The eBay Sports Card Craziness Never Ends 7/30/13.

Firstly, let's please recap FACTS that need to be known by ALL eBay members:

1) eBay uses a Call Center in INDIA (or the Philippines) which is where ALL of your phone calls to eBay (reports of BAD sellers, fraud, total ignorance of eBay rules, or even BAD sellers reporting buyers only for spite) go initially. Then 99% of those calls are handled by this Call Center(s) in INDIA/PHILIPPINES from start to finish. These foreign employees get like $2.00 an hour (if that) to handle all the issues you have that need to be resolved. How much training do you think these foreign employees get? Little to none is the answer. They get a sheet of Frequently Asked Questions with Possible Responses which is made by an eBay employee who really couldn't care less about eBay members. So this is a lost cause right from the start. These foreign employee serve one true purpose: GET THE MEMBER OFF THE PHONE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, BY LYING TO THE MEMBER!!! But also keep in mind that both the caller and the person they are calling to complain about BOTH get strikes against their eBay accounts because a call came into the Call Center and you were one of those people involved in the call. This is completely regardless of merit, truth, honor, or integrity of the caller or the person the caller is complaining about! BOTTOM LINE: eBay DOES NOT WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU ANYMORE, period! 

2) eBay does not care about you in any way UNLESS you are making them THOUSANDS of dollars profit (NET PROFIT) every year. They don't care if you are a buyer who spends thousands of dollars a month on eBay, nor do they care if you are a seller, selling thousands of dollars in items every month. THEY ONLY CARE IF YOU ARE MAKING EBAY SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS (NET PROFIT) IN FEES EACH MONTH!

Like I've said before: the only full-time sellers in the sports card area on eBay left are involved in some sort of illegal activity, or are doing something VERY morally wrong which is almost always against the licensing agreements the card companies have with the sport leagues and Player Associations. Unfortunately these agencies never properly policed this hobby or I never would have come into existence in 1997. It's even worse now as they don't care what card companies do as long as they don't get caught making the licensing agency look bad DIRECTLY. I personally am terminally ill with very little functional time left, so it's up to YOU to go after the card companies and licensing agencies explaining all the things that are wrong with the hobby. This is something I did BY MYSELF every year from 1997-2004 and caused more positive changes than any of you will ever hear about from anyone but myself. 

You've seen the seemingly "outrageous" claims I've made in these BLOGs for a couple of years now and to date I still have not been sued ONCE by ANYONE. That speaks louder than anything I can tell you I did if you have a high enough IQ.

Here's a challenge for you- write down the ID's of all eBay sports card sellers who do not specifically state ALL their Shipping & Handling rules and fees in all their listings where they can be easily seen: like sellers who state $3.00 S&H, then hit you with a $5.00 S&H fee (when you win five single cards on the same day). They are charging you .50 cents for each additional card won, but think it's OK to HIDE THIS FACT FROM YOU! WRONG!!!! THIS IS CONSIDERED TO BE HIDDEN FEES BY EBAY AND IS 100% NOT ALLOWED (and has been an UNCHANGED eBay rule since 1997 to present a/p eBay's Trust & Safety Shipping and Handling Specialist this year)!

Then add to this list all sellers that state that they do not have a MAXIMUM shipping fee, or if you ask them they state this. Also add any sellers who start with a $3.00 S&H fee and then charge .50 cents for each additional item without mentioning a MAXIMUM shipping fee. ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE AGAINST EBAY'S RULES ACCORDING TO EBAY'S SHIPPING & HANDLING SPECIALIST!!! Yet at this point more than half the sports card sellers on eBay are currently BREAKING these rules!

Now, as few of you newbies know and even some long-term members: IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO REPORT ALL MEMBERS THAT ARE BREAKING EBAY'S RULES BECAUSE EBAY DOES NOT ENFORCE THEIR OWN RULES UNLESS A MEMBER (YOU) REPORTS IT TO EBAY!

Here is eBay's Founder's Message (Pierre Omidyar from 1996) to EVERY eBay member which is still printed on eBay:

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"Most people are honest. And they mean well. Some people go out of their way to make things right. I've heard great stories about the honesty of people here. But some people are dishonest. Or deceptive. This is true here, in the newsgroups, in the classifieds, and right next door. It's a fact of life. But here, those people can't hide. We'll (as in eBay members) drive them away. Protect others from them.

<<<<  This grand hope depends on your active participation. >>>>  Give praise where it is due; make complaints where appropriate.

Now, we have an open forum. <<<<Use it.>>>>

 <<<<Make your complaints in the open.>>>>

.

<<<<Deal with others the way you would have them deal with you.>>>>

"Remember that you are usually dealing with individuals, just like yourself. Subject to making mistakes. Well-meaning, but wrong on occasion. That's just human. We can live with that."

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If enough of you do as I ask of you, bidders will come back to eBay and buy sports cards again. The BIGGEST problem on eBay with sports cards overall is Overcharging Shipping & Handling and Fee Avoidance. That .50+ cents for each additional item won for S&H is YOU PAYING THE SELLER'S EBAY & PAYPAL FEES!!! If you haven't figured that out by now- maybe the Internet is far too advanced for you.

cacardshark on eBay used to charge a reasonable combined shipping fee, but then it seems that the elder owner passed that account off to his immature/obnoxious kid or sold the ID to a total jerk. Now cacardshark charges $1.00 for EACH additional sports card won! I reported this seller THREE times which caused me to get suspended permanently three times FIGHTING FOR US ALL. I get ganged up on by the group of the worst BIG eBay sellers (who congregate on blowjobcards.com blogs- you know which site I mean) and I immediately get kicked off eBay for NO REASON??? The reason space in the suspension e-mail from eBay is literally BLANK EACH TIME!

Two other AWFUL sellers are tntnorthnj, and zachcards04 (at least he has a $10 MAX shipping fee- but that's way too expensive too!), but both sellers have BAD (non-shipping, damaged items) feedback every month on top of breaking several eBay rules.

Other BIG sellers who charge UNLIMITED S&H fees ($3.00 + .50+ for each additional card w/NO MAXIMUM FEE) are: smpsportscards, 6_foot_pianist, tripleplaysportzcardz, plus so many others. The worst part of this is that NEW, lazy sellers copy the S&H rules from these jerks instead of reading eBay's own Rules at all!

July. 2014 UPDATE- YOU CAN FIND EBAY'S SHIPPING RULES BY TYPING: UNREASONABLE SHIPPING FEES IN THE CUSTOMER SERVICE SEARCH BOX. No other similar word to reasonable works anymore like: Overcharging, Excessive, or Expensive! eBay purposely did this to make it HARD for buyers to find rules that keep sellers honest. This is outrageous for a company to do to buyers. I cannot wait until eBay files for bankruptcy. 

Either follow the status quo & END OUR HOBBY or fight to change things yourselves- IT'S NOWHERE NEAR AS HARD AS YOU THINK AS LONG AS YOU WORK IN GROUPS! It's your choice...

 James

Is This The END of TOPPS???

I've seen more than almost anyone in this hobby since 1987. I say this because I continually sought out all of the bad stuff that the average collector would prefer not ever knowing (which is why the immature blast me on boards like blownout.com).

Topps is in very deep trouble! They owe out several tens of thousands (if not hundreds) of redemption autographs to people. <<<<<To those not familiar with REDEMPTIONS, card companies pout these in packs in place of autograph cards because the card company was negligent in getting the autographs in time to put them in packs. In some instances it's the signer's fault, but not most of the time like card companies claim.>>>>> Many if not most at this point are almost or over a year old, for one example they only redeemed ONE redemption out of the (40) or so from 2012 Allen & Ginter & 2013 A&G is out in less than a month. For the last month it has been very difficult if not impossible to get in touch with Topps. If you call them now, you will be caller number 8-15 if you call within 30-minutes after they open (used to be the best time to call). If you are caller number 8, your REAL hold time will be more than 20-minutes IF YOU ARE LUCKY! They completely stopped responding to e-mails several weeks ago as well.
So this is their lame solution: create redemption replacement cards that are only available via replacement. In other words these cards don't exist in packs or boxes. The worst thing is THESE ARE ALL STUPID STICKER AUTOGRAPHS! Topps has it on their records that I am only to receive ON CARD autographs- especially if that's what I was originally owed. Plus Topps is putting THEIR OWN value on these cards which is not only morally wrong, but it's ILLEGAL according to their licensing agreements with the leagues! If this sounds familiar, it is. This is similar to what Score Board was doing RIGHT BEFORE THEY WENT BANKRUPT IN 1998.

I am personally owed more than (30) redemptions. These REPLACEMENT REDEMPTIONS which I decided to call CLONE CARDS since they are not really Certified Autograph Insert (CAI) cards at all since they do not exist in any products and do not say anything on the cards except the name Topps. The back only has the autograph authenticity statement & NOTHING ELSE! There are two versions that I've seen both in-person and on eBay: SILVER (not numbered) & GOLD (serial numbered to 199).

8/7/13 Update- I was sent a Duke Snider CLONE unnumbered sticker autograph card for a 2012 Allen & Ginter MAX SCHERZER (just happens to be one of the hottest pitchers in baseball now) SP ON CARD Autograph & a Ferguson Jenkins #/199 CLONE sticker Autograph for a 2012 Ginter RULON GARDNER Event-Used Card that I paid $10 for on eBay (the cheapest you could get them for in 2012). 

To add insult to injury- literally days before they started sending the CLONE CARDS, they sent me four REAL but COMMON PLAYER refractor replacement autograph cards (NFL- Taiwan Jones, Dwayne Harris & UFC- Phil Barroni <<<Retired before his career really started>>>) for four listed STAR cards in Beckett that I was owed. Anyone knows that Beckett overprices common autograph cards at $10.00 each average (almost ALL can be bought on eBay for $2.00 or less) and refractors at 1.5X so in Topps twisted mind that's an equal trade for the (3) MARK BARRON RC Autographs I wanted & was owed (I'm a huge Buccaneer fan)! I was also sent a STICKER Torrey Smith autograph (which I already have THREE On Card autos of) for a UFC Tim Kennedy ($25 listed star) autograph I was owed for 16-months. THIS IS BULL! But since there's still no policing agencies to cover collectors from getting screwed by card companies, there's NOTHING I can do. I'm too sick to fight like I used to and no one else fight for others like I used to do EVERYTIME someone asked me to.

Also 8/7/13 Update- SO ALL YOU JACKASSES ON BLOWNOUTCARDS.com (that's not the real site, I'm mocking the name for a justified reason that I'll gladly explain to anyone who asks me) MESSAGE BOARDS/BLOGE LISTEN UP: Instead of being little bitches spreading unproved rumors like soap opera stars on the boards which helps NO ONE, why not ban together and FIGHT TOPPS TO STOP RIPPING COLLECTORS OFF BY SENDING THEM JUNK CARDS AS REDEMPTION REPLACEMENTS (whether collectors asked for replacements or NOT) FOR THE STAR PLAYERS THEY ARE OWED!!!

 Or at the very least have Topps make a list online of available players and their card characteristics (numbered/non-numbered, what year & set, ON CARD or sticker auto) and trade vale and let collectors CHOOSE what cards they want as a replacement. The web site could EASILY be set-up like a store and the collector would have automatic credit for each redemption they are owed, then once the time period comes when a replacement is possible the collector can automatically add items to the SHOPPING CART until their credit is gone. HOW MUCH EASIER CAN I MAKE THIS FOR THE GUYS/GALS ON BLOWOUTCARDS.COM & TOPPS? I gave them the problem, AND THE TOPPS: Your calls/e-mails to Customer Service will drop by 50% by doing this (if you do it as I stated) I guarantee it! ONLY VIABLE & BEST SOLUTION FOR EVERYONE! Now someone needs to get it to the right people at Topps- that's all you have to do!

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You can buy common RC Autographs of THREE YEAR OLD RC's on eBay all day long any day for $2.00 or less each! I know better than most because I've bought THOUSANDS of these over the last few years to donate to hospitalized/poor children. Topps knows I donate much more than I collect as well. I donated over 2-million cards (superstars always included) since 1989. If they treat me like this, then how will they treat everyone else?

As for the CLONES- I was owed a 2012 A&G Guy Buford Autograph (which I told Vincent the CS Supervisor at Topps on 5/28/13 that I want to wait for Buford to sign) and Topps sent me a Dwight Gooden CLONE CARD a week later without me even asking for any replacement. So Topps is making YOUR DECISIONS for you now too! Guy Buford is an American Astronaut and the first African American Astronaut as a footnote. Dwight Gooden is a cocaine addict for his entire life and probably did as good as he did in the mid-1980's BECAUSE of the cocaine! THIS UNWANTED TRADE-OUT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE LOP-SIDED AGAINST ME!
For the second 2012 A&G Buford Autograph I was owed Topps sent me a Gary Carter CLONE. I was a personal friend of Gary Carter as he was the person who inspired me to donate cards starting in 1989. He signed many items for me over the years and I still own EVERY one (except for the TWO I gave to very close friends as gifts). I also bought (6) different Gary Carter Certified ON CARD Autograph inserts I liked & one sticker auto/jersey for $10.00 in late 2011 because it was serial number 17/99. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on 1/7/03 & 1/7 happens to be my birthday. DO YOU THINK I WANTED ANOTHER GARY CARTER STICKER AUTOGRAPH? Of course not, especially that Topps is using his death as a factor (worth more) in continuing to put these sticker autographs in packs as well WHICH IS HIGHLY INSULTING TO HIS MEMORY in my opinion!

Topps was the only card company I trusted since 2001 after investigating EVERY card company and discovering intentional fraud that EVERY ONE of them (but Topps) committed! Now I can't trust Topps ever again. I'm dying from a rare (very painful, very weakening) disease so it's too late for me to find a new hobby - BUT ALL OF YOU WHO READ THIS SHOULD!

James McCay

cardcop04@gmail.com

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Most of my predictions about eBay have come true since 2009. I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back, I'm saying that in the hopes that maybe YOU WILL LISTEN THIS TIME! Read my past posts on Google Blogger under Cardcop or Cardcop04. I am the ORIGINAL & ONLY true Cardcop as I was given this name in 1997 by someone who was "supposed" to be fighting for collectors when in fact all he was doing was fighting for HIMSELF and his card store (PORKY's) in California. I've been fighting sports card hobby fraud ever since non-stop and am the ONLY one who NEVER accepted a pay-off to shut up who fights hobby fraud that I know of. I've done more important investigations for free than I can count. If I weren't so sick, I could write a Sports Card book as big as Beckett's YEARLY Baseball Price Guide with hobby facts that almost no one ever heard before. SO ASK ME QUESTIONS!

 

Here are some facts that every sports card seller/buyer needs to know about eBay:

 

1) eBay DOES NOT CARE if fraud/BAD rule breaking occurs on eBay! All they care about is upholding a decent (it's far from pristine anymore)  reputation online as the best place to buy/sell sports cards. Unfortunately eBay is still the ONLY place to buy sports cards cheap (only with auctions that start cheap & the chance that you'll get lucky which has been ever increasing since 2009) but only if you can avoid the breaking of eBay rules that eBay actually ENCOURAGES! Talk about a coin with two HEADS sides. SOMEONE WILL ALWAYS LOSE AND IT'S NEVER EBAY! eBay almost NEVER suspends sellers who make them the most money no matter how many rules they break or how often!

 

2) If you are primarily a buyer (no matter how much you spend monthly on average)- you WILL get a strike against your account every time you call eBay to report the WORST sports card sellers like: zachcards04 (AVG-15 Negatives/Neutral a month w/99.5 Feedback Percentage) and tntnorthnj (AVG-28 Neg/Neut a month w/99.5%). These are just two random examples of many dozens of likeminded sellers on eBay- MAKE AS MUCH AS WE CAN AS FAST AS WE CAN REGADLESS OF EBAY'S RULES & BE AS NASTY TO BUYERS AS WE WANT BECAUSE WE KNOW EBAY WON'T PUNISH US!

Get 6-strikes against your account in less than 90-days & you (THE BUYER) gets suspended! For what??? >>>>FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING, FOR THE RIGHT REASON!!! Also, have (6) "chargebacks" to your PayPal account (refunds for ANY reason: not receiving items, getting a partial S&H OVERCHARGE refund, or a partial refund for a damaged card due to seller negligence to save a few pennies) and eBay can & WILL suspended you (the buyer) for this as well!!! AGAIN, YOU ARE DOING WHAT EBAY TELLS YOU TO DO (on their site, or by phone Trust & Safety employees) & THEY PUNISH YOU FOR IT! If you do this more than once, you will be PEMANENTLY SUSPENDED if it doesn't happen like that the FIRST time.
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UPDATE 8/7/13- It's OFFICIAL eBay admits using a CALL CENTER in India as it's default phone Customer Service! I spoke with eBay a week ago by phone and the nice person on the phone with an average American name (FAKE!!!) also with a heavy Indian accent admitted that he worked for a Call Center in INDIA and represented eBay but does not work for eBay.
I had been saying this for months but hardly anyone was listening. These people in India don't know the first thing about eBay & how thing as work in the United States in the Sports Card Hobby other than the ten rules or so they get on ONE sheet of paper which covers EVERY section of items and rules on eBay!!! Plus these people in India are getting paid like $1.00 an hour (if that). THIS IS HOW MUCH EBAY RESPECTS YOUR MONEY THAT THEY ARE TAKING FROM YOU! They used to have only true eBay employees answering the phones when it cost an average of 10% to sell an item on eBay AND use PayPal as a seller. Now it costs around 17% and you get a known-nothing in INDIA to help you!
For those who watch the Showtime Series SHAMELESS know Fiona Gallagher is working for one of these similar companies. She works on the phone at a CALL CENTER selling items & doing Customer Service for items she's never even seen in-person and knows very little about and the companies representing these products WANT IT THAT WAY, just like eBay! 
The ONLY WAY you get to speak to a person that truly works for eBay is if you get a SPECIALIST that has a specific title like "SHIPPING AND HANDLING SPECIALIST".

Speaking of which, I've been back on eBay three times in July 2013 because I wanted to buy several 2013 Inception Baseball Autograph RC's (Taiwan Walker- $10, Jose Fernandez- $8.00 Nick Castellanos- $5.00, Jesse Biddle- $5.00, Addison Russell- $8.00, and Max Fried- bought two for $6.00! as an investment (a few are selling for substantially more already) and I bought almost a hundred of them for less than $3.00 each to add to my next card donation. SO EBAY IS STILL ALLOWING PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED MEMBERS TO SIGN RIGHT BACK ON & USE EBAY!

One last update & IT'S IMPORTANT, eBay has REMOVED all the Rule Pages specific to what I was fighting! They are: Overcharging Shipping and Handling and Fee Avoidance. Those were eBay official terminology, but if you go to Customer Service from My eBay then type either of these things in the Help Search box nothing relevant will be found!!! This is very new and changed only in the last couple of months only. I specifically looked up these things a couple of months ago (as I do every couple of months) in the eBay search and they were there & now THEY ARE GONE! THEY ACTUALLY REMOVED THE RULE PAGES THAT HELPED COLLECTORS KEEP SPORTS CARD SELLERS FROM MAKING BUYERS PAY THEIR EBAY AND PAYPAL FEES RIGHT IN YOUR SHIPPING AND HANDLING FEES AND KEPT SELLERS FROM MAKING AN OUTRAGIOUS FREE AND CLEAR PROFIT FROM S&H FEES WHICH USED TO BE ONE OF THE WORST RULES YOU COULD BREAK ON EBAY! I can't believe eBay did this. This is lower that I thought eBay would ever stoop to. Now that these rules are no longer listed anywhere sports cards sellers are DOING WHATEVER THE HELL THEY WANT ands there's nothing anyone can do about it anymore! I think this proves that I wasn't the only one complaining about these things (as most sellers stated) because eBay wouldn't remove several rules pages because of only me, would they? I don't think so... I'll be the first to admit that my personal effectiveness have dropped 75% or more since I became so physically disabled. Just doing this update is weakening me to the point that I won't be able to type again for at least a couple of days.

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DO NOT DO WHAT I DO OR EBAY WILL EVENTUALLY MAKE SURE YOU NEVER USE THEIR SITE AGAIN! I changed eBay ID's TEN TIMES in three years because the BIG eBay sellers I went after who were breaking eBay rules which hurt collectors directly ganged up on me with little punk-ass bitch followers at blowjobcards.com to get me thrown off of eBay with lies. so eBay saw this & told me how to get back on eBay without lying at all! But even that doesn't work anymore... eBay got wise (it only took YEARS!) & I'm done on that screwed up site. BUT I STILL CARE ABOUT EVERY OTHER BUYER STUCK ON EBAY!

 

I TOLD ALL OF YOU WHO READ MY POSTS THAT EBAY WAS GOING SALES ONLY A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. Well that happened. An average of 85%+ of eBay sports card items are for SALE now, not Auction.

 

Until a very honest someone starts a Sports Card only AUCTION site that is like eBay was in 2001 on back to 1997, no one will come close to competing with eBay in the sports card area. So us collectors lose either way because several people have tried & FAILED MISERABLY to do what eBay did with sports cards but couldn't get even 5% of the volume of bidders that eBay has/had. I don't know what to do or say anymore.

James McCay
cardcop04@gmail.com
As Always- TRULY On The Collector's Side.