It's An ebay Thing

 

One of the topics that is often brought up in my circles is collectibles.  Especially when my brother and I get together.  During that North Carolina trip, on one of our stay overs we had time to kill so we hung out in the hotel bar reminiscing about missed opportunities to buy cards that would sell for obscene amounts today and talking about the hobby.  The topic of Michael Jordan rookies always comes up, and my brother knows full well I completed that set but still lacked a rookie sticker.  He's always quick to point out he has one and I didn't.  So not to be outdone, while he was speaking to someone else, I took a moment to look up listings on ebay and at the push of a button I remedied that problem.  No more bragging rights. 😁

When I bought this sticker, it came with ebay's authenticity guarantee and in case you haven't experienced it, here's what happens.  As you can see in the photo it comes nicely packaged.  It seems well thought out and the framed look is very cool.

As you can see here, I purchased a sticker that was graded a 5.  This is the second most I have ever spent on a card (the rookie card being the other).  I wanted something that would fit right in with the other stickers in my set.

You even get a card congratulating you on your purchase.  Is it just me, but why congratulate anyone for spending their money with your company?  It's not like I won anything.  But I digress.

A better look at the sticker.  I don't like the way the scans turn out with my flatbed scanner.

With the authenticity guarantee, ebay has a grader double check everything to make sure your card is authentic and if it was already graded, that the description matches.  I could make an argument that they could place their sticker in a better spot.  Also that QR code was incredibly difficult to scan.

When I was able to successfully scan that QR code this is where it took me.

Going through this process is pretty harmless.  If anything it might test someone's patience because it will delay delivery by a week or so.  In a nutshell, ebay's authenticity guarantee provides the buyer with peace of mind.  And when you spend a ton of money on a collectible that's really nice to have.  

One final note, I am tempted to rip off that sticker and put this in a clean bag, besides what exactly am I voiding by removing the sticker?  That's a head scratcher.  Anyway, until next time happy hunting!