eBay seller marks item with "invisible" pen?

[Radha]

  I was perusing auctions on EBay and came across a seller who, in their descriptions, says that they 'mark every item they sell with an invisible pen' to prevent people switching items and then returning a different one.

 Have you heard of this before? What type of pen would that be?
  I can kind of understand a seller being leery of false returns, but I don't want my collectible marked somewhere with some unknown substance that might behave who-knows-how with time. 

[scarletjul]

There are pens who's ink shows up under certain (UV) light.  That's the first thing I thought of, though I guess she could mean something else.

It seems an odd choice to me, since you don't know how the ink will effect the item.

[Loona]

It seems an odd choice to me, since you don't know how the ink will effect the item.

this. I can also understand the whys, but I would avoid buying things from such a seller. obviously you can't go back to them 5 years from now, when the unknown and initially invisible substance might start to show its evil side on your item (also, you will never know if the changes will really be caused by this stuff, since you also don't know where it was marked), and I would like to avoid even the potential of this happening.

but at least he's being honest and lets us know, so we can decide whether we'd like to buy the item under these circumstances. I believe though that in his fear of sneaky return-buyers he's losing out on a number of honest buyers as well.

[FantasticFirefly]

People with electronics have been doing this forever. or stating they do to avoid "hey I'll swap my broken sony model 65GHX DVD player with this guy's!".

I do agree with you all with ponies though. I will not buy boiled ponies, acne cream ponies, ponies with heads sliced off at some point, or any treated with oxy clean baths or bleach or peroxide fades for the same reasons who knows what will happen to them. I certainly will not buy something with INK on it somewhere. who knows if it will become a blobby discoloured yellow stain at some point. plus- it's taking away from the originality of the figure.

I know MY vintage stuff, they're older and will have distinct issues, or even how the paint matches up, hair is rooted etc. On ebay I kept even MORE photos of every single angle of a vintage toy to "prove" something was mine or not should I have had someone attempt an "upgrade for free" on me. a friend had that happen with dolls in the $200+ range. but it can be dealt with without resorting to damaging collectibles with ink.

[dragonfly]

weird. That seems a little ... paranoid.

[FantasticFirefly]

weird. That seems a little ... paranoid.

On electronics, no. not really. It's now a common method sellers use, or pretend they do to scare away scam buyers. ebay is rampant with scammy people buying replacements of their electronics to swap for their broken stuff. Filing returns so a seller is out their money, and now has the buyers e-garbage to dispose of.

[Artemesia's Garden]

This is such a shame. I have one more box of collectibles to get rid of then I'm quitting because I'm sick of essentially forking out for postage to give things to dishonest people for free.

[dragonfly]

weird. That seems a little ... paranoid.

On electronics, no. not really. It's now a common method sellers use, or pretend they do to scare away scam buyers. ebay is rampant with scammy people buying replacements of their electronics to swap for their broken stuff. Filing returns so a seller is out their money, and now has the buyers e-garbage to dispose of.

On ponies.

[FantasticFirefly]

On ponies.

Oh, yeah. on ponies (or any serious collectible item) it's crazy.  I hope it doesn't catch on in our category. Any collectible will be distinct from another. All you need is to save enough clear photographs.

[kakenterprise]

I know a guy who had to do it with his hot wheels.  Buyers were switching out their damaged one for his..  It sucks but I get it.

[Baby Sugarberry]

Doesn't seem like it would be effective if you're telling people upfront about it, though?
I mean it's not that hard to get ahold of a blacklight and recreate whatever small mark they made, unless it's like a whole signature or something.  Still, highly questionable and best avoided.  Why would anyone think it's a good idea to toss random chemicals onto a vintage collectible of any kind. 

[NovelNerd]

I also mark electronics that I've sold in the past and mentioned it in the listing. Unfortunately people are dishonest, on the upside the seller has informed the buyers so no reason to buy if you disagree with the method. I can see why someone would do it, and if I sold more electronics I would do the same.