A Simple Fix to eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee Program

Let me be pretty clear about this. I generally like eBay’s authenticity guarantee program and think it’s a fantastic idea.

While I’m pretty confident in buying raw pre-war cards in person, the program is particularly helpful when buying cards online where the pictures are not sometimes clear enough to make a solid determination on real vs. fake. The program gives buyers some added confidence and, while it might be somewhat harmless to purchase a raw card for a small amount, you can rest a bit easier if buying a raw one that is worth thousands of dollars.

What is the eBay Authenticity Guarantee?

If you’re unfamiliar with the program, it is essentially in place to weed out bad sellers or, in some cases, bad cards from perfectly legitimate sellers. Not every card on eBay is sold by a card dealer or even a knowledgeable collector. Some are sold by pawn shops, other businesses, or individuals that have little experience in cards.

At the moment, most individual cards sold on eBay for $250 or more are supposed to enter the program. I say ‘most’ because that is not always the case. I have purchased cards greater than that amount that did not go through the program and have heard from others that they have had cards less than that amount flagged for authentication and were required to go through the program. But, for the most part, individual cards worth that amount are generally sent through the system.

In that scenario, instead of shipping the card directly to the buyer, the seller is required to send the card to eBay for verification. Third-party grader PSA adjudicates the card and determines if it is authentic or not. Or, if the card has already been graded by a company, another thing to look for is damage to the plastic holder. Damage to the holder is fine, as long as a seller has disclosed it in the listing. In some cases, if the holder is so poorly damaged or if it shows potential signs of tampering, it reportedly goes back to the seller and the buyer receives a refund.

Keep in mind, PSA is not grading your purchase as they would if you sent a raw card to them and asked to give it a score from Authentic to 10. PSA is merely looking at the card from an authenticity perspective or, as mentioned, if an already-graded card in a holder has significant damage to the holder. It would be another thing entirely if they were fully grading the card. They’re not. This is really just a ‘good egg, bad egg’ scenario.

All in all, it’s a pretty good program. Collectors have long since been complaining about fakes on eBay’s platform. And while those are still quite available, the program makes it more difficult to sell an expensive counterfeit card there.

However, there’s one flaw.

What’s the Problem?

The problem for most collectors is that the program significantly delays the receiving of their items.

The amount of delay varies. I do not know if more than one authentication hub exists. However, most cards I’ve purchased have been sent to California and I live out east in Pennsylvania. I’ve received mail from California and it can take up to five days. Then, factor it the travel time it takes to get there first.

I recently purchased a card from an east coast seller and, in most cases, it would take only two days to get a card from them. This card took five days to get to California spent a few days being authenticated, then had to come all the way back out to me. And while the authentication time is typically done within a day or two of arriving, it can be longer with weekends or holidays involved. I purchased a card last week through the program. The card arrived at eBay on Friday and will probably not be authenticated until Tuesday. With the weekend, you’re talking about a work week of time in between.

Is it the biggest problem in the world? Of course not. There are worse things in the world than waiting a few weeks for trading cards. But it is a problem that is fixable in many cases if eBay makes one small adjustment.

The Fix

No, eBay shouldn’t dump the program. But they should give buyers an option on cards already graded. That would eliminate a large amount of these transactions simply because many cards valued at $250 or more are often already graded.

In those cases, it’d be great to have a buyer option to opt out. Make a buyer decision due at the time of payment. Buyers either choose to have their card authenticated or accept all responsibility and have the card sent to them as is. This is not some foreign concept. It is the way sales were handled on eBay for more than 20 years.

I have never heard eBay’s stance on the problem with offering such an option. But I suspect it is partially about the holder of the card. The holder could be sufficiently damaged/scratched. Or worse, a holder could have been tampered with, with the originally-graded card switched out and replaced by one in worse condition or a fraudulent one. While that surely has happened, the reality is that cards being switched out of encapsulation is quite rare.

eBay surely also wants to weed out cards that have been incorrectly graded. Not determining if a specific number grade is correct, of course. Rather, trying to eliminate counterfeit cards that have been erroneously graded as authentic. But that’s another very small part of the graded-card population. While that has happened, it is not at all common.

If I am buying a graded card with a seller I’ve done a lot of business with, or if it’s a seller that is highly-reputable, I have a high level of confidence the card is not tampered with and that it is authentic. And most reputable sellers would likely be willing to work with you if a problem arose, anyway. If it’s a newer seller I don’t know, I can still choose to have my card go through authentication. The key is that it’s up to me if I want my shipment delayed by, minimally, about a week, just for a grader to declare what is 99.9% of the time a mere formality.

It’s worth pointing out that this option is actually beneficial to eBay, too. It would not only require less cards go through the authentication process but would result in more satisfied buyers. The authentication cost for many cards, whether paid by eBay or by sellers, would be eliminated. Cards that do need to go through the system could be authenticated even faster. And once a buyer chooses to have the card sent directly to them, eBay should be able to absolve itself of any responsibility regarding authenticity. If the buyer purchased a slabbed card that has been swapped out or deemed not authentic, tough luck. They bypassed the authenticity program and should be forced to find their own remedy.

I don’t have high hopes for this happening. I suspect, eBay’s counter would be that they want everything to go through the authenticity program to be able to give new buyers the peace of mind that they seek. But they could still offer that peace of mind to the folks that want it and experienced buyers can have an option of getting their stuff a bit quicker if they so choose.