What came first awkward sellers or awkward buyers?lol.
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I hate returns and avoid them at all costs. If I’m not happy I’ll resell the card. One time recently I did an exchange instead. But I treat all my own sales as final and expect the same as a buyer.
Also @Cerulean I think maybe you’re mistaking me incriminating myself in good humor as defending the actions of problem buyers, which is neither my interest nor intention. I’m not defending anyone else or asking anyone here to change their behavior, nor have I made any judgment against people’s instincts when communicating with eBay users. This started with me saying “oh no, I do this” and then I explained why I personally do something that is typically characteristic of problem-buyers that many sellers find annoying.
“I can’t help being annoying” was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, so you reacting to that as a “piss poor excuse” has me feeling that we are really not on the same page. I started this conversation in jest to poke fun at me and my actions. If this was not a good place to do that then I will refrain from doing so any further.
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I’ve only ever seen this type of critical examination for PSA 10s. Do you really look for every speck of whitening on a PSA 8? That seems a bit counterintuitive to me.
I inspect every card I buy, yes. But I’m going to stop posting about it because I regret becoming a subject of this thread. I did not mean to touch a nerve and I worry that’s what I’ve done.
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I really enjoyed what you wrote and the perspective you have when buying cards! I found it resonating with me when I buy cards. Sometimes a seller can post a lot of pictures of a card but leave some dust/hair/etc on the card without realizing it and include it in all of the pictures. When all I have to go by is a picture, I’m going to be inspecting the pictures closely. I wouldn’t blame the seller if I happened to gloss over something that later bothered me that was pictured. That would be on me.
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Hey, no worries @stagecoach.
I am the same way with swirls. I’ll forgo picking up a card if I can’t find a nice copy with a swirl. I’ll pay a premium for a card with a swirl, and I’ll often ask sellers if the card in question has one.
Our preferences can sure be annoying to some sellers, but it is what it is. 
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People don’t realize that cards are a collectible and graded cards kind of dissuades buyers from asking questions. Especially for people who aren’t enthusiasts I completely understand for questions because they’re spending on money and they want it to be what they’re expecting. When I was selling a psa 9 base 1st holo there was a black speck somewhere on the surface that probably wasn’t even on the card but in the case and the buyer passed. He wasn’t a collector, it was just nostalgic purposes and he wanted his money to go to something he pictured it to be. It might come off annoying if buyers ask questions, but it’s better that they’re happy with what they’re buying. As a seller I genuinely feel bad if my buyer is unhappy with the purchase because of condition defects or other things.
@stagecoach you are well within your right to be asking questions ezpz
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E4: “Buy the card, not the grade”
When buyers implement tactics to buy the card, not the grade - E4 ebay garbage thread: “
”
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You can “buy the card, not the grade” without asking for information on every single white dot or piece of dust 
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You’ve read the room completely wrong haha!
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As an eBay buyer, I want to see as much of the card as possible before buying. As an eBay seller, I want to deal with eBay buyers as little as possible.
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The problem is most of the people asking for additional pictures aren’t buying anything. No offense to anyone in the thread. Some of the people commenting are some of the nicest members! But statistically speaking, majority of buyers who ask for additional photos never buy the card.
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statistically speaking majority of buyers are not “true” collectors (Source: My Brain)
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100% agree. And it isn’t exclusive to Pokémon cards. 99% people who ask for more pictures, or have questions about any eBay item (from an established seller), don’t end up buying.
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Or even better, they lowball after getting the pics
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“stagecoach, can you do me a solid? Can you clean this card with the purest mountain spring water, a silver stitched cloth, and on the 1st new moon in the year of the dragon? I want to know if the dirt on the slab will require plastX scratch filler, or if it’s just a hair.
Thx bro!”
I’m kidding, of course. I also ask maybe one part of this question regularly, but of course, we’re not asking seasoned sellers for a 13th photo, or another photo of an Hi Res slab image… We’re asking questions that matter. “Is that a god tier foil, I see?!”
I feel like people bring up “buy the card not the grade” more often to criticize it these days than anyone using it earnestly
For me it has always been more about “I will buy a PSA 6 masaki because it’s probably envelope-fresh and I will get a huge discount” instead of “how do i make sure my PSA 10 is in the top 5% of PSA 10s”. In other words, the #1 priority should be the card itself and the grade or condition (and especially label) is a secondary concern
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