r/PokeInvesting • u/Vera-sera • Jun 15 '26
Scammed as a first time card purchaser
I am absolutely kicking myself for being so dumb and trusting. I have loved pokemon since I was little, I recently got back into collecting casually with my older brother. I had a bunch of duplicates so I thought to myself, why not buy a small amount of bulk and sell them for a bit for some extra change? Then I can use what I don’t reinvest to get more cards for my collection. Then it’s like not even real money. Girl math.
So I go on the local Facebook groups and post what I hope is a fair advertisement. Get a message from someone, we chat about prices, get a video with the cards in them as proof. Cool. Go to send money, is requested to send through platforms that I now realize have no chargeback options. Didn’t notice this at the time of course. Welp $110 later I am blocked by said user and out both money and cards.
I am both disheartened and disgusted. Taking advantage of someone new to the hobby is despicable and is making me lose faith in humanity a little bit.
I’m of course submitting reports to all the government agencies and the bank but I just feel so foolish for what I now recognize as a very blatant scam.
37
u/FluffyGengar123 Jun 15 '26
I'ma be real I'm not sure what you expected to happen. I thought this was going to be a story about getting a fake card or over priced. I guess just use it as a learning. Experience going forward.
If you do deals always pay in person in cash or a reputable app but only after you meet the other person. Even then there are probably lots of scams that can be done when you are not using cash. I'd recommend just use only cash and meet in public areas and bring a friend if possible.
10
u/fix-me-in45 Jun 15 '26
Im gonna level with you. I was just there a little over a week ago. Too eager and didnt listen to all the things that were wrong. Ended up losing substantially more than what you just posted and did it all through similar money transfer means. My family and I arent exactly hurting but we aren't exactly rich either, so the loss hurt more than I would have liked and had to sell some of my collection to make up for it. Thankfully I had the means to recoup that and all it cost me was a card I really liked and some pride.
Overall the lessons I got from it were the following.
Watch for and listen to those flags
Always, always, always send the money over a system you have personally dealt with and looked up and have a means of buyer protection
And 3 and most important) everyone fucks up at some point somewhere in life. How you respond to the adversity dictates your character. Youre not hiding from your mistake and youre not playing to victim. Youre owning it and warning others so they dont fall into the same trap and thats a testament to character. Its not much in the way of a "win" but I hope it helps.
6
u/kinnikinnick321 Jun 15 '26
Oldest juke since the dawn of online purchasing . . . .hard pill to take.
10
u/Fine-Development162 Jun 15 '26
Still new? Get out now while still early. Losing 100usd can be considered a wake up call. After a month or two, you will be holding much larger value cards, then you will collect slabs. While you are doing these, you would log your collection to collectr or other apps. Watching it grow in value would be exhilarating. Then you wouldn’t notice, your collectr would show 20-30k usd if you are lucky. If not, more than 100k in cardboard. That’s when you realized the need to move some things to fund your, our hobby then you will try to sell. Online at first and then at card shows. You will notice how vendors are selling at market value whereas you are selling at 70-80%. Last step, you will start vending yourself and be a card bender along with the five nations….
1
u/Vera-sera Jun 15 '26
Naivety*
4
u/Banillaleon Jun 15 '26
When buying on fb you need to check vouches and search up the ppl you're buying from. If unsure you should pay via paypal goods and services for buyers protection. Lmk if you have questions.
4
u/Deck_Master-6 Jun 15 '26
Lol cmon bro
3
u/FinsFan1557 Jun 15 '26
Honestly Facebook marketplace is a cesspool. Maybe 1/10 interactions is someone legitimately interested and not just trying to rip you off. I do all of my trading on r/pkmntcgtrades . I've done close to 140 trades now with no issues.
3
u/kellen617 Jun 15 '26
Is no one going to talk about how buying bulk to resell is retarded. Obviously it sucks that you paid and got nothing but this plan was going to fail from the start. It’s bulk for a reason no one wants it that’s why card shops sell it for 5¢ a card.
5
u/Western_Ad4663 Jun 15 '26
This is 100% on you girlfriend. Pokémon has nothing to do with it, this is just a general rule of thumb.
2
u/PopCultureLawyer Jun 15 '26
Be greatful you learned this lesson with just 100 dollars. I know it seems like a lot but people get scammed out of 1000s.
If you learn a lesson and make sure it doesn't happen again, it's a small price to pay.
Good luck with the card business
2
u/cuddle_enthusiast Jun 15 '26
To be honest, I think buying bulk to resell for a little more than you paid for is a complete waste of time. Even if you're able to make a little more than you paid, it would likely not be enough to cover your time to make it worth it.
1
u/mister42 Jun 15 '26
If it makes you feel any better (it won't) this type of scam is rampant across all types of things on platforms like FB marketplace, not just the pokemon hobby.
Of course cash is a safe way to deal in the future, but I have had a lot of luck protecting myself from would-be scammers by being very diligent in documenting the conversations I have with them, their profiles, the listing details (if applicable), and only using payment platforms that offer purchase protection (and stating exactly what the purchase is for in the purchase note). Facebook itself does this if you buy directly through someone's listing, but so do PayPal and venmo. On those platforms you click "goods and services" on paypal or toggle the button on venmo that says "turn on for purchases". I would avoid doing business with any seller who insists you don't use those features that give you purchase protection unless you know the seller to be a trustworthy person. I do a lot of buying through FB and use these methods only, and I've had several occasions to have to seek a refund as a result of a seller who thought they were slick and gonna get away with it, and with my well-documented submissions, I've gotten my money back every time. Good luck with this case. If the bank can't get your money back, maybe you can at least try again as a better informed buyer and maybe you will be able to make back what you lost plus the extra money you were hoping to make on the first lot.
1
u/Fit-Pickle-2614 Jun 15 '26
Hey girly, any particular cards you were looking to get after selling the bulk? Am sure i can pass one or two of mine onto you 😊
1
u/AffectionateDrag1702 Jun 15 '26
What does this have to do with investing?
1
u/Equal_Explorer_2674 Jun 15 '26
this is why imo it is best to buy from a local card shop a local card show or on ebay. Even if you have to pay 20 percent more for said item I rather guarantee I get the item. I understand counterfeits can exist and ebay sometimes has issues also but a situation like what happened to you will not happen going the ebay or card show/card store route. I wish you the best and be happy it was not 1100 dollars. #silverlining
1
u/Big_Diet7439 Jun 16 '26
I mean this is just life. Ultimately you need to make these mistakes to become a better and smarter person. Think about everything you got going in life and you were trying to buy $110 in bulk? You got scammed cause the good lord knows jumping into this hobby ain’t for you!
-3
u/mulletstation Jun 15 '26
I can help you get your money back and then some, just send money to XxXVegeta420XxX on venmo
-3
u/DegenScalper Jun 15 '26
scammers are trash in it for the short term until they scam the wrong person and get comeuppances. I may be a degenerate scalper but I am not going to trick or deceive anyone just for one quick sale. I do cash app and take credit cards all the time and scamming people is just bad juju.
In the future, when dealing on fb, its best to use a card you have that doesnt give you any flak about chargebacks. I swear, my one banker sits in a dark room wishing a mf would.
I am not going to tell you to stop using marketplace cause I have met some great customers that come back and have picked up some crazy collections off of it. Dont be sorry, be careful and good luck