Fraudulent PAtch Cards - Maybe something CAN be done!

[Dewwen]

So I have an old friend that recently went to work for eBay. He's worked in Retail Loss Prevention for many years, and he now is heading up a team to combat stolen good sales. While I don't know the full scope of his position, I made the assumption he must have some influence in dealing with knock-offs and fraudulent items. So I approached him on the Fake Patch situation. This is a bit of a long read, but I think you might find it interesting:

Dear XXXX,

I don't know if you remember this about me or not, but I collect Hockey Cards and some other sports memorabilia. I have a long-standing eBay account (puckfan9) and over the years have developed quite a few relationships with fellow collectors. I frequent a few hobby message boards where we all talk about the hobby, new products, ideas, and yes - fraudulent items.

Lately, there have been quite a few items appearing on eBay that have been altered. By altered, here's what the scam is...

A person will buy a card with a piece of a game-worn jersey material on it. Cards like this are made by Upper Deck, Topps, Panini, In The Game, and a few others. A plain, one-color jersey card of an average player generally sells for around $10.00. If it is a "premium" card (from really expensive product) these pieces can fetch up to $100.00. Now, here's where the fraud comes in to play...

If a jersey piece in one of these cards is from the actual logo part of the jersey, and has multiple colors and textures, these cards sell for much higher than your standard one-color material. So, you guessed it, people are "switching" the jersey swatches in these cards to sell them for more money. You can buy an Ovechkin (Washington Capitals player) jersey card for $10, switch out the swatch, and sell it for $40. If the card you bought originally was more expensive, say $100, you can now sell it for $300. Some of the more expensive cards are serial numbered, so I've actually seen physical evidence of altered cards being sold on eBay - but no one from eBay will take action even with photographic evidence. It's not only a problem in the hobby, but most of the seasoned collectors now will not even consider buying cards from eBay. It's hurting everyone along the way - card companies, collectors, resellers, and auction sites.

So my question is pretty obvious... Do you have any suggestions on what can be done to address this problem? It's not an easy question, and I'm sure there's no easy answer. But I thought you would be a good person to ask given your new role. Any insight would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Dan

Heard back from him this morning, here was the response:

Dan,

I am aware of some similar issues involving cards. I know we have different law enforcement groups that monitor these collectibles as well. The eBay system is designed to be transparent, so the feedback system is critical. eBay is more aggressive now than ever with people that get bad feedback because we have rolled out a resolution program, (our version of a guarantee of sorts), so if your not happy we will make the seller pay you back or we will.
Short answer if you know of some people doing this, send me their id's and I can have our team review it. If someone does it to you, I will handle it and resolve it.

On the broader issue I will work with our team and ensure it is on the radar.

Thanks,
XXXX

So, for any of you interested in pursuing these tolls using eBay to hock their altered goods, I have the ear of someone who can address it. For me to bubble this up to him, I need the following information:

eBay item # of the altered card
ORIGINAL SCAN on the unaltered card
User ID and PAST USER ID's of the bad seller

Email everything to me at:

[email protected]

I'm just as sick of this as everyone else, and I will do everything I can to at least get these guys thrown off eBay. Knowing my friend the way I do, if there is anything he can do to lock them up, HE WILL.

If a MOD would like to sticky this, it might be helpful and I would not mind. I read the boards here almost daily so I can relay information pretty fast. I'm also going to reach out to the folks I know over at UD, but if anyone has any contacts at Panini (is Rodney still there?), Topps, and ITG feel free to share this with them as well.

Thanks,
Dan

[iidaemmi]

You do REALLY important job man! Its great that there is still guys like you.. fighting against these morones. God bless!

Harri

[TeamChevelle]

This is a great plan of attack, I will support and help in any way possible.