I purchased a couple of binders for what I thought were for the recent Thor Release by UD. When they arrived it was obvious that they were just produced by “someone” and not official binders. I had not checked out if UD had produced any binders for this product and seller stated they were Custom Binders, again I assumed this meant Custom Designed by UD.

When I contacted seller to complain he “bragged” how he had two Graphic Designers produce the binders and everyone who purchased them prior were happy with the product.

Several questions are raised here;
Do I need to check out every product I purchase to see if an official binder is produced?
What is UD’s response to people making and selling product which have the appearance of an Official Thor Product?
What would eBay’s response be to this issue?

Several questions are raised here;
Do I need to check out every product I purchase to see if an official binder is produced? If you want to cover your butt.....yes.

What is UD’s response to people making and selling product which have the appearance of an Official Thor Product? If it's like many other things I've had problems with, they'll tell you they don't have the resources to look into everything that goes on.

What would eBay’s response be to this issue? Does ebay make money on the sale? If they're making money then they'll say it's up to UD to contact them (ebay) to put a stop to it.

Were there any other words in the description that going back and reading you could have caught on to them being custom made by someone other than UD?

quote:

Originally posted by goldenavenger:
Several questions are raised here;
Do I need to check out every product I purchase to see if an official binder is produced? If you want to cover your butt.....yes.

What is UD’s response to people making and selling product which have the appearance of an Official Thor Product? If it's like many other things I've had problems with, they'll tell you they don't have the resources to look into everything that goes on.

What would eBay’s response be to this issue? Does ebay make money on the sale? If they're making money then they'll say it's up to UD to contact them (ebay) to put a stop to it.

Were there any other words in the description that going back and reading you could have caught on to them being custom made by someone other than UD?

To be honest, I saw the title "THOR Trading Card Binder" and it looked O.K. so bought them.

At bottom of description it states other colours available, that would have warned me if I'd read it before purchase.

In all of the collecting fields I've ever looked into the word 'custom' usually turns out to be a good reason to run a mile. And I don't mean to kick you while you're down but if it's the seller from Wiltshire, the description makes it pretty clear what you'd be getting.

"Professional High Quality Custom Made Binder for THOR Trading Cards, available in black ( pictured ) or white 25mm 3 ring binder.

Please also note that there are 15 different high quality cover images.Please e-mail me for details.

If you would like any High Quality custom made binders for trading cards please contact me."

Personally, I'm not keen on homemade trading cards but if a manufacturer is too useless to make a much needed binder for a set you enjoy I can turn a blind eye to a custom. Plenty of people do it themselves so why not buy one off of someone? I don't have the skills to do it and it hasn't cost you an arm and a leg. I realise it is not what you thought you were buying but if I am looking at the right listing I'd say it looks VERY nice. Much nicer than your bog standard £8 ultra pro binder.

They look to be standard store bought binders ($2.50-$3.00 at the big box stores) with high resolution prints inserted on the front, back and spine...or perhaps just the front and spine now that I look at the SWG6 one.

The printing of a high res image like that will certinly drain the toner cartridge pretty quickly so there is definately some cost in doing these bad boys.

All in all, I would say a nice alternative to having an OFFICIAL binder if one is not available.

Although not offical - a good price for a binder to put Thor cards in. Do UD do binders at all?

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
Do UD do binders at all?

Yes, I have several hundred white official Upper Deck binders in a lock up, still in the boxes dating back from the 1990's which we are recycling at the moment.