Quote:
Originally Posted by calvindog
Regarding the Probstein Mathewson signed ball auction which ended a couple days ago: http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=370937104344
I emailed Rick from the Mathewson auction listing and the following dialogue occurred:
1) Rick -- were you the owner of this ball which just sold in your auction?
Response: which ball ?
2) The Mathewson ball.
Response: consignor .....I owned the ruth ball though
3) Would you permit Rob Lifson to answer my question if you are not, in fact, the winner of that Mathewson ball from his auction?
No response
4) So are you saying that you consigned the Mathewson ball but didn't own it? How can you consign something you don't own?
Response: I'm not gonna be online, if something is pressing try me at 973 747 6304 , all our transactions are confidential...both buyers and consignors....
5) Rick,
I'm not asking for you to betray the confidence of a buyer or consignor. I'm simply asking if you bought the Mathewson ball in the REA auction. You denied that you were the owner of the ball but said you were the consignor. To me, if you consigned the ball that means you own it. Again, I don't wish to know who purchased the Mathewson ball in the REA auction unless it's you.
Jeff Lichtman
Response: jeff, your not understanding my emails....we're having email confusion..lets try again....
I bought the matty from REA , sold it privately , and the guy didn't like so it was consigned to us...
I bought the ruth ball from either REA or legendary or huggins, don't recall, and I was the owner who sold it....
the names of all my consignors are private as are the winning bidders....
6) Rick,
Are you aware that the underbidder of your Matty ball auction bids on your auctions 94% of the time? And that the bid he/she put in was almost to the dollar the amount that YOU paid for in the REA auction for that ball? Presuming you didn't sell the ball to him for exactly what you paid for it from REA, don't you find it interesting that the underbidder put in a placeholder bid 3 days before your ebay auction ended which matches what YOU paid for it on REA?
Jeff
Response: I wasn't aware of this...were u the winner of the ball ?
7) You don't know the winner of an auction of yours which ended a couple days ago?
Response: typicallyno
we currently run 20,000 auctions a month...I had 20 staff people here today...I spend the lionshare of my time keeping them busy..
when people email me or call when they see a problem I do act..
the mantle bvg card auction was emailed to me and I cancelled the bids on it....
8) That's wonderful -- but you didn't address what I asked, namely, that fraud obviously occurred in this auction and considering it was a ball which you bought in an REA auction shouldn't something be done about it?
No response
9) So do you think you should void the auction result and let the winner know that he was defrauded the difference between the bids of the second and third bids on the ball? It's fairly obvious that fraud occurred, no?
Response: I'm gonna first contact the consignor and get more info....
**This conversation was two days ago, that's the last I've heard from Rick about this auction. |
He will keep ignoring the stuff that shows he may be guilty or makes it clearer that he might not be a good guy. The no response is typical of him because the honest answer might expose him so he won't incriminate himself. The 20 staff comment is trying to make himself look like a big shot and make him sound oh so important and busy. I have seen his "staff" and will elaborate in a few days. That call me you aren't understanding me BS is most likely to buy him some time to come up with a "legitimate" sounding answer or he figures you won't call him. Offering to talk on the phone gives an illusion of "I have nothing to hide". He figures that you most likely won't call him. I wouldn't be surprised if you do call him, that he claims he's too busy to talk or he is driving to get rid of you.
The we run 20,000 a month is for two reasons. The "we" is "I". It's his ID, he is not a company. He is one guy, but saying we makes it sound like a company and people are harder on an individual than a company. The 20,000 auctions is an excuse for "we are just so busy we don't have the time to look at every detail." When you don't have the time to do things right, DON'T DO THEM or hire enough people that can do things right.
"I bought the matty from REA , sold it privately , and the guy didn't like so it was consigned to us" That makes absolutely no sense. If I buy something from someone and don't like it, I ask for a refund. I don't have him consign it to risk it selling for less than what I paid.
I ask, why would a money hungry type that wants every penny he can get (as he appears to be in my opinion) stop shill bidding on his items (assuming he isn't doing it himself in some of them) from others if it has not affected his sales? Obviously an honest person or someone with ethics that isn't a thief or isn't a greedy trash bag would put a stop to it. One bid retraction ban would be what a person with integrity does, but from my experience with Problemstein is that he has no integrity in my opinion.