Non AFA Vinyl Jawa

[Rock]

This is part opinion and part question. I really want a vinyl cape jawa and have tried 2 times to reach out to sellers to buy a loose jawa not in an AFA case. My request was that I would buy it and right away send it off to AFA to be checked out and put into a case to prove it is the real deal. If it were to be a fake I of course want a refund. They never get back to me even after many emails. I could be wrong but I see these sellers as cowards and scammers. Why would you think you could sell such a highly faked item and not back it up as legit? I also think they are cheap if they really believe it is real then spend the money and get it certified. They would for sure make the money back. Any comments?

Thanks, Rock

 

[gerrit]

Vinyl cape jawas are well known and expensive , if you want one for cheap you have to take some chanses and it really helps if you can authenticate one yourself without the help of AFA . Not every seller is a collector and even the ones that do know AFA don't always trust them . If i had owned an item since childhood and some stranger asked me to send it to an organisation i don't know to possibly increase it's value for the buyer or to be told it was fake while i know my mother bought it for me in 1977 i would think i was getting scammed . As for being a coward, you are asking someone to eat the costs of shipping 2 ways, run the risk of the item getting lost, switched by you or misgraded by AFA while you have full Ebay and Paypal money back guarantee to make sure you don't lose any cash . One could also argue you are the one that's being cheap, if you really need someone else to tell you if your item is real then spend the money and get a certified one .

 

[Rock]

The coward comment refers to not getting back to me when I have sent many emails. People need to be professional maybe would have been a better word to use then coward. I was wrong on that comment. I would pay for all the shipping and AFA stuff as well. The seller only needs to ship it to me. Other then AFA who would be able to tell me something is the real thing? I have looked up stuff on this overpriced figure so many times but if I am spending money on a loose figure and I have a 14 day return window we all know it will never be back in time from AFA so does the Ebay protection work beyond this? I do not know.

 

[gerrit]

Sorry about that, not getting a responce from a seller can be pretty annoying . AFA graded jawas are more expensive than non graded ones so getting it graded increases the value while the seller does not share in this profit so from a professional point of view this does not make sence for the seller . I have a bunch of vc jawas, all bought non graded but before i got the first one i did some research by buying known fake capes from repro sellers to check out the materials and digging through every vc jawa post on all the forums. I even made some myself to figure out exactly what to look for in terms of signs of a cape being hand cut . The vinyl jawa cape is made of the same material as the other capes that make the zippy sound only in a different colour so it is not so hard to identify if you have it in hand .
Another thing i found out is that there are a lot more vc jawas for sale in Europe than there are in the U.S so if you are looking for a more affordable authenticated one search UKG graded ones on ebay.de or ebay.co.uk instead of ebay.com and don't try to buy one close to the hollidays but try to get one in the spring or summer when business is slower

 

[Rock]

Thanks for the information! I appreciate it.

 

[1BadMotivator]

I do not have the skills to determine what is fake and what is real as it pertains to a VCJ, so i ponied up and bought an AFA 80 with a CIB certificate. I didn't want to waste $1000 on something I could be sure was real. Having never owned one before, I had no frame of reference. When it comes to stuff like the VCJ, I think the graded stuff is the safest way to go. I can see why you would want the verification, but I think you may be hard pressed to find someone willing to let you buy a non graded provisionally, then send it in for grading and verification, and still let you buy it at the non graded price, with only the cost of grading added.

This might sound dumb, but I don't understand why anyone, with a legit VCJ, would not already have it graded if they wanted to sell it. They are going to run into this exact problem. I'm always suspicious of non graded VCJ's for this reason. The value you get out of the authentication is way beyond the price it would take to get it graded I think.

 

[toyman941]

The other side of the coin is paypal buyer protection.

If it were me, I would buy, send off to afa, then wait to see.

If it comes back graded, it's real,

If it comes back refused, then you call paypal and get your money back. PayPal has protection with this, and afa sends back notice that you can send to paypal.

I wouldn't even tell the seller what my intentions are. Just buy and play the game.

 

[toyman941]

I do not have the skills to determine what is fake and what is real as it pertains to a VCJ, so i ponied up and bought an AFA 80 with a CIB certificate. I didn't want to waste $1000 on something I could be sure was real. Having never owned one before, I had no frame of reference. When it comes to stuff like the VCJ, I think the graded stuff is the safest way to go. I can see why you would want the verification, but I think you may be hard pressed to find someone willing to let you buy a non graded provisionally, then send it in for grading and verification, and still let you buy it at the non graded price, with only the cost of grading added.

This might sound dumb, but I don't understand why anyone, with a legit VCJ, would not already have it graded if they wanted to sell it. They are going to run into this exact problem. I'm always suspicious of non graded VCJ's for this reason. The value you get out of the authentication is way beyond the price it would take to get it graded I think.

Repros are getting harder and harder to spot. Especially now with the floating weapons seen on ebay. Vinyl jawas are not going to be left out. Sooner or later, if not already, someone will make a perfect match fake.

 

[porkinsred6]

As a seller I would be worried about sending you a real VCJ ungraded and then after you receive it you claim to send it off to AFA for authentication. The potential to scam the seller is there as well. what stops you from swapping the cape to a repro before sending it to AFA? Have the seller send it directly to AFA (or CAS) and then have AFA ship it back to you the buyer.
But if you want a graded one, just get a graded one why play grade and fake roulette

 

[Rock]

Very good points. I never thought of that angle. I guess I just have to accept that for the income I make to buy one already in an AFA case will not happen. Just too much money for me.