Buying remotely: the signals worth acting on
You cannot inspect a card through a screen. You can inspect the transaction.
Photographs
Ask for photographs of the actual item, including the label with the cert number legible, and the back. A stock photograph or a manufacturer image tells you nothing about the copy being sold.
Angled shots matter more than flat ones. Surface damage, a crease, and the reflection of an altered edge are visible when light rakes across the card and invisible head-on.
Price
A price well under recent realized sales for the same card at the same grade is the most reliable warning sign there is, and it is the one buyers most often talk themselves out of. Compare against realized sales — what people paid — rather than against active listings, which are what sellers hoped to get.
Payment
Pay by a method with a dispute process. A seller who insists on a payment type with no recourse is asking you to carry all of the risk in a transaction where they hold all of the information.
FLOAT prices collectibles from realized sales. A valuation assumes the item is what its label says — which is why these checks come first.