I do have photos from all sides. It just occurred to me that because I didn’t want to give him the serial number, I covered it when I was taking photos, and now I don’t know it. I suppose he can say it’s broken, Ebay will tell me I have to accept a return, and he’ll give me a different (broken) one.
The iPad was delivered just about 24 hours ago, and no word yet. I’m cautiously optimistic.
As a buyer, I did something like this once. The item was described as an “original 1886 xxxxx baseball card”. I didn’t feel the need to question him (Is it really original?) or ask for more pictures which prob wouldn’t have been definitive. Once I won the item, I contacted him and suggested that he be sure that it’s an original before we both bother going thru the motions. He didn’t appreciate that nor did he argue for very long before he just cancelled it. I’ve always felt that was a legit way for me to handle it.
Okay, I REALLY don’t understand why you felt it was important enough to ask after your won the auction, but didn’t bother to ask before bidding.
On the flip side, I wanted to buy something from a guy in ebay recently, but I asked him for an additional photo. He never got back to me. Not just no photo, no reply at all. So I didn’t bid on it.
But you already WENT through the motions - you bid on it and won the item, preventing someone else from buying it, and ultimately causing problems for the seller. Bidding on and winning the item is “going through the motions.”
Why would you ask questions about something after you’ve entered into a contract to buy the item (which an eBay purchase is - a contract - although not really enforced)?
Anyone with a genuine 1886 baseball card wouldn’t be selling on eBay.
From here.
In most collecting circles the tobacco cards of 1886 included in packs of Old Judge cigarettes are indeed the first true baseball cards.
The set (cataloged as set N167 by J.R. Burdick in the historic American Card Catalog) is small in stature, as only twelve cards were created and feature cards from only the New York Giants.
Of the twelve cards, six are hall of famers, thus for a set with such diminutive size, it really packs a punch.
Finding the N167 cards is kind of like finding a needle in a haystick, thus the cards hold tremendous value.
Why not? A Honus Wagner card was sold on eBay for $1.1 million in 2000, not to mention that a Gulfstream II jet sold on eBay for $4.9 million.
So expensive, rare, unique items are definitely sold on eBay - not often, but it does happen.
Not according to this.
As you can see, every time the card has sold, the value has risen significantly. The short amount of time it has remained in the hands of a single owner is indicative of the commodity status the card has achieved. Gidwitz sold the T206 Honus Wagner in 2000, through Robert Edward Auctions, to card collector Brian Siegel for a record-setting $1.27 million.
Even if it was sold on eBay, it was by an auction house, not some unknown random dude.
Lots of auction houses run auctions on eBay.
Now it’s just moving the goalposts - “Even if…” and so on. But anyway.
What I’m getting at is that something of that high a value would be easily verified. An auction house exists and you can check up on them. An airplane dealer exists. A car dealer exists.
Some random, unknown dude who offers a six figure baseball card for a few thousand is selling a fake.
That makes no sense. Why would you ask questions after committing to purchase the item? You come across as really sketchy in that situation and I am not supposed the seller cancelled the sale.
But the buyer doesn’t know that you don’t know it and if you registered it with iTunes or bought it directly from Apple, there’s likely a record of it somewhere.
Honestly, if the buyer had kept asking for more info or “arguing” with me, I would have canceled the sale, too, and my item was 100% exactly as described and worth what he bid. It was insulting and annoying that he asked questions after he beat out other bidders, and it’s possible that he kept the winning bid lower than it might have been.
I contracted to buy an original (FWIW it was an 1887 N28). It was a long time ago and before sniping services were popular. I put in a large max bid directly with eBay and my first real inkling that it was fake was that it sold for way less than it should have.
Yes, but why didn’t you contact the buyer before putting in that large max bid? It makes zero sense to bid first and ask questions later. 
Really? I should ask every seller if the baseball card he is selling is an original?
If you have doubts about its authenticity, then the answer is simply:
Yes, before entering a contract to buy it.
I guess I just trust my fellow man to be honest.
But if you trust him to be honest, why did you question him?
See above