Forum:Yu-Gi-Oh! eBay Scams

If it looks too good to be true, most likely it is!
If you see an auction that looks too good, it most likely is. Don't go for the grab bags.

Read the fine print!
There are many grab bag/pot-luck auctions on eBay where the seller tries to lure the potential buyer by advertising great cards in the title and/or description. Too bad that you only have a minute (if at all) chance to get these great cards - as they're always one or 2 cards in the list of possibilities that are much cheaper than the rest. So, you do a search for Necroface or Il Blud. The title reads GLAS-EN090 Necroface Secret Rare MINT!!!. Then you read the description. An example:

In this auction you will win one of the following (usually printed very small):


 * TAEV-EN088 Il Blud
 * AST-037 Enemy Controller
 * STON-EN000 Grandmaster of the Six Samurai
 * GLAS-EN090 Necroface

It's most likely you'll get the "Enemy Controller", which you can likely get elsewhere on eBay for about $5.

Random Picks
When the seller says that he will "randomly" pick a card to give you from a list, in 99% of the cases it's just a ruse to get your money. If you e-mail the seller and ask for a picture of the offered card(s), with a dated newspaper in the picture, you'll find, many sellers do not even own the card they're trying to lure you with. For example, many Shonen Jump Trophy cards are offered on eBay, when in reality only a few of each (between 10 and 20 worldwide) exist. Nobody would offer such a $2000+ card in a grab bag. The best bet is to just avoid grab-bag auctions altogether.

Example #2
Title of auction: 3 Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, 3 ULT Cyber End Dragon, SJC-EN003 Shrink

Inside: "I am selling out my collection, you are bidding on one of the following listed:

1x SJC-EN003 Shrink 3x ULTIMATE rare Cyber End Dragon, 1st edt. 3x STON-EN000 Grandmaster of the Six Samurai 1x Jinzo (BPT version)

A lot of people don't notice that it says one of the following and may spend massive money on a single Jinzo.

It is also very important to read the Shipping/Handling fine print. There are auctions where the Shipping and Handling was very reasonable, but the small print stats that you have to buy insurance at an extra $9. The negative record so far is held by a store owner who only sells to foreigners if they pay $25 Shipping and Handling.

Boosters via eBay
Avoid buying Yu-Gi-Oh! Booster Packs on eBay unless they come in a sealed box (preferably by manufacturer) and/or they come from a seller you know and trust. Most Booster Packs on eBay have been searched, be it through scaling or knowing the positioning of certain packs within a box. You might never find elusive Ultimate or Super Rares in Single Packs bought on eBay, but on average, you're better off buying sealed boxes. The same goes for buying from retail stores. Too many hobby retailers scale their product, and the poor buyer gets the leftovers.

Packs vs. Singles
It's almost always cheaper to buy the single card(s) instead of packs, unless you have a need for a lot of extra cards. It doesn't make fiscal sense to buy and open 24 packs to find the single Jinzo you might or might not find. Of course it's much more fun to find the card you want, but....

Collector or Player?
Most cards have been reprinted, be it in a Starter Deck, Structure Deck, or one of the various Reprint Sets (DB1, DB2, DR1, DR2, DR3, DR04, DP1, DP2, DP03, DP04, DP05, DP06 & DP07). Often, these cards are much cheaper than the originals, since they are of decreased rarity. A lot of players don't care whether their "D.D. Warrior Lady" is a Super Rare from Dark Crisis or a Common from Structure Deck 5: Warrior's Triumph. The difference in price is significant. Buy a Structure Deck, and then go out and buy the extra singles you need on eBay.

Compare the whole deal
Especially the case for non-U.S buyers, you have to be careful as some dealers charge a lot in shipping and handling costs, some up to $25 to send a single card. A seller wouldn't list a "Buy It Now" auction for $0.01 (US) unless they're certain to make a profit on shipping and handling.

Check combined S & H
Many dealers have a flat fee per card or per auction (Which is a BIG difference), some dealers have a maximum in S & H, and many do not. This can make a really BIG difference!

Let's say you buy 50 cards from dealer #1. He charges $3 for the first card and $0.50 for every other card.Your S & H charges for 50 cards will be US$27.50. Dealer #2 charges $3 for the first card and US$1 for every other card, until a maximum of US$7 in S & H is reached. Of course, your total S & H here would only be US$7!

Always check Seller feedback
Yes, a few negative comments in 100s or 1000s transactions doesn't mean a lot - there are bad apples out there, on both sides. BUT, the moment the feedback goes beneath a certain number (for larger-volume dealers, 98%-98.5% is acceptable, anything below is not), there is a problem. Yes, 97% on a math exam is great, but if on average 3 out of 100 people are not happy with a dealer, there is a 3/100 chance that it will be YOU. Also, do not be fooled by feedback that says to the complaint, "did not read the listing" - This is an open admission it's a scam.

Be firm but fair with Dealers
Check the negative (and of course, the positive comments) in their feedback. If they're mostly from eBay newbies who thought that three days were too long to wait for the card to reach Rome from Toronto, ignore them. Check the feedback of the buyer - is he/she a regular complainer? Does he/she have often delivery problems with other sellers? It's not the seller's fault sometimes. Note the volume, though. Easy math, but a seller with 90% can be a good seller if he only has 9 positives and 1 negative (say the negative is from some nutcase who complained that his Japanese card wasn't in English). Check the history as well. If a dealer has had great feedback as of late, perhaps he had some bad luck in the past and turned a corner. The reverse can often be true, too.

Compare, Compare, Compare
Don't just check the auction, you should also check the eBay stores. Many great deals can be found in the eBay stores. Sometimes Dealers forget to update their store(s), and that rather hard-to-find Smashing Ground (a $6-10 Short Print Common from Invasion of Chaos at the time this article was created) could still tucked away in some store for US$1.

Know your locations
Make certain that you know where the card is coming from. Know that cards shipped from foreign countries might take longer to arrive (In some cases, even weeks). Feedback is international - a local dealer with 94% feedback is NOT a better choice than a foreign dealer with 99.9%. Also, make certain that the card you purchase is tournament-legal where you live.

Pre-sell Auctions
beware pre-sell / pre-sale auctions! There are strict rules for this on eBay, BUT, unless somebody complains to eBay, these rules are often NOT followed. Sellers can NOT pre-sell items, unless they can guarantee a shipping date within a 30-day time frame after the auction has ended! They also have to clearly mark their auctions as a pre-sale and indicate a shipping date. If the auction ends August 31st, the auction cannot then state "Will ship by the end of October". Yet, more than half of the pre-sale auctions on eBay break the rules in this way!

Also, you often can buy the same item cheaper upon the official release. Much cheaper, in some cases. Yes, it's nice to be the first to have a certain card - but especially with pre-sale items you often will receive your items AFTER everybody else has been served, and in some cases, a long time after. Some buyers have received their presell card purchases 6 WEEKS after the cards were being sold in local retail shops. After all, the seller already has your money. Certain dealers also use the pre-sale auctions as a bankroll to actually buy products.

Check item condition
If the condition of an item is not mentioned in the description, ask the seller. If he does not reply, do not buy.

Insurance
If you have had problems with deliveries in the past, check to see if insurance is offered. Does it make fiscal sense to insure a US$0.50 card? No. Does it make fiscal sense to insure that Ultra Rare Des Volstgalph, valued at US$450? Yes! Avoid dealers who will force you to insure even the most worthless of cards. Avoid dealers who insist that insurance is not available, period. Do not deal with people whose feedback indicates that their product is often lost in the mail.

Keep your dealers minimal
Pick a few dealers you had a good experience with and keep on checking their items. You have a favorite Yu-Gi-Oh! store in real life, why not online with eBay?

The important scams
There are now MANY sellers on eBay offering deals which are almost impossible - 2 Crush Card Viruses in the same auction - without a photo of the actual cards (just a stock picture), by a seller with VERY low feedback. Now, if you had US$3000+ worth of 2 cards, wouldn't you at least bother to take a picture and provide some backstory (Say, "Card A was won by at an SJC in Seattle, card B was won by at an SJC in Honolulu"). Also check the other bidders - if they're mostly 0-10 feedback bidders, forget about high-priced cards!

Another deal that is most likely impossible is selling 3 copies of Get Your Game On!.

Shell Bidding
An increasing practice with some sellers is to create "Shell" accounts, self-created by the seller, whose only purpose is drive up the price of the item. This is against eBay's Terms of Service.

Check the Return Policy
Make sure it has a money back guarantee. If there is no return policy, do not buy.

Scans vs. Photos
Some sellers will use a scan of the actual card up for auction so the potential buyer can see the actual card. They don’t want to steal someone else’s photograph. That’s also why a lot of sellers have their pictures ( scans or photos) marked, but marking the images doesn’t always work very well. So then you have a lot of honest sellers loading images they created, without markings, into their eBay auctions.

Price Inflation
On many auctions sellers will use the shell method and then when the auction ends they will e-mail a bidder and say that the self created account won't pay and ask you if you want it for the inflated price. If this EVER happens never pay the inflated price, ask the seller to take the last price you bid (this usually will save you a lot of money if they agree and if they decline you've found a con-man)

Have a limit
In any auction set a limit on how much you will spend, this will, if adhered to, help to prevent being conned by shell auctions and price inflation