Fanatic Collect's mission is to empower clients with the finest tools and services and create the ultimate collecting experience for all community members.
FANATIC COLLECT'S COMMITMENT AS A MARKETPLACE FACILITATOR
- To provide an honest, safe, and appropriately transparent marketplace for all users.
- To minimize friction of sale and maintain a highly efficient selling and buying platform.
- To remain accountable for the accuracy of our marketplace listings and to address issues and questions in a timely manner.
- To uphold investor and seller responsibilities by actively policing the marketplace, ensuring participants know what behavior is expected of them and holding accountable those who do not uphold their responsibilities.
- To uphold third-party authenticator policies and acknowledge their technical assessments.
- To remove altered collectibles from our active marketplace and, when altered collectibles are graded, assist third-party authenticators in the removal of these collectibles from circulation to protect the collecting community.
SUBMITTER RESPONSIBILITIES
- To provide merchandise in good faith, free of any restrictions or known issues that could undermine the sale process or hurt the marketplace now or in the future. This includes restrictions related to legal frictions, including any liens from third-party lenders, known UCC filings, fraud, theft, alterations, or other condition issues known to violate our policies on third-party authentication.
- To avoid participation in any marketplace listing for which they are the seller, or to encourage any participation of a third-party to participate in the marketplace on their behalf as a proxy.
- To respond to any questions in a manner consistent with the needs of the marketplace listing thereby ensuring Fanatics Collect can cater to the needs of prospective buyers.
Any submitter who behaves in a manner detrimental to the trust of the trading card marketplace or the Fanatics Collect Tenets will lose their privileges to conduct future transactions with Fanatics Collect.
INVESTOR/BUYER RESPONSIBILITIES
- To participate in the marketplace in an honest and sincere manner and to place bids/offers that are honored in the event of a sale. Sales are not conditional, and all sales are final. No exceptions.
- To forgo placing bids on a single marketplace item from different accounts.
- To never retract or cancel bids/offers/purchases without the prior approval of Fanatics Collect. Approval is exceedingly rare and only granted on a case-by-case basis.
- To provide payment for items purchased on the marketplace in a timely manner, consistent with the stated rules of the marketplace.
Any investor/buyer who behaves in a manner detrimental to the trust of the trading card marketplace or the Fanatics Collect Tenets will lose their privileges to conduct future transactions with Fanatics Collect.
PROCEDURES FOR AUCTION MONITORING & SECURITY
Fanatics Collect is committed to maintaining an honest and safe marketplace and providing a frictionless buying and selling platform for our community members. The following summarizes the procedures we've followed since Fanatics Collect's inception.
- Bid retractions are not allowed. We investigate all bid retractions, including overall behavior over a 12-month rolling period.
- We block any user with a history of bid retractions from the Fanatics Collect Marketplace until the behavior can be proven to be corrected.
- We monitor live auctions for any potential forms of auction manipulation.
- We proactively reach out to bidders new to our auctions to introduce our Marketplace Tenets and ensure the security of our marketplace.
- We establish a pre-approved bidder list for high-value auctions,.
- Live monitoring on the closing of high-end items.
Fanatics Collect uses custom software to allow for automatic and instantaneous vetting of the following bidders in each Fanatics Collect Auction.
- Bidders with low feedback scores.
- First-time Fanatics Collect Auction bidders.
- High volume bidders, including high value and high bid quantity.
STANCE ON PROFESSIONAL THIRD-PARTY AUTHENTICATION
- Third-party authentication is a critical component of the marketplace, as it provides trust through a neutral, unbiased assessment and quality control.
- Fanatics Collect only recognizes reputable third-party authenticators. These authentication companies include PSA, PSA/DNA, SGC, BGS, BVG, BAS, UDA, Steiner, BBCE, NGC, MBA, Fanatics Authentic, PCGS, CGC and CGC Cards. Collectibles assessed by other companies are treated as ungraded on the Fanatics Collect Marketplaces.
- All third-party authenticators are required to maintain a level of quality control consistent with their respective brands and to ensure the marketplace is a safe and trusted venue for both sellers and investors/collectors alike.
CONSERVATION VS. ALTERATION
- Conservation. Fanatics Collect believes conservation of trading cards, as defined below, to be healthy, sustainable, and supportive of the marketplace and the investors and collectors who participate. Collectibles that have been conserved can be sold on the Fanatics Collect Marketplace.
Conservation is defined by Fanatics Collect as an act which returns a collectibles closer to its as-manufactured condition but does not otherwise enhance or artificially distance the collectible beyond the as-manufactured status. Conservation leaves no identifiable impact to the collectible, and generally leaves no evidence of the conservation having occurred. An act that removes a foreign substance from a collectible in a way that doesn't otherwise alter the condition of the as-manufactured product is usually considered acceptable. Dirt, glue, writing, wax, and other foreign substances can be removed from a collectible and the result is considered acceptable conservation, so long as the professional third-party authenticators agree the collectible is void of unnatural aspects induced by the conservation. Lying flat a warped or bent region of a trading card so long as it doesn't disrupt the card's natural properties is generally considered acceptable conservation, whereas pressing a card and thereby changing its as-manufactured properties (i.e., thickness of the card stock) is generally not acceptable and may render the card altered. For example, laying flat a nonplanar corner, crease, or edge, so long as the card stock is not pressed to a state of artificial thickness (i.e., in a screw-down holder), is typically acceptable so long as no other unnatural change to the as-manufactured card stock is discernible.
When Fanatics Collect has proof that a collectible was conserved as we prepare the listing (either through direct knowledge from the submitter, validated physical evidence in the presence of the card, or otherwise) Fanatics Collect will include in the listing a description of the conservation acts as they were described to us, or as they appear. - Alteration. Fanatics Collect believes the alteration of trading cards, as defined below, is damaging to the marketplace. Altered collectibles cannot be sold on the Fanatics Collect Marketplaces unless this detail is disclosed during the sale.
Alteration of trading cards, as defined by Fanatics Collect, is the presence of physical evidence of a change to the as-manufactured qualities of the collectible, outside of the normal wear and deterioration inherent to circulation. Any purposeful material addition or material removal to or from the as-manufactured collectible, outside of normal wear or environmental degradation, is generally considered alteration. Furthermore, trimming, recoloring, autograph retracing, rebuilding of corners or other surfaces, swapping of patches, cleaning which leaves a detectable impact on the collectible, or any other action which distances a card from its as-manufactured attributes is generally considered alteration. Altered cards which are stated as such in a transparent nature are permitted for sale on the Fanatics Collect Marketplaces.
Alteration is only officially determined by the presence of physical evidence in support of that designation. Speculation is not considered evidence. Evidence of alteration can only be determined in technical review by a reputable third-party authenticator . Important to note that the presence of digital content (i.e., before and after photos alluding to trimming, recoloring, etc.) may assist the professional graders in reviewing their work more accurately and as such is a powerful tool, but this alone is not evidence. Physical evidence is only ever determined in the hands of a third-party authenticator.
Fanatics Collect relies on the opinion of third-party authentication. Any graded collectibles with credible concerns of alteration will be provided back to the third-party authenticator for review prior to sale. Upon professional review, any collectibles considered improperly graded will be removed from the market and the respective third-party authenticator registry. All items on Fanatics Collect are sold in good faith, according to our stated policies which can only be enforced while the collectibles are in physical possession of Fanatics Collect.
FANATICS COLLECT MARKETPLACE GUARANTEE
SALE GUARANTEE
Fanatics Collect guarantees that each purchased collectible corresponds to the image, description, and certificate number for the collectible on the Fanatics Collect website. Fanatics Collect does not grade collectibles or warrant that an collectible is correctly graded or authenticated. Professional grading is an arbitrary opinion of technical condition only, and Fanatics Collect defers to the opinions of the approved third-party graders. Fanatics Collect is not responsible for third-party graders’ services, including loss of collectibles, damage to collectibles, or errors in authentication or grading.
If a buyer chooses to have a third-party grader reassess a collectible after purchase through Fanatics Collect, the buyer must present any claim for any loss directly to the original third-party grader according to that grader’s processes and procedures.
If a buyer receives a collectible that does not correspond to the image, description, and certificate number on the Fanatics Collect website, the buyer must promptly return the item to Fanatics Collect in its untampered, original slab for review and refund. Any manipulation of the collectible, grading slab, or certificate voids the Fanatics Collect Marketplace Guarantee.
Any applicable warranties and guarantees provided by the third-party grader must apply prior to the applicability of the Fanatics Collect Marketplace Guarantee. Any financial recourse with the third-party grader must precede the implementation of the Fanatics Collect Marketplace Guarantee.
PRE-SALE GUARANTEE
From time to time, Fanatics Collect may select certain collectibles for additional review. If this review gives Fanatics Collect a credible reason to question the authenticity or technical grade of a collectible, the collectible will be removed from public sale until the third-party grader can review its original assessment. Fanatics Collect will not sell any collectible which we believe could be inauthentic or graded inaccurately with regard to the respective third-party grader’s standards.