Internet Cockroaches - get out your spray

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Posted By: <b>scott (runscott)</b><p>We are seeing that if you jump on the crooks and jump hard, they eventually melt down - Broadway Rick is now doing private auctions, which is the kiss of death. He'll never again be able to sell to legitimate bidders. Libertyforall may very well end up with the government on his ass, which is never a good thing. Other auction houses and ebay sellers who practice deceptive advertising have lost mega-bucks and don't even realize it (I still drool looking at items in auctions run by unscrupulous dealers, but will give my $$$ to others now). <BR><BR>I really think we can clean up this hobby a bit, but internet business is still in its infancy and we have to expect these cockroaches to keep crawling in through the cracks. The best we may be able to do in some cases is give them the scarlet letter of "private auction".<BR><BR>I think that ebay's survival will be a good thing for us - Yahoo has certainly failed to fill the void ebay has left for good honest internet auctions. And I really think that ebay will eventually get its act together - the market will force them to. I used to do 99% of my business on ebay, but now it's down to 50% or less because of auction houses like Mastro, Teletrade, CollectibleClassics, AboutTime, Sportscardsplus - they are all improving their ability to take advantage of the internet in conjunction with simple telephones and printed material. Ebay has proven that all they care about is the allmight dollar, so they have to respond.<BR><BR>CollectibleClassics showed how easy it is to enter the vintage memorabilia market successfully, simply by providing great customer service and a lot of elbow grease. Festberg showed how easy it is to fail in the same market, despite a great reputation - I speak with people all the time who tell me what a great guy he is, the incredible amound of knowledge he possesses, and how willing he is to share information. But run an internet auction? Definitely seems to have no inclination to do so.<BR><BR>I don't mention Verkman because I don't understand him.<BR><BR>Just my two cents.<br><br>--------------------------------------------<BR> no disclaimer - temporarily taking responsibility for my actions

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Posted By: <b>Bruce Moreland</b><p>Teletrade is a fine place to buy graded material. They have a good return policy, and around $5 is not awful for shipping usually. They ship the day after you pay.<BR><BR>They are pretty bad with raw stuff, in my opinion. I think there are many sellers on eBay who will sell you better raw stuff for less money.<BR><BR>bruce<BR>

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Posted By: <b>Dan Mathewson</b><p>Unfortunately, I've cut my teeth on eBay and gotten very used to their system. I still do all my business there. The others that have "an auction coming in September" and start showing you their items now, I always forget about them. I can't keep track of that stuff 2 months from now, let alone (sometimes) those auctions that end in 7 days that I track daily...I still miss some of those!!<BR><BR>I count on my buddies (like Scott) to tell me when there's a cool Matty thing coming up somewhere that I didn't see (unless he wants it worse, then he tells me after he's bought it!! <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14> )<BR><BR>-dan

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Posted By: <b>TBob</b><p>"I don't understand Verkman"&gt;&gt;<BR><BR>What's there to understand? You buy about $5,000 worth of vintage cards from him over a 2 year period and he tries to rip you off like the newest gullible newbie. His employees lie to you and getting a refund is like pulling teeth.<BR>What's to understand?<BR>When I see his auctions, I just say "no"....

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Posted By: <b>Julie Vognar</b><p>sold me a trimmed Goudey, and then two years later, when i decided to test the waters again, sold me a real nice M101-2 Jackson. he only robs you some of the time...

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Posted By: <b>TBob</b><p>Julie you are lucky. After getting ripped off I never gave him the "one more chance" you did. Hard to believe I guy would want to kill of a great customer who always paid on time and ordered T207s from you out the wazoo, but he did. It all concerned a T207 Marsans which Verkman didn't know was rare. I was told everything from he took it to Hawaii with him to a show, to it was shipped by mistake to Nebraska, to they lost it, etc. Never got the card. Finally got the refund after several threatening letters and calls. SCD wouldn't lift a finger to help although it was an ad in their paper and he was a winner of one of those so-called great guy seller awards. I had purchased about 1/2 of a T207 set in EX or better from him along with other vintage cards and he decided to screw me and say bye bye to a loyal customer. A couple of years later I cringed and gnashed my teeth when I saw two large lots of Obaks go from ridiculously low prices but I stuck to my guns and have never bought a card from him again. <BR>Oh by the way, never an apology, never even an excuse no matter how feeble. I was treated like s@@#t. Funny thing is he bought a card from me on ebay about a year ago. I am sure he never even knew....

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Posted By: <b>scott (runscott)</b><p>Bob - although my Verkman tale wasn't nearly as painful, the result for him was the same. I've never understaood sellers who will screw you on one deal, seemingly throwing past sales out the window. I too continue to look at Verkman's catalogs and there are always things I'm interested in, but I would never buy from him again. Do the math Verkman.<br><br>--------------------------------------------<BR> no disclaimer - temporarily taking responsibility for my actions

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Posted By: <b>warshawlaw</b><p>My first card from him was a 1958 Bell Gilliam allegedly in nm-mt. It was graded perfectly and arrived in great shape. <BR><BR>I next ordered three T-cards graded ex-mt to near mint; all were creased, the ex-mt was missing a good % of its back. A refund was promptly made w/o questions.<BR><BR>I will buy from him only in SGC or PSA or GAI slabs.