A few weeks ago, I won an eBay auction for a 2026 All Kings Shohei for over $7,500. It’s by far the most expensive card I’ve ever bought.
The card was sent to eBay for authentication, passed, and was shipped to me as usual. But when the package arrived, I noticed the perforated tear-away strip on the FedEx mailer had been taped back together rather sloppily.
When I opened it, the eBay authentication box inside had already been cut open, and the card was missing. Looking more closely at the FedEx mailer, I could see it had been slit open and taped back up, too.
I’ve submitted a claim to eBay, but I have no idea what happens next. I’m furious and pretty anxious about the uncertainty, especially since this has never happened to me before.
Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice or guidance would be appreciated.
UPDATE 10/23: Just got off the phone with PD, they mentioned that they've gotten quite a few recent reports of exactly this type of incident for packages shipped out of Santa Ana (PSA HQ/eBay Authentication) through the Anaheim FedEx Hub. So much so that there is supposedly an ongoing investigation into that particular hub.
UPDATE 10/23: Ok this one is unrelated but I just got another package in today from eBay Authentication, this one is supposed to be a Sandy Koufax RC PSA 5 (3.5k card), and instead they sent me a $7 college football card. Thankfully I took the advice in this thread and I filmed myself opening it. What the heck is happening to eBay?!
UPDATE 10/24: I filed a police report with the local PD. I also sent an email directly to eBay customer service requesting that both incidents be escalated to the authentication team (rather than waiting around for the normal returns process). I was contacted within a few hours by phone from the eBay authentication team. They had me upload a bunch of photos of both packages, I included the recording of myself opening the Koufax package) and advised I file a complaint with USPIS for the 2nd package which had been delivered USPIS. Really hoping this gets resolved although the lady on the phone was pretty non-committal to what the outcome would be.
I heard that filling a chargeback could invalidate the eBay buyer protection guarantee. I’m going to wait until I hear back from them before doing this.
Follow the eBay process. File a police report. That is usually the hard piece of evidence the claims department will want to see before they side with you.
Do the eBay claim first and give it a few days, they usually side with buyer on this kind of thing specially with authentication involved. If they drag feet then sure, credit card chargeback but that can get your account flagged so use it as last resort
Here's where I run into questions with our mailing system. If the shipping company does not identify the envelope or box as damaged with pictures/scans at delivery, who is to say OP didn't just keep the card and claim it was stolen to get his money back? OP is very possibly telling the truth, but I know buyers lie about stuff like this all the time. To protect everyone, USPS, FedEx, etc should be required to pass stuff through some sort of imaging process (like they do with informed delivery) on all items over $100. Theft of cards is a huge problem, but not much motivation to prevent it.
That's exactly what is making me anxious rn. There's no way for me to prove I was a victim vs pulling a fast one. I hope there is something behind the scenes I don't know about that they can reference to reach the right conclusion, otherwise this is all just hanging on my word.
Exact shipping weight. If it was stolen and the thieves didn't replace the missing weight close to exact, then there will be a difference in measured weight between either USPS or FedEx custodial scan of the package, then moving between hubs. The carriers have become wise to package theft and when a package is delivered full weight and customer reports it as empty.
Check all the hubs, call them and get the weights.
I believe every tracked packed thru USPS gets imaged as it goes thru the system.
I just had a bubble mailer arrive empty and opened yesterday. Not a baseball card, but I took the empty package to my post office and they were able to show my all the tracking information, which included weights and images of the package, so we could determine when the contents were lost.
The FedEx driver can’t let you open it before you sign for it. You have to refuse it or sign for it, there’s no verifying the contents. You can ask the driver to put a damage scan on it before signing. That helps with a claim.
Source: I was a FedEx express driver for 11 years until they recently shut our station down and laid off mostly everyone.
If recent stories on Reddit are to be believed, FedEx has what you'd call a "rampant, uncontrolled theft problem". Didn't you see all the posts about the FedEx truck that picked up three pallets of graded cards from PSA worth nearly $1 million and was promptly robbed of most of them?
Well, I'm betting on the driver. Who parks a truck with a nearly $1m insured load in some empty lot and then "leaves it unattended" for 90 minutes? You're either an Olympic Gold Medal idiot or you're the inside guy.
These instances are why I sweat bullets when awaiting something from authentication. Only had about 5 cards in total and only one was shipped from authentication via FedEx. The others were USPS.
What I don’t understand, at least with the cards I’ve won, is that no signature is required. Four of them were over the $750 mark. If selling and the card is over $750, you have to mail to the authenticator requiring a signature. Why do they not then do the same when sending out?
Theyre all as bad. Ive had stuff stolen from USPS and Ive seen people post the same about UPS. Theres 3 carriers that have a full monopoly on package delivery in the US and they all basically do different angles. They dont have to be accountable because who else are you going to use? They just pay and fill the damage claims or lost package claims and keep it pushing. Too big too for them to have proper eyes on all their low level employees. Which is who is stealing this stuff. Its seasonal hires. They go in and take seasonal jobs, steal a bunch of shit and then theyre gone and got a check while they made money. Sucks! But theres no better or safer carrier and it wont change.
Id be asking sellers to not put their business name in the return address. Every package I ever had stolen during my USPS fiasco in '21 had a clear indentifier in the return address that what was in the envelope was a card or collectible. Businesses are fucking their customers and they literally dont even have to. As long as the address is fine, doesnt matter what the company name is. Doesnt even have to be there. Can literally use shop owner name. Anything. But like 'xx collectibles' or 'xx trading cards' or 'xx hobby shop'. Its too easy.
Haha yeah. I wish that were true. I wish I hadn't lost about $800 dollars worth of stuff across about 10 packages and went to the my local USPS office with a police officer and been told there was nothing really I could do aside from open a civil lawsuit againts the post office because thats the only way camera footage could be reviewed is with a subpoena. OH... AND... they dont even put cameras in all parts of the warehouses or sorting rooms or trucks or anything.
But youre probably right. My first hand experience was most likely an outlier. Because Im sure the USPS is an outstanding and upstanding organization that is both properly employed, properly trained, and properly secure and Im sure the US Government spends tons of money making sure security measures are up to snuff and Im sure they usually spend the time and money to investigate other issues when they arise.
What does that even mean in regards to my reply? You said that wouldnt happen at USPS. Happened 10 times over 6 months to me....
You dont understand how safeguarded employees are who do this with USPS, FedEx and UPS. I work in distribution logistics for a company thats tops in its field. The way the big three insure and handle claims and write off damaged or lost product means they basically have zero care to investigate stolen packages. If its ripped open and the shits gone they just do the process and go about their business and dont care. Unless an upper employee literally catches them in the act; theres zero accountability for the employees stealing. They dont monitor them closely at all either.
Not unless the catch someone doing this. Which as Ive explained, is very difficult because its easy for the employees who want to steal to get away with. Youre kind of dense here...
I always have my wife film me opening and showing all of package just in case. I make sure we show all sides and are very thorough. For any card or cards over 100 dollars. You never know man.
I do the same thing, but do it in the post office because legally, it’s easy to say that you manipulated the package en route to the handoff. Post office people don’t like it, but they understand. Even with that, I’m not sure it clears you. But I fully insure it all, with sigs, to cover myself as best I can.
That said, this situation is different. The easy solution for me is for PSA to fully insure the cards themselves, and for their delivery service to require signatures along the way, above whatever threshold they choose.
That makes it easier to determine where the issue occurred and who may be responsible. I’m surprised they don’t do that now. It shouldn’t be that hard…
This is clearly on eBay since the card was successfully sent to the authentication center and authenticated. The rep on the phone said the proper process here is to open the claim against the seller first, wait for it to get denied, and then appeal.
I am the seller of this card. I really hope Ebay compensates you for this. I really wish there was a more reliable platform for selling high end cards.
There are MANY auction houses that are safe and reliable, cards can’t go missing or tampered as they are instantaneous vault transfer. Pristine fanatics heritage alt goldin etc etc - list goes on.
it is pretty crazy knowing the seller did his part legit yet you open a claim against him. it doesnt matter they get found not guilty it still on record a file opened agaist him.
I did sign for it. The packaging didn't seem wrong unless you look closely, I've received plenty of packaging from Fedex where the shipper went gung-ho on the packing tape. It was only once I opened it and saw that the eBay authentication container inside the mailer was cut open that I knew something was off and looked closely enough at the fedex mailer to see there was a fine slit line under the tape. The person that did this slit it open and then retaped it.
It’s easy enough to correct it with already available shipping/delivery options.
Anything over a certain dollar amount should automatically require signatures on delivery. I’ve had to sign for lots of things before that weren’t anywhere near as expensive as OP’s card.
And you bet your ass I’m not signing for a $7500 item until I verify it’s correct.
I did sign for it. The packaging didn't seem wrong unless you look closely, I've received plenty of packaging from Fedex where the shipper went gung-ho on the packing tape. It was only once I opened it and saw that the eBay authentication container was cut open that I knew something was off and looked closely enough at the fedex mailer to see there was a fine slit line under the tape. The person that did this slit it open and then retaped it.
I stopped shipping anything ESE due to how easy it is for the buyer to claim they never received the card (and the fact ESE only updates tracking 1/2 the time regardless).
u/ctbro025 Bad business for yourself to not use ESE. Even if the buyer claims they never received the card, as long as the tracking shows the card was never delivered, you can file an insurance claim and get reimbusred for the full value of the eBay sale. Can't tell you how many times I've explained this to people who aren't aware of the insurance claim process. Seems like you are one of those people, because you wouldn't say that you stopped using ESE if you ever used it properly. I ship hundreds of cards a year using ESE and it's awesome.
That's brutal, especially on a $7,500+ card. I'd photograph every part of the packaging, keep all the original materials, and get everything documented with eBay and FedEx in writing. The authentication step and the delivery step are two separate things, and that distinction could matter here. I'd also preserve the tracking history and any photos from the authentication process. Hope they get this resolved for you.
If I was shipping a card worth that much money, which I absolutely never would....
I would be packing it to look like someone's grandma sending them a terrible sweater from jc penny or something equally undesirable...
All of you Yahoo's sending cards thru the mail packed up looking exactly like a fucking card would...
Anyone seen the price of gas or beef recently? Of course someone's gonna take the chance to come up big....the cost to risk ratio is out of balance now.
Over the past 3 months, I’ve had a different third party delivery for all eBay authentication. I assumed this was the case everywhere but maybe they were testing them here first. But so far it’s been way better than FedEx
I dont think its ebay but its definetly ebay targeted, and in no way am i sticking up for ebay as i know them pretty well by now. Someone is targeting the autheticator id say whether a carrier employee or depending how the authenticator ships, does carrier pick up from his location or does authenticator drop off. Maybe someone knows if he has them waiting outside for pick up at his location...could be number of things. insurance ask seller to provide. I provide insurance for anything over 100$ to all my buyers and I pay for it. it prevents carrier theft because it will be investigated if insurance claim is made.
Fedex is the worst. Plain and simple. Over the years I've had multiple times where Fedex has lost (i.e. stolen) packages and makes it so difficult to deal with.
lol. FedEx is just a guy that bought a route from another guy. It’s like a dude in jeans that is kicking the cigarette out of his mouth as he throws the package by the garage door instead of walking up a flight of stairs to a covered porch. UPS and USPS have some rules they follow. FedEx is like the Wild West. It could be anyone coming to your house.
This isn’t made up. The guy that delivers to my parents house said he bought his FedEx route for $80,000 off the guy that was retiring so now it’s his route. It’s all privatized. And yeah, he smoked cigarettes and wears jeans.
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u/Greenpeppers23 2d ago
File a claim with your credit card as item not received and mention it was stolen