Steve Verkman and Clean Sweep Auctions

[supraman84]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

Some auction houses issue full JSA letters but many that issue auction LOA's will state in the description "Auction LOA from JSA" so that you know what you are getting.

Agree and that's my issue! Thank you!

[supraman84]

Originally Posted by Sophiedog

I agree with you. If it says JSA LOA it should be the full Letter of Authenticity and NOT an auction house letter. I'd be pissed too because chances are I would have bid a little higher thinking I was getting the full LOA

Thank you! I told them in my reply that if you do not change your future auction listings and / or put it in your rules & FAQs then the only reason they would not do it is to get suckers like me to overpay by deception. I don't think I should have to call an auction site to find out what letters they are "really" providing. They add enough photos - put in one of the actual or a "sample" photo of what it is. - Thanks for those who do agree this is not acceptable. I am not just writing this to express my disappointment but to warn future first time buyers they that they know what they are getting BEFORE they bid for the first time. Steve did not reply back to my 2nd email to him after I went into more details of this deception. I guess he did not have a good way to reply back w/o providing more inaccuracies.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by supraman84

Thank you! I told them in my reply that if you do not change your future auction listings and / or put it in your rules & FAQs then the only reason they would not do it is to get suckers like me to overpay by deception. I don't think I should have to call an auction site to find out what letters they are "really" providing. They add enough photos - put in one of the actual or a "sample" photo of what it is. - Thanks for those who do agree this is not acceptable. I am not just writing this to express my disappointment but to warn future first time buyers they that they know what they are getting BEFORE they bid for the first time. Steve did not reply back to my 2nd email to him after I went into more details of this deception. I guess he did not have a good way to reply back w/o providing more inaccuracies.

Steve V is out if town on vacation but asked if I could post this for him, so of course I will. This is cut and pasted.....


"Hi Guys,

Thanks to the several people who posted kind comments about my company. I am truly sad this bidder is unhappy and I expressed this to him in my email response but he is simply asking for something that we cannot provide and stay in business. We will review this policy for future auctions and may well revise our auction rules to prevent any potential confusion in the future.

If the OP wants to return the items for a refund, he is welcome to.

(1) I am on a much needed personal vacation with my family, that is why I could not answer the second email from the OP (it was an 800-word) email and it seems from him searching blog posts going back to 2003 that he is on a vendetta and is very difficult to communicate and reason with.

(2) There is no intent to deceive or misrepresent anything. The auction the OP bid in is clearly noted as our affordable autograph and memorabilia auction, with almost all items having a retail value of $500 or less and low minimum bids (we do not shill bid nor have hidden reserves). Most of the items in fact have minimum bids well under $100 for items with a retail value under $100. For example, a Phil Rizzuto or Johnny Mize single signed ball that might sell for a final bid of $50 or $60 or a Rickey Henderson signed 8x10 photo that might sell for a final bid of $25. For this reason, we feel there is no reasonable expectation that these items could come with $50 LOAs (and the auction is filled with them). The lot would effectively be selling for less than $0 on a grand scale.

The idea is to keep things simple and consistent. One reason we do not offer full LOAs for some items and auction LOAs for others is that it sends mixed messages (why does this lot have it and not this one? and we feel this leads to confusion to our bidders). We note in the description JSA LOA and by that we mean an auction LOA. We have been doing this AND NOTHING BUT THIS for the entire history of JSA and our 10+ years auctioning off autographs. There is frankly no other way to sell individual items at auction, especially at these price levels (items with values under $150) at auction and include authentication.

(3) The OP won three items for bids of $50 or less with JSA LOAs – is it honestly reasonable to expect those items to come with a $50 LOA and then extrapolate this to the entire auction? I understand everyone wants to get a deal, and this great, but there is getting a deal and then getting a deal, we feel this just does not make any reasonable sense. We also bid in other auctions (and have no problem with the auction LOAs), we would never, ever expect to get a $50 LOA on any item, especially something under $500, much less $100 in value. If this was important to us, we CERTAINLY would ask before bidding as there are actually three kinds of JSA LOAs.


Thanks again to our supporters and the collecting community that supports our auctions. I will be traveling today and my office is moving this week for the first time in 18 years so I will not be able to post again but if anyone has any questions or concerns please feel free to email me at info@cleansweepauctions.com – Steve Verkman"




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[Orioles1954]

It takes only a couple of seconds at the end of each description. If it takes more than a couple, you need new writers. At the end of each description....

Auction LOA from JSA or...
Individual JSA cert cards or...
Full photo LOA from JSA or....
Due to time/expense (or lack of exemplars), this lot has no authentication.

James Feagin

[ALR-bishop]

I recently won an item from them for around $1000. I retired back in 2007 and must not have won anything else from them since that time because they still had my office address on file. I had not updated it ( although my correct address was on my check and affixed to the invoice I sent with payment).

I had not received the item and was wondering where it was when they contacted me about the fact the item had been returned and inquiring whether I had a new address. I received the item shortly thereafter. They did not ask for additional money for redelivery, even though they incurred additional expense due primarily to my failure to update my profile with them. So, a positive recent experience for me.

[ksabet]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

It takes only a couple of seconds at the end of each description. If it takes more than a couple, you need new writers. At the end of each description....

Auction LOA from JSA or...
Individual JSA cert cards or...
Full photo LOA from JSA or....
Due to time/expense (or lack of exemplars), this lot has no authentication.

James Feagin

This was my thought exactly...how hard is it to change your policy by one friggin word?