11 Dirty Tricks eBay Sellers Use That We Hate!
Scammers and grifters litter our eBay sports card world, and these are 11 of their most hateful tricks!
Each “Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter” pack has a handful of great sports card subjects, helping sports card collectors working with limited budgets – like me!
This Week’s Newsletter Highlights! –
⚾🏈🏀 11 TRICKS EBAY SELLERS USE THAT WE HATE!
🏈🏀⚾ SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
🏀⚾🏈 IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS
⚾ CARDS THAT MAKE US HAPPY!
As a member of the eBay Partner Network and an Amazon Associate I earn commissions from qualifying purchases. Here’s a link to my Amazon storefront where I link to all my favorite card-collecting supplies. Thank you for supporting our affiliations by making purchases through us! Also, all sports card images come courtesy of BuySportsCards.com.
⚾🏀🏈 11 DIRTY TRICKS EBAY SELLERS USE THAT WE HATE!
It has happened to all of us – we’ve been duped by some jerk-faced jerk on eBay, tricking us into buying a card they misled us into thinking was a different card. Here are a couple handfuls of trick we especially find uncool!
1. Light Conveniently Reflects on Crease on Card
I bought a 1973 Topps Kareem Abdul-Jabbar card once at a really good price, only to realize, once I got it, that there was a serious crease on the right side. At first, I thought I was sent a card I didn’t order, but when I went back to look, I realized the seller made sure I couldn’t see the crease because the light reflected into the camera on that spot. Classic.
2. Having “RC” or “Rookie Card” on a Card That is Not Technically a Rookie Card
You’ll see these a lot on All-Star Rookie Cup cards or other cards early in a player’s career that happens to be the year after his rookie card already came out. Think about Carl Yastrzemski’s first- and second-year cards. His 1960 Topps card is considered his true rookie card, but then his 1961 Topps card has the “Rookie Star” designation, confusing many inexperienced buyers.
3. Having Multiple Cards in One Picture, But Only Selling One
You might think you are buying a card “lot,” getting several cards for one price. But instead, you get ONE card – and it’s usually not even the best card in the photo.
4. Saying Something is a “10” or “Gem-Mint” When It’s Not Graded
Many times, sellers will try to persuade you to think a raw card has the potential to get a grade of 10 or Gem-Mint, when really, it’s likely already been graded, cracked and relisted. They might list the card as “PSA 10?” with a question mark, just to give you that feeling you just found a treasure! You didn’t.
5. Having Bad Corner Conveniently Outside of Photo
Another smooth move with photography is to crop the photo so that the dinged corner is just outside of the picture.
6. Having “RP” in the Title
It’s completely fine to sell a “reprint” of a card, and I’m even good with people buying reprints! (I bought a 1996 Fleer Michael Jordan reprint of his 1986 rookie card and I love it!) But they should be forced to put the word “REPRINT” in the title, and not just “RP,” which can either be missed, or not understood by some buyers.
7. Charging $9 For Shipping Then Sending in a Plain, White Envelope With 2 Stamps
Many times, buyers will sort by price, but miss the shipping price. I’m all for eBay sellers making money, and not selling for less than they should. But to put a high shipping price, only to send your cards untracked in a PWE, that’s just not cool. Send me my $8 back!
8. Saying a Card is “Rare” When It is Anything But Rare
You’ll often see listings that claim a card is rare, when really, it’s numbered out of 10,000 or something like that. Just because a listing claims a card is rare, do some legwork and see how many of these cards are listed, or have sold in recent months.
9. Selling an Awesome Card as a Digital Card
Many people, including myself, like to collect digital cards on MLB Bunt, Topps’ mobile card-collecting app. Just like regular Topps cards, there are commons, uncommon cards, rare cards and more! Some people will trade or buy these digital cards, which I’m cool with, too! But selling digital cards on eBay, where there are also hard copies being sold, is not cool.
10. Putting “PSA 10?” in a Listing When It’s Not
People do this because they’re trying to get buyers who are searching for a “PSA 10,” but for a new collector, or someone buying a card for a friend, they won’t understand. They just know they’re supposed to search for “[player] PSA 10 rookie card.”
11. Selling Custom Cards as Real Cards
I don’t hate a cool custom card, but I’ve seen a few sellers try to pass some custom cards off as “rare,” since they created them in their mama’s basement.
In the end, most of these deceptive eBay seller tricks can be flushed out if you do your due diligence, reading the description and the listing carefully. Also, take a look at the seller’s feedback, and you’ll have a much better idea if they are up to shenanigans!
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
Send me the answer to this question – you could win this free card from us! 1979 Topps Willie Stargell, courtesy of
!
The Topps Living set uses the same card design as which legendary Topps card set?
Email your answer to gonoscards@gmail.com and you can win this ========== card! Rather than take the first person who answers it right, I’m going to do a random drawing of all the people who answer this question before midnight, Friday, November 29. Winner will be announced in Dec. 5 newsletter.
Read the Question from Nov. 14: Answer before Friday, Nov. 22. Prize: 1986 Topps John Elway! Winner will be announced Nov. 28.
Question from Nov. 7: Jacob Bowman would go on to create Bowman baseball cards, but what was the first famous set of baseball cards (including the year) he manufactured? – Answer: 1939 Play Ball. WINNER: Kevin Schaefer wins the 1971 Topps Al Kaline card! Congrats!
🏈 ⚾ 🏀IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS: #18 of 23
Imhoff breaks down all the moves Fanatics should make, just two years away from when they unify the baseball, football and basketball card licenses in 2026. He shared his first move in our June 20 newsletter, and he’ll continue to share more of these going forward.
No. 18 – CUSTOM BOXES
I would offer two types of custom boxes: same-sport boxes or multi-sport boxes.
Same-Sport Custom Boxes: These would be boxes made up of multiple packs all from the same sport, like all baseball for example. There would be different tiers of packs to pick from.
Tier 1: Base level packs would be from products like Series 1, Series 2, and Update Series.
Tier 2: The next level up would include packs from products like Topps Chrome, Platinum Anniversary, or Bowman Baseball.
Tier 3: The highest tier would include packs from older products that included sought-after rookies or possibly jumbo packs from current products. The customer would have the option to stick to the base level packs or pay upgrade fees to add packs from higher tiers.
Multi-Sport Boxes: The same principle would apply to the multi-sport boxes, except the customer could add packs from baseball, football, and basketball. The intrigue of these types of boxes, both same-sport and multi-sport, would be that autographs would not be guaranteed, but they would also not be limited either.
You can subscribe to Patrick Imhoff’s Substack Newsletter here!
⚾CARDS THAT MAKE US HAPPY: 2016 TOPPS MIKE TROUT #1
Late in 2015, Topps put out a survey online, for the very first time, allowing fans to vote for which player they’d like to see bat leadoff in the 2016 Topps Series 1 checklist. Mike Trout was the fan’s choice, and why wouldn’t he be? Up to this point, he had played five MLB seasons, in which he won a Rookie of the Year award, his first of three MVP awards, and four All-Star appearances.
For this card, Topps Sports Editor Jason Berger said they had already chosen which photo would represent Trout in the 2016 set. The Angels faced the Yankees at Angel Stadium on Sept. 26, 2015, and Jesus Montero smashed a pitch deep into left-center field. Trout leapt up to make an amazing, over-the-wall catch, one of several great plays he made that season, and a photographer was somehow able to catch it on camera.
In 2016, Trout sat in the top spot on Topps’ checklist, during their 65th anniversary year. He would post the greatest season (10.5 WAR) of his career that season.
Looking at Trout’s Baseball Reference page, it’s painful to think of just how good he was for all those years (he was MVP or MVP runner-up in five of six seasons between 2012 and 2019). We might not see him reach those heights ever again. It should help us appreciate Shohei Ohtani’s current run, though.
Coming Next Week!
⚾🏈🏀 WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH WHATNOT!?!
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
🏀 🏈 ⚾ IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS
⚾ 🏀 🏈 REMEMBERING ROOKIE CARDS FROM 1977 IN EVERY SPORT!
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Great list. I've definitely been bit by a few of those :-(
Great list of slimy tricks, very familiar with every one, except one. I did not know RP was used as underhanded shorthand for “reprint” by some shysters. Thanks, now I do! By the way, I cannot stand “PSA 10?,” that boils my blood.
Patrick, this one is now my favorite of your acts as CEO.. being able to create a custom box based on tier or sports is absolutely genius! Boy, would that be amazing. Thanks fellas, great stuff!