$7000+ eBay Scam, could hit all mailbox/vault services (COMC/SMC/PSA Fanatics Vault)

[Mahomie]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

but ask yourself, someone with a nearly 20 year old account, who has done hundreds of thousands in transactions maybe even millions on ebay why would they choose this one $7k card to start scamming? As if this "opportunity" as people have described has never come up before?

Keep in mind that Ebay feedback percentage only goes back 12 months. If you switch to the classic feedback view and look at all of the seller's feedback, he does have at least one neg on file:



He also has 4 negative/neutral feedbacks that were revised by buyers. Not sure about the circumstances, however, and they could've been legit non-issues.



As mentioned in previous posts, he does also have someone calling him a scammer on IG. Was it the same guy who left him a neg on Ebay? Who knows at this point.

Originally Posted by jcardstore

COMC name left off on a label that was printed and generated by ebay?

According to OP, the COMC username wasn't left off the label - it was deliberately and physically covered up after printing:

Originally Posted by BigAl83

The label was printed using eBay's automatic label generator, if the seller altered this label it would have drawn a red flag as one of the eBay employees mentioned.

This shows as to how deliberate this was and how far this person thought this through!

If you look closely enough, i believe you can see that he actually covered up my username on the package!

So he printed through eBay, drawing no attention from them and having proof that it all went through the eBay system, but then deliberately covering up the username to ensure it would get lost at COMC.

Might be an odd question OP, but was the COMC username covered up outside of the outer packing tape?

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by orion9578

Did you just gloss over the fact that someone called him out on IG for being a scammer? Who knows what that story is, but I can say that I've been doing this for longer than he has(on eBay) and 0 people have called me a scammer.

His lack of communication, according to the OP, is the worst look...to me. "I don't make mistakes".



It would be nice if the seller were able to respond, I will say that. Maybe there is more to the story. But to me, and I think most reading this, it doesn't look great for them.

What doesn't scream scam about this? I'm curious. You're acting like people are up in arms over something that doesn't SEEM like a scam. The guy lives in Europe and hasn't even put his hands on the card/package. So, are you thinking the USPS did this or COMC? If it isn't a scam, assuming the OP is to be believed about his story so far...then what exact is going on?

Seems like a scam to me

Everyone has already decided that it MUST be a scam.

Idk maybe I’m old school but I think you should have real evidence before calling someone a scammer.

We’ve had countless times where someone claimed scam and it ended up that someone at the postal service or fedex was tipped off and swiped a high dollar value card.

I did miss the part about the Instagram comment but I don’t even know that it changes my feeling all that much.

Like I said, it certainly could be a scam. It would make 0 sense but scammers aren’t exactly logical either. But there’s also nothing compelling in terms of evidence and this thread is just a bunch of feels.

Tbf if I were the buyer I would probably feel the same way

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by Mahomie

Keep in mind that Ebay feedback percentage only goes back 12 months. If you switch to the classic feedback view and look at all of the seller's feedback, he does have at least one neg on file:



He also has 4 negative/neutral feedbacks that were revised by sellers. Not sure about the circumstances, however, and they could've been legit non-issues.



As mentioned in previous posts, he does also have someone calling him a scammer on IG. Was it the same guy who left him a neg on Ebay? Who knows at this point.



According to OP, the COMC username wasn't left off the label - it was deliberately and physically covered up after printing:



Might be an odd question OP, but was the COMC username covered up outside of the outer packing tape?

Deliberately altering the label only makes me think this was a postal service worker

[mc1]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

Deliberately altering the label only makes me think this was a postal service worker

Yeah, makes perfect sense.

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

Everyone has already decided that it MUST be a scam.

Idk maybe I’m old school but I think you should have real evidence before calling someone a scammer.

We’ve had countless times where someone claimed scam and it ended up that someone at the postal service or fedex was tipped off and swiped a high dollar value card.

I did miss the part about the Instagram comment but I don’t even know that it changes my feeling all that much.

Like I said, it certainly could be a scam. It would make 0 sense but scammers aren’t exactly logical either. But there’s also nothing compelling in terms of evidence and this thread is just a bunch of feels.

Tbf if I were the buyer I would probably feel the same way

Doubtful you're more "old school" than me, though it is possible...

I'm fine with assuming someone is innocent, until they do several things that make them seem guilty of something. "I don't make mistakes" would have been enough for me to chase this down as far as I had to, to get some satisfaction...card/money/trouble for them.

Originally Posted by jcardstore

Deliberately altering the label only makes me think this was a postal service worker

You think a USPS worker was just waiting for a random package addressed to COMC...no clue what's inside...with a $50 Chamberlain just hanging out to put in there? Seems like you're going out of your way to make up stories less believable than the OP's story(which I believe).

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by orion9578

Doubtful you're more "old school" than me, though it is possible...

I'm fine with assuming someone is innocent, until they do several things that make them seem guilty of something. "I don't make mistakes" would have been enough for me to chase this down as far as I had to, to get some satisfaction...card/money/trouble for them.



You think a USPS worker was just waiting for a random package addressed to COMC...no clue what's inside...with a $50 Chamberlain just hanging out to put in there? Seems like you're going out of your way to make up stories less believable than the OP's story(which I believe).

As if we’ve never seen postal workers tipped off about high value cards before?

You can just use the search function here

You’re just back to assumptions. There’s no proof the seller did anything. No proof they altered the label, they took a blurry photo? lol

Everyone wants to be Sherlock Holmes I guess

The only facts are that the OP paid for a card and didn’t get the card he paid for.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

You’re just back to assumptions. There’s no proof the seller did anything. No proof they altered the label, they took a blurry photo? lol

Everyone wants to be Sherlock Holmes I guess

The only facts are that the OP paid for a card and didn’t get the card he paid for.

You talking about him or yourself? This fits you too buddy.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by mc1

You talking about him or yourself? This fits you too buddy.

Cry about it

[Sonnys88]

OP, why did the seller wait 12 days to take the package to the USPS?

They printed the label on 7/3. Tracking shows the initial USPS possession scan wasn't until 7/15.

That would have raised a big flag for me as a buyer if the package was not showing as being in the USPS possession for that long after payment.

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

As if we’ve never seen postal workers tipped off about high value cards before?

You can just use the search function here

You’re just back to assumptions. There’s no proof the seller did anything. No proof they altered the label, they took a blurry photo? lol

Everyone wants to be Sherlock Holmes I guess

The only facts are that the OP paid for a card and didn’t get the card he paid for.

I don't need the search function my friend. I know people steal stuff.

I half ass get defending the seller. He's not here to defend himself. But at this point you're making up stories that are less believable than the OP's because...? People here call out scammers to often? How often are they wrong? I'm not sure why you're defending the guy and attempting to do it with horrible arguments.

And there is another key fact you're missing, IMO. The sellers lack of communication/help. Saying he wouldn't make a mistake with no other communication does not make him look good. Help the buyer. Communication goes a LONG ways.

eBay should be doing more as well...another fact.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by mc1

The buyer did not open the package. A 3rd-party received and opened it. Are you insinuating the buyer is colluding with someone at COMC to pull off this scam?

That is big news if true. Not sure how hobby businesses have gotten so big and invested that they operate like this.

Problem with making an industry of a hobby.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by orion9578

I don't need the search function my friend. I know people steal stuff.

I half ass get defending the seller. He's not here to defend himself. But at this point you're making up stories that are less believable than the OP's because...? People here call out scammers to often? How often are they wrong? I'm not sure why you're defending the guy and attempting to do it with horrible arguments.

And there is another key fact you're missing, IMO. The sellers lack of communication/help. Saying he wouldn't make a mistake with no other communication does not make him look good. Help the buyer. Communication goes a LONG ways.

eBay should be doing more as well...another fact.

1) To make this perfectly clear.... I am not defending the seller. They absolutely could be a scammer. I am presenting an alternative scenario (that everyone has already decided is wrong)

2) My main issue is that this thread was created with "scam" in the title despite no compelling evidence that there's a scam. Everyone is jumping on the scam bandwagon because it's in the thread title

Had it been created and just laid out all of the info and let people come to their own conclusions maybe I would have felt differently.

3) If I were the OP I am sure I would feel the same way especially considering it was a high value card.

4) Ebay has failed the buyer and should be covering the loss

[Nomad]

eBay. Make this good daddy internet.

[unreal13]

Originally Posted by RKH916

They read like automated messages to me, with a little bit of personalisation thrown in (not hard for AI to handle now).

Business of this size and volume must have means to communicate via phone.

They are mostly automated and it is infuriating going back and forth for weeks.

Earlier this year a seller attempted a same zip code scam and sent a box of rocks to an address near me instead of the $960 item I purchased. I was finally able to get an actual human in the US to call me by repeatedly typing "representative" or something like that in the help chat for the case. You type in a call back number and they call you a minute or 2 later. He worked with me and could see what was going on right away, and the case was closed in my favor/refunded within a few days.

[jprk31]

Did the seller ship this with insurance? Was there a signature confirmation? If the seller did put an insurance he should at least work with the buyer to file a claim with USPS to state that it was the wrong package. Or it was stolen by USPS. I mean for the 7k amount the seller should at least take a video while packaging to add some protection from his side.

[Ericc5Bears]

Based on the evidence it was 99.9% a blatant scam attempt by the seller, anyone saying otherwise is just being contrarian for the sake of it. One important thing to note is that for the last 3 years it has basically been impossible to scam on higher end items due to the authentication center. For someone to scam like this it has to be an absolutely perfect storm of

1. The item bypassing authenticity guarantee due to a word in the title without being incredibly obvious you're intentionally bypassing it
2. The buyer has to be using a re-shipper like COMC
3. The item has to be enough over the $250 threshold to make it worth the risk (can't imagine he'd do this for a $400 card for example).

So even though he has a good amount of successfully completed transactions, he had no other choice, scamming on them literally wasn't possible with the authenticity guarantee center middlemanning. We also have evidence of him being called out as a scammer at least once on his instagram (could've also deleted other comments) and getting at least 1 negative feedback for cancelling an order because he wasn't happy with the auction hammer price (absolute scumbag behavior no person with morals would partake in.) Plus, it's very easy to get negative feedback removed so I wouldn't be surprised if his 4 revised feedbacks in the last 12 months were all negatives that he somehow convinced ebay to remove. Then you have the smoking gun which is him physically covering the COMC username on the package to delay the images being uploaded to the buyer. There is literally no possible way to justify that, even if you buy into the crazy theory that a USPS worker swapped the cards there is a 0% chance they would then go through the trouble of randomly covering up the COMC username especially when it doesn't benefit them at all.

The seller is clearly very knowledgeable about the hobby and dealing through ebay which is needed to pull something like this off. The most rational explanation by far is that he does mostly legitimate business to keep his reputation up, but then a few times a year when the oppurtunity lines up perfectly he pulls a scam like this.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by Ericc5Bears

For someone to scam like this it has to be an absolutely perfect storm of

1. The item bypassing authenticity guarantee due to a word in the title without being incredibly obvious you're intentionally bypassing it
2. The buyer has to be using a re-shipper like COMC
3. The item has to be enough over the $250 threshold to make it worth the risk (can't imagine he'd do this for a $400 card for example).

1. Seven year old had AI figure this one out.
2. Took several weeks of planning.
3. Sunk capital fake-out (no one risks items of real material value).

Genius.

[thomasz71]

Not sure what was changed, but on 7/2 that seller also updated many of his Jordan higher end listings. I can't see what was changed other than "title, description, buy it now price." May be relevant, maybe not. Odd it was on many of them that exact day.

And the shipping delay is a big question. Were you messaging with the seller asking wtf? I'd have cancelled if it wasn't shipped in the first 2 days as advertised. Maybe that was part of it? Print the label so it looks shipped and then ebay can't do anything? Not sure how that works.

[waytoomanycards]

FWIW, usps might have saved images of the package enroute if you want to see if the label was altered after the seller shipped it. I had a package disappear after it reached my post office (I have a po box), and a clerk told me they were able to see scans of it arriving at their station. They obviously misdelivered it.

USPS postal inspectors might be the best ones to contact.

Does comc have any kind of security footage they can show you?

If the seller still has it, he'll have to sell it a second time to financially benefit. (The listing photo is similar to his other listings, meaning he likely possessed it). Would be smarter to pull this with a card that's practically impossible to trace (like a Jordan rookie), but you never know.

[thomasz71]

Originally Posted by waytoomanycards

FWIW, usps might have saved images of the package enroute if you want to see if the label was altered after the seller shipped it. I had a package disappear after it reached my post office (I have a po box), and a clerk told me they were able to see scans of it arriving at their station. They obviously misdelivered it.

USPS postal inspectors might be the best ones to contact.

Does comc have any kind of security footage they can show you?

If the seller still has it, he'll have to sell it a second time to financially benefit. (The listing photo is similar to his other listings, meaning he likely possessed it). Would be smarter to pull this with a card that's practically impossible to trace (like a Jordan rookie), but you never know.

The tough part is usually USPS wants the shipper to initiate. The buyer here can't even show his name on the label so I can't see them wasting their time with someone who per their system isn't the intended receipient. COMC is.

[Mahomie]

Originally Posted by Ericc5Bears

Plus, it's very easy to get negative feedback removed

I've never had to request feedback revision through Ebay, so I can't attest to how easy the process it. But, it is also important to note that buyers aren't able to receive negative feedback (even when it's likely warranted).

You have to look at the actual comments to get the full story. Here are a few feedback comments that the seller has received in the past as a buyer:









There might be more, but those are just a few that I found with a quick search.

[Ericc5Bears]

Originally Posted by Mahomie

I've never had to request feedback revision through Ebay, so I can't attest to how easy the process it. But, it is also important to note that buyers aren't able to receive negative feedback (even when it's likely warranted).

You have to look at the actual comments to get the full story. Here are a few feedback comments that the seller has received in the past as a buyer:









There might be more, but those are just a few that I found with a quick search.

Yeah I was referring to getting negative feedback as a seller revised, didn't even think to check his buyer feedback. Guy very clearly has a history of shady behavior on multiple fronts, based on all the evidence provided there's absolutely 0 reason to think he didn't intentionally try to scam here.

[imbluestreak23]

The one and only time I was scammed on eBay, it was by a 99.5%+ feedback seller in early 00's with 2000+ feedback. Username stalker125 in Flushings NY.

Shipped $1 card instead of $400, played the eBay claim game perfectly and won.

Agree, nobody is listing a high 5 figure card with 1 picture. I imagine, if package appeared tampered, COMC would reject, unsure of their policies. I understand this is easy to cover up as packages are shipped as "reused" often.

Suspicion is with seller, not rogue postal employee

edit: actually I was scammed another time. I bought a card and the seller shipped me a Bill Clinton thumbs up card. I wasn't even mad, I laughed

[MavsRChamps]

Originally Posted by mc1

The buyer did not open the package. A 3rd-party received and opened it. Are you insinuating the buyer is colluding with someone at COMC to pull of this scam?

Agreed with you ^^^ Respectfully I don't know what the other poster is talking about.

There is only 3 options here:

1) OP colluded with COMC to steal this card? How would he do this? I have no idea exactly
2) Seller kept card an scammed him
3) USPS stole card. How? I have no idea how this would be possible. It's a random package, and no way a USPS employee would know what is in there AND have time to sub different card in there.

Even WITHOUT evidence - such as seller not putting his name correctly on package, blurry picture, quickness to accept offer below comp, smug reply to buyer - signs point to the seller being the 1 in the wrong.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by Ericc5Bears

Based on the evidence it was 99.9% a blatant scam attempt by the seller, anyone saying otherwise is just being contrarian for the sake of it. One important thing to note is that for the last 3 years it has basically been impossible to scam on higher end items due to the authentication center. For someone to scam like this it has to be an absolutely perfect storm of

1. The item bypassing authenticity guarantee due to a word in the title without being incredibly obvious you're intentionally bypassing it
2. The buyer has to be using a re-shipper like COMC
3. The item has to be enough over the $250 threshold to make it worth the risk (can't imagine he'd do this for a $400 card for example).

So even though he has a good amount of successfully completed transactions, he had no other choice, scamming on them literally wasn't possible with the authenticity guarantee center middlemanning. We also have evidence of him being called out as a scammer at least once on his instagram (could've also deleted other comments) and getting at least 1 negative feedback for cancelling an order because he wasn't happy with the auction hammer price (absolute scumbag behavior no person with morals would partake in.) Plus, it's very easy to get negative feedback removed so I wouldn't be surprised if his 4 revised feedbacks in the last 12 months were all negatives that he somehow convinced ebay to remove. Then you have the smoking gun which is him physically covering the COMC username on the package to delay the images being uploaded to the buyer. There is literally no possible way to justify that, even if you buy into the crazy theory that a USPS worker swapped the cards there is a 0% chance they would then go through the trouble of randomly covering up the COMC username especially when it doesn't benefit them at all.

The seller is clearly very knowledgeable about the hobby and dealing through ebay which is needed to pull something like this off. The most rational explanation by far is that he does mostly legitimate business to keep his reputation up, but then a few times a year when the oppurtunity lines up perfectly he pulls a scam like this.

How is this rational at all?

If you're doing 6-7 figures of real business, what is the incentive to scam like this?