.
If ebay have such a stick up their bums about wording, then boy I can’t tell you how many listings I see that say “weedle - not gold star charizard rayquaza shining alternate art umbreon” that could use some help.
EDIT: Oh also as a buyer I had that exact same issue, but it was about the automated listing condition not matching what the authenticator thought was accurate. The listing title was correct I see this all the time, not even an issue. The photos were clear. I got the exact same phrasing “the card received does not match the listing details” I think or close to it. That is truly unhelpful. Turned out there wasn’t actually any issue. I rejected it thinking they pulled a switcheroo. But no. The seller was upset. But I had no way to know what happened. Your experience confirms this is a regular pedantic issue they have that is messing up transactions. If the seller and me as the buyer hadn’t communicated afterwards, I’d have never known. Sometimes ebay does stuff that annoys sellers, sometimes buyers, but doing something that ruins it for both takes true talent.
INB4 you change your wording, and they flag it again and want you to make it say what you originally listed.
Anybody else have consistent issues with ebay’s “selected payment method” for bids and offers? I’ve must of put it in several times now and it’ll randomly ask me to keep doing it. It has cost me 2 ebay snipes this week lol
wow ive never encountered this before… i thought they only do this if the grade/company you select is wrong for the card… guess i gotta be more careful with the item specifics myself… wonder if big sellers like z&g ever got this nailing every item specific every single time seems like not even possible🤔
on a side note pretty sure that promotion has been crazy successful for them wouldnt be surprised to see it back again
Yeah, it would require some amount of effort so that ebay doesn’t lose $360 because the random field said “Ultra Rare” instead of “Secret Rare”. It’s not 2016 anymore, a significant portion of their revenue now comes from Pokemon cards and that fact is advertised on their homepage everyday now. We have the right to be entitled here.
The irony is that at the authentication step they known what the right answer is to these fields, clearly. So just auto-populate them up front.
My sincerest condolences.
