I purchased 7 cards from Probstein on the 10th of December. They were all from a modern set and clearly from the same consigner as they all were the same player, same set and very low serial numbered.
I won all 7, two for a very low price and the other 5 for about market average. I paid not thinking too much about it. Fair play-service and shipping was quick and Probstein had delivered my cards in a few short days. It needed a signature and was returned to my main HUB and it took a sweek for me to retrieve the package. Cards were packed well and were in good shape.
As I was entering my new cards into spreadsheets (date acquired, price paid, ect...I do enjoy this part) I poked through and low and behold I was shilled. The bidder o***l with 11 feedback. This person has 100% bidding activity with the seller. Every bid was on these cards within the last few minutes.
Quote:
30-Day Summary
Total bids: 10
Items bid on: 5
Bid activity (%) with this seller: 100%
Bid retractions: 0
Bid retractions (6 months): 0
Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop > Baseball 4 Seller 1 <1h
Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop > Baseball 3 Seller 1 <1h
Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop > Baseball 2 Seller 1 <1h
Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop > Baseball 2 Seller 1 <1h
Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop > Baseball 1 Seller 1 <1h
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So I contact Probstein and explained in a well thought out and polite email that these cards were clearly shilled. I was hopeful that he had not paid the consigner the fees yet and we could reach an agreement. He replied with this:
Quote:
hi, best thing it to contact ebay trust and safety and let them determine if anything happened
thanks
rick
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He knew darn well I would run into a big, fat wall.
I called them, I emailed them, I reported the auctions, I waited on hold with them, I spoke with eBay employees that I could literally just barely understand a word they were saying. eBay customer service is basically useless and so I resigned myself to that there would be no recourse.
Well the only recourse left would be to leave appropriate feedback, right?
Well the last kick in the teeth was all the negatives have been removed.
Probstein makes eBay a lot of money...as long as he says he's against shilling it's good enough for them. FWIW I was shilled for $62.00
Ter.ry Lew.is