Did I Just Get Scammed?

[the Thin White Duke]

Hey Source,
A couple months ago I bought some Arid Mesas off a guy on Ebay for little under $90. His feedback was pretty solid, no red flags. Last week I sold the cards to Card Kingdom who told me that they're fake. I shot the Ebay seller a note that they are fake and what's up? He was very apologetic and offered to send me a refund and destroy the cards. I couldn't send a refund request through Ebay since it was 2 months ago and I got the guy my email address and he told me that he'd send a refund via Paypal. The refund has been sent and pending in my account. Did I just get duped? Can this guy hijack my Paypal or something? He sent the funds as a return, so I don't think he can dispute this after I get paid. Are there honest peope on the internet? (besides me. I bought an Imperial recruiter from a store in Canada that never arrived after a month. They gave me a refund and then a coupe weeks later the card showed up. I asked them if I could pay them for it and they we very surprised.)
Now I look at his feed back and there is one negative review, "There was an issue with the authenticity of the cards and the seller refunded ."

[Ace/Homebrew]

Sounds like it, although I didn't understand what you were describing with the PayPal stuff...
You should leave feedback with your experience too, and mention that Card Kingdom said the cards were fake.

Did Card Kingdom mention what gave them away as fakes?

[the Thin White Duke]

Card Kingdom sez: " Arid Mesas dont pass the rosette test and the texture is off when compared to copies of the same card and condition our inventory. The cards feel very glossy in texture and the printing of the art is not as crisp as the art on the authentic Arid Mesa."
The texture was similar to the current Japanese printings and I didn't notice the at being that bad. I've bought A LOT of cards over the years and traded a ton when Pucatrade was a thing. This is the first time I've been called out for counterfeit cards, and I end up selling a lot to Card Kingdom.
About the PayPal comment; once a refund is issued it can't be taken back, right?

[Asthereal]

There's a lot of fake cards going around, some very convincingly crafted.
There's a number of things you can check to see of your card is authentic.
Check (for instance) Youtuber "Alpha Investments" for tips.

These big sellers on Ebay move a ton of cards per week. Bad ones will inevitably slip through.
I think their immediate offer of a refund is a good sign rather than a bad one.
(But perhaps I'm a tad naive in this instance.)

[kombatkiwi]

There's a lot of fake cards going around, some very convincingly crafted.
There's a number of things you can check to see of your card is authentic.
Check (for instance) Youtuber "Alpha Investments" for tips.

These big sellers on Ebay move a ton of cards per week. Bad ones will inevitably slip through.
I think their immediate offer of a refund is a good sign rather than a bad one.
(But perhaps I'm a tad naive in this instance.)

Even if the refund offer is genuine there is still the worst-case scenario that the seller is knowingly shipping some number of fake cards (could be up to 100%) and making money off the fact that some number of the buyers won't catch it (although eventually you would start to see them being called out in their seller feedback if they did this often).

[Asthereal]

Even if the refund offer is genuine there is still the worst-case scenario that the seller is knowingly shipping some number of fake cards (could be up to 100%) and making money off the fact that some number of the buyers won't catch it (although eventually you would start to see them being called out in their seller feedback if they did this often).
This is definitely true, and OP doesn't mention the size of the seller he/she bought from originally.
So yeah, there's a chance this particular seller was intentionally trying to make money on fake cards.

I have bought piles and piles of cards from Ebay, and tried as much as possible to stick to big sellers with 10k+ feedback and 99.5% or better score.
Those sellers tend to be serious businesses that can't afford to let fake cards ruin their reputation, because it'll hurt their sales volume big time.

[FTW]

I have bought piles and piles of cards from Ebay, and tried as much as possible to stick to big sellers with 10k+ feedback and 99.5% or better score.
Those sellers tend to be serious businesses that can't afford to let fake cards ruin their reputation, because it'll hurt their sales volume big time.

I only buy from those big sellers too. I'd rather be confident in a legitimate transaction than save a few bucks with someone that could be a scammer.

OP - I think you got scammed and just have to be more careful next time. Many fakes out there. It's also possible the seller was scammed by someone else and didn't realize they were fakes, but either way you could end up with more fakes from them in future.

[the Thin White Duke]

Thanks for the feedback.
I should have been more clear; is the seller offering me a refund the actual scam? The person offering me a refund when he is under no obligation under the Ebay guidelines is what is suspicious to me. I'm a very cynical person, but maybe I'm overly-so in this case? Also, the refund is "pending" and I don't usually have fund placed on hold.
Anyway, I'm just paranoid.

[kombatkiwi]

Thanks for the feedback.
I should have been more clear; is the seller offering me a refund the actual scam? The person offering me a refund when he is under no obligation under the Ebay guidelines is what is suspicious to me. I'm a very cynical person, but maybe I'm overly-so in this case? Also, the refund is "pending" and I don't usually have fund placed on hold.
Anyway, I'm just paranoid.

Paypal refund pending means the seller is paying you out of their bank acc and there is a processing delay for the money to go through paypal. (Or, the refund was initiated before the money had even cleared out of your bank, but doesn't seem like that applies in this case).

Usually fraudulent refunds are a way for the buyer to scam the seller, not the other way around, im not super experienced in this sphere but I don't think theres a way for this to be abused

[davindasingh74]

When the seller is paying through this bank account via paypal it shows pending and it takes time to credit to your account until the funds are completely received to paypal.

You got to aware of buyers, they can scam you even after paying you through chargebacks.