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[Guest]

[Nienna]

That's a good point about the older cards and one that a lot of us forget as we're only concentrating on the HP and LOTR sets. I suopose some of the FOTR auto and costume cards will now be classed as older stock and you're right ~ we're ALL at the mercy of the honesty and integrity of sellers on eBay when they list their items.
Sadly there aren't the trading card shops here in the UK as there are in the US otherwise we'd be there rummaging through the cards and not buying them sight unseen off eBay(which is what they are even if they do post photos on their auctions)!

[Sharon]

I totally agree but I was worried about taking the comics out of the sealed bag as I was told this greatly reduced their value.

And yes I know I am buying for my enjoyment but I am ruthless enough to want to keep a good re-sale value just in case.

With the graded cards is the grading case sealed or do you just get a certificate?  I think I have been incredibly lucky not to get any damaged ones through Ebay.

I was naive enough to not realise damaged cards were so wide spread (reading some of the postings I now know better)

I have only had one dodgy box(every card!) and the company were brilliant and sent me a complet set - chase and all.  This was only a Hercules set but we don't talk about that any more

[kbmum]

When cards are graded, they're sealed in a hard plastic case so the card is in the same condition as when it was graded.

I hate to say it, but I've received HP update cards that had some damage, and the sellers never mentioned it in the auction listing.  I don't like surprises like that!  The big problem with grading, though, is that it increases the price of the card.  It's a trade-off -- higher prices, but a guarantee of the card's condition.

As for the comic books, maybe you could spend money on one that's graded and then buy one that's not in good condition, but cheaper, so that you can read it?

[Roz]

From a point of view of condition KBMum I couldn't agree more.

Ferdinand the Yak and I went through a spate of buying cards (FOTR cards in fact) that were ... well let's just say they didn't live up to our high expectations. And that's an understatement, I still have one I refer to as a "tea towel" it's in such poor condition.

I couldn't sell it in good faith so I don't I just keep it on display and I don't worry about the effect of ultra violet light on it

At that point I think I voiced that Beckett grading wasn't such a bad idea

To be fair I have to say I've really appreciated opening cases of PoAU and having all my cards mint - only one wasn't mint and Artbox kindly replaced it

I think the important thing to take from this is to buy from people you know - on ebay if that's where they are selling, but just so you know what you are getting. Or don't be afraid to ask lots of question for sellers  to any sellers you haven't bought from - or check their feedback to see if they dealt with any of your friends and email them to see how their deal turned out.

[ferdinand_the_yak]

A very expensive tea towel Roz

Its true, the older the card series, the riskier, but as I am only going to be buying FOTR cards from now on (LOTR I mean), its the risk I have to take... sticking with sellers I know or have a good rating. I have only once received a non mint card during my card buying (it had to be the FOTR Leggy but that was not in as bad a state as Roz's - I sold it to get a mint one, but I made sure that I described the 'damage' as accurately as I could.)

The one consolation I do have is that due to the value of the FOTR cards, previous owners would/should have taken pretty good card of them anyway!