Somebody explain THE VAULT to me (is this the screwiest idea?)

[liawrig.nq8rdwqa3]

(I'm not a collector)

Anyway, I was reading how the vault works and correct me if I'm wrong.  Somewhere in California, Ebay has a storage facility that will "hold" your trading cards for a fee until it sells or you reclaim it; right?

So the seller sends EB their collection.  EB authenticates it and puts it in a glass enclosure.  When it sells, EB sends it to the buyer?

And they charge fees for storage and sending; is that how it works?

WHY????  Why can't the seller just keep his collection, store it  and send it off?  Somebody tell me the difference.

[vintagecraze50]

If you sold a million dollar card in person, just be sure to have a swat team with you to protect you.

[under-the-rose]

Any person ebay lets create a ebay selling account can sell cards and pretty much anything else approved as normal---shipped from seller to buyer. Normal Routine. 

The vault is just another service. Pretty much all services requires some form of payment, hence the reason the vault was create---no one creates a business to lose money, they create it to make money. Easy as ice and everything nice.

If you don't want the service, you're in luck--just forgettaboutit

The number 1 primary all-time, till the end of time concern is.....COMMUNICATION. ebay lacks all the basic communication systems between them and sellers, even buyers. If I have a $100k card in the vault and I have to jump thru hoops to get a person on the phone and not ever--EVER being able to send an email....no way. Count me out all the way.

[fuzzface50]

When this was first talked about I was with the group thinking it was crazy but as I researched it more, you know what?   I think if they made it easily recognizable when you are cruising thru the gallery view to see if something is in the vault already, I am really thinking about being a new player.  I am always looking for new opportunities and do have a few bucks laying around not being really useful, so why not? 

already graded and in the vault, no sales tax if left there, I have none of my dirty greasy hands on them,  why not? invest a little money and wait and see just like we do with the stock market, really got me considering it. 

When the person dies, put the card up for sale at a nice profit and see what happens. 

[dbfolks166mt]

     It's not really a crazy idea but it is, or will be, yet another revenue generating venture for eBay. There are a complex number of fees associated with the vault that potential users should fully understand before diving in. A lot of these are waived for 2022 and other reasons probably to entice people to get hooked on the use then hit them later with the fees. 

     As for the authentication I hope the vault does a better job than the other eBay authentication services which all seem to be having some issues. I am not a collector but I have sold a few high value cards and eBay is the last place even considered. I am in a major metropolitan area and there are simply too many other alternatives that do not require shipping and have no fees associated with the transaction. 

[maestroaxeman]

I responded in another thread about inconsistencies in the program & I'd wager there will be a break in the system soon.

I am NOT the "average-joe collector/dealer"...& many instances have made me use eBay less & less over the years.

This is my take:

"Honestly, I see the "eBay Vault" to be about as "trustworthy" as crypto:

Intangible, Unreliable & purely Expirimental.

I'll tell you what...there is an old saying:

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

Tell me, eBay Central/eBay Administration:

What happens to the actual physical items if this whole thing falls flat? Say, some "program error" or whatever the excuse may become.

WHO maintains physical possession of the items of great value? The owner "digitally"? The eBay "Vault"? Personally, I DO NOT TRUST this concept...& to create this virtual storage (without so-called "fees") for items of great value NOBODY can physically possess without MORE massive "fees" is highly suspicious.

Just a point-of-view here..."

[hohlegrailscollectibles]

So, I have a different worry than most here, or at least, I am skeptical about the Vault for different reasons.

I don’t trust eBay AT ALL tbh. They have proven time and time again throughout the years that they are not trustworthy and that they don’t care about their users—buyers or sellers. So, what I see potentially happening is eBay fractionalizing the collectibles in the vault without the seller’s/owner’s knowledge or consent. 

Hear me out—the ideal scenario, in eBay’s own words, would be: Seller sends card > card is authenticated & graded by eBay > eBay stores it in the Vault and creates a listing > Card sells > Payout is sent and record of ownership is transferred in eBay’s database. eBay believes the best practice is for the item to never leave the vault & for record of ownership to be changed when an item is sold. So, if they always have the card in their possession and rarely, if ever, have to ship it to a buyer, what’s to stop them from fractionalizing it? Why create a single listing for $1000 when you can create 100 listings for $50 or $100 each, which would generate exponentially more revenue for eBay, even moreso when you consider the fees from 100 listings…? 

Hell, if the card is to never leave the Vault, who’s to say the card even exists in the first place? If 10 sales are made before a buyer ever requests the (non-existent) card be sent to them, eBay has more than enough funds to secure A card (not THE card) and send it to the buyer, and they’d have made 10 sales for a card that doesn’t even exist. 

The second scenario is more of a what-if and is, admittedly, tinfoil hat-type stuff. However, I wholeheartedly believe eBay would do something like in the first scenario. It wouldn’t even be difficult to pull off. 

All-in-all the Vault is yet another short-sighted, half-baked idea from eBay that nobody asked for. It’s a way for them to capitalize on the current market and expand their market share. All I know is that I’m not trusting eBay—or any company—to hold any of my possessions. Seen how that plays out over the years. People trust companies and corporations FAR too much nowadays.

[jht2022]

@gosimus.......Or anybody who is interested.

A few years back Ebay was in a partnership with PWCC.  (eBay Pulls Biggest Trading Card Seller, Citing 'Shill Bidding'; PWCC Responds (actionnetwork.com).

They saw how well PWCC was running their vault business, decided to cut ties with them (by drumming up accusations which were not proven by the way.)  Created their own vault which is what you have today.  Goldin, Beckett, PSA, all have their own vaults today based upon the PWCC formula.   I have got to tell you Before you send anything to EB check out PWCC to know what a vault should really run like.   Did I mention you can also take out a loan against your vault inventory if you needed to?

[kh-gary]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread HERE if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.