Pokemon card collectors have become concerned after a customer’s bad experience with eBay’s new authentication service was posted on social media. TCG fans worry that collectibles sold could get damaged in transit.
In January, eBay announced that they were rolling out their Authenticity Guarantee for collector cards, including the Pokemon Trading Card game. The service has sellers ship off items sold over $750 to a team of authenticators who then send it to the buyer after a thorough inspection.
One sports fans’ experience with the newly launched program sparked worry among collectors after the buyer’s card was received falling out of its package. The social media post has some Nintendo fans worried about whether their Pokemon cards will be safe.
Trading Card collector’s bad experience with eBay authentication
The story first fell on the radar of Pokemon TCG fans after a Twitter user posted an image of their basketball card they had purchased from eBay. ‘AaronInTexas’ was critical of the authentication process after their collectible had come loose.
“Received my first eBay authenticated card and it was literally popping out of the card saver,” they tweeted. “This is exactly how it was received and I immediately took the picture. Now looking to see if there’s any scratches. Anyone else experience this? Am I overreacting?”
In the picture embedded in the tweet, the fan’s card could be seen sticking out of the sleeve meant to protect it. The social media post resurfaced on the r/PokemonTCG forum by fans worried about the authentication process.
Both Pokemon card collectors and sports fans sounded off on the tweet, expressing their concern. “This is exactly what I was afraid of when I heard about this. The more a card is handled, the more potential for damage or anything else,” one user wrote.
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Over on the r/PokemonTCG forum, fans wrote, “Can Imagine eBay damaging cards and the seller being liable to give a refund and accept a damaged card back” and “Time to stop selling and buying expensive cards on eBay.”
eBay responds to concerned Pokemon card fans
A rep for eBay responded to the concerns on the PokemonTCG forum and explained that the situation was being looked into. “We saw this today and our team will be addressing this immediately,” they wrote. “This might have occurred during USPS transit, but we need to learn more about how the card was placed in the card saver (ie: all the way in or half way down). Regarding this matter and another situation we are aware of, there are hundreds of cards that have recently gone through our Authenticity Guarantee service and were delivered just fine without any issues or problems.”
The auction site posted a follow-up comment and added, “Just to make sure our comments above are not confused… we are confident the entire card was placed in the card saver and penny sleeve in a protected position when it left the authenticator. The question is how to prevent this type of movement with a card sliding around inside a penny sleeve & card saver during transit. We want to prevent these types of situations from occurring again moving forward. It appears that the card was not damaged during this incident as the eBay card display case which holds the card saver in place provided protection even though the top of the card appears to have popped out of the top of penny sleeve & card saver.”
The Twitter used who originally posted the image also gave an update and explained that eBay had refunded him. “FYI been on the phone with eBay customer service and they actually gave me a nice refund and allowed the seller to keep the amount paid. Pretty good outcome overall!”
FYI been on the phone with @eBay customer service and they actually gave me a nice refund and allowed the seller to keep the amount paid. Pretty good outcome overall! @CardPurchaser
— Aaron (@AaronInTexas) February 6, 2022
So in the end it seems that the customer’s issue was resolved. Only time will tell whether eBay’s response will calm the worries of Pokemon card collectors who use the site to sell collectibles.
It should be pointed out, the authentication service has just launched trading cards. But considering that some TCG items are worth thousands of dollars, it’s not too surprising that some sellers would be concerned.