Question on eBay's Authenticity Guarantee process for sealed Trading Cards

[gamb10r]

So I'm about to list a number of hockey cards, with several being listed over $250, so it automatically goes through the AG program. But what if the card is factory sealed? If they break the seal to inspect it, the value immediately and significantly drops.

But I saw a video where a buyer bought a factory sealed relic card, and the factory seal wasnt broken, but it wasnt in those AG blue holder case, it just came with a message that said it was 'miscategorized' and couldnt be/pass inspection. When the buyer receives this, they will probably be confused and suspicious of its authenticity.

Is there any way around this? If the AG program won't inspect factory sealed cards and then relay a message to the buyer questioning its authenticity, then whats the point? It just devalues the sale. Any experiences fellow ebayers?

Thank you

[ilikehockeyjerseys · Accepted solution]

You would be better off contacting eBay directly and asking for some point of contact with someone involved in the AG program. This is a very niche question. 

For what it is worth, I have sold cards like the UD Buybacks that come sealed in tamper proof holders from UD and have not had any issues with the sale. The card was marked as authenticated in the order details tracking. I have no way of knowing if the customer received any kind of disclaimer, but I suspect they did not since the authentication tracking shown to me was no different than with any other AG sale.

You have two options if you want to avoid the AG program.

1. Have your sealed card authenticated and encased by a third party like PSA. Graded cards do not qualify for the AG program. 
2. Sell your cards in lots. Let's say you have a Brady Tkachuk Buybacks rookie that is sealed by UD, theoretically if you added in 3 common Brady inserts or base cards as a bonus and tagged it as a lot, it would not qualify for AG and would be the same thing. Keep in mind, this may have changed. I have listed lots in the past in excess of $250 (not to circumvent AG, but because I wanted to list the cards in relevant lots) and they were not tagged for AG.

Can you give me an example of what kind of sealed card you're talking about that would list in excess of $250? 

If we're talking about sealed packs, not single cards, I don't believe packs qualify for the AG program. If I were to sell sealed packs in excess of $250, I would likely get them encased by PSA or go through a trusted eBay cosigner. Even as an experienced eBay seller, I would be concerned about the liability of customer fraud, or just general misunderstanding if they choose to open the pack and wrongly perceive it was resealed. 

I also might strongly consider a cosigner or using the AG program if this is the account you will sell on, and if these are cards in the high 3 or low 4 figures. Your account is going to be a magnet for scammers with cards in that range. Scammers generally look for sellers with a low feedback number (100 and under) who are selling expensive thing. Scammers assume that the seller won't understand eBay policy.

For example, you might get someone who asks you to ship to a different address than the one they provided, which would void your seller protection and let them keep the item and get a refund. This isn't going to happen if you're selling $20 cards, and it is a lot less likely to happen with cards that pass through the AG program since they would be dealing with eBay (not you). So that would be something to consider if you choose to go the PSA route and grade the cards rather than using the AG program.